It's proving to be harder than I imagined to get bands to agree to be the subject of my thesis. There is a list of problems that I know must be interfering:
1. The bands don't know me. They don't know what kind of coverage I'm seeking, and of course they want to look good in the end. How can they trust me?
2. Thus far, this is for my thesis. It's not for Vice magazine, or Rolling Stone, or even some cool independent documentary film maker. It's for little ol' me. Why would they want to put forth so much of their time for it?
3. They might feel like they get nothing out of it.
Here are my responses to these common interferences:
1. You don't know me, but you'll get to know me. I'm not in it to reveal your secrets or smear your name, nor am I out to glorify you. Just be yourselves, and you'll look good in the end, I would hope. If you don't, you probably don't deserve to.
2. Yes, this is for my thesis. But it could be published somewhere, and, hell, you'll get a crap load of fun coverage from my side. Audio, video, photography, etc. My coverage could help you out in the market. And all of my lovely unused material could go towards your Myspace, or next video. Who knows? Unused material is like the leftover bits of cookie dough that don't make it into the cookie cutter frame. Munch on that.
3. If you actually believe #3, I don't think I want to cover you anyway.
As of now, I have sent out a good number of emails (not too many) to bands from all realms of my journalistic background. Bands I know well, bands I met only once, bands I danced with briefly while we were both slightly intoxicated. And I have sent out emails to bands I don't know at all, but this gives me little hope that they will respond.
One band that I interviewed last year seems interested, or at least the drummer does. He forwarded me to the group's manager, and I'm now in talks with them – which is the most progress I have made thus far.
Oliver from the band A Place To Bury Strangers has agreed to help me out, so that's great! He'll serve a great role in the project, so I'm glad to have him.
Check out the video for a new song by APTBS, called "In Your Heart":
Beyond that, I am starting to formulate a book list, things I can read to educate myself on the days of rock and music and love that came long before I was born. I have some friends over at Vice Magazine/VBS, since that's where I intern, and I've heard a few suggestions for books. I also plan to turn to a professor in the English department at New York University who concentrates primarily on radical British culture in the 1970s – including music. He'll definitely have a few literary bites for me to check out.
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