How To 'Rock The Casbah' And Elsewhere

For as long as people have been composing original music, the constant has been the importance of the live performance. Not only is it good exposure, it gives you chance to connect with yours or somebody’s audience on a personal level. Having your name on a t-shirt or in a music blog is great but nothing commands attention like a stage and a professional sound system. Some of you may be sitting around waiting for the phone to ring, find an ad on Craigslist or for a band you’re friends with to set up a show so you can beg your way onto the bill. But to be the most effective band you can be, you have to take matters into your own hands.  Here’s how:  

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'Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere'...But It's A Great Place To Meet People

            If you’re a musician with your heart set on sold out stadiums and tour bus jacuzzis, it would do you some good to glance down every once in a while.  You might look around at your local scene with contempt, dismissal, a feeling of superiority, maybe some jealousy you’re not willing to admit to yet.  You might see these people as standing between you stardom, and you’d be right.  But they’re not so much like a wall, but more like a staircase. 

            In most local scenes, there is more than a few terrible bands who consistently get great gigs and great exposure.  This isn’t because the promoters and music writers in your town have bad taste and it’s not because of anyone they’re sleeping with or blackmailing.  It’s because they’re good at networking.  The bad news is that someone’s already a few steps ahead of you, the good news is that it’s not hard to catch up.

            The best way to navigate through your local scene is to become a part of it.  Before you get your name up on the marquee, you first need to get it on people’s contact lists.  Go to as many shows as you can and talk to as many people as you can, especially music bloggers and bands, whether you like them or not.  Treat them like people who are sharing your struggle rather than people you want to leave in your dust.  This means getting them to talk about themselves, get them to talk about their bands or their work, and most importantly, wait as long as you can before soliciting favors.  This may seem cynical and scheming but get over it.  This is how creative industries often work and chances are, they did the same exact thing somewhere along the line.  To find more, click the link below. 

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How To Find Your Own 'Spiders From Mars'

           When the 90s indie rock band Pavement broke up, the front man Stephen Malkmus took to the stage (at what turned out to be their final show) in a pair of handcuffs proclaiming, “This is what it’s like to be in a band!”  Now not every musician has the same capacity for jerk-bag behavior as Malkmus did, but chances are that on some level we can all relate.  Being in a band can be tough.  Not only can their be logistical problems regarding people’s availability, but anytime you have multiple brains, multiple egos and multiple delusions of grandeur, you’re bound to run into problems.  With the divorce rate holding steady at around 50%, it’s no wonder that groups of three, four or five have difficulties when two people who are having sex with each other can’t even keep it together. 

            If you're forming a band, you want to be careful about how you find and choose people to work with.  As your band progresses, you want to make sure that relations between band mates remain amicable and on the same wavelength.  To learn how to find the right people to bring your songs to life, click the link below.  

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'Life During Wartime'

            The events that transpired last week, from the Boston Marathon bombing on Monday to the subsequent violence that occurred in the effort to bring the perpetrators to justice, left the entire country shocked.  But entwined with the tragedy, was story after story of heroism, courage, and selflessness, primarily on the part of first responders and law enforcement.  As a musician, you may be inspired by these people but may also have a hard time thinking of ways that you can help.  Perhaps you feel like those hours and hours you put into learning to play “In Utero” in its entirety might have been better spent on a CPR class.  As handy as a time machine would be after events like this, you don’t need one to do your fair share. 

            Depending on what kind of songwriter you are, you may feel inspired to write a song either directly or vaguely inspired by true events.  If you play it for people it could help them gain perspective.  If you don’t play it for anyone, you can at least comfort yourself slightly.  Organizing a fundraising concert can be a great way to make a difference, as long as it’s well organized.  If your band has a decent following, meaning that not everyone who visits your website could just call you on the phone if they want your opinion, you might want to mention something in a mass email or in social media.  If you have a gig within what could reasonably be considered to be the aftermath, you might want to say something on stage.  But all of these potential acts of altruism must be carried out carefully and with great sensitivity.

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Everybody's Got A Hungry Heart, But Not Everybody Feeds Theirs Properly

So maybe you and some guys from school have a band you tried real hard.  Maybe someone quit, maybe someone got married, but now you might be thinking that you’ll never get far.  This is up to you.  Your artistic endeavors will only be fruitful and worth your time if treat them as such.  For example, opening a paragraph by paraphrasing a Bryan Adams song does not demonstrate a particularly devout relationship with the craft (unless it’s done ironically, as I did).  There’s a lot of talk on this page, and others like it, about the futility of poorly run social media campaigns, the importance of diligence on the business end of things and the value of forethought in general.  But it’s easy to forget that dedication is the ultimate deal breakers in a musician’s would-be career.  In the immortal, ambiguous and somewhat obscure words of Abraham Lincoln, “Whatever you are, be a good one.”

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