Music and the City
"The Price You’ve Got To Pay"
In a recent interview that I did with Queensryche’s front man Geoff Tate, I asked him if there’s anything profound that he’s learned during his 23 years in the music industry.
“Profound about the music industry?” he chuckled.
So then I quickly rephrased the question.
There are a lot of professional musicians that seem to feel that way, and with each band that I interview, with each day that goes by, and as I get deeper and deeper in my own little corner of the biz, I’m starting to feel that way to an extent as well.
When you’re not in the music business but you love the music and idolize the musicians, it all seems so glamorous.
I love walking into a club, like the House of Blues, and suddenly hearing the muffled sound of the band on stage. As you go up the stairs or through the door – inch closer and closer to the stage - the sound begins to grow louder and clearer, and you can feel the bass in your chest. At the show, that’s where the magic happens…it’s the stuff that rock and roll dreams are made of.
Since I’ve been interviewing professional acts, I’ve gotten peeks at some of the less magical side. Don’t get me wrong; I thoroughly feel that I’ve got the coolest job in the world. But a job is exactly that – a job. It’s the thing that you know how to do and you just do it, but sometimes it might appear to others who don’t have your job that you take it for granted.
A buddy of mine recently relayed a story to me about how he was telling a friend of his about my writing, and that after each band he mentioned that I’d interviewed, she made these little moaning sounds. Something to keep in mind on the days where I might have a headache or be tired, or simply just not in the mood to do the next ‘rock star’ interview that I’ve got scheduled that day.
But despite the headache or bad mood, everyone I’ve interviewed thus far has been really cool. And talking to ‘rock stars’ is the fun part of the whole process.
I love talking to a professional musician and asking them a question that they find interesting. These people have to do so many interviews when they release a new album or DVD, or go on tour, and tend to have to answer the same questions over and over again. So when I ask them something and get in reply, “That’s an interesting question…” - it makes me feel like I’m sharing something all new with this person.
And then there’s the personal banter that comes up as well. A question that began being about a hypothetical time capsule led to Bret Michaels and I joking about how he’d need a guitar to occupy himself in the afterlife. And Ian Gillan telling me how loud Pavarotti is in concert, although his band, Deep Purple, was once considered the loudest band in the world. Or Michael Monroe of Hanoi Rocks, a fellow feline lover, telling me to scratch my cats behind their ears for him. These little things are what make it all worth it; that give me that more personal touch than the average rock fan.
The downside to this whole gig, however, is how some acquaintances seem to feel that they own some sort a of piece of your job because of the fact that they know you or have access to you. I used to make fun of celebrities who complained or commented about how everyone seems to want a piece of him or her – I thought they were just being melodramatic. But it’s not just the celebrities who get bombarded by this kind of thing, it’s anyone who has any kind of ‘in’ with any stars as well. So I can only imagine how much worse it actually is for the celebrities themselves.
In my own experiences just in the last few months I’ve dealt with a long time friend who felt that since I’ve now attained some notoriety that I can be even more useful to his band. Yet this same person never thought to pass on my card when opening for a major act…yet I’m supposed to somehow maintain my interview with the band or musician, try to be professional, and then still plug my buddy’s band as well.
And there’s the occasional sourpuss that I’ve run into online who feels he can attack my methods for interviewing because of the fact that he doesn’t like the same band members that I do, or whatever his or her deal is. I’m not going to your job and telling you that you should do things differently in your work, after all.
And then there are the constant requests for concert tickets, backstage passes, CDs, autographs, and so on. I’m not Doc McGhee, I’m just a kid myself with a dream of being a rock journalist. And I’ve got a couple toes in the door, but not quite the whole foot yet.
So, I guess like any other job in the world, and like anything else in life – this has got its ups and downs as well. But I am enjoying every second of it…even when I’m stressed trying to meet deadlines or irritated by the downers that come with the territory.
Now if I can just find a PAYING gig, life would be grand.
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