Music Career Talk Fourteen

Today's subject is near and dear to my heart, because I've done it so many times before. I've put bands together for outside projects as well as a life time of bands for myself, including the present. I'll start by saying gathering great players who might even have great songs is not necessarily going to breed a great band.To start with there are a number of potential personality road blocks to overcome. First and most formidable is ego. Most musicians (in the modern world) feel the need to be the center of attention, which means someone else has to take a backseat. In a rock band (covering everything from pop to metal) I divide the band into sections, First section is lead vocalist and lead guitarist. Like Mick & Keith, Steven & Joe, David & Eddie (and the list goes on) the front man duo commands the most attention from the crowd. I speak from experience as I have toured extensively in my life as the lead guitarist end of that combo. At the time I felt invincible. My singer and I wrote all the songs, picked the other musicians, booked all the gigs, and got the girls.
We never tried to put distance between ourselves and the rest of the band. A happy band stays together and plays together. The rhythm section, in the most basic definition bass & drums is without a doubt the foundation of the band, even if they don't know it. As mentioned in an earlier blog no matter how good the singer and guitarist are, if the rhythm section sucks the band sucks!! The key to putting a band together is everyone understanding their roles and agreeing on a common goal. Lead section and rhythm section must support each other. When you rehearse or gig complement each other on a job well done, and if someone messed a part up chill out there's always next time. To tighten up remember one gig is worth a thousand rehearsals so play out as much as possible. Most musicians prefer gigging to recording, rehearsal, and almost everything in life, I'm one of them and my love for playing out is as strong as it was in my teens. Wish I had held on to all my gear from the old days, would be worth a fortune. There are few social and professional relationships that are as endearing, long lasting, and meaningful as that of mates (male or female) who have shared time making music together. Rock on!!!