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.
