Yet another rant: Making It...
(06 Mar 03)
How to...
Now, how to "make it"? As I said, I can't give you a recipe that will sure make you successful, but I can give you some advice.
Here is the single most important rule:
DON'T WAIT FOR ANYONE TO COME ALONG AND HELP YOU TAKE THE NEXT STEP. YOU GOTTA TAKE THINGS INTO YOUR OWN HANDS AND THE BEST MOMENT TO START IS NOW !!!
What I mean by that is... it's cool to rehearse a lot and write a bunch of songs. Great. But... you need to get out, onto the stage and let people hear them. And you can't just rely on other people to knock on your door and say "Guys, I never heard your music but here is a contract for 40 live-shows"
Nope. You have to promote your band, you gotta establish your name, you gotta get out and let people know that you're there!
That means:
- Get some shows together. You might have to organize some for yourself. That is not as tough as it sounds. Find a venue. If you ain't got a live music-venue in your town, try to improvise... try to find a local room which you could use for a show, try to find a company to rent some PA-stuff from. (You can even play in a barn). To cover the financial risk, ask some other bands from your town to be part of it. They'll most likely get their friends and family to come to the show. If you're lucky, there'll be enough people in the audience to pay your expenses and maybe leave you with some extra-money which you can re-invest.
Keep a documentation of your income and expenses. Maybe make up a bank-account for your band. Use the money you get to buy better gear, or use it to buy recording gear or prepare promo-material (a folder with photos, an interesting biography, contact info), rent some webspace to make a website for your band.
All this (and I haven't even covered all the important stuff) requires work from all of you. Try to split up the tasks. Maybe one of you can get himself a book about HTML or check out some online-tutorials and learn how to make a cool website.
Maybe someone else can learn a bit about sound-engineering. (A good opportunity would be to work as a stage-hand or roadie for a band... I did so myself for a while, and I learned a lot of really important stuff there!) He / she could then take responsibility for the sound-engineering.
Booking or buying exactly the stuff you need, advising you on how to set it up before a show.
One of you could be the PR-person... if he / she has the ability to sound confident on the phone, he / she could make all the calls to bookers, owners of venues or other bands to get gigs for the band.
One of you could be responsible for the money etc.
If you all pay some money to buy stuff for the band ( i.e. studio time or gear ), document it. If you need to, make a contract.
I'm not done yet.
When you prepare for your shows, prepare well. That does not only involve playing your songs over and over. It also includes: work out what happens between the songs. Decide who announces the next song, maybe even make up some keywords for his / her little speech in between songs.
If you can, videotape a show of yours, or a soundcheck. Watch that video and analyze your performance, the way you act on stage, the stage-presence. You can learn a lot of new things about yourself. Think about stage-clothes. Record your shows (even if you just plug a MD-recorder straight into the desk ) to check out how you sound and play live.
If you wanna be a support act for other bands (i.e. "bigger", more successful bands ), make sure you are cooperative. A band I know used to REHEARSE SETTING UP THEIR GEAR. One of them had a clock, he gave a sign, and they set up the amps, drums, keyboard. Then they'd try to do it faster next time. All that was part of their preparations for some shows as the supportband for an established band that gave them a chance.
Does this sound odd? Are you cracking up?
I wouldn't be. I was highly impressed when I heard about that. You know why? Because those guys really invested some thought, and they might have improved their chances to "make it" by doing silly stuff such as setting up the gear. Because sometimes, a band that lets you open up for them doesn't care about how fast you play. They might find it more important how cooperative you are. They might watch you set up and might be impressed if you do it quick and professional. And that might be a reason for them to hire you again or recommend your band to some colleagues.
Think about that. Being a professional means more than just playing well. There is so much other stuff you should try with your band, so many topics for you to consider (content of your promo-material, promoting yourself via the internet etc.), but I'll leave it at that for now, cuz I think I brought over what I was trying to say... take things into your own hands, and do it NOW... be professional, work hard, and even if you might never win a grammy, you might get just where you want to.
You might have to take some detours, simply don't lose the idea of what you wanna achieve. Don't take anything for granted.
|
