Bands Who Pissed Me Off... this week

As some of you know, I work in PR for my day job, so I understand that reporters can often be demanding. They can be pushy, at times, and some are completely filled with an untitled sense of self-importance. Most however are very cool, just doing their job and can be a great ally in promoting your clients. (editor's note: I used to be a reporter full-time before selling out and going into PR, and was kind pushy at times, but thanks to karma I have learned my lesson.)

As a writer for music mags., I try to be accommodatingly. I don't randomly slam bands in articles for no reason (the gloves come off with reviews, however). I know interviews are not the number one reason people start a band. If someone is taking the time to sit through an interview and answer the same questions again and again, I feel a little bad turning around and trashing them in print for no reason. I love music and a lot of the bands I interview are not doing this to get rich (and clearly neither am I, because I don't take a paycheck from most of these mags) , but simply to play music. I have an enormous amnount of respect for these bands. I'll even throw the publicist a bone and promote one of their up and coming no-name clients if they have been helpful in the past. Then there are those I will never work with again...

I hate, Hate, HATE, with the red hot intensity of 1,000 suns, when publicists come begging on bended knee for a write up of their band and then never quite follow through once I have agreed to write about them. Two recent examples.

John's List of "Bands That are Dead to Me":

1. MXPX

Christian pop-rockers MXPX (which by the way, got a huge following with the Born Again crowd and then got pissed off a couple years later when anyone called them "Christian pop-rockers"). I did an interview with the drummer or guitarist - can't remember which - a couple years ago and the guy was a real dick. He could not be more uninterested if he tried. Every answer was "yes" or "no" regardless of the question. I had about 15 questions and the interview was over in less than 10 minutes. I had to go back to the publicist and ask for an interview with someone else (not much better the second time around, but I was on deadline and had to turn something in). Earlier this year, with the release of their latest crappy CD, a new publicist scheduled and interview which the band skipped... twice. MXPX, you are dead to me. Go to hell.

2. Yellowcard

I know, I was shocked to realize they were still around, as well. They had a tween hit a few years ago with "Ocean Avenue." Their flack begged my editor for a feature, so I offered to write it. We agreed to an e-mail interview and I sent over the questions. A few days go by and the publicist hits me back with an e-mail telling me he wanted to cut a couple of the questions (apparently, the question, "So, there were a couple of line up changes on this record?" was going to bring the band to tears.) "John, (you are asking me) how did you know a couple of guys quit the band?" Good question: Because the jackass publicist mentioned that in his pitch to my editor ("they have a new line up!"). I told him that was cool, we could scrap the whole interview if he wanted to nit pick the questions. He quickly replied that no, he was just going to change around the order and then send them on to the band. Well it's been close to three months now and still no response from the publicist or the band (their album tanked by the way. Coincidence? Looks like someone's going to be applying for that job at Hot Topic, soon.)

That's it for now. I'll let you know if I add someone else to the list.

On a positive note, here's a couple of really good albums, I've been listening to this week (i.e. bands that are not MXPX or Yellowcard): Bruce Springsteen's "Magic", American Steel's "Destroy the Future", The A-Sides "Silver Storms" and The Frantic "Audio & Murder".