# Getting off the ground (A request for beginner band help)



## Oxygen42 (Apr 23, 2013)

I'm in a Progressive Metal band (actually progressive, not just Djent), and we're looking to get out there and start playing shows. We have a decent collection of songs, but very little experience booking our own shows. We've played shows through companies like Supernova for Battles of the Bands, but not our own shows. If you guys have any advice specifically on how to book shows, but also how to find bands to play with/open for, and how to make sure the shows suck as little as possible, it would be much appreciated. Thank you!


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## Albionic (Apr 24, 2013)

make a cd send it to every band/venue/promoter you can think of. Be humble don't make ANY requests lighting/special sound reqs/cash the first time you play a venue.


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## Oxygen42 (Apr 24, 2013)

Now having the hour worth of demos on my soundclick pays off!


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## Oxygen42 (Apr 24, 2013)

Should we expect to have to fork out cash to play shows? The game plan at the moment is to send the CDs, and call around, saying we're interested in playing a show there and asking if there are any similar bands we could be booked with.


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## Solodini (Apr 24, 2013)

I don't see why you should have to pay to play. If anything you should be being paid. If you suck then you should be doing it for free. There's something fishy to me if someone's asking you to pay to play.


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## Oxygen42 (Apr 24, 2013)

Solodini said:


> I don't see why you should have to pay to play. If anything you should be being paid. If you suck then you should be doing it for free. There's something fishy to me if someone's asking you to pay to play.



Yeah, that makes sense. I was just wondering, because I have a promoter (not in my area though) on facebook, and he was talking about "Do you know how much I need to pay the venues for bands to be able to play?" so I thought that if we were to book the shows with the venues ourselves, we might have to pay ourselves as well. Seemed fishy though.


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## sage (Apr 24, 2013)

There are a lot of factors that come in to booking shows. 

First off, an hour of demos on soundcloud are not a good thing to pass along to promoters. What you really want to do is set up an Electronic Press Kit page online. This press kit is going to have your best 2 or 3 songs, tops. It's going to have a picture of you guys. It is going to have a nice, well written paragraph describing your level of dedication, your level of responsibility, your commitment to working in a partnership with the promoter to actually get people to come to the show, and your level of professionalism when it comes to showing up on time, loading your gear on and off stage efficiently, and putting on an entertaining show.

Second off, do not waste your money making CDs. Dinosaurs use CDs. People booking shows are not dinosaurs. You are going to do some research on venues and promoters in your area. You will find their contact information. You will write them a nice email that goes a little something like this:

Hello,

I am Jimmy McPrognotdjent, the guitarist for Shitwagon. We play Progressive Metal in the vein of Two of My, and Favourite Bands. We would very much like to book a show with you at Your Awesome Venue or That Other Joint. (Many promoters book more than one venue, make it look like you did your homework). Please take a look at our Electronic Press Kit at shitwagon. com/presskit . We are a band with live experience, having played shows for Supernova.

If you have any questions or would like to book our band, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] or call me at 416-555-5588. We are available immediately and would be happy to assist you on short notice if a band that you have booked cannot honour their commitment to you.

Jimmy McPrognotdjent

You are not going to send this email to clubs that do not book metal bands. It's not worth wasting your time. 

Thirdly, should you have to pay to play? Well, you should not be paying a promoter to allow you to play a venue. That's bullshit. However, you should not entirely negate the possibility of chipping in with a couple of other bands to rent a venue and promote your own show. This is a totally acceptable method of getting to play live. Also an acceptable method of either making or losing a lot of money. It can be risky, but it can also be one of the only ways to play all-ages shows if there is not a promoter in your area that is consistently booking all-ages venues. 

Fourth. Go out and be social. There is at least one band in your scene that plays similar music to what you play. They get shows. They're better than you. Go make friends with them and let them know that you'd really like to open for them sometime. I'm not talking about going to a Protest the Hero show. I'm talking about going to see Shitwagons on Speed or whoever that band one rung up the ladder is. 

Basically, look pro. Act pro. Play pro. Be pro. Don't be a dick. Show up at the Tuesday night show they booked you for, load gear, be respectful, don't get drunk at the bar, even after you play (after party elsewhere), put on an excellent show, thank the promoter for the show, load out. Then, send them a thank you email letting them know how much you enjoyed working with them and that you very much look forward to working with them again in the future. Even if you really don't. You never know, they might be booking a Saturday show with your favourite local band.


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## Albionic (Apr 24, 2013)

^^ this 100%. Lol I said cd but I just meant venues and promoters want to hear bands before booking them. When I first started we sent tapes (I'm old).


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## sage (Apr 24, 2013)

I think we must be in the same age bracket. We sent tapes also. We stood out by our ability to use colour printing on the J-Cards. I was a digital print tech back then. Everyone else hand drew and lettered their J-Cards and photocopied them in black and white.


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## Oxygen42 (Apr 24, 2013)

Thanks for the advice man! Also, your username is very accurate. 
Now, for yet another, additional question: When on the quest to find these magical, mystical "promoters", what does one do? Do we contact the venues we're interested in and see where that goes, or do we look specifically for promoters?


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## sage (Apr 24, 2013)

Bird dogging promoters 101.

Step one: Find listings for shows in your area. In Toronto, this looks like a very good resource: http://nataliezed.ca/zedlist/

Step two: Find a show with bands that are at about your level. Or at venues with $10 cover charges. Or something like that. In this case, I have chosen the New Hard Luck Bar, which appears to host a battle of the bands series dedicated to possibly getting one band to Wacken, some bands I never heard of, and a few larger bands that I have heard of, like Drag the Lake. Seems like a legit joint. If I lived in Toronto, I'd probably already know the names of the venues I'd be targeting, but even in Vancouver, I did something similar and found 5 venues that I'd never heard of, two of which I have shows booked at now. 

Step 3: Pick a show off their past shows that has a band or two at your level. In this case: https://www.facebook.com/events/101316983369216/ - You'll notice that the promoter of the show is Blacktooth Ent. This promoter is smart and has a link to his facebook page right on the event page. Fucking brilliant. Get to know this guy: https://www.facebook.com/blacktoothentertainment - And, lo and motherfucking behold, he also books The Rockpile. (Did I already mention that some bookers might have fingers in more than one venue? I think I did.)

Step four: Rinse and repeat until you've got a nice database (what? a database? yes, a fucking database) with contact information and information on your past dealings with these venues and promoters. This is what a real booking agent would do. And until you get a booking agent (which you should hold off on as long as possible, you don't have 10-15% to be giving up), you'll want to be as professional about it as possible.


EDIT: user name is actually also IRL name. Most of the time, I don't feel so smart.


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## sage (Apr 24, 2013)

It should be noted that the above information can be used to source information in other towns. You could, conceivably, book your own tour with this exact methodology. But you do need to have your EPK in place. If you want to look at what I put together, I've just got a very basic website. Soundcloud widget links to four songs. A photo. Twitter feed. Links to my facebook page. Simple simple stuff. It costs me $25/year to maintain the domain name and the hosting is free through doteasy.com. Stations of the Breath - Post-Rock Instrumental - Vancouver, BC My friends all know where my facebook page is, and that's great for them to use, and I understand that maintaining your own domain and website seems kinda dinosaurish with facebook and bandcamp being the excellent resources that they are, but I still feel that having your own space on the web allows you to make something relatively static that doesn't get muddled with your friends' dick and fart jokes showing up. You might notice that I don't have a bunch of the stuff that I recommend having in an EPK. I'm old. Everybody knows me or knows somebody who knows me. If my first go-round for booking shows for this band didn't work, I would have tried the methods I recommended in my earlier post, but I was resting on some laurels that I had planted many years ago. You do not have that luxury. Do what I say, not what I do.


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## Oxygen42 (Apr 24, 2013)

sage said:


> It should be noted that the above information can be used to source information in other towns. You could, conceivably, book your own tour with this exact methodology. But you do need to have your EPK in place. If you want to look at what I put together, I've just got a very basic website. Soundcloud widget links to four songs. A photo. Twitter feed. Links to my facebook page. Simple simple stuff. It costs me $25/year to maintain the domain name and the hosting is free through doteasy.com. Stations of the Breath - Post-Rock Instrumental - Vancouver, BC My friends all know where my facebook page is, and that's great for them to use, and I understand that maintaining your own domain and website seems kinda dinosaurish with facebook and bandcamp being the excellent resources that they are, but I still feel that having your own space on the web allows you to make something relatively static that doesn't get muddled with your friends' dick and fart jokes showing up. You might notice that I don't have a bunch of the stuff that I recommend having in an EPK. I'm old. Everybody knows me or knows somebody who knows me. If my first go-round for booking shows for this band didn't work, I would have tried the methods I recommended in my earlier post, but I was resting on some laurels that I had planted many years ago. You do not have that luxury. Do what I say, not what I do.



Thanks for the EPK advice, I've made one on epresskitz.com (which is free!). The main thing preventing me from following that advice is that I can't seem to find any promoters who do shows in my area (I don't actually live in Toronto, but Oshawa, a smaller city in the GTA). After looking at events in my area, I can't seem to find any that actually have any kind of promoter listed. 

EDIT: I've started to find more after digging deeper. Ignore what I said previously.


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## Solodini (Apr 25, 2013)

Yeah, I was overlooking the obvious thing of booking your own shows. That's good too. You'll obviously need to pay to book the venue if it's a gig you're putting on but if there's a promoter then it's their business and their cost to cover, not yours. If they can't make enough money then they're either rubbish businessmen or their contractors (bands) suck.

Maybe put on a charity gig or two if you're not bothered about making money. Some venues will go easy on the booking charge, some bands will be less bothered about money and that may bring out more people to see it as it's for a good cause. Get someone to come along and take photos and/or video, get someone to come and do a writeup about it. If it's someone with a blog, good; if it's someone from a local paper, better. You can then link to the pics, vids and writeup for people to see you playing to a good crowd and what was thought of it.

If you want to go all internets on your reputation, if the band has a twitter feed and facebook page, come up with a hashtag for the gig and put out a post after the gig saying something like "How did you enjoy lastnight's gig? #ShitwagonOtherjoint" and if there's enough decent feedback, you can post the hashtag in with your other media from the gig.


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## Albionic (Apr 25, 2013)

Best advice i can give is get sage to be your manager. the guy is a genius . If he says no then form a new religion worshiping him as a god using his posts here as your bible.


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## Oxygen42 (Apr 25, 2013)

I'm guessing that to find the promoters, one should not contact the venues themselves, but use the bird-dogging method described by sage to find the promoters? I'm just kind of confused because some people say to call and talk to the people at the venue to get gigs. Would that be only for putting the show on yourself? (sans promoters?)


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## Solodini (Apr 25, 2013)

If you can't find out who promotes for a venue then you could just contact the venue to find out who their promoter is as you are interested in playing for them. I'm sure they'd be happy to pass on details. Some venues may even have in-house promoters.


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## Oxygen42 (Apr 25, 2013)

Ahh. I sent one of my messages from sage's template directly to the "booking" contact for one of the venues I'm interested in playing, so after seeing everything about contacting the promoters, I was a bit afraid I had made myself look like a total fool.


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## Solodini (Apr 25, 2013)

The booking contact seems like a decent bet. If they're at all professional then they'll respond courteously and inform you of where might be better to contact if not them.


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## sage (Apr 25, 2013)

Some venues still maintain their own booking contact. There's also nothing wrong with contacting the venue and asking for the contact information of the promoters they work with.


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## sage (Apr 25, 2013)

Oxygen42 said:


> I can't seem to find any promoters who do shows in my area (I don't actually live in Toronto, but Oshawa, a smaller city in the GTA).



No. Toronto is your area. You are a 45 minute drive from the big smoke. Out here, that's the equivalent of living in Maple Ridge. There is a bar in Maple Ridge and they do have a metal night, but bands from Maple Ridge book Vancouver shows. It's just what you do. You're going to have a hard time pulling local friends to go all the way into town for your shows, but after your first 5 shows, you'd have a hard time getting most of your friends to get off their couch to watch you play in their own basement. You are going to need to build a following of people you don't know to be successful in music. The only way to do that is to play in front of people you don't know.


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## Oxygen42 (Apr 25, 2013)

sage said:


> No. Toronto is your area. You are a 45 minute drive from the big smoke. Out here, that's the equivalent of living in Maple Ridge. There is a bar in Maple Ridge and they do have a metal night, but bands from Maple Ridge book Vancouver shows. It's just what you do. You're going to have a hard time pulling local friends to go all the way into town for your shows, but after your first 5 shows, you'd have a hard time getting most of your friends to get off their couch to watch you play in their own basement. You are going to need to build a following of people you don't know to be successful in music. The only way to do that is to play in front of people you don't know.



Yeah, you're right. One of the promoters I know (whom I've come to realize may be a bit of a douche) refuses to book bands without "local draw", which in his words means he won't book anyone if you don't live in the city the show is in. He told me to not bother doing shows outside of Oshawa, but then again, the rest of his advice isn't exactly *ahem*_ sage_ly.

P.S: That same promoter books shows everywhere except Oshawa.


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## sage (Apr 25, 2013)

Right, ain't no reason to say you're from Oshawa. You do have to try a lot harder to get people in to your show, though, when you're not dragging your 'burb entourage into the city with you. Some things that work:

Go to the venue the week before your show and pass out flyers for your show the following week. Meet people and make friends while you're at it. Bring your iPod with your best song loaded up and ready to go. Anyone asks what you sound like, let 'em hear it. 

Get involved in something in Toronto. I don't really care what. Volunteer at a soup kitchen. Join an archery club. Volunteer with the Toronto Roller Derby. [email protected] - They need people for all kinds of stuff. Meet people. Have fun. Tell them all about your band. There are over 100 girls in that league and probably about 100 people that help out at bouts. Bam. You've got an anchor in Toronto. 

The day of the show (and I still do this), hang out downtown all day. Hand out flyers, meet people, make them listen to your song on your iPod. Say something nice to everybody. Hey, those are cool shoes. Come check out my band. I like your hair. Come check out my band. Those are the biggest plugs I've ever seen. Come check out my band. Talk to crazy hot chicks. Tell them about your band. Then tell all the dudes you meet that those crazy hot chicks they just saw you talking to might be coming out to your show. 

Also, try to support whatever it is that your friends are doing. Know a girl who plays ultimate frisbee? Go watch her play sometime. She'll possibly return the favour and check out your show. Got a buddy who fucking loves Star Wars conventions? Go with him. 

Eventually, you'll have a show booked every month and all these things that you do will lead you to people who might be interested in checking out your band.


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## Oxygen42 (Apr 26, 2013)

I got a response back from one of the promoters I messaged, which now leads to another question. Is it legal for me to play a 19+ show if I'm underage, with my parents present? Another question is, is it likely that anyone will give a toss as long as I don't go and order booze?


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## sage (Apr 26, 2013)

That depends on the venue and on liquor laws in Ontario. Here, if a band has a member that is underage, the venue can designate an area that they're allowed to be, like a booth or table or something. Other venues want you to wait in the van until you perform and then want you to get out as soon as you're done. 

But liquor laws are provincial, and Ontario might be different. If your whole band is underage, you might be stuck playing house parties and all-agers until you're all old enough. That's not totally a bad thing. Work on getting your music tight. Work on recording a really sick demo. Get that stuff all over the internet and you may be able to build some kind of following so people are wanting to see you play live when you're actually able to do it.


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## Oxygen42 (Apr 26, 2013)

sage said:


> That depends on the venue and on liquor laws in Ontario. Here, if a band has a member that is underage, the venue can designate an area that they're allowed to be, like a booth or table or something. Other venues want you to wait in the van until you perform and then want you to get out as soon as you're done.
> 
> But liquor laws are provincial, and Ontario might be different. If your whole band is underage, you might be stuck playing house parties and all-agers until you're all old enough. That's not totally a bad thing. Work on getting your music tight. Work on recording a really sick demo. Get that stuff all over the internet and you may be able to build some kind of following so people are wanting to see you play live when you're actually able to do it.



We're half underage, half over age. I believe the law in Ontario is that minors are allowed in as long as they're with their parents, and mine always come to my shows. I'm a young-in'..


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## erotophonophilia (Apr 26, 2013)

Don't sound like your worth a dime a dozen (coughs).


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## Oxygen42 (Apr 26, 2013)

erotophonophilia said:


> Don't sound like your worth a dime a dozen (coughs).



*cough* A lot of Djent *cough* Most "core" bands *cough* Most Death Metal revival bands *cough* I have a horrible chest cold. *cough*

*EDIT* Was that cough meaning that it was directly aimed at my band, or about Progressive Metal in general, or do you simply have a cold?


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## WhiteWalls (Apr 26, 2013)

Everything I wanted to say has already been said in great detail but basically it comes down to two things, at least for the "real life" part:
1) be social, make friends with other bands, don't be a dick to promoters, soundmen, other musicians and anyone involved in the gig
2) BE GOOD! I know this sound obvious but honestly, if you have good songs, good stage presence and good live performances in general, people will eventually notice and you will always come to a promoter's mind when he/she has to decide which bands to call.
Maybe I'm deluding myself but I really want it to be true haha.


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## erotophonophilia (Apr 26, 2013)

(Vomits black stuff) Don't expect to land a decent venue, until all of your band mates are of age. Its the ultimate red flag. It's just asking for a lawsuit. Unless everyone takes their mom with them. That'd be totally awesome right?


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## Oxygen42 (Apr 26, 2013)

erotophonophilia said:


> (Vomits black stuff) Don't expect to land a decent venue, until all of your band mates are of age. Its the ultimate red flag. It's just asking for a lawsuit. Unless everyone takes their mom with them. That'd be totally awesome right?



I know I'm asking to get laughed at here, but my parents have come to every show I've played. The only other underage member is my brother, so there are no conflicts with the law here.


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## Oxygen42 (Apr 29, 2013)

*BUMP* Following sage's advice, I have procured my band's first paying show! Thanks man


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## sage (Apr 29, 2013)

Excellent! Glad to hear it. 

Nothing lame about your folks watching all your shows. I know a guy who's 27 and his parents are at all his shows still, too. They dig it and are happy to support him.


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## Oxygen42 (Apr 29, 2013)

sage said:


> Excellent! Glad to hear it.
> 
> Nothing lame about your folks watching all your shows. I know a guy who's 27 and his parents are at all his shows still, too. They dig it and are happy to support him.



Yep, my mum's favourite band is Opeth and my Dad's favourite band is Metallica, so they don't mind my music


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## Yimmj (May 2, 2013)

Thanks for the knowledge sage! And all Of you guys!


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## cwhitey2 (May 2, 2013)

I have noticed that in upstate ny there are only like a total of 15 promoters (i was one for my area) who book legit fucking bands. There are always small local shows to start at as well.

Basically network your ass, off get to know promoters and ppl in general. My band used to show swap all the time or fill in because of the people we knew. The more people you know the better


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## Albionic (May 4, 2013)

Oxygen42 said:


> *BUMP* Following sage's advice, I have procured my band's first paying show! Thanks man



let us know how it goes.


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## Oxygen42 (May 11, 2013)

The show went amazingly. The manager of the bar told us to call him any time we want a show, and said he'd love to have us back. The promoter praised us, etc. and the crowd loved us. There were people grabbing friends from outside and pulling them in saying "You have to see this band" (according to some of our "crew") We were the second of three bands, and we had the largest crowd for our set. We have 4 more shows booked in the coming months, and we'll probably be getting even more. I've also been personally invited to compete in a guitar competition for cash prizes. The person who invited me said that he had been interviewing and auditioning other guitarists for the competition, and said I easily blew them all out of the water. To quote GLaD0S: "This was a triumph."


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## sage (May 12, 2013)

Sweet! I'm happy to hear it's working out for you.


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## purg3be (May 12, 2013)

Have a killer performance, get some friends to help you out. profit.

Performance and image are everything.


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## Oxygen42 (May 24, 2013)

Update to anyone coming through this thread: Sage's advice REAAALLY works. My band has been booked for a show every two weeks from May 10th until August 9th. The networking is extremely important. Getting on good terms with promoters and booking agents can be very helpful. We've gotten two different offers to choose any Friday night we want, and they'll set up the show and will book more bands.


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## shawnt3 (May 24, 2013)

I feel that I have gained much experience through watching friends in other bands that make it and get signed...so hopefully I can pass on some good advice. It takes a TON of hard work and MONEY to get yourself noticed. Here is what you NEED to do in order to have success in this current metalcore/deathcore/djent/progressive/whateverthe.... scene.

A) HAVE MONEY. AND SPEND IT. This means getting good quality gear that sounds great. I know personally that I respect a band much more if they have the right gear, because I know they are serious and want to sound as best as they can. Do NOT be a cheap ..... I have had members in my bands that have been so reluctant to spending money that we never ever improve on our sound. That guy is no longer in the band anymore. Coincidence? I think not.

B) LOOK PROFESSIONAL. Once you get on stage, you need to be ALL business. NO standing around awkwardly, NO joking around with a band member or looking away from the crowd (unless setting up gear). You want your band to basically look like you're the shit. When you express that amount of confidence, the crowd EATS it up. When I see a band and they know they're good and that they look pro, I get so much more into it. It also may sound weird to say, and some may disagree, but the way you dress DOES play a part in it. It helps create a band identity. Unfortunately "Making it" is no longer just about music. Your band needs to look hard, and sync together well.

C) PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. Invest in a band room, find a regular jam spot somewhere. Pro bands MUST be practicing at least a couple times a week to keep yourself tight. Play to a click until playing your songs becomes robotic. One quote that has always stuck with me is "play your songs till you hate 'em". That means literally playing your songs over and over and over until you nail it every time. Nobody is perfect, but the closer you get the more successful you will be.

D) NETWORK. Your band is a business. Do NOT play a gig, and then drive home directly after. Talk to the bands you're playing with, make connections, and take down numbers...even if you think the lead vocalist is an arrogant prick. Just due to my band knowing people, we have gotten Adam Warren from Oceano on one of our tracks without even having played a show or releasing a recording to the public yet. Knowing people will get you good shows, and keep you away from shitty Supernova shows.

E) MARKET YOUR BAND. This means Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all that shit that you may hate but HAVE to do. You must keep in contact with new fans and have a way for them to access your music easily. Artwork is important. Hire someone who actually knows what they're doing to make your cover art, and Facebook art. The art is the first thing someone sees when they access your page. 

The music industry is really shitty, and requires a ton of your own work and sacrifice to get anywhere. I myself plan to follow this formula closely in hopes of creating success for my band.

Anyways,

Hope this helps


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## sage (May 31, 2013)

That's excellent. I'm glad it's working for you.

You are now ready for my next lecture, titled:

Just Playing Live is Not Going to Work

Back in the late 90s, I had a band. A very good band. A "we play one of the big clubs every other weekend and lots of people show up" kind of band. We played over 100 local shows in a year. Some were better attended than others, but I'd say we averaged 75 people a show. At the end of the year, we were in exactly the same position as we were when we started out: a bit of interest in the local scene in Vancouver. That's it, and here's why: We had no decent recordings. For reals. Somewhere along the line, I had it in my head (and everyone else in the band was too baked to notice I was heading in the wrong direction) that we were going to play live shows and one of the local labels would hook us up. Seemed like a legit plan. We had some significant buzz. A local rag had called me one of the top 10 guitarists in the city (I think they missed 20 guys I knew who were leaps and bounds better than me). There were 15 labels in town looking for something similar to us and they were on the guest list for every one of our shows. Some of them even came out. The only offer I ever got from one of them was to ditch my band mates and form a new band with three guys that had just fired their singer/guitarist. I passed on that. We also had no merch. No shirts, no hats, no stickers, no NOTHING. So all of these people that saw us play live had nothing to remember us by. 

That's when things started to go sideways. After a year of thrice weekly rehearsals and writing and a year of playing our asses off live (while still rehearsing thrice weekly), we were a tight band with few prospects. So the drummer took a job teaching English in Japan, the bassist hated the new drummer and left, the new bassist hated the other guitarist, and the shit pretty much hit the fan right after the sickest concert we ever played. If we had kept the original personel, the following actions I took during this shitstorm would have worked:

I got us a recording. Three songs in a decent studio with three songs tracked live at a show. I manufactured CDs and they were selling. We also had two songs in regular rotation on a few radio stations.

I made us merch. I don't care what anyone says, there is amazing value in having your band's name stretched across a gorgeous rack. Dudes wearing your t-shirts, that's cool too. Hot chicks wearing your t-shirts are priceless. Make. Girl. Merch. Give it away if you have to.

I made amazing contacts with local festival promoters. They got us access to playing gigs that were not available otherwise. Private industry parties in closed clubs. Showcases in big recording facilities. 

I got the band sponsored by a local skateboard company. I can barely skate, but I got a mess of their shirts and I wore one at every show. We hung their banner up behind the stage. We gave away decks and shirts at shows. They were happy to have us and we were happy to have them. They even made a deck with my art on it. And that last show we played, that was their gig. They had a skate comp at a brand new skate park. On a Saturday. 800 people, outdoors and in the sun. We played a 35 minute set to open the competition and then another 35 minute set during the big air competition, which was literally right in front of the stage. I would be singing and a dude would fling up right in front of me. 2 radio stations were there, one of them invited us to play their big parking lot show the following month. It was the best show I had ever been a part of. But the bassist and the guitarist got into a fist fight. They both came up to me and stated that I had to fire the other guy. I called an end to the band the following Monday. 

The moral of the story here got kind of lost. It's this:
Get your shit together. Record yourselves now. It might cost a bit, but it's worth it. Make merch now. It might cost a bit, but it's worth it. Make interesting friends now. That costs nothing and it's worth it. Playing live without a recording and without merch is not particularly effective.

And if your bass player hates the new drummer, maybe think about finding a different drummer. 'Cause if the bass player leaves, the new bassist might punch your guitarist. 

OK, that might not get repeated every time.


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## Oxygen42 (Jun 11, 2013)

Now 3 shows into our "Durham region tour", we've learned a few valuable lessons. 
1. Don't let technical difficulties ruin a show. Just keep on rocking. If a member is out of commission temporarily, have someone do a solo of some sort. In one show our bassist broke a string midway through a song, and we plowed on. When it came time to start the next, we jammed on Smoke on the Water for lulz while the bassist retuned another bass.
2. Know your audience. If you're playing to a dinner crowd, don't start with your heaviest tune. Also, if you're playing to a crowd where there's $20 to the craziest mosher, be sure to announce what song is the most moshable, and also don't start off with the song starting with jazz fusion.
3. Back up options are a must, especially for amps and effects. I run my POD HD300 as a pre-amp, and one of the footswitches started glitching midway through the show, switching me to my vintage crunch sound in the middle of a shredding solo. The solution was to run straight into the amp, and use it like normal for the next song.
4. Network! We've met someone who runs an internet radio station, who has offered to give us some air-time. We only have home-recorded demos, and when we told him that, he said that he could help us get into the studio. Also, we've gotten offers for many more shows through making friends with promoters and bands.


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