Should I start a second band?

[mutant!]

I'm pretty new to the band scene. Like, I've been playing guitar, sax and piano for 5, 6 and 10 years respectively and I know my way around, but only now have I been able to assemble a coherent band. The problem has always been that I have some very strong ideas about the music I want to play - probably stemming from my wide taste in music and my training in theory. Because I listened to slightly off-center, more complex music and understood the theory involved, I was deathly afraid of making cliched music.

I could also never find the bandmates I needed to get off the ground. Now, at last, my friend Bread (who's on the exact same level of music as I am, and shares a lot of my tastes but has disagreed strongly about some other points with me before) has decided to play bass, and we have decided to put our immature sh1t out of the way and jam some funk. I've also got a brilliant drummer and an awesome lead guitarist.

These three guys that are playing with me have a very specific idea of what they want to play in this band context. I sum it up as funk-hop Afro-rock. It's great, and it's a side of my music that I love, but there is another facet to my music too: the progressive hard rock side.

I want to play music like Silverchair, P.O.D., TMV and Muse too, and I'm obviously not going to manage it in this band. I'm now debating whether I should try and get a second project off the ground. With the battle of the bands coming up in about 6 months, is this a good idea or no?

Give me your thoughts guys: those of you that have played in two bands simultaneously before, give me some pointers. :thumb:

[the_uber_penguin]

I would say go for it.

I play in two bands simultaneously, and the drummer in my band plays in three.

It hasn't affected his commitment to my band, it's improved his drumming and given my band a wider range of things we can do and it's greatly improved his confidence. It also means that he's learned more about band life in general (he plays guitar on one of the other bands - learning it from scratch!) and he enjoys playing in this band more, because he doesn't feel limited overall. Any limitations imposed on him musically within this band he can get out of him in his other projects.

Also, playing guitar in another band has taught him alot about stage presense as well. He now understands why I (as guitarist) do the things I do in front of an audience and can work with me to create better stuff.


In other words, go for joining the second band. It is a really good deal for you, and your bandmates.

[Jovianknight]

My opinion is to go for it. On one very important condition: if it doesn't interfere with your current band. Otherwise, it is my opinion that you will have to choose between the two.

The coolest thing to do, however, would be to get your current band to mix the funk-hop Afro-rock with the progressive hard rock. If you could pull that off, I would be very impressed.

[Merkaba]

The coolest thing to do, however, would be to get your current band to mix the funk-hop Afro-rock with the progressive hard rock. If you could pull that off, I would be very impressed.Kinda like TMV in Drop B

[The Establishment]

I would say don't do it.

I mean okay if one band is a joke, fine, but if you have 2 serious bands then dont do it. Jealousy is a huge factor among bands sharing people.

Me and my little brother were going to try this, stay in our band then make a new more real punk political band, but then actually molded our new band into our idea for our other band.

But whatever u want dude.

[Striker62]

Do it. its a better chance for success and its what you want. of course the guys in diff bands will be jealous but what are they gonna do kick you out?

[snewo531]

Do it. But if you plan to go really far with the band youre in now, treat it as your main band, and treat the new band as a sideproject. It would probably help if you at least start off the new band as just a fun jamming kinda thing, nothing serious. But make sure that everyone in both the bands are cool with you being in two different bands. Until last month i was simultaneously playing with three bands, and none of knew about each other. Eventually they found out, and now im down to two, lol.
Anyway, being in multiple bands (especially different musical genres) will help you improve as a musician, and youll hopefully be bringing ideas back and forth, and one of your bands might end up going in a whole new direction, because of your other influence.

[mutant!]

^ They could easily kick me out. Even though it's been my project from the start, the bassist and lead guitarist are awesome musicians, and if they recruited a new lead singer, they'd be off fine (perhaps even better).

Perhaps I should just compromise, and try to do something heavier from time to time - only reason I haven't really considered this is because my bassist is bent on staying away from the cliche rock influence. I suppose if it's alternative enough, he'd go for it.

[King B]

I say go for it. I'm three bands right now and gives me a lot of freedom musically.