Pro Tips for Musicians Doing Interviews

One more time. One more time. One more time. Spend it, rock. Spend it, one more time. Baby, baby, one more time. And that is how Smurfette became the only female Smurf. Welcome back to the One More Time podcast. Today, today we are going to discuss, Henry, how our musician friends can give the perfect interview. Give the perfect interview. It's possible, my friend. What do we know about that? We know a thing or two about this. We do. Literally, like I was talking with Henry before this. If there's anything we actually know, so like, you know, people can say whatever the fuck they want about, like, oh, they don't know shit about this, that, whatever. We've interviewed almost 200 people. We've done more than 200 podcasts, but we've we've interviewed almost 200 people. Yes. On this podcast. So I think, you know, we just started thinking about like, wait, what are some things that like people have done well? And what are some things that maybe like a lot of them could have done better to improve the way that they give interviews, right? So why is this important, man? This is important. I mean, we talked about this, I think, in a piece of content. Have we even posted that at this point in time? About press? Yeah.

I don't think we posted. Who cares? Fuck it. Um, but yeah, basically, you know, interviews and press are so important, guys. Like, unless you're literally at the point in your career where you don't need it, like where literally you're good. Playboi Carti can say no to some interviews. He'll be all right. Yeah. You guys probably need to do everything that comes your way, every opportunity to network with some people that could be beneficial down the line to get some free content to tell your story on a platform, whether that platform has 50 followers or 500,000, like do it. Do it. Yeah, for sure. It's gonna let people get to know you outside of the music, right? Like, because fans become super fans when they feel like they know you and they feel like they they want to be friends with you or they, you know, want to fuck you if if you're like I'm just saying. Yeah, that's okay. Hey man, how do you think Beaver does it? We want to know the story. We love a story. So we're you know, we're gonna talk about ways that you know you can improve at interviews. Uh honestly, before you even step on set, right?

Like before you even get to the interview, there's some things that you can be doing. Uh and then we're gonna talk about obviously things that you can be doing during an interview. And then there's honestly a bonus tip at the end that in almost 200 guest interviews, only only like two or three have taken advantage of taking advantage of this bonus tip. So make sure you stay tuned to the end of the episode to find out what that is. And by the way, if you guys have ever gotten any value from us, we never ask this during the interviews, but please subscribe to the YouTube channel if you're watching this on YouTube. Like, give us a comment. Like, we we we always save it for the end. We never say this, but like if we've ever helped you in any way, a subscription would go a long way. So, you know, we appreciate that. Fuck yeah, shooting our shot early. You know, all right. So let's just get into it, man. Let's do it before the interview, guys. We need to prepare. Preparation. Preparation is key. Proper preparation breeds. What is it? I don't know. I don't remember. We should have looked up that quote. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is where we need the we need to we're about to have the monitor. We need our Jamie.

We're gonna know you're gonna be him. I'll be Jamie. You'll be Jamie. Mid thing. I'm Joe. Yeah. I'm gonna start spewing bullshit. We're gonna call this the Ben playback Ben experience. Yep. Yep. the playback, Ben experience. But no, okay. So, what are some things that they can be doing before the interview to prepare? One of the first things I think of immediately is the amount of people that have walked in here, drove all the way here to do an interview, and been like, yo, I really fuck with the one time podcast. And I'm like, do you? Because that's not what it's called. So, like, bare minimum, it would be nice to like know the name. Know the platform at least. Like, watch an interview they did before. Yes, uh, get familiar with like what they're all about. Like, if you come on our podcast, we're not just gonna sit here and ask where you're from, what's your story? Who are you dating? Like, no, we want to know like how are you succeeding and what gems can we pass along to our audience Yeah. We know if you're coming on our platform that we're gonna want to get the game from you, yeah, for example. So, yeah, I think knowing your platform is where I go immediately when it comes to prep.

Oh, absolutely. Okay, and then another thing that I think um, you know, we've started to make a requirement, but if a platform doesn't, you can bring this up. Like ask for a call beforehand to go through like questions. What are y'all gonna ask? What are we gonna talk about? Yes, how can I be because you want to make it a win-win, right? You want this to be good for you, but you also obviously want it to be good for the platform that you're going on. Why wouldn't you? Yeah, right. So, how can we make this as successful as possible? And I think that goes into the just like, hey, let's be on the same page as far as like what's the general flow. Like the conversation can weave in and out. Don't get me wrong, we don't have all questions and answers prepared beforehand, right? There's a ton of organic shit that's gonna happen naturally. Yep. But if we at least know kind of like what are some things we want to make sure that we hit on, I think that that's gonna make make the conversation that much better. Yeah, it's just gonna flow better for sure. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Um, I I would say, like, if you're a smoker, if you're a drinker, whatever the case may be, like, that's cool, but like be on point. Like, just be your like most sharp self.

Like, if you like to do shit in the morning, ask if you can schedule it earlier in the day. If you're more of a night person, see if they can push the interview to start in the nighttime, right? Like, just show up and be like ready to give it your best shot, right? Um, so once again, if we're drinking, if we're smoking, like that's cool, but like let's let's not overdo it to the point where we can't be like on our fucking game. You know, what I mean? If you're a caffeine guy, you know, bring your Celsius. So if if you're, you know, yeah, be be ready to be comfortable and not need to like if you gotta take a shit in the bathroom before we start, you know, run it. We'll wait. Yeah. Okay, bring your air freshener. Sure. Let me take a moment to interrupt this episode and tell you about our friends over at DistroKid. DistroKid is easily the best DIY distributor on the marketplace. Let me tell you why. It's only $23 a year. That's less than two bucks a month for you to upload unlimited music to all of your favorite streaming platforms on the planet. It's so easy that it takes me like five minutes per upload, and that's when I'm multitasking dealing with my two-year-old son. Hands down, my favorite part about DistroKid is how easy it is to add credits to an upload.

I don't know what distributor you're using, but with DistroKid, it's super easy. You can put the artist, the producer, the songwriter. I'm pretty sure you could put like the junior associate engineer of a song. And me, I I want to know who's on the record. And if you sign up using this link, you're gonna get 30% off an already insanely low price. And you can finally start adding your collaborators because they are checking. They will notice when their name's there and they will thank you for doing it. Let's get back to the episode. What do you think? Okay. If you've done interviews before, one thing you and I talked about that I think would be helpful is like watch an interview that you've done. Yeah. And just critique yourself. Yeah, we've done this several times. I think uh you'll have like some tics that you maybe didn't notice or some habits that if you really are honest with yourself and break it down, you could, you know, improve and don't freak yourself, you know, yourself out too much. Yeah, because we're all human and we make mistakes. I still in 200 plus episodes do things that I when I watch the interviews back, I'm like, fuck, how am I still I don't know if I've ever told you this one, but uh you have a thing where you like when you go to ask a question, you'll be like, you like rub the bridge of your nose like you're really stressed out. It's what I'm it's what I'm thinking.

Yeah, it is a thinking thing, but it comes across you'll be like, so like when you won the Grammy and I'm like, are you okay? Like are you have are you struggling to have this interview? But that's one that's like an example. Yeah. And I'm gonna now like I like one to do it just then. I wanted to say it on this episode live so you would really soak it in. Now it's really hitting. Yeah. All right cool. So that's a lot of stuff that you can do kind of beforehand. Yeah prep. Oh have a couple stories just ready to go. I think this is good for like any time. You should have like a couple little anecdotes just on hand for any situation. But I think like having some go to like moments or like things you can talk about about your career I just wanted to throw that in to the preparation side. I I literally had storytelling. Yeah. Because I think interviews are that. Yes. That's what we're doing guys. Like this is your chance to tell your story. And I think that in the grand scheme of things having like stories within your story is obviously how this works. right? It's going to go places, you know, it's going to start somewhere, but like, yeah, having some like interesting, cool little moments to talk about in, from your career as jump off points Can't go wrong for sure.

And especially earlier on in your career until you have more stories don't be afraid if you've maybe said a story before like the odds that people have like you know what I mean? Like don't be too like if you watch some of your favorite I mean shit I'm a huge Theo Von podcast uh fan, right? He tells a lot of the same stories still. Yeah. They're his stories. You can't make shit like you know you can only live, you've only lived so much life. So like it's okay that if you're, you know, repeating stories, maybe just to your point before, like try and put it in the lens of that platform, right? So if it's uh more like comedy type of podcast, like maybe highlight the humor in the story that maybe you've told before. If it's a music business thing and it's about something when, you know, to do with your music career, like really focus on like what the artist community that's watching can learn from you know what I mean. Like you can you can give little nuances to it, context and give, yeah, exactly context to it. But the overall story, like, yeah, to your point, have a few go-to's. Yes, 100%.

You got to. Don't be afraid to repeat, absolutely. For sure. Okay, so another one that just kills me, y'all. Please, please listen up. This one, this one is is just like I think it's I think it's so easy to not do this, but so many people we've had on, like they they fall victim to this man. If the interviewer asks you a question, hopefully they're not asking you close-ended question, meaning like yes or no type of shit. But even if they do, you need to always elaborate. The short answers. You can't give a yes, a no, uh, maybe a sometimes. Oh, you can't give the one-word answers, guys. That just does not make for good content. So that first show, that first arena show that you sold out, you get on stage. I mean, were you just feeling awesome? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I think you put it like uh, yo, what did you call it? You said a yes, it what is it? Yes, and is what they teach you in improv. Yeah, yes, and you could ask Lana about this. Okay, ooh, I've heard it.

It should always like every question and answer should be leading to the next thing. It's a it should never have dead end. It's got to build off of the thing. Yeah, okay, yeah. So exactly. So so yes and no, but no and whatever. Like just essentially substantiate your answer a little bit, right? And this is your chance to to once again like let your story come through. Yeah. Because you just saying yes or no or a one-word type of answer to their question, yeah, sure. We might be able to get some context, like you know, context as far as oh, you know, how was the arena show? It was dope. Yeah. It was dope. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Exactly. Like then this happened. And then the next one happened. Exactly. Should always be, you know, some of these are just like conversational, obvious things, but I still think they're worth mentioning. Cause on a platform like that, you know, is you want things to flow, you want new ideas to happen all the time. So avoiding those dead end cul-de-sac type answers. Exactly.

Because sometimes in natural conversation, especially if you're with your homies, you don't feel the pressure to like fill every moment. Yeah, you're cool if you're just like it's a bit of a performance. You're kind of putting on a performance, you know, when you're doing an interview. You should be like, it's it is a conversation, but it is also like entertainment. You guys know what it's like to, you're not just exactly yourself when you're on stage, you're a more performative version, you know, and this is kind of like that. No, for sure, for sure. So um, that's kind of perfect. Wow, perfect set. Bro, you bridge to terapithia. This guy does it sometimes, y'all. Um, be on brand. Right. So, you know, to your point, when you're performing, you are showcasing your brand as an artist and as a person, right? The way that you're talking to your fans, the way that you're dressed, like all these different little little things that make you you, we gotta try and let that shine through the interview, right? So once again, if you're I think I use this example, I don't know if it's a good one, but like if you're known as like a weed smoking rapper, if they'll let you light up a fucking doobie on the pod, right?

Like, I mean, just if you're usually dressed in all black type of you know, character, make sure that you're in uniform, right? Like if you're talking shit in your music and flexing how great you are, like be a little cocky on the interview. If you're funny, be a little funny in the interview. It's taking what you are and embellishing it. It's not just being, you know, don't it's not like don't think about it and whatever you do is you, like, no, understand what you are and exaggerate it, I think is the key. Absolutely. Because I mean, we're all humans. We have we're we're multi-layered, multi-faceted, like we're gonna have different types of emotions, different types of feelings, whatever. But still, overarching, there are certain things that your audience resonates with the most. And we want to really, really lean into those, not only, of course, every time we're making music, every time we're making content, but this is content. This is this is another to your point, another performance, right? So let's let's have that same like thought process applied to to the interview, you know what I mean? You guys have heard the term world building probably a million times. World building.

Yeah, world building. Yeah, it's called world building. It was literally just well, he did like world building. Yeah, but no, this is like a part of the world that you're creating. So have it live in your world. For sure. All right, this one is you know, easier said than done potentially, but you know, we wrote down be clippable. Be clippable. Like what? Like. Love it. any real tactical, practical advice that you can give for that, like what do you think? If you're an artist, then you've probably tried to use social media to promote your your music, you know. Hopefully. And yeah, hopefully. So you've probably given it some thought to what you know, clips do well, or you've noticed what clips are going viral, or you know, what conversations or what types of interactions seem to be interesting and get shared and get commented on. And I think you just want to maximize those moments, really. Um, I don't know, what is it? Like uh here's controversial.

I was gonna say, here's my take, bro. Go ahead. You can't be fucking Switzerland, bro. You can't be neutral, man. Like Switzerland. You you gotta take a stand, right? And like once again, I'm not saying hop on a podcast and get political and talk about your stance on that, but like for things that you know make you you as an artist, right? Don't be afraid to stand on that shit ten toes down, bro. Like, it's okay to have an opinion because the people that agree with you are gonna agree with you strongly. The people that disagree with you, if they disagree with you and like then they want to unfollow and not listen to your music, they weren't gonna fucking be your fan. They probably weren't gonna be a fan anyway. Yeah. Because I mean, dude, me as a fan at least, I don't necessarily have to agree with every single thing that my like artist that I like says. You know what I mean? So I can still respect them being honest and proud about what they say. And I just hear every publicist butthole puckering up right now. Like, uh don't say that.

Like publicist buttholes puckering up is a terrible like that sound effect is that don't do it again. That's the pucker sound. Don't do it again. Okay, it's enough. Yeah, oh my god. But no, I mean You're right though. Um having yeah, having an opinion is is something that stands out on social media, people gravitate towards, they respect and they appreciate, even if they don't agree, and fuck the ones that don't agree anyway. For sure. I mean, just look at some of the producers that have been really like uh vocal about uh, you know, loop makers and and shit. You know what I mean? Like, they're standing on that shit. They pissed off a ton of loop makers, but then once again, there's a ton of producers and a ton of just artists and creatives and people in general that agreed with what they were saying, and like it's just just polarizing works, man. It really does. I'm just hearing like an artist watching this to getting this advice from us and then coming on the show and getting interviewed and then saying whatever the fuck, and then we get a long text from their manager saying, Hey, take out this, this, this, this, this, this, this moment. No, I mean, once again, like, I don't think you should be controversial for the sake of being controversial.

So I don't want y'all to think that's what we're saying. I think Stand on business. Just stand on business for real, man. Like, just don't be afraid to have opinions. Yeah, right. And like be respectful. No one's asking you to come on and be a douchebag about it, right? Like be respectful, understand Unless that's your brand. I mean, yeah, once again, be on brand. Hey. Goes back to be on brand. But yeah, just have a fucking opinion. Um, all right. Another one. This is more like just tactical, like podcasting, uh, you know, feedback. Don't talk over each other. We do it. I was wondering. Would you no? We're guilty of it sometimes. We are. You get excited, you want to chime in, you want to follow up and piggyback off of what someone's saying. You thought of something cool to say, and you don't want the conversation to go too far, where now if you bring it back to that, it would be weird. That's a big one for me. I'll be like, ooh, I have a good point about this. And then he takes a turn and then he takes another turn. I'm like, well, now I can't take it back to the fucking.

weird. that was 10 seconds ago. Happens so much, bro. That's probably what I'm going like this. Yeah. Like, damn it. I had something good to say. Yeah. No, but just, you know, be be mindful of that because it just sounds terrible. Uh, it's just not good. But also, like taking too long to reply. It's tough, man. Because it's like big gaps and thinking about an answer and ums, like that kind of stuff can kill it too, you know. We may or may not like try and edit some of that out. I was gonna say, people spoiler alert. People can edit that shit, bro. They can. Um, all right. So kind of, you know, the last one we want to talk about with regards to like being on set and like actually at the the uh interview uh setting. Um be be fucking kind, like just be a nice person. Like this platform is spending time, they're maybe spending money, uh, putting this together for you. They wanted you to come on their platform, show some fucking respect. Like say hello to everyone that's part of the crew, thank them for their time.

If you can, obviously be on time, right? Like, you don't know who's gonna become who. You don't know how big that platform's gonna become if they're not already big. You don't know if the fucking intern is gonna be the next CEO of Spotify fucking Daniel X replacement $345 million in a year. Yeah, but anyone out, but but no, I just think um, I just think show love to people, like be a genuinely nice human being because you just really don't know what can happen from there, man. Yeah, yeah, no, any relationship could always lead to something else. I think just being nice, you know, it it's not as tangible. That's why I think it's harder for some people to do because you might not see an immediate reaction. But I'm telling you, the people that are just constantly go through life, you know, with that genuine good attitude, good things happen to them because just their name gets brought up in more conversations, they're remembered better, they're recommended by others. Um, being nice, and I think be professional is another good, like kind of left, you know, similar angle to that, like being on time, right?

Showing up, being respectful, not like putting your shoes on the furniture. I don't know. Like, like I mean, no one's ever done that. Not here, but like the first for everything, man. There is, there is. Yeah. I think I think those are all very good things. Yeah, for sure. And then I mean, this is maybe a selfish plug, but like repost the fucking clips from the interview, man. Like, yeah, some people, you guys with two posts on your page and you're too cool to post anything, and you go do an interview, it's like, what's the point? Come on. I don't get it. Like, just once is a free content machine. Yeah, like just share the fucking clips. Yeah. But anyways, we've made it this far, Henry. We're in the deep end of the episode, as Colin and Samir would say. You promised a bonus tip. I I was gonna say, can you share what what is the bonus tip that only like three of the almost 200 people that we've interviewed have taken advantage of? What should they be doing? One of the main purposes of doing this is to create free content. You guys are, you know, most of you guys hate making content. And I I we get it. We kind of hate making content too, but we do it all the time.

So this is why we started podcasting, actually. It was like a vehicle for you know, easy content. If we sit here and talk for 20 minutes, hopefully we got some clips. So if you sit and do a 30-minute, one hour interview, hopefully you got some clips in there. And yeah, you could go like rip the file off of YouTube, but why not ask the people that interviewed you for the finished, edited, raw, high quality file, so you can chop your own content out of it. Absolutely. Somehow we've had maybe three people be like, Hey, can I get the the file? And we're always like, Yeah, oh my god, yes. I would love what's the email? Oh, we transfer it over right now. Like you are actually taking advantage of the, you know. I mean, some people, I get it, they'll might screen record, you know, straight off YouTube. That works too. But I think if you can get the highest quality stuff, you should be using these interviews for content to be able to tell your story to as many people as possible. So why are you doing it? For sure. And I mean, from from my perspective, if you don't say something worth posting, we got to,

we got a deeper for an hour, then rewind this episode and go back to the prep the preparation part of this episode uh to give a better interview, man. Because I think you gotta get something out of it. There's gotta be at least one clip, two clips, five clips, whatever, you know, whatever it is, right? It's gotta be something that's worth you sharing with your audience to build that like deeper connection with them that goes beyond the music because face it guys, like music is only one part of building fans right now. Like even in in the music industry. It's sad, but it is what it is. I've been saying this, like no one becomes a fan of someone's only music. It's like we have to like the person too. We have to like what they look like, how they act, how they talk. I mean, no one just hears a song and doesn't immediately go look up on Instagram what their profile is looking like, immediately go on TikTok, see what they're looking like, immediately like try and see what this person's all about. It's just how we are.

So we gotta give them that other side for to for people to get that deep connection for sure. Absolutely. So these were tips on how you guys can give the perfect interview. Give us some feedback. Let us know if any of this shit helps. Like we're doing this for you guys. So hopefully y'all found value in this. If you did, please like, comment, and subscribe. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Podcast. We are here each and every week. Until next time, Henry, what are we doing? Getting out of here. Getting out of here. Peace, y'all.