A few months ago, I conducted an interview with Chris “Godzilla” Doliber of Madam X, and during that interview he mentioned that one of the things on his bucket list, was “to have a chat” with his childhood hero – Ian Hunter (Mott The Hoople).

I uploaded the interview and that was that. One day I was on my way home and passed our local rock club KB, KulturBolaget, and saw posters of Ian Hunter outside, advertising an upcoming gig – and got an idea…! :D

I contacted Ian’s management and got a very kind and immediate reply. I wanted to try something new that could be interesting – and got the green light.

Ian Hunter and band were actually going to be in Malmo the day before the show which gave him the time and flexibility to do a video interview without the usual stress of scheduled sound checks and all that.

Next, I contacted Chris and presented my idea. Would he like to ALMOST “have a chat” with Ian Hunter – through video?
It would be two generations of musicians “talking” through the help of modern interaction. I loved the idea and it seemed to be the perfect opportunity to experiment.

It would show that no matter where you are in your career as a musician, or how much older and wiser you get, we all still have heroes that have left permanent marks in our lives.
This would truly show how one generation passes the torch to the next – keeping the musical fire burning, sometimes without even knowing it.

The original thought was to do a video interview with Ian, show every reaction and expression, and cut these two clips together as a Q & A type of thing.

My camera guy was standing by, I had everything planned out in my head already, the only thing that was missing was the actual talk with mr Hunter.

However, things don’t always go according to plan. On the day of the interview, I was informed that Ian hadn’t been feeling very well and for that reason he prefered not to be filmed.
He was kind to agree to doing the interview anyway, if there was a way to make it work without any cameras involved.

Well, anything works, if you MAKE it work. I’m glad and grateful that he took the time at ALL. So I headed down to his hotel with my little audio recorder, just like back in the good old days.

When Ian came down to the lobby, he looked very cool and was wearing a hat and his signature shades. He would have looked absolutely perfect in a video, but I’m not one to talk. I know how it is when you’re just not in the mood to get a camera in your face.

There was a small little room there on the first floor, a bit secluded, comfortable couches, tables, rugs, very cozy.
When I explained to Ian that the interview was going to be conducted by another musician – through video, he was worried that he might not hear the questions because of all the background noise, but I had forseen that and brought a pair of headphones.

That’s the scenario – a laptop, a video, a rock star with headphones, hat and shades and a journalist recording his answers…. :)

It was new to him to be interviewed that way, but he seemed to find it interesting. He looked pretty amused while watching the video.

After the interview, we were joined by the tour manager and Ian’s very sweet wife Trudi and chit-chatted a little bit after the interview was done. She had just been sight-seeing in Malmo a bit and brought everyone coffee from a coffee-shop nearby.

When I left the hotel, I was smiling to myself. Ian Hunter is 75 years old, but not for one second did I ever think of him as anything but a passionate young man who loves music but hates the business. Words I’ve heard from several musicians before him actually. Love the music, hate the business.

He was incredibly cool, almost slightly intimidating but I have no idea why, cause he was very kind and polite. It’s just that badass-attitude that IS Ian Hunter that shines through, that’s all.

I enjoyed this whole experience. It might not have turned out exactly the way I had planned, but it was fun and interesting to try this slightly different approach.

So, without further ado, here’s Godzilla interviewing his musical hero Ian Hunter – enjoy!

(If you wish to skip directly to the actual interview, it starts at 2:52)