(old friends) remember me (trying) to interview them. (old friends) = Friends from those early years (trying) = almost backing them into corners In other words, the speaker was trying to (pretend to ) be an interviewer when they were young. backing someone into a corner is when you go up very close to someone, and they 'back away' - i.e. move backwards. If you keep moving towards them, and they move backwards, they end up 'backed into a corner'.