IFRS - Writing Competition: Assignment Two

I'm elated to announce that I have just submitted my piece for the current "I'm From Rolling Stone" contest, which complements their MTV-based reality show. Here's the dirt:

Now let’s say you got the chance to shoot the breeze with your favorite living band or artist for a Rolling Stone profile. What questions would you ask? Tell us 1) who you’d interview and 2) what ten stellar questions you’d ask. Intelligent, well-informed, provocative, off-the-wall or poignant — the goal is to do your homework and then craft inquiries that will elicit compelling answers and reveal something about the interview subject.

Contest rules and submission form live here.

My submission follows below:

10 Questions for Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke:

1) After the breakout success of your debut album, "Silent Alarm," the band catapulted from performing in small clubs to full arenas. Was this an intimidating time for you?

2) Bloc Party originally signed on with Panic! at the Disco's fall tour. Given that the audiences for the two bands are very different from each other, do you think it worked out for the best not to have completed the tour as a result of Matt Tong's collapsed lung?

3) Your new single, “I Still Remember,” reportedly explores the theme of latent bisexuality. Is that topic risqué even in modern rock?

4) You have talked about not hiding behind abstraction on the new album. How do you, as a songwriter, go about writing more directly and clearly to your audience?

5) Your new album, “A Weekend in the City,” has been described as being about the living noise of a 21^st century metropolis. In this way, is the record almost like a concept album?

6) What was the experience like of working with producer Jacknife Lee (U2, Snow Patrol) on the new album?

7) “A Weekend in the City” has reportedly leaked on the Internet. Do you think this will adversely affect the commercial success of this greatly anticipated record?

8) The song “Where is Home” is said to explore issues of race in England. Do you feel this topic isn’t explored often enough in pop music and, if so, why do you think that is?

9) On your upcoming U.S. tour you will be predominantly hitting theaters as opposed to clubs or arenas. Why do you prefer theaters to others types of venues?

10) What message do you ultimately hope people take away from “A Weekend in the City?”