Sigur fault or the interviewer’s when things go bad?
The way NPR’s Bryant Park Project tells it, the Icelandic band Sigur Ros was at fault for what it calls “possibly the worst interview in the history of electronic media”.
Seriously.
It was that bad.
We’re not sure if they were tired, or if it was a language thing, or what… but wow.
Whereas most shows would just bury an interview like that, we’ve decided to actually show it to you. It certainly made us laugh. We hope you’ll enjoy it too.
And to repeat, we love this band. We are going to be the first people to buy their new album “Hvarf / Heima” when it comes out this November. And the concert documentary is beautiful — please go see it if it comes to your town.
Just never invite them on your radio show.
It certainly was awkward - the total number of words spoken wasn’t much more than the 4 musicians in the studio. Watch the video of the interview and see what you think.
While many commenters agreed with the show hosts about the band’s poor performance, others picked up on the fact that the interviewer - Luke Burbank - wasn’t much better:
ease up on the band. the interviewer was terrible. there is no continuity in the questions, and there is little attempt at being personable to the band which creates an awkward atmosphere. how else could you respond?
Sent by ros | 3:16 AM ET | 10-11-2007
Yes, terrible. But I think the main problem was the interviewer who asked questions leading nowhere…
“How dou you create music, do you just sit down and play?” - “……..u, yes”.
“What is Hopelandic, does it mean anything, is it Icelandic?” - “…….u, no, it’s just gibberish”.
And up to three questions at a time:
“Do you do this, or that and then just that?” - “……uuu, B”.You can’t really look good in an interview like this unless you’re an interview- and conversational whizard
Sent by Hildur | 5:32 AM ET | 10-11-2007
But I’ll leave the last word to this commenter:
hahaha.. have you guys never seen a interview with Sigur R??s before???
This is normal.. this is how they are.. and thats why we love them….
Sent by Vuni | 5:38 AM ET | 10-11-2007
Posted: October 15th, 2007 under Asking Questions, Bad Live Interviews, Entertainment Beat, Interviewer Experiences, Media Tours, Musician Tips, Radio Interview Case Studies.