Greg Prato Interview
Greg Prato poses with Rob Halford
A freelance music writer based in Long Island (New York), Greg Prato has written books on Shannon Hoon (A Devil on One Shoulder and an Angel on the Other: The Story of Shannon Hoon and Blind Melon) and mostly recently the late/great Tommy Bolin (Touched By Magic: The Tommy Bolin Story). He has a book due in April in the US and in June in the UK, called Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History Of Seattle Rock (ECW Press). As a freelancer he has written for Classic Rock, All Music Guide and Billboard et al. Visit stores.lulu.com/gregprato to read sample chapters of both the Blind Melon and Tommy Bolin books (and for ordering instructions), and www.myspace.com/gregpratopage for additional info.
Can you give me a brief history of your writing career so far?
I’ve been writing since 1997 – started off writing for All Music Guide, which I still do to this day. Along the way, I’ve written for many great music magazines and websites, including Classic Rock magazine, Guitarist magazine, Record Collector magazine, Goldmine magazine, Rolling Stone.com, and Billboard.com, among others.
Was there any particular reason why you wanted to write about music?
I had taken a job as a customer service rep at a local music magazine – that shall remain nameless. Rock music has always been a love of mine, and after I became friendly with some of the writers at the mag and saw how bloody easy it was to write reviews and do interviews, I took the plunge. I convinced my boss at the time (who was also one of the editors) to let me write. I was given a few reviews, but when it became clear that I wasn’t going to write for them on a regular basis, I said “Sayonara,” and made the jump to writing full-time for other sites/mags
You’ve written books on Tommy Bolin and Shannon Hoon; both artists never really achieved great success and acclaim. Is that what attracted you to write biographies of them?
I’m a long-time fan of both Tommy and Shannon, and always wondered why both never truly received the credit they deserved for their talents – Tommy is one of my favorite guitarists of all-time, and Shannon is one of my favorite singers/frontmen of all-time. I did features on both for Classic Rock magazine a few years ago, and after I did each article, I realized I had a head start on books if I decided to do so. After consulting with the surviving Blind Melon members and Tommy’s brother, Johnnie, and getting their okay to do respective books, I decided to take the plunge.
Can you give me some details on your Tommy Bolin book? What has the reaction been like from Deep Purple fans?
I conducted around 50 exclusive interviews for the Tommy book – including such renowned rock names as David Coverdale, Glenn Hughes, Martin Barre, Carmine Appice, Jan Hammer, Eddie Kramer and members of the James Gang, and Tommy’s bro, Johnnie, among others. Like the Shannon Hoon book and my upcoming Grunge Is Dead book, it is set up in the form of an oral history. Meaning that it’s a collection of quotes from everyone I interviewed – almost like watching a documentary, but instead, it’s a book. Even before I became a writer, I’ve always enjoyed reading this style of writing the most – especially the great book Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain – and even Q&A’s in magazines. The reaction from Purple and Tommy fans has been overwhelmingly positive, but the greatest review came from Johnnie Bolin – he gave the book a rating of “105 stars.” I'd also like to mention that the book designer who worked with me on both the Tommy and Blind Melon books did an absolutely exceptional job - especially on the covers. Her name is Linda Krieg, and I suggest that any other authors looking for a great and affordable book designer get in touch with her, at http://www.myspace.com/lindakriegdesign.
Your forthcoming book Grunge Is Dead: The Oral History Of Seattle Rock must have presented you with an incredible amount of research commitments. How long did it take to research and write the book?
Well, the seeds for that book were originally planted with, go ahead, take a guess…another article I did for Classic Rock magazine. It was a feature on one of my fav all-time groups, Soundgarden, and again, I realized I had a pretty sweet head start on a book. But instead of it just being solely on Soundgarden, I realized there was never a thorough and coherent book about the history of grunge (and quite a lot of the grunge books were outdated – some were written before Soundgarden’s break-up, etc.), so I took the plunge. So to get back to your original question, I believe I seriously started working on it in 2005. I kept doing interviews and plugging away until I felt I had the definitive story. I believe I pulled it off.
In a more general sense what kind of research do you undertake when writing a book?
Each book is different, but thus far, I’ve done books on subjects that I’ve been very familiar with beforehand, so I had the whole story mapped out in my head. Once the interviews start going, transcribing can be a pain in the keyster. When are they going to invent an affordable “interview-transcribing robot”?
Do you use the Internet for research or do you prefer the printed word?
I use both, I don’t discriminate.
Are you a full-time writer? What is your daily routine?
Yes, I am a full-time writer and work from home. My daily routine is that I get up early, because I’ve come to the conclusion that I do my best writing early in the day. I don’t really follow a set 9-5 routine, I write at all different times – depends on how many assignments I have to juggle on that particular day. Also, I bet that many writers will agree with me when I say that you can’t write non-stop for many hours at a time, or else your brain will turn to mush. So I break it up and clear my mind by going for a nice long walk at least once a day, or by taking a short nap (the latter I learned from an interview with the great Dustin Hoffman, who said he takes short naps on the sets of his movies, to remain focused). It always seems to work.
What have you learned about the publishing industry? Is it difficult trying to get your ideas commissioned?
Not at all. I write for so many mags/publications that you have a list of places to ask about potential interviews or reviews. If you build up a big enough amount of places to write for, most times, you’ll find a safe and loving place for your temporarily orphaned interview/review idea. As far as getting books published, it’s easier than it’s ever been – there are great self-publishing companies nowadays, such as www.lulu.com, which I put out both the Shannon and Tommy books through.
Which artists have given you the most enjoyable interview?
There have been quite a few. Tops would have to be Eddie Vedder when I interviewed him for Grunge Is Dead, he was gracious enough to be interviewed for nearly two hours, and he told great story after great story. The same with Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil – Kim doesn’t do interviews very often, but he realized early on that I knew my “Soundgarden facts” since I was a long-time fans, and granted me several very long interviews for the grunge book. Other enjoyable interviews have been Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson (maybe the two nicest chaps on the planet?), Tommy Ramone (since the Ramones are one of my all-time favs), and also Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton, and KK Downing (who I did face-to-face interviews with last year). But probably the coolest face-to-face interview I’ve done was with Tony Iommi a few years ago – he’s one cool mofo. I’ve also interviewed the Eagles of Death Metal’s Jesse Hughes a handful of times, and he always is full of colourful quotes and stories.
I also interviewed Lemmy Kilmister last year which was very cool.
I've read articles that said Lemmy can be a bit moody or intimidating, but he couldn't have been nicer. In fact, he even invited me on the phone to join him for a drink after Motorhead played as part of the ‘Masters Of Metal Tour’ at Jones Beach a few days later. Unfortunately, I didn't take him up on his offer, ‘cause I didn't have a backstage pass.
And least enjoyable interviews?
Everyone’s been pretty cool, to tell you the truth. I’ve only had a few bummer experiences – one being Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen. I’m a huge Cheap Trick fan from way back, so I was really looking forward to interviewing Rick. I first interviewed Tom Petersen, who was very nice and a good interview, but when it was time for Rick, I believe he was a bit under the weather (may have just been woken up, too), and was a bit, well, crabby. But the “Oddest Interview Award” undoubtedly goes to…William Shatner. I was interviewing Mr. Shatner about his music albums for Record Collector, and he abruptly in middle of the interview said he had to go! But I was able to get 10 minutes, and luckily, I had enough factoids for the article.
Who would you like to interview?
One is actually coming up - Thin Lizzy’s one of my favorite all-time bands, and I’ve just been confirmed to interview Scott Gorham. Definitely looking forward to it. Some other chaps I haven’t interviewed but would like to include Iggy Pop, Ace Frehley, Queen (my top favourite all-time band), AC/DC, The Clash, Devo, Josh Homme, Joe Jackson, and Chris Cornell. Oh, I’ve also always wanted to interview Joan Jett, too, and David Lee Roth I always thought would be a cool interview.
What are you favourite music books?
Hands down, Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History Of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. If you haven’t read this book, you should. I have returned to this book numerous times over the years, and each time, I pick up something I hadn’t before. It’s absolutely fascinating/essential reading. And as I mentioned before, it was the first – to my knowledge, anyway – rock book that was written entirely as an “oral history,” which is my favorite type of book set-up. I Need More by Iggy Pop is another really great book, and I recently read Jaco: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life Of Jaco Pastorius by Bill Milkowski, which has been a great one, as well. And…I’m looking forward to reading Joel McIver’s upcoming book, To Live Is to Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica's Cliff Burton.
Who are your favourite music scribes?
My favourite album reviewer is Tom Erlewine from All Music Guide, and I also really dig articles/books by Joel McIver and Martin Popoff. But I think that Creem magazine back in the ‘70s/early ‘80s was the best rock writing, ever. It managed to be informative, witty, and off-the-wall – especially writers such as Jaan Uhelski and the late/great Lester Bangs. Also, the writing in Sounds magazine and Kerrang! magazine during the ‘80s was pretty darn hard to beat, as well. But my favorite interviewer would have to be Nardwuar the Human Serviette (www.nardwuar.com).
What do you think of contemporary music writings/magazines?
It seems like UK-based publications are the way to go nowadays – the quality of the articles and photos in such mags as Classic Rock magazine and Guitarist Magazine are top notch. But again, Creem magazine back in the ‘70s/early ‘80s I think was the high water mark for rock writing.
What are the most memorable gigs you’ve been too?
Probably the first show I ever went to – Kiss on the Dynasty tour, with Judas Priest opening, at New York’s Nassau Coliseum. I was only seven years old. The first few times I saw Blind Melon in 1993 were pretty darn swell (especially when the late/great Shannon Hoon helped me and my friends enter a show through a fire escape – read all about it in A Devil On One Shoulder); Faith No More (any of the five times I saw them); Soundgarden at Roseland in ’92; Pearl Jam at Lollapalooza ’92 at Jones Beach; the original Black Sabbath line-up at Nassau Coliseum in ’99; Iggy Pop at Irving Plaza in ’01 (shortly after 9/11); Queens of the Stone Age with Dave Grohl on drums at the Bowery Ballroom in ’02; the original Joe Jackson Group at the Bowery Ballroom in ’03; one of the first Stooges reunion shows in ’03 at Jones Beach and probably a few others I’m forgetting.
What are your future projects?
I have a few tasty tidbits up my sleeve. Keep your peepers peeled to www.myspace.com/gregpratopage for updates.
Interview by Neil Daniels 2008
