Interviews
Nardwuar's interviews are frequently shown on MuchMusic's Going Coastal, or printed in Chart. Although Nardwuar's favourite targets are music artists, he has stated that he will interview any celebrity.
His interview style can be grating and confusing to those who have had no prior experience with him. A typical interview will begin with "Who are you?", followed by "From?" if the subject doesn't volunteer his or her affiliations. The interview will always end with "Keep on rockin' in the free world", and the "doot doota loot doo..." of "Shave and a Haircut", to which the interviewee is expected to reply with the final "doot doo!" before Nardwuar freezes with a wide smile until the camera cuts off.
A somewhat common reply has been "Fuck you!". Other notable replies have been "Help Me" (Tom Morello), "You're nuts" (Glenn Danzig), "You're bizarre" (Jeff Hanneman of Slayer), "Radio free fucking Europe" (Courtney Love of Hole), "Thank you?" (Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth), "Ka-Boom" (Jello Biafra), "Quack-quack" (Jello Biafra with The Melvins), "Mmm-hmm" (Jack White), "Massive Death" (King Coffey of the Butthole Surfers), "Um bye" (Faris Badwan of The Horrors), "Bang-Bang" (Ice-T), "Katmandu" (Daniel Johnston), "Keep taking the pills" (Peter Murphy), "Bukkake" (Hodgy Beats of OFWGKTA), and "Lace up!" (Machine Gun Kelly).
Due to his upfront and esoteric style, he has been attacked verbally, physically threatened, and intimidated by people such as Sebastian Bach of Skid Row (who stole Nardwuar's tuque); the band Quiet Riot (who chased Nardwuar and crew down the street); and Dave Rowntree of Blur. Alice Cooper, Travis Barker, Harlan Ellison, Alina Hussain, Beck and others have hung up on him or been verbally combative in interviews. Chris Fehn of Slipknot and Kid Cudi have both left midway through an interview.
Nardwuar's unorthodox approach often ends up in bizarre scenarios. Some of his subjects recognize Nardwuar's eccentric style and successfully manage to reverse the scenario on him, especially Iggy Pop, David Cross, Mudhoney and "Weird Al" Yankovic. Some interpret his hijinks as intentionally disrespectful, including Nas and pornographer Al Goldstein. Henry Rollins found Nardwuar to be disingenuous, saying "I like the character that you're playing. I like that you can turn it on and off. That's cute." Nardwuar made several attempts at contacting Courtney Love, first in 1991 over the telephone, talking about Danelectro guitars and asking her about her P.O. box before she ended the conversation. He later was able to get full interviews out of her after sneaking backstage into a dressing room at a 1993 Hole show in Vancouver, B.C., and again in November 1994 backstage at the Commodore Ballroom. Love was also present during Nardwuar's interview with Nirvana in January 1994.
More often the experience confuses the celebrities. Members of GWAR tried not to laugh while in character. Jello Biafra was impressed with his guerrilla interview style, but became noticeably angered in a 2000 interview when Nardwuar began to cajole Biafra about Biafra's lawsuit against former Dead Kennedys band mates. Many performers have expressed appreciation for Nardwuar's interview style (and some have even collaborated with his band) including A$AP Rocky, Andrew W.K., Big Sean, The Cribs, Currensy, Drake, The Drums, Flavor Flav, Franz Ferdinand, J.Cole, Jay-Z, Josh Homme, Katy Perry, Kelly Rowland, Kendrick Lamar, Kid Cudi, Kreayshawn, Lil B, Lil Wayne, Mac Miller, Marilyn Manson, The Mars Volta, Michael Moore, Mikael Akerfeldt, N.E.R.D., Nirvana, NOFX, OFWGKTA, Pharrell Williams, Riff Raff, Ron Jeremy, Skinhead Rob, Snoop Dogg, Sonic Youth, Tech N9ne, Skrillex, Vanilla Ice, Yelawolf, Young Jeezy, and Rhys Webb of The Horrors who described the interview style as "an ever unwinding ball of string".
Nardwuar does extensive research on the interviewee to confuse, scare or impress them; often bringing up minutia about band members' pasts that they have a hard time recalling, until he coaches them along. Frequently, he will also attempt to make connections, no matter how obscure, between the person or subject at question and Canada. A tribute to his research skills, while interviewing Josh Homme, he produced a grade school class photo of Homme mid-interview, who remained blasé yet clearly impressed. In 'Nardwuar Vs Skrillex', he produced the first CD Skrillex was ever featured on as Sonny Moore, Skrillex's then questioned his manager and girlfriend during the interview who revealed they did not know that era of Skrillex's past. During an interview with Pharrell Williams from N.E.R.D., Nardwuar pulled out a vinyl 1992 record featuring the very first recorded track by Pharrell, causing him to pause and state "This is one of the most impressive interviews I've ever experienced in my life. Seriously." After an Interview with Nardwuar on October 4, 2012 before his show at The Queen Elizabeth Theater in Vancouver, BC, Canada, Ed Sheeran walked back into his dressing room and told the next interviewers that he had just had, "the best interview in my life".
Read more about this topic: Nardwuar The Human Serviette
Famous quotes containing the word interviews:
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—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“What a perpetual disappointment is actual society, even of the virtuous and gifted! After interviews have been compassed with long foresight, we must be tormented presently by baffled blows, by sudden, unseasonable apathies, by epilepsies of wit and of animal spirits, in the heyday of friendship and thought. Our faculties do not play us true, and both parties are relieved by solitude.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)