There's Your Quote, Mate

There's Your Quote, Mate

Antonino Tati (founding editor of Cream Magazine) celebrates 20 years of publishing by pulling together an anthology of unorthodox interviews with artists from the international music scene.

From the veteran likes of Nick Cave, Dave Grohl, Henry Rollins and Patti Smith, to contemporary icons Naomi Campbell, Ellie Goulding, Calvin Harris and Adam Lambert, artists from every genre are prodded, poked, and pinned under the microscope for sharper observation.

Interspersed with fascinating listicles and behind-the-scenes antics, There's Your Quote, Mate adds up to one outlandish and outrageous read: an up-close look at a music industry gone utterly mad.

As founder and editor of Cream magazine, Antonino Tati has interviewed an array of awe-inspiring artists in the music industry. Over the decades, he has contributed to local street press and international glossies as well as his own magazine, Cream, founded in 1997. Antonino's interview technique – bordering on the daring – delves into juicier subjects like sex and sexuality, drink and drugs, money and politics, race and religion, and the pitfalls of fame and faux pas of the famous. Today, Antonino continues to edit Cream as well as present talks and music programs on alternative radio.

There's Your Quote, Mate
New Holland Publishers Australia
Author: Antonino Tati
RRP: $29.99

 

Interview with Antonino Tati

Question: What inspired you to write There's Your Quote, Mate?

Antonino Tati: My magazine Cream celebrates 20 years of publishing this year, and so I initially wanted to compile a best-of interview collection. Simultaneously, I was two-thirds of the way in writing a memoir about my own antics on the music scene. So, I figured it'd be a good idea to publish my favourite interviews, and to interweave these with fly-on-the-wall anecdotes.

In effect, the book comes across as partly autobiographical, with plenty of behind-the-scenes shenanigans written up as -post scripts' following each interview. If I've peeved of a pop princess, had a fling with a rock dude, or generally gotten into strife trying to shake things up in interview scenarios, it's all ended up in here!


Question: How did you choose which interviews to include?

Antonino Tati: I wanted to feature a broad selection of artists, and so chose my favourite interviewees from several genres: classic rock, indie pop, Top 40, even the underground club scene. I also felt there needed to be a certain flow and specific themes, and didn't want the book to read like a best-of collection, hence you'll find one chapter ends on a particular topic that is then picked up at the start of the next chapter. For example, Kylie Minogue will end with a quote about Mardi Gras and her devotion to the LGBTI community, you turn the page, and a RuPaul interview kicks off with an intro of Kylie and Ru on stage at the Brit Awards. The Ru interview ends on a positive note about transgender lifestyles, and you'll turn over to read an interview with Pete Burns of Dead or Alive who takes the gender thing to an entirely different, darker level. And so on.

I really wanted to feature artists of credence and substance, who had something pertinent to say on any given topic. Tori Amos, for example, goes in-depth on the subject of heterosexist culture rife in U.S. politics. Laurie Anderson talks of the potential fallibility of the internet. Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode speaks frankly about his former heroin addiction. Ian McCulloch of Echo & The Bunnymen talks openly about depression. Björk speaks about the superficiality of style and image. Tricky talks about voyeurism and his utter dislike of Kim Kardashian, while some of your more veteran artists, like Patti Smith and Henry Rollins, wax lyrical about a whole spectrum of issues.

In the end, I wanted the book to read like a kind of -pop espionage', steering away from the obvious style of celebrity interviewing and delving into deeper topics.


Question: What did you learn about yourself whilst collating There's Your Quote, Mate?

Antonino Tati: I learnt that for someone who loves music as much as I do, it's surprising to note I have never once been star-struck. So many of my conversations with these artists come across as very candid; like a couple of friends shooting the breeze over cocktails or coffee. And I love that call-and-response, the constant rapport that runs throughout the book. In retrospect, I realise a lot of my questions come across as sarcastic, sardonic, even rude at times, but then these are what helped me get the best responses my subjects, with some of them saying the most outlandish things.


Question: Why include the Nick Cave interview?

Antonino Tati: The interview with Nick Cave had to be in here. In fact, Nick's interview kicks off the book, and the title There's Your Quote, Mate is lifted from one of Nick's quotes. In that particular interview, you sense I'm trying to chip away at the myth versus the man, trying to break through the rock star mystique, but Nick wouldn't have it. He figured that since I was writing for a pop/fashion/lifestyle magazine, I should have just done a fashion story on him, or at least stuck to simple questions instead of asking heavy-handed ones. Suffice to say, I got the man in highly defensive mode. But while the friction is obvious, it makes for fabulously intense reading!


Interview by Brooke Hunter

There's Your Quote, Mate
New Holland Publishers Australia
Author: Antonino Tati
RRP: $29.99