Hello and welcome to a very special mid-week edition of our popular Journalism Tips series. We normally hold these columns until Saturday, but due to the time sensitive nature of the content contained within this post we decided to run it a few days early. Don’t worry, there will be something new on Saturday too.
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There was a time not too long ago when I would have thought we talked about Vans Warped Tour too much. While it’s true that many labels who use Haulix to service their artist’s latest releases have participated in Warped Tour at least once or twice in the past, it’s not true for every single one of our clients and we often worry about giving any one area of music too much attention via this blog. In 2014, however, Warped Tour is a far different beast than it has been during any other year that I can remember. The punk and hard rock elements are still firmly in tact, but the world’s largest traveling music festival has also expanded its musical offerings to include people from the world of EDM, rap, pop, and beyond. Some complain, but I think it’s ultimately for the best, and if you’re smart about how you approach your coverage of Warped Tour you may find it has the potential to be one of, if not the most rewarding coverage experience(s) you have all year.
I know that every writer has their own method and routine when it comes to interviews and live coverage, but that does not mean you’re incapable of improvement. To help get this point across, I asked Absolutepunk staffer and all-round badass music blogger Jake Denning to provide a few coverage tips and tricks for those who have yet to attend the 2014 installment of Warped Tour. He agreed, and after a few back and forth conversations we settled on a nice list that I think drives home the idea that you can never truly perfect your interview style. In truth, you can only plan, practice, and hope for the best. Put yourself in the best possible position to succeed and do whatever it takes to make your goals a reality.
Without further ado, here’s Jake…
I recognize the advice I’m about to share is not gospel, but I feel like it will help some looking for some tips when it comes to doing press the Warped Tour (or any festival in general).
BEFORE YOUR APPROVED DATE:
1. Make sure you’ve turned in the interview request form that was sent to you when approved for press. Some interviews (such as The Summer Set and The Ghost Inside) require advance approval, and if you don’t turn in the form well in advance of your show date, there is absolutely no chance you will speak to that band.
2. Make sure you have a plan for food/water. My personal preference is to pack the following: (1) Quest Protein Bar, (1) 3.25oz bag of Jerky, and (1) Small bag of Trail Mix, along with (1) Empty gatorade sports bottle (you can generally find these at any sporting goods store for about $2-5, VERY useful).
ON THE DAY OF THE SHOW:
1. Have your batteries charged, your memory clean, your bag/gear organized
2. Get to venue and find yellow Vans tent well in advance of check-in time (generally 10:30am local time). This allows you to be ready to go when it comes time to enter the venue, and find the press area as quickly as possible
3. Once you’ve found the press area and you’ve introduced yourself and signed in, find the performance schedule, typically located next to the interview sign-up sheets. From there, momentarily forget about doing interviews for the day, and build a schedule based on what bands you’d like to watch. Ideally, you shouldn’t have more than 20 minutes between sets, as to maximize the day. Once you have that schedule, THEN start to remove performances that conflict with press times for a particular artist (For instance, if Every Time I Die is doing press from 1pm – 1:40pm and you’d like to see Motionless In White at 1:20…well, looks like you’re not watching Motionless In White)
4. HAVE AN OUTLINE – I recognize this is not for everyone, but for someone who tries to hit on the album/release a particular artist is touring on, this is essential for me. I need specific notes detailing my critical thoughts on said release, as well as questions pertaining to lyrical content, etc. You will never get a chance to interview this artist again on this specific day, so be as detailed as you can be in this setting.
5. Be mindful of when a particular artist is scheduled to interview and be mindful of when they arrive. Be near the press table when they arrive, so that you have a better chance of getting to interview them. To be honest, not every publication that signs up on the list (even if they’re first to sign up) will get to interview. For example, I had an artist come in that 7 different people (including myself) had signed up for – the Tour Manager routed them to AltPress, myself, and then one other publication, and then promptly left.
6. After an interview is done, IMMEDIATELY find a way to upload to Dropbox (or favorite cloud storage provider) – Things happen.
7. Chances are that you’re probably going to end up charging your phone/laptop/etc at some point in the day – take that opportunity to connect with other people/artists in the room. Plague Vendor (Epitaph) ended up on my radar because I ended up getting to know them for 20 minutes or so, not knowing who they were before hand.
8. Last, but certainly not least, FOLLOW THE RULES given to you when approved – for example, if you’re in a venue that does not allow video, then DON’T shoot video and claim you didn’t know about the rule afterwards.
Jake Denning is an entertainment writer and critic with years of experience working online. He has interviewed dozens of bands and written about more albums than you have probably heard in your entire lifetime. He’s a smart go-getter with a blindingly bright future ahead of him and we’re grateful that he was willing to help us with this post. If you would like to learn more about his efforts in music and beyond, click here to follow Jake on Twitter.
