[KKKKKocaine]

Band 101-

Well, I've decided to make a guide, for bands, from the bottom to the top, to help people with questions like "when do we need a manager?", "how do you produce a DIY album?"
I'm not sure how often I will update this, but I will be starting in the first 'issue', with the following topics.

Band - The Basics; Communication, direction and a marketing plan
Gig - The reason so many unsigned new bands barely get a look off the crowd.

Band- The basics.
Okay, so you've got the band together, all the people you need.
Now you need COMMUNICATION

Sounds obvious huh?
Well far too many bands bicker behind each others backs and moan without addressing the problem, bands need to have full input to work, if your not happy, you have to say, ignoring it will only make it worse.
Now every decision needs to be discussed by the band, just because the guitarist is a whizz at html doesn't mean he gets free range over the website design, nor does it mean the vocalist should do all the booking and managing.
You need 100% communication, this allows problems and issues to be in the open, and easily debatable, a problem shared is a problem halved, in most cases you can resolve any problems maturely with discussion.

DIRECTION
Another obvious but important factor, you need to all know what you are doing, what is your band going to sound like? What genre? Is this a pub covers band, a show band, a hobby group, or a serious project?
If one member wants to go a different direction, there is a problem, make the direction clear when you start, no-one can have any doubts, the same goes for the music you play.
At your first practice, it's sensible to choose about 4 covers to play, this should settle everyone in and give you something to do if your stuck for song idea's, make sure everyone knows them and that they are relevant to the genre, if your a metal head in a funk band, they don't need or want to be playing 'Lynch Pin' by Fear Factory, everyone needs adequate time to learn the songs and they need to be agreed on by the entire group.
Now, alot of bands form and decide to play cover gigs before they write their own material.
This is the biggest waste of time you can do, 4 covers, thats all you need to do, bring along some lyrics, some riffs and put material together once you are settled in, your not Metallica, so don't waste time trying to be them on stage, be your band, write your own material, everyones heard Metallica, if they wanted Metallica they would put a cd on or they would go see the real thing.

Writing your own material is the best thing to start off with, it gives you extra 'drive', "Woah, this is our song, we wrote it, we're a real band", record it on a cheap 4 track if you can, it'll sound bad but you can get the message across and listen to it yourself to gain extra enthusiasm.

Why spend 6 months being a cover band, then another 6 writing your own material, when you instead can spend 6 months writing your own material, and 6 months promoting and gigging with it.

MARKETING PLAN
Sorry, but if you immeadiately thought "I'm not sellout" after reading this title, you have no future in music unless your future happens to be playing for a bunch of drunk unemployed thugs on a saturday night at a crappy bar.
The marketing plan is essential, gone are the days in which you could be musicians, now you have to be business men also, get everything in contract form, gig payment details e.t.c.
Now that your direction is sorted, you need to work out how, it's no good saying "I want to be a big rockstar", you need to know how to become this.
How will you generate financing for your group?
How will you sort out promotion?
What comes after you finish writing the songs you need to gig?
Do you make an e.p. or just a demo?
Are you going to go D.I.Y? or will you be taking a route with a record deal?
What up and coming groups that are similar to yours could you help out and be helped by?
e.t.c. these are all important issues that need working out, it's not enough to write a catchy rock ballad, you need to know how to get it out to people and how to live whilst doing it.

GIGS -DO'S AND DON'TS
DO - Introduce yourself clearly, say where you from, the band name, and each song you are about to play.
DO - Thank the crowd, your manager/pub/the band that put you up after the gig, it's polite and proper to thank them for helping
DO - Go out after the gig and chat to the crowd, this creates good feelings, the crowd will go off and say "Hey, I'm friends with so and so from so and so band" (even if you just waved), they will also say "Oh well if your looking for a band I know so and so , from so and so band, I could get them to play", free publicity, just for dropping down and saying "hi" to a few people.
DO - Enjoy yourself, it will show and the crowd will have fun too
DO - Get the crowd into 'it', if the pit is empty, make a competition, "the best dancer gets a free cd" e.t.c., my band will be doing something similar this monday, halfway through the set a porn groove is being played, "the best moaner in the crowd gets a brand new, boxed ann summers vibrator" , weird, but fun and exciting, the crowd will love it, they get something for free by having a giggle.
DO - Co-operate with the sound engineer, before the gig ask what you can do to help and thank him for being such an integral part in this gig. I assure you this will get the best sound he can muster, Sound engineer is a thankless job, he'll love you for giving him the respect he deserves.

DO NOT - Expect the crowd to form a pit because you said "Everyone in the pit", until you have a large fanbase (i.e. your not longer the support slot) it won't happen, as cheap as it is, they need to be coaxed into opening up for you.
DO NOT - Play during the breaks between songs, this is when the vocalist needs to push the band on people, it's horrible to be at a gig when this happens, " Hey, so we're still <drum fill> thanks for all coming tonight and <guitar solo from random song> hope to see you there as well, our new <bass drum tests> of october, thank you, the next song <bass> enjoy yourselves"
DO NOT - Put yourself down after the gig, if you thought you sucked, save it, don't say "sorry, we were ****, you can get on with having fun now", it's just silly.

Back to some more basics, make sure you know everything about the gig, who is the promoter, what is the age allowed? Who will be providing backline e.t.c.
I played a gig today, two bands didn't turn up, we had to construct a backline out of random bits and peices, then the management came up and said "Sorry, but we're making this an over 18's only", thus we got 12 crowd members.

Well next issue, I'll be going into more gig tips, D.I.Y recording e.t.c.