lol same here

BAND NAMING

Well, this is going to sound obvious, but the band name needs to be fitting.

You need to sound like your genre, if you play indie, don't call yourself
"Satans suicide rap"

You need to reach out to people through ad's and name dropping, if you have an ad on a website, death metallers will click, punkers will think "thats death metal....boring"

Imagine your first gig, you have posters all up over town, you go on stage to see 50 leather clad long haired bikers, lagers in hand, glaring a hole through your NOFX t-shirt.

Not a good sign huh?

The same goes for your song names and album names, as an indie band you wouldn't really be wanting to put "101 reasons my balls look good on your chin" as your debut album name.

It's all in image, you need to sound like you play mellow rock if you play mellow rock.

If you tour, you will be depending on this image to carry across, the second you leave your home town, the screaming fans (girlfriends, workmates, parents e.t.c.) won't be there to say "wanna come to 'Satans suicide rap' with me? they rock"

You need the right people coming to your gig.

As for deciding that name, well there are many ways, you could flip open a dictionary at a random page and use an unusual word, you could just sit and think, have a band session and think of buzz words, spider diagrams e.t.c.
As long as you all agree and it fits, then its fine.


TOUR SURVIVAL

Well this is what you joined a band to do, tour the country and get famous, spread your music to people and enjoy yourself.
It's also the hardest bit your band will face, a test of your character, commitment, and the bands friendship.

Let's face it, who here has been with a friend for more than a week?
You both get mighty tetchy don't you?
Well imagine this time, it's a ****ty little transit van, bad food, little sleep with litte quality, your constantly on the move.

It will put stress on the greatest of friendships, there is nothing that can be done about this ultimately, however litte things can be done to make it easier.

First off, calculate how much money you'll need, go to supermarkets, check out the prices of the best balanced (in terms of diet) foods you can, work out how many you'll need and account for buying a few extra.
Look into prices for spares for cars, and account for a little more than it costs.

These two simple bits of planning, will ultimately help you, you will have more than enough food, and money specialy put aside in case of your van breaking down, this will stop the basic tensions arising, and will cut down on frustration.

Now the tour is costing you a bomb anyhow, we're assuming this is your first, you've had to fork out for the transit van already, the overhead for a few venues, money is scarce, so there are a few money saving techniques.

SLEEPING

I shall be using David Hallamashire's Dig star system, although he meant it in a comical sense, it is a good indication of what you can expect when touring.

One Star (*)

One star digs are in fact, the back of the van. This is cold, damp, boring and horrible. Not unlike a bedsit. When you sleep in the van there is also nowhere to have a piss and so you have to revert to going out into the cold or using a milk bottle. Also like a bedsit.

It is also very inconvenient to have to share the van with the Roadie as there is nowhere to let out the funny smells, and as the Roadie lives on Vindaloo, the smells aren't very funny.

If you can survive the sub-zero temperatures and the funny smells coming from the Roadie, you will find that when you wake up it is raining. This is very odd, because you are in a van. However, when you look around you, you will find that the rain is coming from the roof of the van and falling in big blobs onto your sleeping bag. This is condensation. If the wet patch on your sleeping bag is not condensation then it is worth having a look to see what happened to the milk bottle someone used in the night.

Should you be lucky enough not to be sleeping in the van, it is always a good idea to wake up the members who are sleeping in the van by banging very hard on the door with the flat of your hand. This is very very funny. Or is, until the Roadie beats you to death.

Two Star (**)

The two star digs are a step up from sleeping in the back of the van. Not much. But better than nothing.

This is where you hire a single room in a Bed and Breakfast house and creep in one by one until all eight of the band are arranged on the floor in sleeping bags. This can be quite comfortable if you have left the Roadie in the van to make funny smells on his own. The only other problem being that seven people have to leave by the fire escape the next morning. In digs where more than one band are staying, the fire escape can resemble Oxford Street in the rush hour.

Three Star (***)

The three star band accommodation comes in the form of the Groupie. Or rather, the groupie's flat. As in the expression, "She's very accommodating." This accounts for the reason why so many sane, good looking musicians, end up with people that look as if they wrestle with bulls for a living. Anything is better than dossing in the van and it only takes a little prompting on your part to secure a bed for the night. The subtle approach is best. Something like: "Are we going to your place or what?", will generally get the idea across.

The problem with this form of accommodation is that you:

) Don't know when you are going to be beaten up by the lover who was supposed to be on night shift.

2) Don't get a lot of sleep.

3) Might catch something. (Cold, flu etc.)

Remember, when staying at a Groupie's flat it is always best to lie about everything. Give the guitarists name if you are the sax player. Give the wrong telephone number if you are asked for it and tell them you'll ring them when you get back to Sheffield/Nottingham/London etc. This may seem callous, but there will have been a lot of lying going on all night. ("I've never done this before." etc.)

It also lessens the possibility of the lover coming to Sheffield/Nottingham/London and smashing your teeth down your throat.

Four Star (****)

Four star band accommodation comes in the form of a cheap commercial Bed and Breakfast house, where you might have to share a room with two people you've never met before. Do not worry about this. The Irish navvy and the lorry driver will think it's you that is the lower life form. Which in some cases might be perfectly true. And it's always better than sharing the van with the Roadie.

NOTE: Nylon sheets are always used in these places so that everyone will get caught up in them, get friction burns, get electrocuted and fall out of bed so many times that they will be up and ready for breakfast by six.

It seems that people who snore are registered somehow and evenly distributed throughout the building so that if you do share a room it will be with a snorer. This must be to stop three snorers ending up in the same room and causing structural damage to the building.

Four star digs always have a toilet on the landing somewhere, but you can never find it when it's dark because all the doors look the same and the bulb on the landing doesn't work.

Five Star (*****)

It should be remembered that five star digs = one star hotel.

Five star digs are the Pro Digs. This is a grubby Bed and Breakfast place where people in the entertainment professions congregate. This arrangement allows a lot of people with ego problems to tell lies all night. "We've been booked for Japan." "When I backed Paul Simon," etc. However, the various characters you will meet can be quite interesting.

The girls who look like Strippers are Dancers, and the ones who look like Dancers are Strippers. However, the Strippers are easily identifiable as they can spit further. The people who look as if they haven't eaten for three days are the band, and the miserable git in the corner who looks half dead is the club comedian.

Then there is always a 'Bobby Stallion', or someone with an equally macho name who is very old, wears a wig, a gold sovereign ring, a white poly-cotton-satin-silk shirt (with frill down front), Cuban heeled white shoes and bri-nylon flared trousers and expects you to have heard of him because he was 'Big in the sixties', as a singer.

He will tell you with great enthusiasm how he 'nearly' played the Palladium and is sometimes accompanied by his wife, 'Gloria Starling', who swears she is twenty seven and wears mini skirts even though she looks like Zelda out of the Terrahawks. They will then tell you about the time they had a B.M.W. but have had to economise and now have a Cortina Escort which is just big enough to hold their couple of 2 x 12 cabs and W.E.M. Copycat.

It is always worth listening to a Bobby Stallion life history at least once, then you can ignore the other hundred you will meet in your career.

One of the good things about a Pro Digs is that breakfast is served right up to 11.00 A.M. It doesn't make the breakfast any better but at least you'll be awake enough to avoid eating the funny bits.

As you can see, although it was put across in a humerous fashion, you won't be sleeping anywhere great, so take the oppertunity to make as many friends in area's as you can, don't be afraid to ask if your new found friend at the gig would let you sleep in his living room floor, chances are he will be more than happy to oblige.
Oh dear lord, here it comes, "Be wary of people you meet on the internet"
Yes make sure you don't wake up chained to the bed :thumb:
A living room will be warm and much nicer than the van, and free too, chances are the guy might feed you.
A good money saving technique.


WASHING THINGS

Heh, bet you were expected a section on re-stringing your guitar with chicken wire.

You can ill afford to use a laundrette, nor do you want to wander around stinking.

So here's the plan, you shall require, dirty clothes, body wash, and a sink.

Simple enough, you put the dirty clothes in the sink, wash them with hot water, then add a fair amount of the body wash, mix it all around, make sure to get it into armpits e.t.c., any place that would harbour evil odurs, then take it out of the sink, get rid of the water and put some clean hot water in, no body wash this time, then put the shirt in, clean off all the body wash so it doesn't itch when you put it on.

Then leave it to dry, in the morning it will smell neutral, which is good enough, and best of all it cost nothing, a nice activity to do at the groupies house, they will have a hairdryer so you don't have to wait a day to be able to wear it again.

SCOUT

Look through the area where you are playing, the music shops, check them out, ask them what they do about gig problems, or if they do anything, if you break your guitars head mid song, its always a good idea to know where to rent a new one.
Look through the area and see if there are any cheap hotels/food places, its nice to treat yourself once in a while, if you have the time, relax with the band, it will be much appriciated and will take some tension away from everyone

Hopefully, following these few tips will take some financial and emotion stress from the tour, other than that, the only thing you can do is remember, you are there to enjoy yourself :thumb:

RECORDING ON A BUDGET

If your just starting out and need a good method of getting a few songs on cd for promotion and presskits, but don't have the cash to record and press.
Here's an idea, a split record, this is what my band are doing, 3 songs each, this means that

a) Both bands pay for pressing, costs go right in half
b) When someone buys the cd to hear my band, they are exposed to the other band, and vice versa
c) It can create a strong tie between similar bands

Remember though, for this to be effective in promotion you need to be similiar in styles, deathmetal and indie on one cd won't work very well.

Use simple designs, logo's with few colours, the inlay should have nothing more than the bands websites and prehaps a short bio and mailing list details.
You probably won't make millions of pounds from this, so its best to keep costs low, this is more aimed at bands releasing their first recordings so no-one will grill you if you didn't have the best upcoming artist design for you.

At best you can probably recoup most of what you spent, think of it more as an oppertunity to get your name out in the scene rather than a financial move.

Another idea for this, may be to add a special bonus track, with your band and the other band doing a song together, just an idea.


Or you could balance it out, on the split record, we will be having Wrong Halo as light emo/punk and my band to compensate with post hardcore, we balance each other out nicely, so even though there are only three songs, no-one will walk away thinking "this sucks, its all too light/too screamy"

:lol:, great posts kocaine, loved the humour with it (should of claimed it as your own!)

[QUOTE=DruMMeR_BoY14]:lol:, great posts kocaine, loved the humour with it (should of claimed it as your own!)[/QUOTE]

[url]http://members.lycos.co.uk/DaveFleming/stonedeaf.htm[/url]

The entire book is there, it never got published or something, funny as hell :thumb:

Great thread, Cant wait till the next one.

Yes, a new issue!! I must read.

EDIT: Great job, and very funny. :lol: Just some questions about touring: How do you get hooked up to do it? How do you get gigs scheduled in far away states/places? How much extra money will you need to take along?

kool, next you should make a post about the actuall gig/festival survival and playing onstage (how to get BIG crowds going) etc how not 2 cock up etc and what to expect from the promoters of the gig and stuff.

Mini tip: try playing with the lights off, the lighting at a gig may be **** so you need to be able to play weather you can see or not. :thumb:

Instead of plagiarizing stuff off of getsigned.com why dont you just give people the links?

here is one of the things you copied.
[url]http://www.getsigned.com/demosins.html[/url]

because, dude, we're all to lazy to go there. and he never claims its his own when it aint.

fag...

[QUOTE=moaner]because, dude, we're all to lazy to go there. and he never claims its his own when it aint.

fag...[/QUOTE]

First of all grow up. Second of all he didnt say he [I]didn't[/I] write it. He is going on as if he did. Its illegal to post copyrighted material and act as if he wrote it. Its much easier to give links. Besides getsigned.com has a lot more to offer than this thread does.

[QUOTE=the_only_singer]First of all grow up. Second of all he didnt say he [I]didn't[/I] write it. He is going on as if he did. Its illegal to post copyrighted material and act as if he wrote it. Its much easier to give links. Besides getsigned.com has a lot more to offer than this thread does.[/QUOTE]

Oh dear, I missed a link, lock me up and do me in the *** officer, I think it was blindingly obvious I didn't write the demo sin bit myself, especially seen as it's in an entirely different writing style to mine :rolleyes: (Call special Ed, a student has escaped)

Secondly, everyone go onto getsigned, try and find anything useful, you'll find some real gems, pity you have to battle through a crappy interface that involves reading 20 **** articles before you find the great one, getsigned only has alot of offer if it put's a new system in place, where you can go from page one of articles to page nine, rather than having to sift through them all.

Do you really think I would delibratly steal from getsigned and then in the next article and the one after, openly state who the great advice was from?

You really are a jealous little idiot.

To all the people with half a mind like this poster, The demosins bit is not something I wrote, something you probably already guessed though simply from comparing the differences in writing style.

EDIT: Just thought I'd ream this fellow a little more, lets assume for the moment that I did really steal it because I didn't think anyone used [url]www.getsigned.com[/url] (I mean, its only a tiny site, 20 visitors a month huh?)

If you're going to point fingers, point it at yourself, ever watch a pirated dvd, listen to a pirated mp3? (you didn't need to download it , just listening is illegal)
downloaded one? downloaded a video on the net, been to porn whilst underage?
:eek: I can say with definate certainty, that you have done one of those, funny how criminals are quick to point fingers huh?

Let's consider why I may have missed putting the link up?
Could it be that I was preparing for a holiday? Packing things?
Could it be that I have the N.A.S.S.K.C open championships coming up soon that I'm training for?
Could it be that I'm working on material with my band for the split e.p.?

Could it be that everyone slips up? Meaning that maybe possibly in the hustle and bustle of writing these articles I forgot to press CTRL+V to paste the url?

Impudent.

I think KKKKKocain is the winner here.

[QUOTE=KKKKKocaine]Oh dear, I missed a link, lock me up and do me in the *** officer, I think it was blindingly obvious I didn't write the demo sin bit myself, especially seen as it's in an entirely different writing style to mine :rolleyes: (Call special Ed, a student has escaped)

Secondly, everyone go onto getsigned, try and find anything useful, you'll find some real gems, pity you have to battle through a crappy interface that involves reading 20 **** articles before you find the great one, getsigned only has alot of offer if it put's a new system in place, where you can go from page one of articles to page nine, rather than having to sift through them all.

Do you really think I would delibratly steal from getsigned and then in the next article and the one after, openly state who the great advice was from?

You really are a jealous little idiot.

To all the people with half a mind like this poster, The demosins bit is not something I wrote, something you probably already guessed though simply from comparing the differences in writing style.

EDIT: Just thought I'd ream this fellow a little more, lets assume for the moment that I did really steal it because I didn't think anyone used [url]www.getsigned.com[/url] (I mean, its only a tiny site, 20 visitors a month huh?)

If you're going to point fingers, point it at yourself, ever watch a pirated dvd, listen to a pirated mp3? (you didn't need to download it , just listening is illegal)
downloaded one? downloaded a video on the net, been to porn whilst underage?
:eek: I can say with definate certainty, that you have done one of those, funny how criminals are quick to point fingers huh?

Let's consider why I may have missed putting the link up?
Could it be that I was preparing for a holiday? Packing things?
Could it be that I have the N.A.S.S.K.C open championships coming up soon that I'm training for?
Could it be that I'm working on material with my band for the split e.p.?

Could it be that everyone slips up? Meaning that maybe possibly in the hustle and bustle of writing these articles I forgot to press CTRL+V to paste the url?

Impudent.[/QUOTE]

:eek: My.... hero. :chug:

three cheers for KKKocaine, for trapsing through 30 pages of runbbish to find us the most helpful (and funny) things he can

I stand by my earlier comment, the only singer, however childish it may be

Right, Now that the only singer has been dealt with, I'm stumped for idea's for the next issue, What would everyone like to see covered?

Maybe something to do with writing songs/lyrics? or recording albums or something.

[QUOTE=Licketysplit]Maybe something to do with writing songs/lyrics? or recording albums or something.[/QUOTE]

Yeah I was thinking of doing a little bit on the recording process my band was using, well not just the recording process, but the method that we are preparing the songs for the e.p. but for me to go into great detail I might have to wait till monday to write it up.

sounds good

Could you answer the questions I posted earlier about touring?

how much time do u guys spend w/ your bands when not playing?
my bandmates and i are best friends, so we always hang out...i'm j/w

[QUOTE=XemoXmoshXpitX]Could you answer the questions I posted earlier about touring?[/QUOTE]

Ok, so a bit on booking gigs and general tour planning in terms of venues and stuff?

Ways to find additional band members would be good.

[QUOTE=KKKKKocaine]Ok, so a bit on booking gigs and general tour planning in terms of venues and stuff?[/QUOTE]

Yeah, thats pretty much what I was looking for. :thumb:

same here

[QUOTE=j0s1ah]how much time do u guys spend w/ your bands when not playing?
my bandmates and i are best friends, so we always hang out...i'm j/w[/QUOTE]

We are all best friends too. We hang out a lot.

Hey sorry I didn't get the article up yesterday, I ended up getting into an argument with the band, but I should get it up in a couple of hours :thumb:
Sorry 'bout that.

Its cool, as long as theyre comin eventually! :thumb:

[QUOTE=X0senses_fail0X]Ways to find additional band members would be good.[/QUOTE]

Ya, that'd be good. Me and my band are trying to play some ska stuff but we lack horns. So our guitarist made of list of people in the school band that were friends with and gave them ska sampler cd's and asked if they were interested but nothings really happened yet.... So we kinda need help

"convince" them with empty promises of success and groupies....

BOOKING GIGS-



Well, first we need a presskit, What's in a presskit? What kind of kit do you need?
[url]http://www.getsigned.com/jeri75.html[/url]

. Clubs
Most of the booking personnel I've known over the years are busy people working in cramped offices with staff crowded behind desks stuffed into the same room. There is barely enough room for the file cabinets, let alone the hundreds of promotional packets that arrive each week. This reality demands that you make your statement quickly and succinctly. These people don't have time to read through a lot of paper. If you can't make your case in the first page, it is likely that they won't make it to the second, third or fourth pages where you've hidden all the "good stuff." The music has got to work double time and the first cut they play must drive them to listen further. If you primarily play clubs, your marketing begins before you even record your CD and create your promotional materials. Armed with the knowledge that you are soliciting the attention of people with very little time and short attention spans by necessity, your materials must hit their mark in an instant. Now you can plan the promotional pieces accordingly.

The One-Sheet is a great tool for this audience. Club bookers don't need a pocket folder full of paper that they will probably toss since the pocket folder doesn't fit in a regular sized file cabinet. A well-designed 8 1/2 x 11 page one-sheet is the most effective method of getting your point across to the club booker. On the front, include a short bio, a photo or the CD cover, a quote from a great review and the act's contact or booking information. The back of the one-sheet might have some additional quotes from reviews or even other club bookers; a discography, (list of your other recordings) if any; a list of some of your recent choice gigs; a list of radio stations that are currently playing the CD. If you add some information about the current CD such as song titles and times, recording information and backup musicians, the same one-sheet can be used to pitch the CD to radio as well. When doing a radio promotions campaign, you only need to send a cover letter, the CD, the One-Sheet.

Once you get the gig, the club will need photos and if you have them, some pre-written press releases. The One-Sheet is also great because it provides a concise biographical paragraph or two for the club's publicist to readily use without searching for the information or spending the time writing something new. The photos and press release can be sent along with your contract. If you have ready-made flyers or posters you can send those at the same time.


2. Theaters and Performing Arts Centers
Although the booking personnel at these venues are no less busy, the stakes are a bit higher and the requirements a bit more demanding. These folks often need to fit their bookings into a programming season and are looking for a slightly classier package incorporating more information. Slick or coated stock paper raises the bar and offers an attractive first impression. Pocket folders are acceptable here but don't over stuff them with frivolous paper. It costs you more to create and send and again, they won't have the time to sift through extraneous matter to find the important and persuasive information. Your bio should be concise and no longer than one page. Keep your type point size 10 point or larger. Edit if you think that a reduced point size will allow you fit more on the page.

Additional information such as lists of previous gigs, discography, awards, radio and television interviews and shows can be incorporated onto one general information sheet. Include a condensed quote sheet that takes the best comments from reviews you've received on one page. This allows the publicist quick access to information they can use for their season brochure, flyers and other publicity tools they will create using your material. All individual sheets should have your contact or booking information. Your photo should also have contact information. Promoters often only need a few posters, it doesn't make sense to send more than they'll actually use so ask before sending.
Theaters usually have a publicist on staff or working for the venue. They may request multiple copies of your CD, your photo and your pre-written press release. If you are on a label, work out a deal with the label for a below wholesale price for promotional copies to promote gigs. You can often work with the label's publicist to have promotional copies sent directly to local radio and print media when promoting tour dates. Either have the venue publicist contact the label or supply the label with upcoming tour date information yourself.

3. Print Media
Newspapers, magazines and newsletters are all trying to cram lots of information into finite amounts of space. Here again you want to get the biggest 'bang for your buck'. If you are going for a listing, simply send a short press release and your photo. When you send a great photo you may be lucky enough to get a caption beneath the picture giving the details of the gig. You may, however, be attempting to entice an editor to do an entire feature on your act. That takes phone call finessing and a fuller press packet. Mostly you need to have a good story that the paper's target audience will find interesting. If it is a daily paper, the audience is a very diverse general population. Your cover letter and press release need to extol the uniqueness of your act, your upcoming event or the release of the new CD. Include your CD when looking for a review or if the CD will enhance your chance of landing the feature or the interview. If you are simply promoting the gig, the press release and photo are probably enough.

Each media outlet has requirements for submission of materials and often there are multiple editors who are responsible for various sections of the paper, magazine or newsletter. Call first to get an understanding of the hierarchy or get a copy of the magazine or paper before submitting your material. It is always better to send material directly to the appropriate editor.

4. Radio
As I mentioned earlier, the CD and a one-sheet are the perfect promotional tools for radio. If you are creating a one-sheet specifically for radio, you might consider getting quotes from other radio music directors or DJ's who have positive comments about your CD that might entice other music directors to add the CD to their playlist. It is also very important that song titles and exact times are clearly printed both on the one-sheet and most importantly on the back of the CD cover. The one-sheet for radio should be more focused on the CD with recording information, backup players, perhaps ordering and distribution information, the CD cover rather than or in addition to the act's photo and a short bio of the act. When promoting a new CD, coordinating all of the graphics for both the CD and the one-sheet add a distinct organized look and allude to your professionalism. Radio personnel need just enough information to share something about the act and the recording with the listening audience. If your graphic artist is particularly clever, they might design the one-sheet to fold neatly into the CD case so it will always remain with the CD.

Keep your information concise. Provide user-friendly materials to spoon-feed your targeted recipient your most influential information. Tell your story quickly so the receiver gets an at-a-glance overview of who you are without having to work at it. These are key factors when attempting to win the attention of bookers and media personnel. There's a lot of competition out there, so make an impact with your materials so you can get you the gigs, get the interviews, get the reviews and get the airplay. Good luck!

Here is an article from [url]http://www.hitme.net/useful/interviews/blacktips.html[/url]
What makes a good presskit? If you're doing press on your own band, the big mistake I've seen is putting too much stuff in the presskit. Don't include the calendar listing from the Village Voice the one time you played CBGB's. Every band has played CBGB's. It's not a big deal. If you don't have a lot of press, don't feel the need to fill up the kit. Don't even announce that you were on some "Best Unsigned" CD compilation. I save those CDs, and often notice that years later I've still never heard of any of those bands.
If you don't already have a lot of press and a buzz going, just send out a tape and a bio. That's ALL that matters! If you do have a bunch of good reviews, excerpt the best lines so you can fit five reviews onto one page. Unless it's a rave review in a substantial magazine, just do a quote sheet for the bulk of them. I only need to see two or three pages to get the gist. Don't think "it's my one shot, I have to send them everything!" As a band goes on and gets better press, start weeding the smaller reviews out. There's no need to keep adding and adding. Save xerox costs. Save trees. Put together two pages of good stuff.
Most editors get 50-70 kits a day. They don't have time to sift through a 20-page package. They often skim your pressclips, save the bio and throw the rest away.


ON THE BIO:
Call someone at a label or a magazine and ask if they can send you some bios they've received. [Derek's tip: the labels' web sites and AOL sites have all their acts' bios online.] Read plenty of other bios and get some ideas of what to do, and what NOT to do.
The best bios I've seen are the ones that are written like a story, written editorially. Some small publications will run the bio as is. Knowing that, try to write it as editorially as possible. Check out some stories that people have written for magazines you like and get an idea for what makes a good lead. Remember the times you read all about an artist you had never heard of, just because the article was well-written. Put a couple descent quotes in there. Don't make the whole thing descriptive, like "The band is from Pennsylvania, where they all met in high school, blah blah." Nobody really cares. If you've got a local angle you can mention it, so that if someone from Pennsylvania is doing a story, they can pick up on that. If your lyrics are really interesting, excerpt a couple lines.
If you don't have a lot to say, keep it to one interesting sheet. You don't have to talk about the record. Show that you could do a good interview, cuz that's the most important thing. Every editor is reading a bio, going "Would I want to talk to these people?" If it sounds like they give good quotes, or you have interesting anecdotes, they'll want to talk to you. Realize that the first paragraph of your bio is like the first song on your tape. If that doesn't catch their interest, then the rest won't either. What makes the band a little different? If your mom is playing maracas on the last track, put it in the bio. Sure! Why not? Whatever you do, don't call yourself your hometown's "Best Kept Secret." That's SO awful! If you can't write your own bio, get someone to write it for you.
Your bio is your calling card. As long as your tape is good, and your bio is good, you're in fine shape. Everything else is kind of gravy.

ON PHOTOS:
Whenever a band does photos it's usually the weakest part of any band doing their own publicity. I see these horrible photos that some guy's girlfriend's next-door-neighbor's little sister's babysitter's dog-walker took. And it's usually a bunch of incredibly ugly 40-year old guys who are balding with ponytails standing in a row wearing leather. What they don't know is that a lot of magazines collect these really horrible photos and put them up on a hilarious "Wall of Shame." If you're not a good-looking band, don't ruin your chances by someone looking at it and getting turned off. If you're sending to a good magazine, they're probably not going to use it anyway, so put "Photo Available" on the package, and if they need it, they'll call.
If you are going to be doing a photo, spend some time and money on it. If it's not a great photo, don't send it out!
Get something really clear. Really imaginative. For God's sake, don't shoot yourselves standing up against a wall! Get a visually interesting background. A car, elevator, washing machine, anything. Make it high contrast black and white, never just shades of gray. Do this test: Take the photo and put it on a really crappy photocopier - the one down at the Indian deli. Put your copy back on the copier, and copy it again. Copy the copy of the copy. If you can STILL make it out, it'll probably reproduce OK in fanzines or reduced down to one square inch.



Now, I'm going to cover the things you ideally need to stop being screwed and to make sure everything goes ok.

1. A letter of confirmation, containing all the details, what bands will be playing, what time, the venue, payment e.t.c.

2. A contract copy, this will be the same as the letter, except it will have legal mumbo jumbo on and terms.

3.A Rider , This will sound weird, people ascociate the rider with a bowl of colour co-ordinated sweets, but really it is a list of things you need the venue to provide so you can play at your best, this isn't the time for extravegance, the venue will simply cross off anything they feel isn't needed, specify items such as free water e.t.c. Small items that will actually help.

It may also be an idea to put a note in somewhere about what you need in terms of technical preformance i.e. do you need the engineer to program lights? e.t.c.

Now, I am aware that many venues simply work by verbal contracts, this is bad, always get a written contract.

1) It makes you look more professional
2) It stops anyone from getting screwed.

On tour, you especially don't want a "misunderstanding" to occur, if a venue won't give a contract, Don't play, any venue that refuses a request to enter a written contract is obviously up to something dodgy.


Band Members.

A common mistake people often make when auditioning band members is to give them the place right away.
Even if you have no other applicants, let a week or so go just in case, the last thing you want is to hire a medicore player one week, and then turn down a great player the next because the slot is full.
It may be possible to provide two auditions for the musician, meeting a group of people who will be watching you with scrutiny will be nerve wracking for all but the best of us, so naturally, they will not play to their best, so always remember to give them a chance.

My band had a practice last satuday, it was my first time doing vocals, I however, had the reassurance that in my mind, I'm in charge, and if anyone pisses me off they shall be fired, but I know I didn't sing to my best, because I was nervous.

What should you play?
Well this depends, if you've just started a band, it's best to arrange to do a few covers (read: 2 or 3) We don't want to wind up at the YMCA playing covers for the rest of the career do we?
Always have some material on hand or a half written song to try out their creativity.
Anyone can play along to Metallica, you don't want someone who can play metallica, you want someone who can write music.
Hopefully, the few covers should loosen everyone up, then you can start on material.

If you are an established band with recordings already, then it's obvious, get them to practice your songs, provide recordings e.t.c.
But remember to be forgiving, you've can play the song whilst debating the pros and cons of STV (Subjective Theory Of Value), they probably are still a little fresh with the song, they may not know exactly when the bridge comes in e.t.c.

There are many places to advertise for musicians, the internet, however, is hit and miss.
Some sites are good, others are not, for example, I wouldn't give mx's classifieds a thumbs up, it just doesn't seem to work.
But then there are other sites out there that allow band pictures, and have much easier interfaces, it's really just a matter of testing the water.
Advertising in music shops is always a good method, don't forget to include an easy to remember email address.
Few people come into town with a pen a notepad, many times I've just dismissed ad's because I can't remember robot_chris+2k@lycosubermail.brs.com
Make it short and to the point, What you want, What style you play, What age, What area and any special notes (i.e. Bassist needed for Funk rock band in Whitby, 16-18, No timewasters, Band has self-produced e.p. and is currently preparing to tour)

Another method is word of mouth, tell your friends to be on the look out, we found our drummer because he was a friend of the bassists friend.

One final note, Make sure you get what you advertise for, if you advertise for a hard rock bassist, don't take a bassist who wants to play jazz, it sounds silly but often musicians simply apply for bands out of enthusiasm.
"I don't really like metal, but I want to be in a band"
It will lead to problems.

As before, suggestions for the next issue.

I can't remember if I've covered this, but what about an Issue on the methods of preparing a song for a studio? From start to finish?

yeah do that:thumb:

and when will that be coming?

when he writes it, silly.

[QUOTE=Licketysplit]when he writes it, silly.[/QUOTE]

Indeed, I started college yesterday, it's a 3 hour journey there and back, but it's easily worth it to go to the best music college in England.
And prehaps one of the top European ones, seen as kids from other countries are willing to pay thousands of pounds in fee's and accomidation just to go there.
So it might slow down the rate of articles slightly.

3 hour drive? dang..what college?

[QUOTE=j0s1ah]3 hour drive? dang..what college?[/QUOTE]

Leeds College Of Music.

hmmi have never heard of it...the only music college i know is berkely...lol.