From a first glance at this article, I assumed the genre was funky indie-pop, but how wrong I was. My reading of this DPS was extremely wrong which suggests bad coding to me. In fact they are a screamo band. Who'd have thought?
It's not at all the genre I want to do, but the style of the whole spread looks fairly similar to that of the Kaiser Chiefs, so I'll analyse it to pick up on general conventions of a music magazine article.
Similarly to the Kaiser Chiefs interview, only 2 of the band members carry out the interview. Yet the image which features, seems to fail in my opinion, to create an image for this band. I think almost everything about it contradicts the genre of music they're in, which pretty unconventional. Their facial expressions look quite sultry, so this signifies to the audience they're mysterious, which depending on the reader, may encourage them to read the article. This is probably a technique they are using to appeal to their specific target, as maybe their sultry faced more than often.
Something that really strikes me about the image, as not only does it not match their genre, but the members don't really seem to match each other. Eva looks preppy and girly, and indication of the style of indie pop, and James looks like rock crossed with county. Although I read it to be misleading, it may have been Rock Sound's attempt to appeal to a wider audience, however I feel it attracts aberrant readings like mine.
Now in the Kaiser Chiefs image, they all wore sunglasses to help enforce their celebrity status, but what confuses me here is to why James is holding a cat (which almost blends into Joe behind him). I'm not really sure why the cat features, possibly to add a soft touch to their genre of screamo, but even more strangely James is looking pretty scared by it it. This really gives out a negative, weird vibe and makes me feel uncomfortable because of the lack of recognised codes and conventions in the image.
My final point of the image is their location. The rocks they're sitting on are similar to the steps the Jonas Brothers are standing on in their cover; a signifier with many signifieds. A denotation may be that they're just sitting on rocks at a beach, in order to appeal to their target reader, to whom this may be a favourite pastime. Another interpretation could be a hint at their genre, about the only thing in the image which matches the purpose. However, at the bottom in very small writing it quotes "Rolo Tomassi - on the rocks!", which conveys to me that they're career is going through a rocky patch, which obviously isn't true because the article is about how they're doing so well. This phrase could also be connecting to the drinks meaning, like a scotch on the rocks, suggesting to me that the target reader could possibly be a fan of alcohol, and the lifestyle which surrounds alcohol and screamo gigs.
The whole interview is purely about their music and band, instantly suggesting to me that the target reader is much more in it for the music info, and takes music quite seriously. This would match the form of the article which although it is an interview like the Clash spread, it is just a flow of writing not separated by questions and answers. Therefore I believe for this style of article, the reader needs to have a genuine interest and thirst for the information, more of a surveillance need, than for leisure and diversion. I would conclude that the target reader sees music as a way of life, music probably takes up a lot of their time. This isn't the style or tone I wish to use in my own article, as I think my target reader and genre are more suited to light reading with chatter and some information.
However, it does start similarly to the Kaiser Chiefs interview, where they are setting the scene after a drop cap to start, however lacks the humour of Clash and conversational style.
I'm not sure but I think the main font used for the title, caption, blurb and quote are all versions of Rolo Tomassi's signature font. This imparts a theme like on the Kaiser Chiefs interview, as the font is serifed but very blunt, giving a clean cut, techno edge, which actually does match to their new experimental style of music. Again similarly to Clash, the mass article text is plain and readable, but rather small.
Something that is very similar to Clash is the colour scheme, mostly neutrals but accents of colour. This again may reflect the target reader's taste, assuming they have similar fashion sense to the band themselves. What I think may be a convention, is to stick with black writing on a white block for the main article which I think I may follow, or revert to WOB (like the quote in this article), as I have seen some articles in music magazines do.
I don't think this double page spread is effective as the Clash one, however that may just be because I'm not the target reader for this magazine, and I am more suited to Clash. This shows how techniques used to address and attract the target audience really can vary responses from readers.
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