Last.fm/presents video interviews

Friday, 9 May 2008
by jeff
filed under Announcements
Comments: 14

Today is pretty exciting; we’re launching a new Last.fm/presents video channel. We have ten new videos that give you some pretty cool insights into what shaped the musical life of such artists as Blood On The Wall, Santogold or Moby.

While you now get to enjoy these exclusive bites of wisdom from the comfort of your own laptop, we thought it would be fun to give some context into how these interviews came into existence. After all this is our first time doing these on such a scale… and they were all filmed in an insane 3 days during SXSW.

On the first day, Teniel, Hannah and I sit down at the Magnolia café over some breakfast tacos to finalize the interview questions. Our goal: get the artists to open up about unusual unique experiences. Stuff no one has heard before.

First stop is the Parish for the Hotel Café tour. Teniel shows up early and shoots Josh Radin backstage before his show. Easy. He even sings us a little tune.

Joshua Radin interview

It’s about midnight and Steve Aoki is waiting for us across the Lake. We hop in a cab and head to some obscure address in the middle of the woods. Turns out to be the Elk Lodge. Three senior citizens, two 5-day membership and twenty minutes later, we’re in. Danny Masterson is DJing and Steve Aoki is about to go on but he spends 30 minutes with us anyway.

Steve Aoki interview

It’s 2 am, we steal Does It Offend You, Yeah? ’s cab and call it a night.

Next morning, Hannah fills in for me, and films while Teniel interviews Moby in the garden in front of the Four Seasons. We were promised only 5 minutes but Moby seems to be enjoying himself and they chat for 20.

Moby interview

Next we meet up with Boom Bip and Gruff Rhys of Neon Neon, the two most laid back musicians we met the whole trip. We sit down at a café terrace and have a nice conversation. What did I learn from this interview?

1. Don’t stand in the sun while filming (or bring sunscreen)
2. Austin North/South streets are loud as f**k

Neon Neon interview

In the afternoon we head over to the Fader Fort to meet with White Rabbits. The line goes around the block; this is going to suck. Luckily we spot Tad and Howie from Low Vs Diamond walking down the street and we quickly grab them for an interview at a nearby café.

Low Vs Diamond interview

I resist my natural urge as a Frenchman to cut in line and we resume our queuing. Luckily, Steve and Greg from White Rabbits are still waiting for us inside and have time for a chat.

White Rabbits interview

The following day, we meet up with Brooklyn lo-fi rockers Blood On The Wall on top of the American Apparel store. These guys made me laugh so hard, thank god I had a tripod. I stood in the shade too.

Blood on the Wall interview

We take a quick detour by Brush Park to catch The Virgins rehearsing before their set

The Virgins interview

and find ourselves once again facing the endless queue at Fader Fort to interview Santogold. Harnessing my inner Frenchman, we head to the front of the line and magically get in. Just as we start the interview in a quiet back alley, a semi decides it’s the perfect time to see if he can fit inside the alley, which is only about 6 inches wider than he is. Luckily, we manage to squeeze in to a garage door to make way for him and narrowly avoid being transformed into crepes.

Santogold interview

With the festival almost over, we call up Britt from Spoon and set up our most chilled out interview in his hotel room. If only all interviews could be this easy.

Spoon interview

See all ten interviews here: Last.fm/presents

Comments

  1. mosquitokillah
    9 May, 15:35

    nice idea!

    mosquitokillah – 9 May, 15:35
  2. Anthony V
    9 May, 16:35

    These are well done, glad you approached these as “lets make interviews that don’t suck”.

    That’s all you gotta do :)

    Anthony V – 9 May, 16:35
  3. Fred
    10 May, 17:16

    Boring.
    The interviews are with a bunch of people I’ve never heard of before… and thus don’t care much about. The Moby one was interesting though. Would have been nice if the video quality was a darn sight better!

    Fred – 10 May, 17:16
  4. jeej
    11 May, 06:16

    That was a bit rude Fred.

    How boring would it be if interviews were ONLY with people you knew?!

    I think they are great.

    jeej – 11 May, 06:16
  5. Fred
    11 May, 13:14

    How was that rude? Just because it was created by last.fm doesn’t mean it should forego criticism. I haven’t even heard any of those artists mentioned on the radio, or seen them around anywhere on the web. Why would I then want to watch an interview with them?
    It wouldn’t be boring at all if it were interviews with ONLY artists I knew because I listen to just about every genre of music, except rap, so there’s a lot of people with very different personalties and viewpoints right there. But that’s just me.

    Fred – 11 May, 13:14
  6. ?
    12 May, 01:25

    hmm…only a few comments per blog.
    I guess the blog needs to be advertised more.

    ? – 12 May, 01:25
  7. Sep Milosci
    12 May, 10:21

    OMGZ I DONT KNOW THESE ARTIST THEREFORE LASTFM SUCKS!!!!11

    I guess that YOUR ignorance is not last.fm’s fault, Fred. ;) These artists are definitely not obscure (Spoon were around for years, Santogold seems to be most hyped thing since sliced bread, Neon Neon is a project of two well known musicians, etc.).

    And anyway, if you don’t know them then the interview may be a way to get introduced you know.

    Sep Milosci – 12 May, 10:21
  8. jonty
    12 May, 11:07

    @?: The average number of comments for the front page posts ranges between 16-500, frankly that’s fine! Some posts are bound to attract more comments than others.

    jonty – 12 May, 11:07
  9. slap
    12 May, 12:50

    Hi,

    Loved the interviews, not sure about the video quality but maybe you should be using a quality encoding team to do that for you – try www.artsalliancemedia.com since you’re in the UK. Macroblocking and dropped frames are not sexy.

    www.grlla.com
    @ Fred: slightly have to agree with Sep – however if you read the blog written by this guy www.grlla.com (consistently on point and explained for the layman) – then you won’t have to worry about waiting for it on the radio or whether or not Hypem and co. can tell the difference between what’s good and what isn’t – you’ll start enjoying the good stuff first and you’ll be thrilled when a nice interview turns up of an artist you found here.

    Last.fm – the taste of multitude refined.

    www.grlla.com – one man who knows what he’s talking about.

    slap – 12 May, 12:50
  10. Fred
    12 May, 13:46

    @Sep Milosci

    OMGZ I DONT KNOW THESE ARTIST THEREFORE LASTFM SUCKS!!!!11”

    Yes, that’s precisely what I meant/implied. Talk to me about ignorance, yet that comment is practically the pinnacle of ignorance. What a clown.

    Fred – 12 May, 13:46
  11. Tecfan
    13 May, 16:59

    Very, very good interviews and a good idea.. but they don’t get scrobbled :-( ^^

    Tecfan – 13 May, 16:59
  12. دردشة
    13 May, 17:48

    thanks for that

    دردشة – 13 May, 17:48
  13. Xezzy
    14 May, 21:43

    Nice interviews! I watched Steve Aoki and Spoon for now, not VERY interesting, but oh thats something!
    Quality is good IMHO, in comparision to other free services (well.. paid doesnt egsist, so you can skip “free” part) is on the average (xlr8r, eaven pitchfork).

    I guess in few years we will be laughing at it and memorizing good old times, when mtv, myspace and labels (in a current form) still persited :) You’re really making revolution here and there, and constantly broading your borders (at the same time!!).

    Xezzy – 14 May, 21:43
  14. michael
    23 May, 20:15

    wow ! thank you ! to favourites !

    michael – 23 May, 20:15

Comments are closed for this entry.