...So last week I posted an interview with Switchfoot on Confront Magazine...

Yeah...About that…

This week, as last week, I feel that I must once again interrupt my previously scheduled column on Tori Amos’ fourth album, ‘From The Choirgirl Hotel’.

Whereas last week I pre-empted my planned broadcast by choice, I feel that this time around it is by circumstance. I am forced to respond so something that, in all fairness, was an honest mistake.

Last week, CONFRONT MAGAZINE ran an interview I did with Jon and Chad of Switchfoot. Certain fans on the band’s official website took issue with certain errors that I made, after transcribing the article.

First, because the quality of the recording was poor, I was unable to distinguish between Chad and Jon’s voices on the tape. We were recording in the lobby of Le National, while sound check was ongoing inside the main hall. This is how interviews work in the real world, ladies and gentlemen. There isn’t always time to sit down somewhere quiet and intimate for a nice little one-on-one chat. It’s not always easy to tell people’s voices apart, especially if you don’t know the band.

That’s right, and I know it’s a shocker, but the reality is it isn’t always possible, or even desirable to send a reporter who is a fan to interview a band. Sometimes, sending a fan can even be downright counterproductive.

Likewise, it would be impossible and unprofessional of me, or any reporter, to be so selective about whom they will interview as to exclude acts we’re unfamiliar with. In other words, we can’t always interview only bands we know and like. Sometimes we have to interview bands we’ve never even heard of.

Given the amount of music out there, it’s impossible to listen to all of it, and quite frankly, when I have TIME to listen to music, it’s MY time; I’ll not listen to something I don’t like. When I review CDs for the magazine, that’s one thing. But the rest of the time I spend listening to music I’m usually loath to try anything new.

So, no, I’m not a fan of Switchfoot’s music; other than a few tracks to familiarize myself with their music for the interview, I didn’t listen to their stuff. That doesn’t mean I didn’t do my homework on them. That doesn’t mean I didn’t genuinely want to know the answers to the questions I asked. It certainly doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy our conversation, even if I couldn’t tell Chad from Jon or Jon from Chad on the tape. They’re intelligent and well-spoken young men and I’d enjoy sitting down to speak with them again. You don’t have to like the music to like the musicians. Sometimes, it helps if you don’t, because then you can actually approach them from a different perspective.

A second kerfuffle was generated by Switchfoot fans because I misspelled Jon as “John”. I apologize for not having paid attention to the spelling of Jon’s name while doing my research. However, the more common appellation is “J-O-H-N” as in “Malkovich” and not “J-O-N” as in “Arbuckle”.

Now, having admitted and addressed these two errors, I would like to point out that absolutely everything written was as recorded on tape. The tape is available to anyone from Switchfoot, to their label, to their FANS for that matter, if anyone wants to have a listen and see if they can do a better job with the transcription. They certainly won’t find any omissions or any statements taken out of context, which would have been a travesty, which would have been truly objectionable.

As of this posting, no one, not ONE person who has bitched and whined about what was printed last week has taken CONFRONT MAGAZINE up on our offer to provide the tape for listening to anyone who wants to.

Last week, my regularly scheduled Broadcast was interrupted by a more important story, the ongoing efforts of students from Concordia university in their efforts to raise awareness and money for Medcins Sans Frontieres and the humanitarian relief effort going on in Darfur.

This week, my regularly scheduled Broadcast was interrupted because of the need to address obsessive little fanboys and fangirls who, while bitchy enough to complain are too damn lazy or incapable to do anything to make changes.

Read the magazine’s motto, kids: DARE DEFY PROVOKE. Get off your asses and DO SOMETHING. Instead of whining about it on a message board, talk to someone from the magazine. Get corrections made. DO THE CORRECTIONS YOURSELF if it means that much to you. We’ll gladly acknowledge your work and your devotion.

But don’t expect to be taken seriously if all you can do is whine about it.

Because that doesn’t deserve respect at all.

THE VIEWS OF THE PRECEDING BROADCAST ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF CONFRONT MAGAZINE OR ITS STAFF. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED ARE THOSE OF THE COMMENTATOR, STEVE KARMAZENUK, EXCLUSIVELY AND ARE PROVIDED FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY. CONFRONT MAGAZINE DOES NOT ENDORSE OR CONDONE MISTER KARMAZENUK’S OPINIONS.