2011 Interview Experiences

As we ring in a new year, I took a moment to look back upon all the fun I had at my music webzine, Musician Photo Journal. I had interviewed and photographed some of my favorite bands, saw a lot of familiar faces and even had the pleasure of interacting with several different artists that I have never worked with before. When I reflected upon the interviews I did, I would have to say one of my biggest highlights was meeting and working with one of my favorite bands that I loved growing up, Skid Row.

The story ironically starts a year ago as we rang in 2011. I had gotten a new car with satellite radio toward the end of 2010 and celebrated the New Year while listening to Hair Nation.  It wasn’t until I found that station, did I realize just how much I missed the music I grew up on and how happy it makes me.  As the weeks went on, Skid Row was one of the bands that was really jumping out at me. I knew every song they played, word for word as I had played their albums growing up until the cassette tapes wore out and snapped. I would find myself in the Record Stores (yes, some still exists) re-buying those album and picking up their latest albums as well.  It was great to reconnect to what is the roots of my love for music. It really gave me something old and new to listen to, and got me through the frigid winter months that we had in Central NY.

Spring came and they announced that Skid Row would be the headlining artist for Taste Of Utica festival in June.  I was so excited to get to see them again, after all these years. I submitted my request to photograph the show and to do an interview with them. I wasn’t sure how their schedule would work but I was hoping they would be able to fit me in. When I found out that I would be interviewing Dave “Snake” Sabo and Rachel Bolan, I have to admit that I was a little intimidated. They were the founding members and the main songwriters of the group that I loved for all these years. It was strange because I have been around a lot of different musicians and “famous” people most of my life and I usually don’t get intimidated;  I didn’t understand why now?  I couldn’t remember ever hearing stories about anyone meeting these guys, so I really didn’t know what to expect. Would they be cool? Would they be fun to talk with? For being in the industry for so many years and have accomplished so much, would they be full of themselves?   Yet I told myself that there has to a reason they have lasted so long in this industry. I pushed those thoughts aside as best as I could and just focused on what I wanted to ask them and the flow of my questions.

I ended up getting only 15mins to do my interview. My crew and I went early to set up the cameras, test out the lighting/sound and give me a few seconds to review my questions. Afraid I planned a little too well and had way too many questions to fit in a 15 minute block, I recorded my intro before the guys got there.  I don’t usually do that, so it threw me off my game a little. I felt the interview had a little rough start but Rachel jumped right in and the interview was on its way. Any intimation that I had went straight out the window. These guys and their crew were really awesome to work with and I can honestly say, Rachel and Dave surpassed any expectation that I could even image or hope them to be. They were really down to earth and fun to talk with.

Now, if only ALL my interviews in 2012 will be this great, it will be one superb year!

Here is the interview:

You can also check out the photos I took from the show at MusicianPhotoJournal.com.