I've chosen to discuss Noel Gallagher's interview in the Irish Times' 'The Ticket' on Friday October 3rd 2008. I think 'The Ticket' has a particularly good record of interviews and I enjoyed reading this, particularly as Noel has recently been in the news after being attacked in Toronto.
The interview leads with the headline "I thought I'd been stabbed" which grabs attention straight away. I had imagined this would be a casual interview as the Gallaghers are not known for being polite and humble, and this is certainly the case. However the interview benefits from not being too serious and keeping a laid-back attitude at the beginning, before moving on to more serious matters.
Brian Boyd allows Noel to speak freely without, it seems, interrupting with too many questions or qualifiers - it seems the interview has been conducted almost like a casual conversation. By allowing him to talk, we find out much about Noel that persistent questioning may not have revealed - such as only being able to manage "three songs a year" and having "all the cocaine in the world".
I feel the interview is presented simplistically: with headers for each topic of conversation, such as 'On Songwriting' or 'On Irishness'. If we then read the paragraph or so that follows, we can see that the interview was handled very casually, with plenty of bad language and candid opinion (such as "I like Radiohead - until Thom Yorke starts singing.").
This interview works so well because there is no need to explain or qualify anything Noel says, except for opening with a quote that relates to his injury in Toronto. By allowing him to speak, Boyd runs the risk of going off on a tangent (undoubtedly he did) but he still gets the interview broken down into a few simple topics and lets Noel Gallagher say what he likes about that topic. It is a simple and interesting way of handling, writing and presenting an interview.
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