Building a Band - Tips & Advice
This is a small compendium of stories, tips and ideas from our instructors and members about one of the most important aspects of being a musician: building a band!
It all started with this post by instructor Cosmin Lupu, who shared some of his experience on the matter B)
Cosmin's Tips: Join forces!
I will start with a very interesting discussion which has been initiated due to one fact - united bands means increased strength in many directions.
Last night, me and the guys from Aria, met the members of Whitewalls and Goodbye to Gravity - prominent names in the underground modern rock music in Romania. We decided to create a concept in which basically Aria, Whitewalls and Goodbye to gravity join forces in touring together, supporting one another and organizing events together. When more bands unite and do things thoroughly, chances of contacting sponsors and drawing people's attention increase greatly! It will be a logistic nightmare and A LOT of organizational ruckus, but I'm sure we'll pull it out.
Aria's release in October will have Goodbye to Gravity's support and viceversa (we're releasing materials at 2 weeks distance, one band from the other) and in November, on the 8th, the first conceptual gig will occur, featuring Aria, Whitewalls and goodbye to gravity - the Modern Metal Consortium. We hope to draw more bands into the movement. We are trying to get only the best out there - if you want in, you need to have a great musical product, good showmanship and most of all, the band members have to be nice guys. I don't want nasty people in the clan 
I am starting to work on the business plan today and I hope to get it done until the end of next week. It will be arranged in the form of a document with steps, which will be posted here as a PDF, so that you guys can download it and see ALL the elements needed to pull such a stunt together with your friends from other bands.
Band links:
Whitewalls
http://whitewalls.ro/
https://www.facebook.com/whitewallsofficial
Goodbye to gravity
http://www.goodbyetogravity.com/
https://www.facebook.com/GoodbyeToGravity
Aria
http://www.ariaofficial.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ARIATHEBAND
Derper's Tips: Keep focus!
I would like to mention another topic regarding bands....keeping focus!! And I don't mean keeping "focused", which should occur at the individual level.
I mean that, the most important thing I've learned from years of rockin live....your band needs to occasional meet, talk, share ideas, and maintain a similar focus. For example...are you trying to make $$? Trying to just have fun? Trying to book more, or bigger gigs? Simply trying to get your name out to more people either locally, or internationally via the internet? Do you want to tour?
If you don't occasionally meet to discuss these things, it's natural for everyone to start to have a different focus. Then, the frustration begins!!
And by keeping a similar focus on what is most important to the whole BAND, you are also able to get there more efficiently because you can choose the proper actions to achieve these goals that you have decided on, and even (sometimes) design a reasonable timeline for such....for example, "let's cut a 5-6 track demo EP to release for free/pay-what-you-want online, within 3 months max. We'll also redesign our website, so that we'll be poised and ready to book bigger local gigs. And for the next 3 months, we'll play at different venues all over town, so that we can have a bigger draw when we finally book the bigger shows".
Anyway, that is one of the best things I've learned about keeping a band together. That, and to leave your ego at home. Enjoy what you're doing, so that you never "lose". And when you encounter an inflated, or sensitive ego in your band....RUN FOR THE HILLS!! Really....ego filled musicians are common to find, but they usually limit themselves and those around them. Don't waste time on it.
