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17 Things Local Bands Just Don’t Get

#81
lfmn16 said:
It's not one or the other. The best bands can play AND look the part.
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Really? Eric Clapton doesn't look like a rock star, neither does Paul McCartney. Jack Bruce didn't look like a rock star either but they could all play. Looks are the most overrated thing in music. Its why so many pop acts thrive for a short time and then fade away. A great musician doesn't have to "look the part". Their ability and the music are what matters.
 
#82
ZuluFunk said:
Yes, that's it! You don't know me, and you claim the real demands on my life taking priority over seeing other local bands is an "excuse", so I'm the problem leading to there being a weak music scene.

You're so insightful.
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i wasn't trying to call you out. My point is that going to see local bands play is probably not a high priority for most people, including those that are in a local band themselves. We don't go to shows but we get upset when no one comes to ours.
 
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#83
Altitude said:
My point was that they look like professionals taking their jobs seriously and are more likely to be paid thusly than, maybe, these guys:

garage-band.jpg
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Looks like they are rehearsing.
 
#84
Robroy said:
I'm just not into it enough to do that. I'm a sixty year old married man with a professional job. I'm not going to hang around honky-tonks to watch marginal bands playing music I don't like. For starters, I don't have the time. I'll support them on facebook.

And they really do my band no good. We play Gospel at churches on Sundays and could play every weekend for two years within twenty miles of my house and never play the same church twice. On Fridays and Saturdays, we play 50's-60's oldies at VFW's, American legions Jamborees and other family friendly venues.

What other bands think of us is utterly irrelevant. Not that we trash them, but it's nothing to be cultivated, at least for us.
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Well then the list is irrelevant to you and what you are doing, isn't it? You aren't whom the writer of the list is addressing.
 
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#85
ggunn said:
Well then the list is irrelevant to you and what you are doing, isn't it? You aren't whom the writer of the list is addressing.
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So whom, exactly, IS the writer addressing? Is this one of those "originals" bands things? I played in one of those for a few months. After seeing how the "multiple bands" gigging scene worked, it became clear that the whole concept is obviously as effective a course to success as is any MLM. It was fun to get into the whole scene for a while though.

BTW, I was a 50 year old playing with a bunch of 20-23 year olds doing grunge/punk. It was a hoot.
 
#89
SirMjac28 said:
I wish they would have added something about volume I stopped going to local live music venues because bands are getting louder and louder. I see bands where everyone is wearing IEMs or everyone has a monitor including the drummer and the stage is no bigger than a bar stool playing for a crowd of twenty people. I see full stacks and SVTs with 8x10s blaring so loud it's just a distorted mess so many bands simply can't manage their sound? maybe it's a generational thing and I'm out of the loop.
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I hardly ever touched the volume on my amp. I got loud enough to hear myself on stage well and then put my trust in the sound guy. It didn't always work out, but I was never that guy. My 350watt hartke is all I need.
 
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#90
AdamR said:
Exactly. It should say if your not in a rock band dont dress like a rock star. I wouldnt show up to a jazz show dressed in tight jeans, no sleeves and a leather jacket and certainly wouldnt show up to a metal show wearing a cardigan
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I would actually kind of respect someone who tore it up and smashed certain iconic looks, like the current band T, camo shorts, big beard template for metal. Nielsen style!!

rick-nielsen-with-pick-corbis-630-80.jpg
 
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#91
11. You need to conquer your hometown before you can hit the road. If no one cares about you locally, what makes you think people will care about you anywhere else?

Just because the locals aren't into your music, doesn't mean you suck. For example, if you want to play avantgarde improv/free jazz with and for like minded people, you'll probably need to move to a major urban area or certain college towns. Reversely, if you are looking for a vital blues scene and you are from NYC, you better move out, because there is none. (if someone found it, I'd be curious to know...)
 
#92
SirMjac28 said:
I wish they would have added something about volume I stopped going to local live music venues because bands are getting louder and louder. I see bands where everyone is wearing IEMs or everyone has a monitor including the drummer and the stage is no bigger than a bar stool playing for a crowd of twenty people. I see full stacks and SVTs with 8x10s blaring so loud it's just a distorted mess so many bands simply can't manage their sound? maybe it's a generational thing and I'm out of the loop.
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There's a venue in Denver called Herb's. It's a top-tier venue but the room is very narrow and very deep. They have the stage in the back, facing sideways, where the room is 20 feet wide at most. And the wall across from the stage is a floor to ceiling mirror. Brutally loud PA. Sound is just mass mayhem in there. Soundchecks are pointless.
 
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#94
Robroy said:
So whom, exactly, IS the writer addressing? Is this one of those "originals" bands things?
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Yes, if you look on the website where it was puiblished their "About" page certainly leans towards original bands. I don't kow many publications that cover cover bands.

"Digital Music News is the premier news and information authority for music industry and technology executives worldwide. Our audience is comprised of highly-targeted decision-makers from every segment of the business, spanning major labels to artists to garage start-ups." Do cover bands talk trash about each other? if they do, that's hilarious...
 
#95
two fingers said:
Which ones and why? I'm not saying you are wrong. Actually I tend to like your "walk to the beat of my own drum" take on things.
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1. Trashing other bands in your scene isn’t hurting their rep. It’s hurting yours.

I agree with this one

2. Acting disinterested with folded arms at the back of the room at other bands’ shows does not make you cool. Singing along at the front of the stage does.

I don’t agree with this one. Our local scene may be different with yours, but by and large, our players are narcissists, who aren’t going to do a thing to help you. You can spend all night, every night, cheerleading other bands, and it isn’t going to do a thing to help you here.

3. Looking like a rock star isn’t as important as sounding like one.

While this should be true, it isn’t. There are plenty of successful people who don’t sound very good at all, but look like the genre they play in, and look better than someone less successful who may actually play better.

4. Image is actually important. Cargo shorts are for dads at a barbecue. Not for musicians on stage.

I agree with this, up to a point. There are bands that cargo shorts are perfect for.

5. Being respectful and friendly will take you much further than being superior and entitled.

I couldn’t disagree more. Being respectful and friendly in this town will get you walked on. Run over. Trod into the ground. Being fake nice to people, but acting like you’re a big deal seems to be the chosen “way of being,” and yes, I’m cynical and angry, but five years of this BS has gotten old. Being nice to soundmen gets you lousy sound. Being nice to club owners gets you no gigs. Being nice to other bands? The kiss of death.

6. Going to other bands’ shows is THE most important thing you can do to support your scene.

I couldn’t agree less. Going to other bands’ shows just means more people in the audience for that band, and you just helped them keep the gig that you can’t get. If I go to three of your shows, and don’t see you at any of mine, we are done. Wild horses won’t drag me to your next show. Use some other poor rube to fill the seats at your sorry show.

7. Your scene’s gatekeepers are friends with each other. Get in with one and you’ll get in with them all. If you piss one off, prepare to be blacklisted.

You can be blacklisted without even doing anything wrong. This is a cliquey town; I’m sure many others are the same. Being the new kid will keep you on the wrong list; not going to school with many of the “cool kids” will do the same.

8. You don’t need press to pack a show. You need Invalid Link Removed

We played a Saturday night at a club, and the manager bragged on how it had been packed on Friday. I mentioned to him how I had seen about sixty ads for Friday, and not a single one for Saturday, and how on their calendar, the other band’s Friday show mentioned the band by name, but on our night, we were billed as “live music.” He looked at his shoes, and said, “sorry man,” and I think I made my point that if we had a somewhat full room, that was good on us, but no way could we pack the room to standing room only with that kind of advertising presence.

9. Physical promotional materials are still incredibly important. Get out into the world and put up some posters and hand out some flyers. Don’t spend all of your time on Facebook.

True, but the local papers and radio are the best advertising of all.

10. Facebook is dying. If your entire promotional plan relies on it, you’re doomed.

Facebook is not dying. That’s just dumb. I’ve filled rooms using facebook, THIS YEAR.

11. You need to conquer your hometown before you can hit the road. If no one cares about you locally, what makes you think people will care about you anywhere else?

True.

12. Touring means nothing unless people actually show up to your shows. Do not tour unless you know how you’re going to get a crowd at every show.

True.
 
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