I hope this thread doesn't seem like a rant.
I know there's several other fellow scribes and journalists that post here and I would just like to say to everyone that does what we do, we fucking rule and we go through alot of shit to do interviews and reviews where most of the time we dont get paid, it's a labor of love.
Case in point: Today I interviewed Lacuna Coil here in San Antonio. I showed up at 2.30 for a 3 PM interview, (being punctual is always a plus) and talk to the tour manager there. He's cool as hell and has all my info ready and tells me to hang around backstage for a half hour while Chris Magliore gets back from sight seeing. So he shows up we do a killer thirty five minute interview on the bus, it's one of the most relaxed and fun interviews I've done. Afterwards we shoot the shit for a few then I go out and chill at the venue. Usually when I do interviews before the gates open I've never been hassled before. I end up talking to the bands and crew and generally cause no trouble and have a good time. Well as it happened I was looking at the merch on sale when a sec guard comes up to me and starts giving me shit. "Do you have your passes on you?" No sir, I haven't received them yet. "well you're going to have to leave until you get them we're clearing the venue" I look around and I'm like "Clear the venue? Dude it's just me. Hold up lemme talk to the tour manager he knows who I am and I'm supposed to be here I'm not just some random guy that snuck in." He then moves to grab my arm and when I pull back he says, "You're going to have to leave right now and wait for your credentials.. come with me NOW." So I'm like ok whatever this guys on a power trip good for him. Anyways, at the gate I get denied my passes for hours and it starts to hail and rain like a sonofabitch which ends up ruining my 200 dollar digital recorder and all my Lacuna cd sleeves and all the while I'm waiting the people at the front send me around back to get the passes and then when they dont know what's going on and send me back to the front there they continue to give me the fist of denial at the gate. Finally after Lacuna's gear is all soaked, they aren't playing for sure, (the time is 8.30, they were supposed to play form 7.20 - 8.00) and I end up being a dick to the people up front cos I'm not in a good mood someone finally runs backstage to check the guest list. Thirty minutes later the guy comes back who was finally sent after my bitching (I will admit this person was very helpful and actually understood where I was coming from) and gives me the envelope with everything in it and tells me "You're the only one on here i don't know why it was such a big deal to get them I apologize for the wait and trouble." So cool huzzah I get in and then when it comes time to go into the photo pit for Rob Zombie I get another fist of noness thrust in me. "No they aren't allowing anyone in the photo pit tonight." What dude, what the hell is this for then? "I don't know its just what we were told." Argh. I ended up talking to Maus from Lacuna for a few minutes he and everyone else was pissed cos they didnt get to play and most likely didnt get paid either, and I find out that they didnt get to play because the venue has a ten pm curfew and the gates opened it was 9.00 PM. So basically what ended up happening was Rob Zombie played an abbreviated 45 minute set which was just long enough for the venue to tell everyone that showed up and paid for a ticket that yes there was a show and no there are no refunds. After four songs I just left, fuck this, fuck this venue and fuck these chode security guards.
Good news is I got a rescheduled interview with Lacuna in Houston on Thursday because the people at Century Media are awesome and I'm busting out my 1988 tape recorder for it. Woo hoo.
And the thing is since this is going up on Metal Reviews, I'm not getting paid one red cent for all of this but I don't care. I'm just glad I'm going to get my interview done and see these guys live. This is the type of shit that people like us go through so fans can read up on their favorite bands. We do this for the love of the music and because we're fans just like everybody else.
I know there's several other fellow scribes and journalists that post here and I would just like to say to everyone that does what we do, we fucking rule and we go through alot of shit to do interviews and reviews where most of the time we dont get paid, it's a labor of love.
Case in point: Today I interviewed Lacuna Coil here in San Antonio. I showed up at 2.30 for a 3 PM interview, (being punctual is always a plus) and talk to the tour manager there. He's cool as hell and has all my info ready and tells me to hang around backstage for a half hour while Chris Magliore gets back from sight seeing. So he shows up we do a killer thirty five minute interview on the bus, it's one of the most relaxed and fun interviews I've done. Afterwards we shoot the shit for a few then I go out and chill at the venue. Usually when I do interviews before the gates open I've never been hassled before. I end up talking to the bands and crew and generally cause no trouble and have a good time. Well as it happened I was looking at the merch on sale when a sec guard comes up to me and starts giving me shit. "Do you have your passes on you?" No sir, I haven't received them yet. "well you're going to have to leave until you get them we're clearing the venue" I look around and I'm like "Clear the venue? Dude it's just me. Hold up lemme talk to the tour manager he knows who I am and I'm supposed to be here I'm not just some random guy that snuck in." He then moves to grab my arm and when I pull back he says, "You're going to have to leave right now and wait for your credentials.. come with me NOW." So I'm like ok whatever this guys on a power trip good for him. Anyways, at the gate I get denied my passes for hours and it starts to hail and rain like a sonofabitch which ends up ruining my 200 dollar digital recorder and all my Lacuna cd sleeves and all the while I'm waiting the people at the front send me around back to get the passes and then when they dont know what's going on and send me back to the front there they continue to give me the fist of denial at the gate. Finally after Lacuna's gear is all soaked, they aren't playing for sure, (the time is 8.30, they were supposed to play form 7.20 - 8.00) and I end up being a dick to the people up front cos I'm not in a good mood someone finally runs backstage to check the guest list. Thirty minutes later the guy comes back who was finally sent after my bitching (I will admit this person was very helpful and actually understood where I was coming from) and gives me the envelope with everything in it and tells me "You're the only one on here i don't know why it was such a big deal to get them I apologize for the wait and trouble." So cool huzzah I get in and then when it comes time to go into the photo pit for Rob Zombie I get another fist of noness thrust in me. "No they aren't allowing anyone in the photo pit tonight." What dude, what the hell is this for then? "I don't know its just what we were told." Argh. I ended up talking to Maus from Lacuna for a few minutes he and everyone else was pissed cos they didnt get to play and most likely didnt get paid either, and I find out that they didnt get to play because the venue has a ten pm curfew and the gates opened it was 9.00 PM. So basically what ended up happening was Rob Zombie played an abbreviated 45 minute set which was just long enough for the venue to tell everyone that showed up and paid for a ticket that yes there was a show and no there are no refunds. After four songs I just left, fuck this, fuck this venue and fuck these chode security guards.
Good news is I got a rescheduled interview with Lacuna in Houston on Thursday because the people at Century Media are awesome and I'm busting out my 1988 tape recorder for it. Woo hoo.
And the thing is since this is going up on Metal Reviews, I'm not getting paid one red cent for all of this but I don't care. I'm just glad I'm going to get my interview done and see these guys live. This is the type of shit that people like us go through so fans can read up on their favorite bands. We do this for the love of the music and because we're fans just like everybody else.
