If you’re starting a band and looking for gigs you should know that there are plenty of “promoters” out there waiting to take advantage of you. This is not to say that all Battle of the Bands are scams… Well, I’ll share some of my personal experiences, you can form your own opinions.

The first Battle of the Band I ever participated in was in college, with my band, The Swanky Modes. (I think we officially took 6th place). This was organized by students and was basically a popularity contest, meaning that the winning band was chosen based on crowd turnout and response, versus a panel of judges forming their opinions on a set base of criteria, such as whether or not the music was actually any good. This is what I would consider the “purest” form of a Battle of the Bands. Whether or not a band is actually any good, at least the bands that worked hardest on getting their fans out were rewarded for their effort and subsequent popularity.

I played a couple of Battle of the Bands with a band called the Groove Monster about ten years later, in the Bay Area. The first one was hosted by Rooster’s Roadhouse,  in Alameda. We brought a good crowd for the first round, put on a good show and were declared the “front-runners”. We didn’t get as many people out for the final round, thus we lost our “front-runner” status going in and took third. I personally won some guitar accessories, and even better, we traded our prize (recording time) with the second place winner (a month’s free rent at our rehearsal studio), which was worth about $600 to us.  Sweet!

The other battle with the Groove Monster took place at The Pound, in San Francisco. I believe this was a one night “pay to play” deal, meaning that we were given a stack of tickets to pre-sell for the show; i.e., number of tix sold = place in contest. At the end of the night we were clearly the winners based on our crowd response: we won over the majority crowd that had showed up for another band, which sucked and played covers. The promoters called for a final round of applause from the crowd for our band and the other band to determine the winner, since apparently the results at that point were in limbo. We clearly go the loudest response, and lost. Why? Because we didn’t sell as many tickets as the other band.

My current band, Sybil, participated in the Bodog Battle of the Bands a couple years ago, which was a national competition, with (I believe) the ultimate prize being a recording contract and performances at big venues; if we had won our region (Houston) we would have played the Verizon Center in Houston. (Sweet!) We won the first round and  thus advanced to round two, which took place on the big stage at The Meridian, Houston. We thought it was strange that there were no judges present after our first round win, considering that it was these judges’ (three of them) decision that was supposed to have propelled us to the next round.

In the second round we dressed up (it was Halloween) and put on a typical high-energy, quality Sybil set. It was a few hours until final judgment, so our drummer, Ryan, and I went out for awhile. On returning, we eagerly awaited the final decision. They announced third place (out of six bands), not us. Second, not us. Were we going to be first?! Nope. Nothing. We went to check with the judges, but again, they had gone home early. Seems a little suspicious, doesn’t it? A couple of weeks later we went back to Houston to play the Jet Lounge and a woman there, who happened to be a lawyer, filled me in on how the Bodog competitions were completely rigged, with the winners picked before they even performed.

So that is my experience with battles of the band. If you enter one, decide before hand on what you expect to get out of it. Do a little research into how they will be judged so that you can assess your chances of winning something. Earlier in this article I mentioned “pay to play”. This is when a venue gives you a stack of tickets (usually 100) to sell before your show, a certain amount per ticket then being due to the club when you return to play your show. This is called pay to play because bands often choose to “buy” all the tickets they cannot sell and give them away, thus assuring that the club will view them favorably. This might be a good strategy if you are playing the Sunset Strip and know that the crowd is going to be full of record execs dying to sign your band. However, here in reality, this is a bad deal and I would encourage you not to exploit yourself like this. I would recommend reading some of my other blogs about promoting your band, and such books as “Guerilla PR”, etc.

Bottom line: have some self respect.

If you believe in your band and work hard on your shows you will enjoy some success. There is never a reason to allow yourself to be exploited by anyone!

Whenever people tell me they think the life of a gigging musician is cool I always tell them the same thing: “It ain’t glamorous”. This doesn’t mean it isn’t fun, I love it; however, it’s a ton of work for not much money. That’s not to say that some people don’t make great money playing music, but for most of us mortals it is a pursuit of love, and at best small remuneration.

I always think of sports when I consider analogies of the music world. You might have great game, but unless you’re in the NBA you’re not going to make much money. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go bust chops on the playground, just keep things in perspective. The same guy who told me Satch did me a disservice by not teaching me to read also said, “You’ll never make any money in music”.  I don’t think he meant me exclusively, but rather was referring to the universal one, as in “one will never make any money playing music”.

Just like the Satch comment, I took umbrage at this one as well, but again, he was more or less right. I have made my living as a full-time musician for over 15 years but I still haven’t even come close to getting rich from it. I think that was his point. Would I do anything else? Not a chance!

Bootsy Collins

Another thing I always tell people is that music is a young man’s game, at least rock music is. What this means is that if you are in your teens or early 20s now is the time to dig in and do it, the older you get the harder it is to pursue the rock star dream. Doing a band right is a 24/7 proposition. If you are not prepared to dedicate yourself to this extent then there is no hope, period. Playing gigs is just one part of your job as a budding rock star.

You must constantly promote your product. What this means is: keeping your bios and photos up to date, making contacts with new venues while maintaining relationships with old ones, rehearsing, recording, constantly making contacts with people in the industry. If you really want to get the exposure you need you will need to tour. This requires even more planning, time and money, which most likely will be coming out of your own pocket. And of course, you will always be carrying heavy gear, back and forth, in and out, up and down… You will need to make this money with a job that you somehow try to fit around your non-conforming schedule as a performing musician.

And you must produce product, which means you must constantly be practicing, writing, and trying to find the funds to adequately record your project so that it can be given its proper presentation. All this takes a lot of time and hard work, which is even more difficult if you have a full-time job, a wife, children. This is why it is a young man’s game.

Eddie Van Halen

Ok, now that the lecture is over here is some handy advice. One: club owners don’t give a rat’s ass about your band. Clubs make money selling booze; if a lot of people buy a lot of booze while your band is playing clubs will like you, even if you suck. If there is no one in the club you will not be asked back, even if you are the best band in town. At the small-time level, cover bands make more money than original bands.

If you really want to make money playing music you might consider playing in a cover band, or incorporating a significant number of covers into your set; however, playing in a cover band is often eerily similar to a day job, but with worse hours.

Another thing to consider: most musicians aren’t pulling for you. This is unfortunate but true. For every guy that makes it there are a thousand who don’t, and every one of them thinks they should have. This means that you end up with a lot of bitter, catty musicians out there who would just assume you were dead so that there was one less mouth to feed in the fish pond of gigs.

One more thing: if it’s not in writing you will probably get screwed. Decide what you expect to receive for playing a gig before you play it and get it in writing.

Roberty Murphy and Gordon Kahan; Sybil

So now you think I’m the most depressing person in the world, right? Well, yeah, you probably are right. But I’m just looking out for you. And of course, there are exceptions to everything I stated above. There are a few clubs that value great music, and they might even bring you back if they like you, even if you have no following. Not all musicians are spiteful. You might hit it big and make a lot of money. I can promise you it won’t happen unless you are the toughest, most dedicated person in your field.

Make your band YOUR BAND, don’t follow trends. Be supportive of your peers, they will support you in turn. Never give up. Be realistic. Have fun!

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Starting A Band

Chances are, if you want to learn to play guitar it is because you have fantasized about playing live, probably in front of thousands of adoring fans. So how do you go from learning songs in your bedroom to playing Carnegie Hall? Well, as the saying goes: practice, practice, practice! That aside, here are some ideas to get you rolling towards that goal.

Suicidal Tendencies Setlist

First: you need a set-list. The easiest way to do this is to make a list of songs that you would like to play, which means learning some “covers”. (Covers are other people’s songs) This is a good start for a bunch of reasons. One: the music is already written, so all you have to do is learn it, which is plenty of work in itself.

Two: most people don’t know enough about music to know whether or not they like you; if you play songs they know, and they like those songs, they will probably like your band.

Three: when looking for other band members, it will be easy for them to decide if they like what you are doing.

Four: when trying to book a gig, it will be easy for bookers/club-owners to know if they like what you are about.

Five: at the small-time level, cover-bands usually make more money than original bands.

If you are an artiste and feel that playing covers is beneath you, that is fine, but now you have to write at least one set’s worth of material. If you can do this by yourself, great! If you need to collaborate with other people to write, you will have to find those people. Then you will have to negotiate arrangements with others, listen to the bass-player tell you that your awesome guitar hook doesn’t work, etc.

This is fine as well, but again, it will take time. Regardless of what material you are going to use, you need to come up with a set, which means 45 minutes of music. If you work out gimmicks and other amusing things to fluff up 30 minutes of music that’s ok, just have a plan.

Now you have to find your band. This presents two options: you can either look for an existing band that requires your talent (be a side-man) or you can start combing the classifieds for musicians with like interests.

The best source I have found for this is craigslist.org. If this site isn’t happening in your town, you should put up signs at music stores, approach people at record stores who are looking at music you like, schmooze at live shows… Basically, you just have to put yourself out there and not be shy!

Ok. So now you have your set-list and you’ve assembled your band. Now you have to start rehearsing. The best situation for this is finding a place where you can leave all your gear set up. This is often difficult because it is usually somewhat expensive. Another option is to go to an hourly rehearsal place; if you live in a city, there is probably at least one of these in town.

If neither of these options pan out, you can try to sound-proof a garage or room. Old carpet is a great insulator, but you are probably going to piss off your neighbors, regardless of how much “sound” you manage to contain. Whatever you do, you and your buddies are going to need to figure out a way to regularly (at least once a week) get together and jam.

Book that gig!

Now you have a band, a set-list and place to rehearse on a regular basis. It’s time to light that fire under your ass!

This means booking a gig. To do this, you will need to write a bio, take a picture of your band, and record a “demo” (the bio should be brief and to the point, no more than two paragraphs). These three items together are what will compile your “press kit”;  of  course, these days most people are abondoning this “old school” method of promotion, and instead using social sites, such as Facebook and Myspace to promote their bands. Focus on your strong points. The picture should capture the emotion of what your band is about: if you all like to drink beer, put it in the picture. If you are all cat enthusiasts, well…

The demo is the most demanding item. You will have to either pay someone to record you or figure out how to do it yourself. Obviously, a recording studio is the best way to do this, but it is also somewhat expensive. If you can’t afford this, rent some recording equipment and mics and do it yourself. If this seems intimidating, set up a boom box and give it your best shot.

As a rule, the better your recording sounds, the better the gigs you will get. However you do it, these three steps are necessary towards gigging in the “real” world. If this seems too daunting a task, find a friend who’s having a party and talk them into letting you play, or throw one yourself, or if you are still in school, play an assembly or talent show.  However you do it, book that gig! The reason for this is simple: it creates a deadline. If you are like me, you will never get anything done without one.

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So You Want to be a Rockstar?