Innerviews.org was launched in 1994 by Anil Prasad as a venue for artists to speak their minds outside of the sound bite. It began as and continues to be a place where artists are asked questions that most journalists can’t or won’t ask because most journalists don’t do enough research to even consider such deep questions in the first place. I have been doing Internet radio as RadioMike since 2001 and recorded interviews since 2006. Those are more conversations between friends, as I like to call them, and the conversations are certainly out of the box, but they are nothing like Innerviews.org where Prasad listens carefully and asks some pretty insightful follow up questions. I aspire to be the Anil Prasad of Internet radio.

I approached Innerviews from the perspective of studying a fellow interviewer’s mindset, rather than just as a fan reading interviews of his favorite artists, although I am a fan of a few of these artists.  Consequently, I took away a lot more than just an advanced degree in fandom. We can all learn something from reading these interviews. Prasad teaches by example and his examples include letting subjects talk freely, but he especially emphasizes aggressive and active listening, which we all need to do more often.

Prasad began this labor of love, this innerviewing of musicians, over sixteen years ago.  His skills shine through every written conversation included here.  Whether you read this for pleasure, education, or enlightenment upon some of your favorite artists, you can and will take something away from every page.  For whatever reason you may have, this book deserves repeated readings.