For four decades, Roland has recorded all of his interviews with the world's most interesting creatives, often before they became iconic in their own right. When he mentioned that he was using some of his "Basquiat tape" for an exhibition, I was blown away that he not only had an interview with Basquiat in his studio, but at how intimate and even contentious the interview was. I had to know more, and started diving into his endless archives of cassettes.

 

Roland's interview method is unlike any I've experienced, but the cassettes are a product of another era (and even seems like another planet). His intimate conversational interview style brings out a different side of the subjects, but a lot of that is simply because, at that time, none of these people had staff, publicists, and PR teams listening in to make sure that they didn't say anything too provocative. Plus, even if they did, there certainly wasn't any medium where these tapes could be heard anyway.