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Does your band actively work on your visual show?

#21
We generally dress as we do every day although there has been talk of "Outfits". In the asthetics dept we have a Banner with our Bands Logo and we bring our own Light set up (2 Led circus lights sound activated and mounted on high stands, a Laser light machine that is also sound activated and turned on during the later half of the set) and a smoke machine.

Since we are an instrumental band, the visuals help ppl loose themselves in the sound and thats when you really can enjoy our type of vibe, we get a lot of positive reaction about it except for those few who are bothered by bright lights.

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#22
depends on the music im thinking...my favorite bands put on no stage show at all besides maybe some lights and thats what i dig...i'm there for the music not the stage show... just my opinion :)

being in the post-metal noise scene bands that try to choreographa stage show usually get laughed at a lot...its a good scene as you can concentrate on the music, wear what you were wearing that day, and people are really just into the music
 
#23
This is a big issue for me.

Our previous singer was extremely engaging and really was the focal point. Part singer, part actress, part comic - she was an entertainer. The rest of us were in the shadows, and we liked it that way.

New singer has little ability or apparently interest to engage audience (but really good voice). That exposes the rather dull persona of the rest of the band. Everyone is uncomfortable with the topic, and so nothing has changed.

I think the next step will be to videotape ourselves.
 
#24
kinclune said:
This is a big issue for me.

Our previous singer was extremely engaging and really was the focal point. Part singer, part actress, part comic - she was an entertainer. The rest of us were in the shadows, and we liked it that way.

New singer has little ability or apparently interest to engage audience (but really good voice). That exposes the rather dull persona of the rest of the band.
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Great point. It's so important to have the right "mix" and I don't mean sonically (though that's important too), but in terms of personalities. I've been out to see bands who are essentially a collection of front men (including the drummer), and it's uncomfortable. Everyone passive aggresively trying to one-up the others and you're never sure who's really in charge. I've also seen other bands where everyone is a sideman and someone steps up to talk to the crowd cause they have to, but it's clearly outside their comfort zone. Those are equally awkward, but in a different way.

Our band has a dominant frontman (lead singer/BL), a secondary front guy (one of the guitarists) who essentially is the "foil" for the BL in the onstage banter, etc., and three sidemen (me, drummer and the other guitarist) who never talk on mic. None of us gets in each other's way, there's no threat of anyone upstaging the BL and it all works out well. If even one of us played a different role than we do, it would come off as forced and we wouldn't get the response we do.
 
#31
Link Removed my bands website. They have been playing together for 6 years, I have been with them almost two. About a month after I joined we got some shirt designs, web designs, etc from a graphic designer friend of the drummer (who, in a small world moment, turned out to be someone I went to high school with). The logo seen at the top of the page on our website was among them, we began referring to it as "the belt buckle logo" because you have to admit that would be an awesome belt buckle. A kind of "southern" influence as well as home town pride started growing. Home town being Perry County, Pennsylvania, which for those of you who don't know is basically a little slice of the south smack dab in the middle of PA. Our look is an amalgamation of the metal and hardcore scenes we are part of, our roots, as well as the south and it has rooted itself in our personalities. People really seem to respond positively to our cohesive visual even so far as for our live show to be called an experience rather than just a show on multiple occasions.

tl;dr

for us the look grew naturally over time.
 
#32
jaywa said:
We're fortunate enough to have a front man who's 6'4 and built, very good looking and charismatic. He carries the bulk of the show for us from a visual perspective. About the only time I get really animated is during my spotlight solo when I ham it up but that's mostly to cover the fact I don't solo very well and I'm not enjoying it that much.

Every now and then me and the two guitarists will get behind the frontman and do some faux choreographed stuff but it's all tongue-in-cheek... the three of us are all way too old to look anything but pathetic if we were trying to play it straight. Both guitarists are pushing 60 and I'm 46 so we're very cogniscent of the fact that it's the 31-year old frontman's "show" and while we obviously want to project that we're having a good time, we also understand the importance of being true to who we are. Good grief, 3 of us have grandkids so we can only take the "rock stud" thing so far, right?
y.
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I'm 59 and I know the whole look thing gets tough.

But I'm not going to make things worse by going on stage with grey hair, a gut, wearing shorts and playing a p bass.

Ron Wood is pushing 70 and can pull off the rock image better than any 20 something.

Blue
 
#33
Corevalay said:
It's definitely important. Few want to admit it but your look and presence is on par with how you actually sound. Hell, if you're in a coverband sometimes its MORE important!
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The thing I've learned is that stage presence can go a long way, and can be used to mask some of your deficiencies as musician. Similar to how a magician uses patter to redirect the audience, as performers, we should direct the audience's attention too. The visual aspect is one of the keys.

I've mentioned this before, but I'm a lousy guitar player, but for some odd reason I play gigs and get compliments. In this town I'm probably in the bottom third in terms of chops, but I've had people tell me a couple times that one of my solos was one of the best guitar performances in town. I try not to laugh or be embarrassed, because most guys that play guitar in this town can play circles around me. But, like a wrestler who 'sells' a fake maneuver, I 'sell' faking away on guitar. In many ways, I have to, because my licks alone aren't enough to make a show. That's why I play on top of tables, behind my back, tap, windmill, gesture, and all the other tricks I can muster, because I know for sure that my musicianship isn't enough in that department. I have to put on a show, or else I'm just another hack. Oh wait, I am just another hack.....
 
#34
Stage presence is really tough. I struggle with it constantly.

Every time I think I'm improving thinking I come off pretty cool until I will look at a recent video.

I look like a "tool" on stage.

Blue
 
#39
My band plays folk/punk and beyond but tend to mingle with the punk scene and the indie crowd a lot. We've sort of made ourselves stand out in our area because we always dress up (suits for the men, dress for the lady) when we play, and we make sure to have a well-defined set-list before every show. We also have a rehearsal space that is a stage with full lights, so one rehearsal a month is usually dedicated to performance above and beyond music. We record our rehearsals at which we do this and sometimes have people along whose opinion we trust, then we go back and post-game each week and see what seemed to work and what didn't. Once we've done this we pick what's best about it but still natural and see how it works live. Things that work stay, things that don't get cut out. While we're not hometown heroes or anything like that, It's very rare that I'll go a week without being recognized for the band by someone new (Living in Pittsburgh that's not huge, but reasonable for a city of 300,000.)
 
#40
My main gig these days is electric upright bass, piano trio. If I'm not moving we're fairly inanimate. Keys and I get our Ray Charles impersonations on when we feel it. There's not far to go with the stick bass before it gets away on me but it's enough.

We have a light in the corner on auto which adds a very little ambience, definitely could do more there.
 

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