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Editors Note: Originally published on the now-defunct my.hsj.org/avonews website, this article is 5 years old. Republished as the 2022 Journalism 2 class begins the same interview project.
Senior Jackson Horigan didn’t start his interview project expecting to talk to two British teens in a metal band, but the end result was enjoyable for not only him but his entire Journalism 1 class towards the end of the semester, January 2017. Being part of Journalism, an interview project is a must, so talking to instrumentalists Adam Jones (Guitar) and Dylan Plenty (Drums) from the metal band Black Leaves of Envy was a real learning experience for the class.
The guidelines of the project were to do research and find a celebrity or well-known person, then interview them with the class. According to Horigan, “My intent was to interview Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters, and I discovered that due to his worldwide fame, he was impossible to get to. In researching Dave Grohl, I found the British band “Black Leaves of Envy” who has a solid sound and whose members were really a pleasure to interview.”
BLoE’s interaction with Dave Grohl was one the band members won’t ever forget. The city of Cornwall, UK placed restrictions on their sound level because the police received noise complaints regarding the band practicing in their garage. That restriction forced the band to play with the sound equivalent to that of a dishwasher when standing 45 feet away. Foo Fighters (Dave Grohl’s band) got wind of the happenings and Grohl wrote a letter to the City Council of Cornwall.
https://twitter.com/ThePoke/status/1085096751445372928/photo/1
In addition, the FF twitter page tweeted out the British band’s situation to millions of followers. Since then, Black Leaves of Envy has garnered thousands of listeners, a Spotify album, and has had the privilege to play at famous venues like the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Adam explained, “It felt like we were in a cloud…that day, we all had just left practice, so we saw the message at the same time.”
The interview started period 8. The journalism students prepared by creating questions that they would ask the bandmates as they waited for Black Leaves to reply to the Skype call. Once the call came through, a colorless image of the two appeared on the Smartboard. Despite that one technical difficulty, the rest of the interview went pretty smoothly.
Senior Ryan Kreutzer asked a couple of questions pertaining to their metal music, the first being “Do you find it better to write music as separate musicians or do you find it better to jam as a band to write music?” The pair explained that it is better to work together to generate music.” Some other musical, cultural, and personality questions were asked by the other members of the class. Another question, asked by Senior Brandan Hart, “What other local bands in Cornwall have you listened to or do you recommend?” The pair replied, “King Creature, Royal Blood, and Last One Out to name a few.”
Jackson Horigan asked, “What are some of your plans for the next years and do you plan to stay together…” Adam answered, “We are keen to keep pushing” and he followed by saying that they will try to get together whenever possible.
The all important question asked by Senior Brandan Hart, “Jaffa Cakes, are they cookies or biscuits?” Adam and Dylan then were taken aback to say the least. They settled on biscuit after much pondering and that concluded the interview with hearty laugh.
