How Important is good frontman in a band?

[Luciferiad]

A frontman sets the mood, for sure. My band is a power trio and our frontman is the guitarist/singer and songwriter. He's a good singer and a great guitarist. He has an engaging on-stage personality. I think these are necessities for the guy who is essentially the face of the band.

If the guy is boring that's one thing. There are a lot of boring frontmen in the world. But if he's boring and not good it's probably time to go shopping.

 

[Stumbo]

A frontman sets the mood, for sure. My band is a power trio and our frontman is the guitarist/singer and songwriter. He's a good singer and a great guitarist. He has an engaging on-stage personality. I think these are necessities for the guy who is essentially the face of the band.

If the guy is boring that's one thing. There are a lot of boring frontmen in the world. But if he's boring and not good it's probably time to go shopping.

And if you want to be a front man or want to improve, find a band that has a good front man and study the banter between songs.

 

[beaglesandbass]

A good frontman is almost important as a good drummer. If the audience is not entertained, they won't stick around.

 

[Two-Spirit]

I wouldn't give career advice over the internet. I don't know how good you are. You're frontman could be holding you back or maybe the best you can get. I find musicians to be delusional the majority of the the time. So, I don't know.

 

[Mvilmany]

Get a singer, or get a new band.

 

[Eric Swaim]

No. The front man/woman - DOES make or break the band. No instrumentalist wants to admit that - but it's true.

That also depends on whether the band has a singer (non instrumentalist) like Van Halen had its their early days or Geddy Lee for Rush or Lrs Claypool for Primus thats plays and leads the band.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

How important? Absolutely essential unless you're Sia.

 

[Chris 'Wighat' Jordan]

Given that everyone in the band must be very good at their instrument to begin with -including the lead singer- having an exeptional frontperson is what gives a band what it takes to blow people's minds. And being a frontperson includes the ability to entertain above and beyond singing.

 

[Wisebass]

Stuff happens...

Yep! Singers come....singers go....that' s rock & roll!!!

Bad singers come and stay! (until they get fired)

Good singers come and go!

With a little luck you find someone to replace them and the guitarist.
(they always take the guitarist with them )

and yes we need them (the good ones)

greetings

Wise

 

[ToneMonkey]

Critically important. Maybe THE most important thing. But why quit this band before you have something else lined up. Keep playing but start looking for something better.

 

[basscapes]

Yep! Singers come....singers go....that' s rock & roll!!!

Bad singers come and stay! (until they get fired)

Good singers come and go!

With a little luck you find someone to replace them and the guitarist.
(they always take the guitarist with them )

and yes we need them (the good ones)

greetings

Wise

And here I was, still trying to find a band that doesn't suck... I've been going about this all wrong.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Probably hard for a lot of us to admit, but a great vocalist will cover a sub-par band. A great band has a very hard time covering a sub-par vocalist. All band members need some type of engaging stage presence, especially a cover band. Frontman/woman has to keep the crowd's attention. As a bass player, I have fallen into the "stand-still in back between the drum and amps" zone, mainly due to space, but then it becomes habit. That is bad for the band.

My last band had a great frontwoman. She had a wireless and would go into the crowd, and even onto the patios of places to keep the people engaged. Where she went, the crowd followed. The crowd didn't care one bit about the band itself.

Good Luck with the second group.

RE: Guy in the Back

I resemble that remark!

 

[delta7fred]

Critically important. Maybe THE most important thing. But why quit this band before you have something else lined up. Keep playing but start looking for something better.

If you do quit try and leave on good terms, in the future you might end up back in a band with one (or more) of them.

You also don't want them bad mouthing you to all the other musicians as it could make it difficult finding another band, word gets round and a bad reputation takes some getting rid of.

 

[klejst]

Honestly I think the singer in the OP's video sounds close to Axl now...now only if he started the show two hours late, threatens to kick the arse of the guy filming them and then storm off the stage mid set then he'd be almost identical




But, ok in all seriousness, I'd say it's pretty important, especially for the band to gel all together. One that right away came to mind was Van Halen and Roth vs. Hagar. Not that Hagar was completely terrible but Roth had the showmanship as well as the pipes/talent.

 

[Ric5]

Hello Everyone! I'm currently having a dilemma on my current trio band. I'm losing my interest already after our third gig. Our leader is just not a good frontman for the band. His voice is bland (below average) and his personality on stage is non existent. He prefers to dial his amp during break rather than talking to the crowd. He sometimes forget a line or two and a few chords on a song. He is a great guitarist though.

He and the drummer are good dudes and I really want to be in the band. The drummer and I already suggested to the leader that we need a vocalist but he insisted that he will improve soon enough. I don't have time with that though, I feel embarrassed everytime we are performing onstage.

How important is good frontman for you? Will you leave a band if you don't like his voice and onstage presence?



Don't worry, our vocalist is not that terrible.



(disclaimer: we are not the band in the video. I just post it for fun.)

OMG ... that band in the video ... pretty bad ...

But to your question ... a good frontman is the difference between an A band and a B band

 

[noagreement]

It's absolutely essential if you want to take it to the next level and play in front of larger audiences.

I have played with some front persons that are stellar, with the rest of the band (including me) being mediocre as well as the flip - great band with mediocre front person. The first scenario is ALMOST always the one that a typical group audience responds to best.

Good luck! Thanks for posting that video by the way!

 

[Ric5]

Ask Bill Wyman.

I showed my daughter who was born in the mid 90s some video clips of Mick Jagger ... her reaction ... "People actually liked this" ... and "Why does he dance so badly?"

 

[Ric5]

there is this classic ... bed keyboards and horrendous singing ... or screeching

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Hello Everyone! I'm currently having a dilemma on my current trio band. I'm losing my interest already after our third gig. Our leader is just not a good frontman for the band. His voice is bland (below average) and his personality on stage is non existent. He prefers to dial his amp during break rather than talking to the crowd. He sometimes forget a line or two and a few chords on a song. He is a great guitarist though.

He and the drummer are good dudes and I really want to be in the band. The drummer and I already suggested to the leader that we need a vocalist but he insisted that he will improve soon enough. I don't have time with that though, I feel embarrassed everytime we are performing onstage.

How important is good frontman for you? Will you leave a band if you don't like his voice and onstage presence?



Don't worry, our vocalist is not that terrible.



(disclaimer: we are not the band in the video. I just post it for fun.)

HUGE! Frontman MUST engage the audience. If the singer is not the frontman, that's fine. Whoever is the frontman needs to be entertaining.

 

[Ric5]

These guys are really good ... but they have the wrong lead singer ...