Tim Jonze is a music writer for ‘The Guardian’ and is also the online editor of ‘The Guardian’s’ music website. Having worked as a journalist for over 10 years, Tim has worked for publications such as NME, Dazed and Confused and VICE. I first came across Tim’s work when reading the NME, a weekly ritual in my teenage years. As an admirer of Tim’s work I was incredibly excited when the opportunity presented itself to interview him at ‘The Guardian’s’ offices. Armed with an old copy of NME I sat down with Tim and discussed his career as a music journalist, playing dress up and Liam Gallagher’s coat.
So how did you get into journalism and music writing?
I’ve always written stuff about music. I always wanted to be either a musician, as most music journalists probably do, or a music writer. I suppose I started writing a lot at university for a student paper just doing reviews, this graduated into a column. This is the time when I went from writing how I thought you were supposed to write and developing more of what I would say as an individual voice. There was an advert in the NME that said we need new writers, it was at the time when ‘The Strokes’, ‘Interpol’ and bands like that were coming out so they wanted new writers who were a bit more enthusiastic than the ones who had been there 5-10 years who were getting a bit cynical. So I replied to that, waited three months, expected nothing to happen but I got a phone call back which really surprised me. I was living at home at Leicester with my mum and dad at the time trying to work out what the hell I was going to do with my life. There’s that weird kind of disparity between working on an IT helpdesk living with your mum and dad and at the same time going out every now and then meeting bands and doing this rock and roll journalist lifestyle. That’s how it got started.
What’s your day to day role at ‘The Guardian’?
So when I got the job at ‘The Guardian’ my main role was editing the music website, commissioning blogs, picture galleries doing podcasts stuff like that. Now things have kind of been shaken up a bit and my role is now more writing and producing content. There is no such thing as just a writer any more at ‘The Guardian’. Everyone has to do a bit of TV/video presenting, podcast work and lots of social media stuff. It’s quite funny because a lot of writers are really shy and socially awkward; we aren’t the most forthcoming of people. So it’s hard to be plonked in front of a camera. Some writers are amazing at it, some writers are better on video than they are at actually writing so it’s quite interesting to see who thrives with that and who doesn’t. I don’t mind doing it, although I think it’s quite difficult and it’s not my natural thing. My natural instinct is to be behind a computer writing stuff.
Tim’s NME article from 2006
At this point in the interview I pull out the old copy of the NME that I brought with me and show Tim one of my favourite pieces he wrote for NME. The article in question involved Tim dressing up as Faris from ‘The Horrors’ and roaming the streets of London to see the reaction of the public. I’m not sure who was more embarrassed; me for gushing over the article or Tim having to see himself dressed head to toe in Gothic gear.
This is one of my favourite articles of yours, how was it going out and writing this style of journalism?
This is the thing I like doing most being a bit of an idiot, embarrassing myself. I think NME is best when it does personality. The thing for me growing up that makes a good magazine is if it makes you laugh, whether it’s private eye, NME or Vice. I don’t really care about anything else as long as it makes me laugh. So I’ve always tried to make stuff vaguely humorous. I think you can’t really go wrong dressing up as Faris from ‘The Horrors’; it’s probably quite an offensive piece in some ways because Faris had actually just been beaten up on the streets of Whitechapel. We decided to see how safe it was to dress up like Faris on the streets of Whitechapel and we actually did it. No one cared less because in London you can dress pretty much how you want and get away with it. I think the most shocking thing about this is the state of my hair to be honest (laughs). Whenever I read old stuff from NME it’s kind of half embarrassing and I half I wish I could write like that now.
Have you had to change your style of writing working for ‘The Guardian’?
You have to write in a more considered tone at ‘The Guardian’. There’s so much stuff you have to think about. You can’t be offensive to anybody and you have to think a lot more about what you’re words are saying, who’s the victim of your jokes I guess. Whereas at NME I don’t think we thought about that, well maybe a bit, but it wasn’t quite as bad. You have to be a lot more thoughtful at ‘The Guardian’, but also you have scope to be a lot more kind of intellectual. You can talk about things that you just wouldn’t have been able to at NME because the readers maybe don’t know about this debate.
The Guardian offices
Are there any interviews that stick in your mind as going especially badly?
I think when an interview goes really badly sometimes that’s the best interview. The worst interview I’ve ever carried out was with Pete Doherty for the NME. It took him three days before I actually got him to sit down with a tape recorder, during that time he just kept going off with various scoundrels and turning up five hours late for gigs and stuff. I was just following him round and he was completely disinterested in the idea of doing an interview, and then when we did he fell asleep and started taking crack. Then we went on the motorway, which was awful, the guy driving us was clearly pissed. I mean that was a disastrous interview but it made one of the best pieces. The worst interviews are the ones where it’s just quite boring; I’ve done loads of awful interview with people who are just outrageously rude.
And on the flip side to this who are the some of the best people you’ve interviewed?
Ian Brown has always been very entertaining and clever and interesting. He also comes out with loads of stoner theories; he’s always been very engaging and accommodating. I interviewed Tony Ben who was charming and just full of lovely heart-warming stories for the piece we were doing.
Do you find that most people are pretty forthcoming and open to being interviewed?
Most people are perfectly pleasant I’d say. All people have a slight dislike of journalists because it’s just weird isn’t it. All journalism is slightly unnatural situation when you sit down; I’ve never been entirely comfortable with the situation. Some people are perfectly relaxed as journalists but I’ve been doing this for 10 years and I still get nervous when I go meet someone I always feel a little unsure…maybe that isn’t the right word. I’m always pretty sure about what I want to get from the interview but I never feel relaxed. Although I don’t think you should because you need to constantly be aware of what’s happening. It’s not natural to sit down as two strangers and ask questions in such a one way thing.
Have there been any moments in your career you’ve witnessed that have stuck with you and made you think ‘I’m lucky to be doing this job’?
I am the world’s worst person for thinking of things off the top of my head, honestly you could ask me who the best band is in the world and I wouldn’t be able to name a single band. When Brian Wilson played at Glastonbury it was a kind of magical moment. I think it had been a mud bath for three days then finally on the Sunday the sun had come out. I think I was in a worse for wear situation and I also think I proposed to my wife during that show.
Have there been times when you’ve been in awe of an interviewee?
Oh plenty, all the time. It’s always the people who were on your bedroom wall when you were growing up, and I don’t think you ever get over that. I was so nervous when I turned up to interview Oasis, I think they knew it. Someone like Noel Gallagher is so accommodating; he’s just like a stand up comedian he gives you quote after quote he’s so funny. Liam just didn’t care less that I was nervous. I remember I had this huge list of questions on a notepad and I went through them one by one. He was giving me funny answers but only one or two words staring at me like it was a fight. I think I had twenty minutes with him and after about 7 minute’s I’d completely run out of all my questions. So I remembered he wore a furry coat at Glastonbury, I think I asked him “how do you think your coat went down at Glastonbury?” He leapt up and shouted “My coat…who cares about that!?” I walked out of that interview thinking ‘Oh my god that was just terrifying!’
Has working within the music industry changed the way you view music?
You see the cycles of the music industry you kind of have to avoid getting cynical when you see the same kind of bands. It gets to January and the same PR cycle starts up again and it’s not how you’ve grown up with music, you see how it works a bit more. People think it’s really bad when journalists get cynical but I think there has to be an element of cynicism when you see how it all works. Especially when a band gets big and eight other bands start sounding like them straight after, or bands that were successful previously change their sound. ‘Mumford & Sons’ or ‘Arcade Fire’ are bands whose sound has been imitated so much.
What’s your all time favourite album?
Probably ‘The Smell of Our Own’ by Hidden Cameras, it’s their first album which was playing one of the very first times I went into the NME office. I remember thinking I’ve never heard this, is this what the NME is like they have this secret stash of the good stuff that they don’t let the world hear. I can’t believe it never became massive. That’s the album I’ve played the most. ‘Spiritualized Ladies and Gentleman’ is another one that means a lot.
And what’s on your iPod the most right now?
Because I interviewed R. Kelly I got back into his old stuff like ‘Chocolate Factory’. But this year John Wizards is the album I’ve heard the most.
Miley Cyrus: Yes or No?
(After some consideration) I say she is a good thing, yes to Miley Cyrus!
Finally what advice would you give to aspiring music journalists?
I would say keep writing and try and develop your own voice. We get so many people who come to ‘The Guardian’ and try to write like a 40-year-old critic, we’ve got enough of those! It’s about trying to find a unique voice. It depends what publication you work for of course, for example if it’s ‘The Guardian’ it might be that you have an interest in feminism or identity politics. But if it’s for the NME it must just be that you have a wild writing style and you’re quite funny. I think to a degree it’s about getting the more extreme side of your personality out. If someone is a bit boring then their writing is probably going to be a bit boring. You don’t have to live this wild lifestyle; you don’t have to be snorting coke off the back of your hand every five minutes. It’s more about trying to emphasise those bits of your personality and being a bit larger than life on the page, I’d say that’s the most important thing.
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