I may be reluctant to admit it but I have accomplished some pretty awesome things in the short span of being a journalist. The 8 year old me would be proud. As a kid, I had always wanted to be a writer. Back then, money had no significance in my life. I would usually fantasize about meeting cool celebrities and getting to actually speak to them on a non-stalker-ish basis would have been enough to make me happy forever. I was convinced that if I fulfilled that one dream, my life would be complete. Then again, I was only 8 years old.
As I grew older, naturally my ambitions grew with me. However, I am grateful for everything good in my life. I may not be the best journalist there is out there, but heck, I'm living an 8 year old girl's dream!
So I wanted to write something that I would have wanted to read, as a kid, aspiring to someday be a music writer. A journalist's experience, off the record.
I feel somewhat limited when I'm writing an official article for a zine because a level of professionalism is expected of you as a journalist. The personal input/touches are put to the very minimal so most of the real emotions and excitement of the interview can only be felt by the people who were present, which to me sucks monkey ass crack. As much as I want to make the readers feel every emotion and laugh as much as I did at that moment, I can't go to the extend of actually counting the number of "haha"s that was involved or alternate fonts to express the tone of voice or rhythm of speech.
Some of these were not published. I'm going by memory to keep the authenticity of this piece to the very maximum.
In order of interview date:
Hydrophobia
I think the most memorable thing about Rin from Hydrophobia was not necessarily what he said but the way he used body language to project enthusiasm and try to make up for the obvious barrier in communication. What a joy, that guy. Haha. One of my first few assignments. Quite the challenge but nonetheless, an enjoyable experience. :)
Parkway drive:
I would say that Winston McCall of Parkway Drive was my favourite person to interview to date. He wasn't all that serious and actually had a little fun with the questions I had prepared. Don't get me wrong though, his answers were also very professional. He thought through each question before coming up with an answer and was very careful to not say anything bad about anyone. I asked him a question after the interview itself and also mentioned the words "OFF THE RECORD", and he was discreet even then. (For the record, I DO keep my word when I say "OFF THE RECORD" so I'm not gonna say what we talked about.)
The most memorable thing about this interview was how much the guy would nervously giggle in between questions and reacted every time I finished asking a question. Hahahaha. So at ease and down to earth! I cannot say one single bad thing about this guy. Completely blew away my expectations. Awesome awesome awesome.
P/s: It helped that the people in the production team we worked with were awesome too. Kudos Prettig <3
The All-American Rejects
Probably the most nerve-wrecking interview I had been to. I had trouble swallowing food beforehand and was pretty much an incredibly annoying person to Sya. Hahahaha. It was afterall THE ALL AMERICAN REJECTS and we were dealing with some huge corporate big shots. This WAS also only the second time I had handled everything in terms of liasing. The first time around wasn't the best tale to tell so this one made me extra nervous. But the NOKIA and UMG representatives were VERY professional and friendly to us and everything went as planned. Nice and easy..
We were invited to a semi-formal gathering for media and NOKIA's corporate partners. It was held at the Velvet Underground. Fancy shinanigans that I wasn't all that into. Sya wasn't all impressed either. I mean, it was nice....but I guess it just wasn't our thing. Red wine, champagne, High Heels, Little Black Dresses, Mingling mingles.....Erk.
We interviewed Nick and Mike. A very serious pair. Both knew exactly what they wanted to say and they obviously had ample knowledge of the music industry. Another transparent fact was that all the questions that we were asking them, were nothing new. Every time I'd finish a question, I'd notice either one of them pointing to the other to handle this one. Like "hey I'll take all the questions about the new record and you answer the rest" type of thing. Mike was shy and a bit quiet. He'd always give way for Nick to answer first or wait for his signal to start talking. The huskiness and volume of his voice made it difficult for me to hear what he was saying so I'd just politely nod at everything. Haha. Nick was sitting a little closer to me and I had no problems hearing him at all. The guy was vibrant and wasn't afraid of eye contact. The capacity of intelligence in their answers were impressive and completely unexpected. You can just tell they are musicians who are very serious about their work. I learned a lot from these two.
It was a round table interview (with 2 fellow journos from Singapore Poly who were just delightful) so it was a bit difficult for us. I only got 4 questions out and 1 of which was a one word answer so we decided not to submit it for publishing. The experience overall was exciting experience I will never forget. *stares at VIP tag*
P/s: We DID meet the rest of the members and I have to say, I am very much frightened by Tyson. My short experience with him made me petrified and love him a whole bunch more at the same time. I simply said "Have a good show Tyson." and the guy suddenly leans way forward to my face and says "THANK YOU SO MUCH! :D" The pure and excitable sincerity of his gratitude made me nervous, just a little.
Misery Signals
Kyle: Uhm.....are they gonna see this?
Stu: WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT?? hahaha
Kyle: Okay, just cut that part out.
Misery Signals, my most recent interview. Well, the journey took 3 hours and I got some pruuuutty interesting answers from these guys. To be completely honest, our first meeting with Misery Signals was nothing short of pure AWKWARDNESS. You'd think that we'd be prepared for these type of thing but Sya and I were completely stuck on what to do or say at that point. We had been to so many interviews without having to endure this silent "SSSSSSSSSS" moment with any band. I'm not saying it was THEIR fault. Honestly, I think it was us, just being out of it. I don't know the exact reason why. Haha. I'm generally not good at all with small talk.
The organizer of the show simply stretched out his arms in the "Tadaaa" motion upon letting us in backstage and I honestly had trouble recognizing who was Misery Signals and who wasn't. There were a whole bunch of white guys scattered everywhere doing all sorts of things. I only remember one guy sitting directly next to me playing a video game on his laptop.(Later on to find out this guy was actually the vocalist of this band I was suppose to interview) Only Stu, the guitarist acknowledged our presence with a nod and a smile and i immediately assumed he was the only one we were interviewing. So we kidnapped Stu and brought him downstairs where, just to sorta add to the awkwardness, Sya and I proceeded to talk in our native language. I don't know why we did this but honest to blog, we were just trying to figure out where to have the interview. The stress level made us do things idiots would. After having finally found a small quiet corner for the interview, we were joined by Kyle (wherever he popped up from) and Karl (the laptop guy).
Now here's the weird part: the interview went on perfectly. They were such a ball to talk to and I had laughed like crazy at some of their answers. Abit uncertain of the things to say but it only showed how nicely down to earth they were. I wish they had thought about what they said first before answering but then again, they just spoke their minds and I don't see anything wrong with that. Of course this band has made me some drama and controversy but hey, what they said caught your attention and you probably know who they are now.
Overall, the misery signals interview was, to say the least, Perfectly Flawed. ;)
