# Starting a female fronted rock bar band?



## ngrungebb91 (Dec 14, 2014)

Hello all! I'm going to need some help an opinions here. In March, I will finally be 21... and what excites me more than buying alcohol legally is finally playing in some nice venues besides art shows and whatnot. I have a friend who is a KILLER singer and she is interested in starting a band. The covers would be around the terms of Flyleaf, old Paramore, Evanescence, and even some male bands like 10 Years and Chevelle. We ALSO will write originals around that genre but have the music a little more... proggy I guess I should say and vocals Flyleaf-esqe since that is her forte. I noticed that is something that is not really heard so it would be interesting to create that. I got a bass player who is solid, and a drummer who is 10 years older than us and has some serious experience that might be interested. So what I'm asking here is I need all the help I can get. What do we need in terms of gear.. (guitar and bass are covered, I have a 100w 2x12 tube and he has a 300w tube) marketing, getting into venues, etc. I'm a college student and most everyone else is besides the drummer so this of course would be a weekend band but I REALLY want to do this. Thanks all!


----------



## punisher911 (Dec 15, 2014)

A decent PA to hear the singer in. I have the Harbinger V2115 powered speakers with a cheap 12 channel Harbinger mixer and it works great and it's not an expensive set up. Marketing you can always go the facebook, reverbnation, and soundcloud route. If you can keep the practice volume down, you can make some decent iPhone/cellphone videos of practice and post them to your pages to let people get a glimpse of your sound/style. Learn to use Photoshop Essentials or a free program like Gimp to design logos/stickers/artwork/photo modifying.


----------



## ngrungebb91 (Dec 15, 2014)

punisher911 said:


> A decent PA to hear the singer in. I have the Harbinger V2115 powered speakers with a cheap 12 channel Harbinger mixer and it works great and it's not an expensive set up. Marketing you can always go the facebook, reverbnation, and soundcloud route. If you can keep the practice volume down, you can make some decent iPhone/cellphone videos of practice and post them to your pages to let people get a glimpse of your sound/style. Learn to use Photoshop Essentials or a free program like Gimp to design logos/stickers/artwork/photo modifying.




Okay! Sweet! What should we do in terms on monitoring? I have an old NADY PEM500T that was given to me awhile ago, would that just be for the singer? Or should the instruments get in ears too? Or just get wedges to plug into the mixer.


----------



## punisher911 (Dec 16, 2014)

Monitoring in practice or on stage? 
At practice, volume control and amp placement/aiming will allow everyone to hear eachother depending on the drummers hitting level. (my old drummer was a crazy hard hitter and insanely loud) and the PA is just for the singer to compete with the band. For instance, if you were an acoustic band and had a soft drummer or they used brushes, a powerful singer wouldn't need a PA at all for practice.

I'd use the in-ears for the singer, that's most important. If the singer has to "scream/shout" to hear themselves over the band, you'll probably lose some vocal quality. For instance, my old band had a crappy PA, not enough power and had only 1 speaker. So when the drummer and guitar player turned up to 11 (one louder. lol) the singer was forced to start screaming to hear himself.. The vocals literally turned into an AC/DC screechy type sound and lost all his actually singing for the songs. Nobody could understand what he was saying, which is a shame as he wrote some good meaningful lyrics from the heart.

At a venue, I've always had house provided monitors/sound guys so never needed my PA stuff there. Again, depends on venue and size.


----------



## punisher911 (Dec 16, 2014)

So as funds allow, purchase two new or used powered PA speakers similar in power and size to what I mentioned above. (400 or so watts, 12" or 15") A small mixer, 4-8 channels is enough for practice and can work for acoustic sets too with acoustic/electric guitars/bass running direct. A decent mic (Sennheiser 835/Sure SM58 or equivalent). Set them up spaced apart and far enough away from the singers mic to not cause feedback, keep the volume reasonable, and enjoy.....

I've seen used Behringer B215 speakers as low as $150 used on CL or at GC used. Plenty good for practice/small shows. You will definitely want a pair though. Two will not only move more air and therefor be louder, the sound spread will cover more area and make it easier to hear.


----------



## punisher911 (Dec 16, 2014)

Something similar to this arrangement generally works. Is how my bandroom is set up and I've had no issues. Notice the angle of the bass/guitar amps so they bleed towards the drummer and out towards the singer. Meanwhile the PA speakers are pointed back towards everyone so they can hear the singer, but enough away no to blow right into the mic and cause feedback. You'll have to experiment with your particular set up to get it all good though. Excuse my crappy microsoft paint drawing, I'm at work and it's the only program I have on my work laptop. lol


----------



## ngrungebb91 (Dec 16, 2014)

Wow Punisher911, you gave me some great information. Thank you very much and I will use it


----------



## ngrungebb91 (Dec 17, 2014)

I gotta ask though.. I always heard a healthy mix of covers and originals are good, on another forum I basically posted a status like this... some are saying not to go that route? They are saying go either 100% cover band or 100% original band. Why is that?


----------



## punisher911 (Dec 17, 2014)

ngrungebb91 said:


> I gotta ask though.. I always heard a healthy mix of covers and originals are good, on another forum I basically posted a status like this... some are saying not to go that route? They are saying go either 100% cover band or 100% original band. Why is that?



There's no magic formula. I know of a band who built their following by playing strictly covers and slowly integrating the originals. My bands always played originals and only did a cover or two for fun. It's all in your heart and what you want to play. We have a really popular 80s hair metal cover band by me with a big following. I just personally am more rewarded by people coming to listening to the music I wrote. My opinion is to do originals, but add a cover or two in your style. Don't play a cover verbatum, tweak it and make it yours. However, it still has to be recognizable. My most important advice is be memorable. Do something different. Stand out. Put on a show. Don't just stand there, play music, and leave. Entertain! Have fun! 

Example... Soul Maker was my band.. We did "Seven Nation Army" being we are from the Detroit area. 

"We're going to fight em all, a Seven Nation Army couldn't hold me back." 
But we sang, "We're going to fight em all, the Soul Maker Army has got our backs." You'd be surprised how many people noticed that and would tell us they'd sing it our way when they heard it on the radio.....


----------



## GoldDragon (Dec 17, 2014)

ngrungebb91 said:


> Hello all! I'm going to need some help an opinions here. In March, I will finally be 21... and what excites me more than buying alcohol legally is finally playing in some nice venues besides art shows and whatnot. I have a friend who is a KILLER singer and she is interested in starting a band. The covers would be around the terms of Flyleaf, old Paramore, Evanescence, and even some male bands like 10 Years and Chevelle. We ALSO will write originals around that genre but have the music a little more... proggy I guess I should say and vocals Flyleaf-esqe since that is her forte. I noticed that is something that is not really heard so it would be interesting to create that. I got a bass player who is solid, and a drummer who is 10 years older than us and has some serious experience that might be interested. So what I'm asking here is I need all the help I can get. What do we need in terms of gear.. (guitar and bass are covered, I have a 100w 2x12 tube and he has a 300w tube) marketing, getting into venues, etc. I'm a college student and most everyone else is besides the drummer so this of course would be a weekend band but I REALLY want to do this. Thanks all!



Make sure she can write songs and is willing to put the work into the band. Some chicks think being in a band is having a personal Karaoke machine. Also, if she's not invested in the band, hasn't written songs for it, she will use it as a spring board to join another band after you've played out a couple times.


----------



## punisher911 (Dec 17, 2014)

GoldDragon said:


> Make sure she can write songs and is willing to put the work into the band. Some chicks think being in a band is having a personal Karaoke machine. Also, if she's not invested in the band, hasn't written songs for it, she will use it as a spring board to join another band after you've played out a couple times.



I will second some of that... karaoke queens/kings are sometimes not good for originals. Being able to write lyrics is hard for a lot of people. (me) Mileage my vary, but my only shot with a karaoke star fronting the band, had her standing in one place on stage, bump on a log type, and always forgetting lyrics because she didn't have a monitor to read. Never put in real effort, but always wanted to sing. It's ok if someone else helps/or writes the lyrics, but there is a different between a "frontman/woman and a "singer". I'll take an energetic dancing fool with so so vocals over a stand in one spot vocal powerhouse who does nothing to excite the crowd.


----------



## Senior (Dec 18, 2014)

ngrungebb91 said:


> I gotta ask though.. I always heard a healthy mix of covers and originals are good, on another forum I basically posted a status like this... some are saying not to go that route? They are saying go either 100% cover band or 100% original band. Why is that?



Traditionally, this was true. For a number of good reasons that no longer matter for one simple reason - the internet now exists. 


It will still be harder than doing either one 100%, but it is no longer the complete shitfest it used to be. As long as everyone understands the internet and can send stems when they write something, anyway.


----------



## ngrungebb91 (Dec 18, 2014)

Hmmm okay interesting, yeah I know she will put forth the effort and not be a drama queen about it. Her brother and dad are in a local bar band around here too and they never included her so I know shes determined haha. Yeah I also thought about the internet too. Bandcamp.com is huge for original music to be sold on.


----------



## punisher911 (Dec 19, 2014)

Regardless of what happens, keep us updated.


----------



## ngrungebb91 (Dec 19, 2014)

punisher911 said:


> Regardless of what happens, keep us updated.



Will do!  Tonight, the singer and I are just doing a little jamming acoustically for the first time so itll be fun.


----------

