#blog interviews

SO I’ve been busy, the past several weeks, what with one thing and another. The book blog Civilian Reader interviewed me a little while ago and it’s just gone live! Check it out here. I really enjoyed doing this one. 

In the same vein, there will be a couple more interviews popping up shortly, some of them in podcast form and some in text -- more information on that to follow. 

An essay of mine is scheduled to go up later this week on B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy’s blog, which is really cool. Also look out for a bunch of other upcoming posts I’ve been writing for different blogs -- Chuck Wendig’s Five Things series, Nick Kaufmann’s Scariest Part, the UK magazine SciFiNow’s “Inspiration” series (of course I did mine on Terry Pratchett) and (!!!) John Scalzi’s Big Idea. I’m also doing a Reddit AMA on the 25th, God help me. 

TSM16/23 Why Blog Radio is advantageous, with Donald Newson

Their Story Matters with Sara Troy and Donald Newson airs June 7th-13th 

Getting interviewed on BBS Radio, free! Tuning in and turning on BBS Radio, life changing! Having your own broadcast on BBS Radio, priceless!

Some will ask why I your host today Sara Troy with her own radio station would celebrate another radio station, it is because I celebrate liberty and freedom of voice, we all have a…

THE INTERVIEW

Korduroy .TV today posted  an interview with they did with us  check it out and let us know what you think. 

For the latest instalment of our new Q&A series, we chatted to Franky of Listen Before You Buy. Read on below to find out more, and see which blog is up next. Tune in this Monday for the next Q&A post.

A young entrant in the game, LBYB has already established itself as an intuitive and unique offering. With an albums club where you can preview releases in full, some Anglo-American humour, and roots in old school record collections and musical upbringing, Listen Before You Buy is here to stay. 

Name:

I'd rather not give my real name, but Franky B Rockafeller works.

Blog:

For terrible music and the worst writing around: Listen Before You Buy. 

Location:

The site is based York, PA but I'm from Edinburgh, Scotland.

When did you start your blog?

I started putting things into motion in mid-January 2010 and launched it on January 27th 2010. It's still a young pup.

First album you ever bought:

I honestly can't remember. My parents named me after Frank Zappa and so they bought me the "200 Motels" soundtrack as a "weclome to the world" kinda gift when I was born, and I remember them getting me my first CD which was Paul Weller's Stanley Road when it came out in 1995, but the first I ever bought escapes me.

Sound of 2011:

Radical Dads have an amazing album that will hopefully see the light of day this year, and even though people still give me shit for this, James Blake's debut is immense. Oh, and OFWGKTA.

Favourite record of 2010:

Sleigh Bells' debut album Treats.

Best show you've been to recently?

This draws gasps and dizzy spells whenever I say this, but I haven't been to a show since 2002 (Coldplay when they were good) before I moved to the U.S.  I was meant to see British Sea Power in Philly and got lost in the ghetto, was meant to see Arcade Fire last summer and a family member had a stroke the day before, was meant to see The Black Keys support The Kings Of Leon last year and TKOL canceled a week before.  The town I live in is a complete shithole and nobody ever comes through here (unless you're Brooks and fucking Dunn) so it's expensive to travel to see bands. I'll get to one eventually.

You're a funny dude. Ever considered switching to stand-up comedy?

I actually was a stand-up comic until Mitch Hedberg pulled a Sean Parker on my ass and stole all of my jokes, got stoned, developed a drug habit and wandered up on stage mumbling. 

Regular stops on the festival circuit?

See two questions above.  Although when I lived back home I'd frequent T In The Park and the Reading/Leeds festivals.

How do you deal with the inevitable onslaught of emails? And how much of them do you actually read?

Honestly, I read every single email that comes through the LBYB headquarter's doors and as of March 2011 I'm getting about 50 a day between the submissions inbox and my personal email. Most of my mail has filters that sorts it into certain folders in Gmail, the most important ones I act on first and then at night when everyone's out at shows and tweeting about it and making me feel really sad, I go back through the rest, telling myself "they might be singing onstage with Hall and Oates right now, but at least my inbox is well-organised. Fools. I have a submissions inbox that my writers go through and add their names (labels) to music they like and if I dig it I'll add a star to it so they know it's good to go on the site.  If I think it's shite I'll remove their name and add a "Rejected" label to it.  It might take a few weeks or a few hours, but I write back to everyone who sends me their music, I think it's worth it to let someone know you at least gave their music a listen whether you liked it or not.

Guilty pleasures?

Beyonce/Destiny's Child, Justin Timberlake, Pizza Explosion flavoured Golfish crackers (an American thing....but I'm of the belief that they're the cornerstone of any nutricsous diet), and cats.  And Rainbows....that reminds me, I have to pick my cat up from the dry cleaners.

Last book read?  

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and currently making my way through Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky.

Are you on last.fm? Who are your most listened to artists, or best new suggestions?

I am on Last.fm: theysayjump. My most listened to artists (in order) are The Beatles, Blur, Oasis, and Iron & Wine, and my best new suggestions would definitely be Radical Dads, Ghost Heart, and New Animal.

Craziest perk or experience you've had as a result of your blog?

Just the fact that people not only offer to, but follow through on sending me shit for free, mainly vinyl since it's the only thing I want.  I think in 2010 I got more vinyl for free from bands I featured on the site than I actually paid for.  I did get a letter from Google a few weeks back that I thought was the buyout offer that all the tech blogs were talking about, but it just turned out to be my $10k cheque for my AdSense revenue in January. awwsadface.

Any tips for our aspiring music bloggers?

Yeah...don't listen to people telling you not to do it or start.  Just do it, and enjoy it, and don't give a shit about traffic or stats or recognition.  If you put time and effort into having really great content, everything else will follow anyway.  Just don't step on my turf, I accidentally kicked a pigeon once, I'd have no qualms with doing it to you.

Who should we interview next?

Me again, or I Guess I'm Floating, or We Listen For You if IGIF isn't around.