Issue 151

Working for the NME...

29th January 2007

Ever fancied what it'd be like to work for one of Britain's biggest music weeklies? Well Front has tracked down acting news editor, Paul Stokes, who offers his words of wisdom for the budding music hacks of Swansea.

Stokes has worked at NME for two and a half years but was an avid fan for many years before, "During school and uni I used to religiously read the NME and it was a massive influence on me. It's great to be able to be a part of the heritage and follow up some of the great writers who have worked here", Stokes discussed with Front.

Getting a good reputation is also essential for making it big in the world of journalism. After doing a journalism course in Cardiff after a Politics degree in Norwich, Stokes puts great value on getting that initial work experience working for Concrete – the student newspaper at Norwich University.

"Before I started volunteering with the student newspaper I simply had an interest in music and this progressed to an interest in journalism after I started working as the uni music editor" and adds that "people will look at this stuff you did in uni for future job applications and so far as being a music editor was concerning being able to show that I'd done and learnt a load of initial journalism skills in uni, I think came across as quite impressive. Working at Concrete gave me a good start into journalism; however it's quite different when you don't have essays or tutorials conflicting with your passion of writing for the newspaper".

Stokes is keen to emphasise his experience at the paper and his experience gained after completing such a vocational course at Cardiff, "there's definitely no substitute to doing a good vocational course - the Cardiff one was brilliant and although it was hard to begin with it really prepares you to work as a journalist", Stokes adds that "you learn a lot quicker when you're actually on the job though. Journalism itself is very competitive so it helps to have all these mates that I was on the course with as contacts for any stories that I might need to follow up on now."

After having a musical heritage of over forty years, the NME has seen everything from John Lennon's assassination to Gabriella from the Cheeky Girls dating Lembit Opik. Covering such important political events (we use the word 'important' fairly loosely here) it seems that music has always had a strong link with political views – as seen in the punk movement thirty years ago.

Stokes thinks that it may seem that the link between politics and music is not so strong today but this is not the case, "politics is definitely still prevalent today, but in a different way to the past. Thirty years ago you'd see big rallies and certain ideologies flooding the press which was associated with one big political opinion. Bands today don't have these certain ideologies and appeal more to certain issues which reflects the mood of today's society.

You've got bands such as the Arctic Monkeys singing about homelessness and so forth… It seems that there's not so much of an overt political motivation behind songwriters today but more that there is 'something' wrong with today's society".

Working for such an iconic magazine could come hand in hand with a lot of pressure as Stokes found out when he began at NME, "There's also a lot of stuff in the news about arguments between bands that have often been started by something printed in the NME. After working here for a while though you definitely get used to the pressure and it doesn't seem quite as daunting as when you first start!".

The NME is famous for it's gritty personal writing style, which conflicts with many standard, and often less successful, music magazines, "luckily, the NME audience wants the personal writing style so a mixture of good magazine writing and an individual style works best". Perks of working for such a famous brand obviously include meeting musical heroes.

Stokes claims that this isn't as daunting as you might think, "you just think to yourself 'I can't believe I'm getting paid for this!' - for example doing the Live 8 spread and chatting away to Bono, Brandon Flowers and Johnny Borrell was mad. It felt as if we could ask them the silliest questions and they were just comfortable chatting to us about anything".

As casual as this sounds, the NME takes things such as their new bands policy very seriously – especially as they seem to have the power to make or break a band. Stokes agrees that the NME does have this strong influence, "we're good at finding new talent and a good review can really help a band in the initial stages of them breaking into the big time - although you can never underestimate the power of a fanbase, especially with things such as myspace and such a demand for live music nowadays".

Even differences in opinion don't matter that much behind the scenes at the NME, "I think it's assumed that everyone who works for the magazine must love a certain band but this isn't the case - if we do argue over a band then at the end of the day we go to print every Wednesday so we don't have a lot of time to argue," discusses Stokes.

Keen to add to the NME's new band policy Stokes advises you look out for The Enemy, The Annuals and especially Cold War Kids and Good Shoes in 2007, "The Cold War Kids are like a funky Elbow – random, but that's the only way to describe them! Also Good Shoes are excellent, I saw them about a year ago and I'd never imagine they could be this good. It's really stripped down, bare soul music – brilliant". Wise words there from a very wise (and a very influential) bloke.

Amy Wilkinson