All journalists dream of locking horns with influential politicians, artists and intellects.
But even those that make it must first serve their time quizzing the likes of Dappy, Danny Dyer and Eliza ‘my music is political’ Doolittle.
Which makes meeting someone like Patrick Wolf, the handsome genius in the video above whose talents are as yet unmatched by widespread fame, all the more satisfying for a hack-in-training.
From the dregs to the Biebers, the problem with pop stars is that they’re usually media-trained to within an inch of their lives, coached to trade only in platitudes, drilled to withhold real opinions, ever-weary of an unflattering headline.
They know to smile and nod. They know not to fiddle or ‘umm and ahh’. They have that useful trick of repeating the question in their answer. And yet they so often manage to be charming but dull, like salesmen who can’t switch off.
Give me someone like Patrick any day, with his petulant pout and the eyes that glaze over if your questions begin to ramble.
Someone with enough humility left to be embarrassed and awkward at being sat with a camera in their face and a clock-watching manager lurking, fielding questions about their personal life from an agenda-driven stranger.
Give me the reticent ‘umm and ahh’-ers, whose smiles are hard-won but real, and whose ideas are entirely their own.
They may not make the best anecdotes or the funniest Facebook photos, but they do make the humble act of asking someone more popular and interesting than you a series of questions feel like an honest endeavour, rather than a transaction.
Check out the Patrick Wolf interview - complete with intro – on Spinner.
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