This list could go on and on, feel free to leave comments if you have a tip of what to avoid so a band does not break up.
I’ve worked with tons of bands over the years and one thing remains constant, they almost all breakup eventually. Sure, some can go the distance and outlast the others, but what sets them apart from the bands that just can’t seem to keep it together and fall apart?
Well, if you hate the music you play and you want to break up your band, here’s a quick checklist for you:
- Leave the business side of things to just one band member.
- Don’t have regular band meetings.
- Don’t educate yourself on marketing and promotion.
- Don’t make a list of goals (and never revise them if you do).
- Don’t utilize the power of social media and online networking tools.
- Don’t take your band seriously as an entrepreneurial business.
- Don’t network with other bands and industry people.
- Don’t build a team of passionate and experienced people around you.
- Assume that potential fans, blogs, press, radio stations, labels and agents will find out about your band just because your music is so damn awesome.
- Don’t respect your fans, and don’t interact with them in the way “new media” empowers you to.
Hey Michael,
Thanks for re-blogging this article of mine, glad you liked it.
Cheers!
Brian
Twitter
Great article Brian, when I saw it it was one of those moments… I need to post this right away.
I’d add a few more Band-Killers, if I may:
1. Be sure to demonstrate your disgust with other members’ mistakes on stage. Extra points for mentioning it over the mic.
2. Don’t worry about the Rock Guitarist that wants to join your Country band for the money. That’ll work out fine…
3. Since your girlfriend has always wanted to sing, this would be a great time for her to spread her little Karaoke Wings.
4. Don’t show up to rehearsals knowing your parts. Drummers LOVE to stare at their cymbals while you and the bass player work out that little bridge part before the chorus.
5. They can wait a few minutes; don’t worry about setting the punctuality bar too high.
6. Let the beer flow, and the bongwater bubble! It’s a party, right?
7. Just because the guitar player’s married doesn’t mean that YOU have to grow up. Keep waving your junk around like a frat boy, and tell her not to worry about him on that overnight road trip to Hooker City, Iowa.
8. You and the drummer are the “core” of the band, anyway. Why should you invite the keyboard player to the Superbowl Party?
9. It’s been three months, already! Of COURSE it’s time to start bitching about the money, the dive gigs, and the unmet expectations! Don’t offer suggestions, or pitch in; bitching to the bass player is really the best way to handle that.
10. Pitch in for the PA? Help load? Are you crazy?
11. You’re an artist, you can dress any way you want to.
12. Same goes for that deep-fried convenience store burrito you ate before the gig. It’s not your fault that the drummer chose an instrument that doesn’t let him walk away from the ol’ Heinous Anus. Tell him to hit the cymbals more.
13. Don’t place your amp so that you can hear it; just keep kicking up the volume. Just a bit more, ’cause he cranked his up again… Where’s all that feedback coming from? Stupid Sound Guy…
14. Make sure spouses and girlfriends are excluded from feeling like part of the band. They don’t mind being alone on practice nights, and watching everybody else dance at your shows.
15. If you want to take #14 to the other extreme, here’s a fun conversation starter for any band meeting, “My girlfriend thinks we ought to…”
16. Make sure that you’e the only one whose playing stands out. Don’t play softer (or, God forbid, less) during the bass solo, or choose songs that highlight the group’s tightness. That calls for more rehearsals, and better communication; who needs that crap?
Didn’t mean to ramble, just wandering down memory lane…
Tony Barker
Solo Acoustic Performer
(Until recently, that is. I’m an incurable optimist.)
Excellent additions Tony! I especially love #10, been around a fair number of young bands who feel they deserve to have roadies so they can hang with some girl after the show. You want me to move you drum kit? Oh sorry I dropped your brand new cymbal, maybe you should help next time.
Thanks, and congratulations on being included in the Top Ten Blogs!
…And, don’t pile all the pressure on to one band member to do all the Internet promotion.
# Here’s an odd one, sort out your band’s name! I come across many bands who share their band’s name with other bands, it’s a pitfall that will/could lead to the ultimate demise of a band! – I’ve seen it happen.
Here’s a great one, never ever under any circumstance talk to the other members of the band. If they want to rehearse, let them call you!