Starting A Band

Starting A Band
Part Three - Time to get gigging!
by Shane Bailey

With your line-up in place and your repertoire honed it's time to get out and spread the word. An excellent place to start is to do a few parties or small private functions for your friends or acquaintances, a chance to road test the material and see how the band performs in "gig mode". If you don't have your own PA as discussed in Part Two, then you'll need to hire a system for the event. Depending on the size of the show you can go for hiring equipment and doing it yourself or go the whole hog and have an engineered system. Most often, however, one would expect this first show to be a small affair so hiring a desk and a few speakers from your local music hire joint ought to suffice. It's also a good way to learn a few of the fundamentals of PA systems and how they operate, knowledge that could prove invaluable in the future. Give yourself plenty of time to set up during the day of the gig in case something goes wrong or you can't work out the system correctly, and have someone on hand or contactable that can run you through any dramas that may come up during the set up. Give yourself a good solid soundcheck if you can (make the most of it while you can, soon you'll learn that soundchecks are the exception, NOT the rule!)

Once you hit the stage try and remember what you learnt from seeing all those live bands you've checked out in an effort to polish your own performance, and all the things you have discussed about performance as a band. Remember, no "dead air", no constant tune-ups, keep extraneous garbage to a minimum, just give a good show you'd be happy to be an audience member of. Above all else, enjoy yourself!

Now you've tested your act once or more take stock of what feedback you received from those present at these shows. Make sure you garner as much of this feedback as you can after playing, see what people think and take it all in. Much of it will be constructive criticism, some of it may be crap, but more often than not those dishing such crap are probably not playing in a band even at your early level. You'll know what to listen to and what to ignore. If there were any recurring comments about your performance that you didn't think of or that concern you, make sure you work on them as individuals and as a group. If one member is singled out try and stick by them, they are your band "mate" and if it's something about their performance you didn't know about going in to the show, try and help them work through it. If something else in them surfaced you missed all this time you'd been rehearsing your act it's also worth trying to work through this too, you're all in the same boat and, theoretically, all at or about the same level.

By about now you're ready to pursue real work. The very best way to go about this is to try and get on a bill as an undercard for a friend's band who might be a few rungs higher than you. Even if you haven't any friends or acquaintances at that level if you spend some time around the scene it won't be long before someone decides to cut you a break. This is where some politics come in to play. Don't go headfirst in to the scene sprouting about how good you are and how much better than Band A or Band B you are, you are at the lowest rung, you need to respect those above you at this stage, whether or not they deserve it. Not too many people will be willing to cut you a break if you act like you are superior to others who have more experience than you in the live scene.

Once you've lined up a show get as many of your friends and supporters along as you can, you're going to need some sort of crowd, in nothing more than to give you feedback about your performance. Do what you can to help promote the show but make sure you're not stepping on any toes as far as the main promotion is concerned. Work out ahead of time what time you're supposed to arrive at the venue and what the sound and light situation is. More often than not it will be taken care of by the headliner or promoter. Worry about how much you're going to get paid last, if at all, these first shows will be invaluable to you whether you get cash or not.

Arrive at the show with plenty of time to spare and all your gear (and spare fuses, strings, sticks, skins, anything you can think of) all in good working order. If you don't get a soundcheck don't worry about it. make sure you stay out of people's way if there's nothing you can do to help with the set up, and introduce yourself to anyone you think relevant (without getting in their way!) Relax and enjoy not having to worry about all the off stage stuff if you don't have to. Find out at an opportune time what the soundman needs from you, if anything. Find out what he'd like as a signal if you're having monitor troubles, soundmen don't traditionally appreciate someone gesturing madly to "turn it up" over and over. If you do get a monitor mix that isn't great but you can get by with it, accept it. If your pre-arranged signals don't get a better result just live with it and make the most of what on stage sound you can get from other monitoring or even some bleed from the front of house. Worrying about not being able to hear yourself will detract from your performance, the most important part of your show. If you're well enough rehearsed a bad monitor mix won't kill your show. Remember, at the start of your set don't freak out about the on stage sound or what you perceive the mix to be like, let the soundman iron out the wrinkles for the first couple of numbers.

Before you know it your show will be over, this is not the time to start celebrating. If you're an undercard you need to get your stuff of the stage, IMMEDIATELY. The next band and the soundman will recognise and remember you as much for your performance as for how quickly after it they were able to get on with their work. The next band is now going through the same things you went through before you went on so be mindful of that as you wrap up your performance.

Once you're off and the next band is on take the time to check out their show and, no matter what you think of their performance, respect is again the name of the game. Once it's all over take the time to thank the sound guy and the other band(s), sit and have a drink with them if invited, some of your best networking can be achieved at these times. Hopefully as a result of this show you will already be hooking up future support slots or even your own headline shows. Often audience members can also facilitate this so take the time to talk to them (if they're making any sense) if they approach you. If one person in the band is a good people person perhaps they can take on the role of a liaison of sorts during these times. Most often the singer will be the one approached so if they're not good with that sort of thing be sure and try and deflect some of the approaches to the designated "people person" in the band.

Again, it's now time to take stock of the show. If you watched the main bands and noted things they did in their performance or preparation you disagreed with keep it to yourself and use it to further hone your own band. Use the feedback and constructive criticism positively again and continue to move forward. This is the time when your band and it's individual members will learn many, many fundamentals either consciously or otherwise and it's important to keep an open mind about each and every thing you come across.

In Part 4 we'll take a look at what may be involved in your own headline show as well as the management side of things. You may be self-managed, an approach that has it's own set of hassles, or seek external management. It's the latter that you need to treat with extreme caution as this is the point where the sharks, no matter how small a feed they might get, can start to circle.

Part One: Where Do you Start?
Part Two: Is It All About The Music?
Part Four: To Manage Or Be Managed