by Jean-Michel Wickli
What makes a band great? Live performance? Great recording? Look? Catchy hooks? Every kid that picks up an instrument immediately has dreams of being a rock ‘n roll star like Roger Daltry, Jimi Hendrix, etc. But what is it that differentiates these musicians from the kid banging away at his drums in his parents’ garage, pissing off the neighbours and not managing to keep a beat?
Being in a band is hard. I’ve tried, and have thus far not found anyone who I’ve been comfortable making music with.
So you try again and again and again until you find someone or a group that works and a brotherhood is formed. You’ve written some catchy songs and have practiced a bit so you want to play them live to a bunch of people and become the golden god of rock ‘n roll that you’ve been dreaming of since you first picked up your instrument. Yay for you, but you will suck.
My opinion is that, if you start a band and play live shows to people who have paid to come and see you, you should be good enough to justify their paying the entrance fee.
So that being said here are my 10 steps to being in a successful band in South Africa. Not a great band, because that comes with time and patience and a shitload of hard work, but rather a successful band that can play live shows and be proud of what they put up.
1. Find people you are comfortable being in a band with
Realistically, if you have any hopes of becoming successful, you should realize that you’ll be spending a lot of time with the people you have chosen to be in a band with. You’ll be practicing, touring, playing gigs and hanging out with these people. You’ll probably see them more than your actual family. So you better get used to seeing each other nekkid, sharing awkward moments, smelling each other’s farts (4 people in one car on a long stretch of road, someone is bound to cut the cheese). These things are just par for the course when you start a band, so get used to it.
2. Make something that is unique. Or at least try to.
We all listen to music and go: “Hey, I really like that sound, let me see if I can l play that.” And you end up writing music that sounds strangely familiar. I have often seen a band live and taken note of how they sound pretty much like a cheap ripoff of an already established band. Originality is something of the past. You are bound to sound like someone, somewhere. The trick is to make it sound personal.
Emulating a style is simple, making it your own is harder. I get that this is not easy, but you’re the one trying to be a fucking rockstar. Just look how many blues acts there are in South Africa and only a handful stick out. Why? Because they own their style and give it their unique touch. Look at Taxi Violence, Joshua Grierson, Shadowclub, etc.
3. Practice
When you play live music, people expect a good show. You, as a musician, are providing a service. It might be pure entertainment, but people are there to see you. You are in a unique position of power, having a roomful of people focused on you. Yes you will be nervous, but this is why you practice. As a band, you have to be tighter than a nun’s vagina.
I don’t necessarily mean you have to be perfect, as there is a sense of humanity when you see a band make a collective mistake but then play themselves out of it. My point is, be a good sounding group of musicians, not only by your standards, but by others’.
4. Have a look that works for your band
More often than not, bands are just four guys on a stage in their casual everyday clothes, playing their instruments. Now I’m not saying dress like the fucking Parlotones, I’m just saying make an effort to look good. Jazz yourself up a little to differentiate from your everyday look. The audience needs to look up to you as a figure, rather than that dude who sits in the corner of a bar. Being a rockstar is embodying a figure that people want to be or admire.
Also have a good band name. Band names may change as you progress and develop, but unless you’re a joke band, take yourselves seriously and choose a decent name for your band.
Don’t go with names like Oros in a Lang Glas. Apologies for singling them out, but their band name is shit.
5. Practice
I know I have doubled up on this, but you really need to fucking practice! I hate going to a show and seeing a band play a mediocre song and then have a 4 minute interval where the lead guitarist is tuning for the next song and the band’s awkwardly jostling on stage. I understand guitars go out of tune, but you have a rhythm section and a vocalist that can keep a groove going while the guitarists tune up. Cohesiveness in a set often makes for a good live show and allows you to stand out above the rest.
I think my favorite set I have ever seen was Taxi Violence’s, two Oppikoppis ago. I was on stage, watching them play and the set consisted of an arrangement of polished and perfected songs flowing seamlessly into each other.
6. Get a good manager and PR person
Good representation is key.
Bands often make the mistake that playing live and having a Facebook page is what makes them famous. Sorry to shatter your dreams, but you are wrong.
Bands have managers, agents and PR people behind them to make them a successful enterprise. Yes, being a band is about music and passion, but if you ever want to play bigger live shows, you have to do it properly and get your representation to hook that shit up. Managers will ensure, or at least try to ensure, that you are playing the right shows, with the right bands and actually get a fee.
PR people make sure you are continuously in the public eye, by getting your music onto radio, hooking up interviews in magazines and hopefully television spots. Ideally, the PR agent and manager work together to get you to the point where you can play big shows, to big crowds and get paid to do it. That is the ideal situation and, obviously, not always applicable, but the point is to invest in someone with experience and the know-how and contacts to do this for you. But you have to be enough as a group for them to sell you.
You don’t have to sign to a big agency. The unique experience of today’s internet culture is that one can manage oneself. With the right contacts and savvy, you can develop your band into what you want it to be, but you have to realize that it will be tough working against bands who want the exact same recognition and venues as you, and that won’t book you unless you have a name or are referred by a person they know and trust.
7. HYPE
We are currently in a time of hype and backlash.
There is a constant ebb and flow of bands being hyped up and then torn down when they become mainstream or do not suit a perceived vision of what we had imagined for the band. In the internet age there seems to be a cacophony of opinions stuck between what is generally understood to be of substance, and what is simply sub-par. That being said, in order to become an act that has any vision of being in the public eye, a band needs to use hype to their advantage and build excitement for their act.
The trick is to maintain this “hype” by creating music and a live show that justifies the hype.
Acts like Jack Parrow, Die Antwoord, Lady Gaga (I know they’re not rock ‘n roll, shut up) were born out of hype and now seem to stagnate, as they are slowly running out of ways to shock and excite a crowd and broaden their fanbase.
8. Get ready for long tours and hard shows
Being in a band is a commitment. Realistically, you’re going to have to work at it for a few years before you can start making any form of living off of a band lifestyle. And even then, it’s going to take a lucky break and a fuckload of hard work. Being in a band is not all rainbows and unicorns. You will start by getting small shows for no money and opening for bands that are probably worse than you. But that’s how it goes.
You will probably spend more money touring than you make back in profit. So this serves as a warning.
9. Sound
When recording and when playing a live show, proper sound is imperative.
You can record an album independently and still have a great product to show people (look at Bon Iver’s record For Emma, Forever Ago, which was recorded in a cabin). There is something special about the intimacy of this album, but I believe that this is a once-off album that not everyone can achieve. With the growth in popularity of home studios, however, bands can record albums cheaply and have a tangible product to share with their fans.
Albums come and go, the live show is the proving ground for the band. It is my opinion that every live show should have excellent sound.
If you’re in a band, the aim should not be to make a few hundred Rand on a night out, it should be to put on a show that will leave people wanting more. Being in a band means fame will not come instantaneously, nor will money. It is a long process of producing a good quality show that, in the long run, will garner you a larger fanbase and eventually be the basis for your success.
The experience of producing a special one-off show that will only happen on this one night, with this specific crowd, at that specific venue, should be the main aim of any band.
The live show is what will keep your fans excited and offers an opportunity to create a feeling of magic and connect with and audience, allowing for a great performance that will be relived in a person’s memory over and over. I’ve had this experience at most of my favorite shows over the past 5 years.
10. Go big or go home
Yes it’s pixelated, but it’s Ozzy eating a fucking bat!
There is no point in attempting to be in a band for shits and giggles, otherwise you are unjustly conning people out of their hard-earned money and don’t deserve to be on a stage performing. If you want to actually be a successful band in this country, you have to go big or go home. Make a point to actually make something interesting and unique and something that could potentially stand the test of time, regardless of what niche or genre it falls into.
Make a point to put on a great show that will stand out compared to other bands, but at that same time is not gimmicky but rather genuine to the project you have undertaken.
I am tired of going out to see a band and being disappointed by the substandard and mediocre performance of 4 guys on a stage that are doing it to be cool or be in a band for the sake of being in a band. Musicians are creating art and, by definition, this is an elitist business. The problem that has arisen in recent years is that every kid thinks they can achieve the same goal as every musician in a shorter span of time, with less practice and less hard work.
I take music very seriously, but there seems to be a mass democratization of the music industry, where anyone can make a record in their home studio, upload it to Youtube and become instantaneously famous among a core group of friends. Of course I am generalizing and there are rare gems that do evolve from this process, but more often than not, these artists struggle to get the recognition they deserve as they become lost in the sea of mediocrity that surrounds us.
People seem to have become comfortable with mediocrity, supporting their friends, simply because they want to be friendly and do not critically engage with what is being performed in front of them.
The point I’m trying to make is stop being shit and work hard at making something that you as a band can be proud of and that I will go out and buy and add to my CD collection.