Unique Questions to Ask Bands
Twenty questions about the actual work of being in a band, for interviews, student radio, podcasts or a conversation at the merch table, ordered from easy craft questions to the ones that need trust.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Which song of yours changed the most between the demo and the record?
Why ask it
A specific, easy opener that signals you are interested in the work rather than the biography. Bands almost always have this answer ready because the argument about it happened in the studio, and the story usually names who won.
Where does a song normally start for you: a line, a riff, or a drum part?
Why ask it
Practical and answerable in one sentence, and it tells you who in the band is the engine. If they disagree with each other about the answer, follow that rather than moving on, because you have just found the interesting thing.
What's in the set because it works live rather than because you love it?
Why ask it
Working bands know the difference and rarely get asked about it. A group that cannot name one has either not played enough shows or is not being straight with you, and the answer often opens onto how they read a room.
How do you decide what order to play things in?
Why ask it
Set construction is a craft nobody asks about, so you get real thinking instead of a rehearsed line. Listen for whether they build around one song or around the point in the night where they usually lose people.
What's the hardest song to play immediately after the one before it?
Why ask it
Gets at the physical side of performing, which is entirely absent from most coverage: a tuning change, a vocal that sits badly after the last one, a drummer with no time to breathe. Drummers and singers usually answer first.
What did you cut from the last record that you still think about?
Why ask it
Abandoned material is easier to talk about honestly than finished material, because they are no longer defending it. The reason it was cut is usually the clearest statement you will get about what the record was supposed to be.
What part of the recording did you argue about the longest?
Why ask it
Better than asking whether they argue, which gets a no. Naming a single disputed decision keeps it safe, and how they tell it in front of each other shows you how the band actually settles things.
What sound were you chasing on this record that you never quite got?
Why ask it
Musicians tend to hear the gap between what they wanted and what came out more clearly than anyone else, and few interviewers give them room to say so. Vague answers here usually mean the record was made quickly.
How much of what's on the record can you reproduce on stage?
Why ask it
A technical question with an honest answer about tracks, loops and how many hands are available. Bands are often relieved to be asked directly rather than have it treated as a secret.
Which cover have you played so often it feels like yours?
Why ask it
An easy one to drop in when the conversation stalls, and it usually produces a story about where the cover came from. Ask what they changed about it, which is where the useful part is.
Is there a song you've retired, and what made you stop?
Why ask it
The reasons are more varied than you would guess: a lyric they no longer mean, an association with someone who left, or simply a key that no longer suits the voice. This is the question that most often produces something nobody has printed.
Which of your songs do people misread, and what do they think it's about?
Why ask it
Lets them correct the record without having to explain a lyric line by line, which most writers hate. Some bands like the misreading better than the truth and will tell you so.
What do you do in the fifteen minutes before you walk on?
Why ask it
Concrete, easy, and it gets you the detail that makes a piece worth reading: a warm up, a particular drink, one person who has to be left alone. Ask each member separately if you can, because the answers rarely match.
What's the smallest room you've played that you'd go back to?
Why ask it
Invites a specific venue and a reason, and the reason is usually about the sound or the crowd rather than nostalgia. Far better than asking about their dream venue, which produces the same three answers from everyone.
What has touring taught you about each other that rehearsal never would?
Why ask it
Ask this once they are relaxed, because it needs candour about people sitting in the room. Answers tend to be about sleep, money and silence, which is the honest content of touring and almost never covered.
Who in the band says the thing nobody wants to hear in rehearsal?
Why ask it
Every group has one, and identifying them tells you how quality control works. Watch whether the person named agrees with the description or looks surprised by it.
What's the worst advice you were given early on that people still repeat?
Why ask it
Invites disagreement with received wisdom rather than a complaint about the industry, so it stays specific. Common answers are about playing for exposure, signing early, or never turning down a support slot.
What's the most useful thing another band has taught you?
Why ask it
Bands learn the practical parts of the job from each other rather than from anyone official, so the answers are often about load in, splitting money or how to talk to a sound engineer. It also gives them a chance to credit someone.
What does a good day off on tour look like?
Why ask it
Deliberately ordinary, which is why it works late in a conversation once the music questions are done. The answer is a real portrait of the life: laundry, a swimming pool, a phone call home, nothing at all.
What's next that you can actually talk about?
Why ask it
The last clause is the courtesy, and it is why you get a straight answer instead of a hedge. It also lets them flag what is embargoed rather than having to dodge you, which is the difference between an interview they enjoyed and one they endured.
Interviewing a Band Well
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before You Ask Anything
Listen to the record and name one song
One accurate reference to a specific song, by title, changes the whole conversation, because most people they talk to have not listened past the single. It also stops you asking things the album already answers.
Never ask them to describe their own sound
Every band is tired of this and the answer is always the same slightly embarrassed list of genres. Describe what you heard and ask if that is fair, which gives them something to push back on.
Work out who you are actually talking to
The singer usually gets every question and often knows least about the recording process. Direct the technical questions at the person who made those decisions, and address at least two people by name.
Fix the time and the format first
Ten minutes before doors, twenty in a dressing room and an hour on a video call are three different interviews. Ask how long you have, and say up front whether you are recording.
Have twice as many questions as you need
Half of them will be answered inside another answer. Bring a list and be willing to abandon most of it, because a follow up is nearly always better than the next prepared question.
During the Conversation
Turning any answer into three more
- 1Repeat the specific noun they used back as a question. If they mention the argument about the second chorus, ask who was on which side of it.
- 2Ask when it happened. Putting a decision in time gets you the story around it rather than the summary of it.
- 3Ask what they would do differently now. This is where bands say the honest thing, because it costs them nothing to have grown.
If the band has gone flat
- 1Switch to a practical question with a factual answer, like what they do in the fifteen minutes before a show. Short answers restart a stalled interview better than deep ones.
- 2Ask a question to the quietest person by name, ideally about their own instrument or their own part.
- 3Offer a genuine observation of your own about the record and let them agree or disagree. A flat interview is often one where nothing has been at stake yet.
What Loses a Band Immediately
Opening with money or streaming numbers
It reads as an assessment of whether they are successful enough to be worth talking to. If the finances matter to your piece, get there once the music has been discussed.
Asking about influences as your first question
It is the question every band answers on autopilot, and the list they give is a press release. If you want the influence, name what you heard and ask whether it was deliberate.
Raising a member who left, without warning
Sometimes necessary, but ambushing them with it in minute two ends the candour for everything after. Signal it, and accept a decline.
Asking during load in or sound check
They are working, the crew needs the room, and you will get monosyllables. Ask when the good window is and take the one you are offered.
Reading the whole list aloud in order
A band can hear when you have stopped listening and are waiting for your turn. The interview goes polite and stays there.
Afterwards
- Check the spellings of names, the album title and any collaborator before you publish. Getting a bandmate's name wrong is the mistake they remember.
- Send the piece or the episode link when it goes up, without asking for anything. It is the cheapest way to be someone they will talk to again.
- If you promised to keep something off the record, keep it, including in the offhand version you tell friends.
- Quote the awkward pauses accurately rather than tidying them into fluent sentences, but cut the filler words. Both are a kind of accuracy.