Interview

From this I have decided that I will use a question and answer format, as the interviews are more direct, and in depth than if they have been re-written. Also on the page, it will look better aesthetically. 

I wrote the mock interview in a conventional Question and Answer format, a very popular convention within magazines. After taking inspiration from other magazines, I my opinion I found the more in depth the answers were from the artist the more interesting they tended to be, as the source of information comes directly from them, and the interviewer doesn't need to ask as many questions when the person elaborates on their answers. I wanted the interview to have a casual, and informal tone that was insightful, slightly humorous but informative about the band at the same time. I planned the questions carefully, and had a rough idea for the answers which I have based around ideas that I have read in other magazines, and about bands that I listen to. 

Fictitious Band Information:

ALBUM TITLE:  TBC

STUDIO: Abbey Road, London.

PRODUCER: Flynn Jones and Steven Warrant

CONFIRMED TRACKS: “Hit me”, “Her Thunder”, “Tuesday”, “Celestone,” “Oh my Darling!” “Echo Falls”

DUE:  June 2012

LABEL:  BIGNOISE RECORD

MEMBERS: Joe (Vocals and Guitar) Jamie (Guitar) David (Bass) Miles (Drums)

I will use this as a 'fact file' type piece in the double page spread, as I have seen this done frequently in both NME magazine, and The Fly, when they are interviewing new bands, as it gives an outline of the basic details. This will be good for my magazine as I want it to have new bands so that it would appear to be really in tune with the latest artists before any one else!

This week we headed down to Abbey Road studio to catch up with the of so cool Joe Fletcher, front man of the one of the hottest tipped bands for 2012, The Spectrals and to see how their getting on with the recoding of their highly anticipated debut album.... 

Hi Joe! How’s everything going?

It’s going really well thank you! We’ve been in and out of the studio recording for a good sixth months or so now, and it very nearly finished! We recorded all of the ones that we see as ‘the big songs’ quite early on in the process, with our produce Flynn Jones. It was only when Steven Warrant joined us that we stared to lay down our newer tracks. It’s taken a while, but for us there was never a rush to get the album released. We wanted to make the best debut that we possibly could. 

What is it going to sound like? 

 You would think that having two producers for the album could make it sound a little disjointed, and in a sense it is. Not in a bad way though, we intended for every song to sound different. We didn’t want it to be one of   those records that just sound like 10 copies of the same song. We’re not some kind of one-trick pony! 

So it’s going to be good then?!

      Well yeah, hopefully...      

Do you have any plans for touring the album?

We’re starting our first proper UK tour at the end of the month, and we’re almost ready for it. Touring has always been important for us, because that’s how we started; essentially we are a live band, that’s when we are at our best

And how do you find touring? 

We really enjoy it, getting to travel to some of the most amazing venues up and down the country with your best mates is every young musicians dream really isn't it! But y'know like every rose ha s its thorns. Which in our case are  the bunks beds on the tour bus, and not getting much sleep, and we all miss things from home but it's all worth it though when you get to be on stage every other night playing to our fans.

Do you have anything you want to say to your fans? 

Nothing except for the most sincerest of thank-you’s. It sounds so cliché but we honestly wouldn’t be here without them.

What is your song writing process?

 Even over the past years the way I write my songs has changed considerably, when I first started, I just used to have this tatty old notebook that I would carry everywhere with me, writing down odd bits of conversation, or lines in television programmes that I found interesting. (Strangely this is how 'Oh My Darling' originated, after Joe heard particularly catchy line whilst watching hit UK sitcom Gavin and Stacey...) I used to think my songs were pretty stupid if I'm honest, but it wasn't till I met Jamie (Spectrals guitarist) and we started playing and writing songs together that I really got the hang of it. 

And finally, what can we expect from The Spectrals later this year?

At the minute we’re committed to the album launch, and as soon as that’s done, we’ll be back on the road promoting it. We’re already looking forward to the festival season this year, as we’re set to headline the Radar stage at Glastonbury. And I guess by autumn we’ll be staring to get album number two underway? But who knows....