Every band needs a different type of leader - depends on the BL and the group that's being led. The very lucky few require little more than someone to schedule things and take care of administrative stuff - kind of like a very talented basketball team where the coach just needs to roll the ball onto the floor. I've read threads that indicate there are a handful of those types from this forum, but most are not.
For the rest of us, it's a lot of people management, and a lot of that is determined by who you are working with. For your sanity:
- Define your goals/genre; make it clear what type of music you want to present and what you want to accomplish
- Do your best to gather people who prefer your genre and share your goals. Determining this should be part of the audition process. Landing a great drummer is no good if they expect to gig next week, but realistically you're 3 months away; getting that vocalist in place that requires a different rehearsal pattern than everyone else is a problem. It's my experience that this is the first step to minimizing drama.
- Aside, from musical needs, try to gather people with other skills. Gig connections/sales skills; recording skills/tools; video skills; artwork skills; transcribing skills; media/public relations/promotion skills; musical director skills; rehearsal space; PA owners etc. The more of this you can get help from your team, the less you have to manage. This is particularly critical if you don't possess a critical skill. Example: I'm not a sales guy, have no connections and know nothing about promoting. assuming my goal is to gig, I would make sure I got at least someone in the band who is good at that (or expect to hire management).
- Nip drama in the bud - the longer an issue lingers, the harder it is to contain.
- Communicate and encourage everyone else to do the same - how do you know if there is drama brewing if there is no communication.
- Deal with money issues openly and up front.
- Delegate - if you gathered your team properly, you should be able to lay off some of the responsibility of tasks.
As a band member, this is what I want from a BL:
1. Make it clear what your style is. Is this gong to be fairly democratic? Do you want to hear my opinions/suggestions? Are you a dictator and expect me to just shut up and play? Let me know how I can best serve the band - if I don't like the way you want to run things, the sooner I know the better. If I don't like it, I can move on or not even accept the project to begin with.
2. Direction - tell me what you want me and everyone else to do, whether it be specific to my playing or other contributions I make to the band.
3. Reasonable expectations - know what your team can do - and don't expect more (at least not immediately if you're expecting a new skill. For example, I suck at slap; expect it to be a long learning curve if that's how you want me to approach a song.
4. Insist that people to show up on time and be ready for downbeat NLT X:00. It can be very hard for some people to get places on time. It's just poor form to make your team wait for someone to show to show up. For rehearsal type gatherings, it's mostly just rude and annoying; for gigs it could be a very expensive habit. As BL, we're expecting you to do what it takes to get people to be on time.
5. Be consistent. It can be very difficult to manage things when the "rules"/process change from week to week. Develop solid routines and stick to them.
6. If things are not working, make changes. This most often means personnel changes. This pretty much falls under the "nip the drama" bullet above, but from a member perspective, I expect you to deal with this. It's not my role to deal with other members shortcomings - unless of course we agree that that is a role you asked me to perform. BE fair - don't make knee jerk, in the moment reactions, but don't let a destructive situation linger. Changes could mean musical changes as well (new set lists, shift in genre, shift in gig type etc).
7. Try to be positive about things - just because there is an issue, doesn't mean it has to be painful to deal with. try to be understanding, but firm.
8. Do what you can to be aware of how your team members are feeling about things. I'm not saying you need to do therapy sessions with everyone, just be alert for members that may be sliding towards discontentment about a situation. Not everyone will step up and say they have a problem with something. You don't want to let a situation get beyond repair. If you notice that someone seems unhappy, pull them aside or call them in the very near future. Talk to them one-on-one and ask if there's something not sitting right with them. They may just be having a bad day; they maybe tired of dealing with something that another member (even you) is doing. Dealing with it early provides the best opportunity for resolution. (Communicate, nip).
9. Unless you are taking the dictator ship approach, make me feel like I'm part of the team. Listen to my ideas, and at least pretend to consider them - even if they suck. I like to contribute. If I feel like you don't care about what I have to say, I'll eventually become disinterested and you better be paying me a lot of money at that point if you want me to stick around.
10. Expect people to learn their own parts. For those in the "roll the ball on to the floor" bands, this is never an issue. They probably don't; even rehears much. For those of us who do rehearse very regularly, make it clear that rehearsal's are for blending the individual parts that we learned at home. I enjoy rehearsing; I hate watching you woodshed on my time.
11. Hold the same standards for yourself as you do for your team. Don't expect me to be on time or learn my parts at home, if you don't.
12. Be as open as you can about everything. There are times for partial team rehearsals/meetings, but unless you are working out a member specific issue, it should all be above board.
