Live Music Blog

Virtually all individuals would say the first thing to do is to find a name for the band. Lets start from there s venue we??

The auditions are over, you have found your bass player and you all seem to get along really well. The excitement is in the air and you have had your 1st performer bonding celebration.

Now its time to start your musical journey together.

Personally, I think that locating a performer name is THE hardest decision that the performer will ever have to make and therefore one of the the majority necessary decisions as well.

A performer name is a remarkably necessary part of the artists identity. It’s the 1st point of contact a punter has with the band.

Does this conversation sound familiar to you?

Them: “Hey, I saw this cool performer last night. You gotta check them out”

You: “Cool, what was the name of the band?”

Them: “Ummmmmm……. I don’t know”.

Arrrrrgh!!!! I get that all the time.

I can’t recall how a lot of times individuals have raved about a performer to me but can’t tell me the name when I ask them. Right there is the has been ted opening for a band. It frustrates me no end.

This is a best example of how extremely necessary a performer name is.

The performer name is the 1st thing that a punter will remember. They will not address the performer by the names of the individuals in it when they talk to their friends (unless they’re individual friends of yours) they will address the performer by its name.

The optimum way to find a band name is through sheer persistance. Locating a band name that’s agreeable by everyone isn’t an simple task.

Here are some performer name party suggestions:

1. Get every member to write down their personal list of potential band names

This can be the 1st task that the band may do collectively. performance a date for the 1st band meeting and amidst now and then do that task.

2. Make brainstorming performer names the topic of your first ever performer meeting

When anybody gets together put all of the lists out on the table and go through each one keeping to one side the names that’strike a chord’ (sorry about the pun) with all of you and getting rid of the rest.

As a group try brainstorming some ideas. This is a amazing way to start formulating what the performer is all about, what its image is etc, etc.

3. Create a competition among all your companions /family/anyone else via email

This is a great way to start compiling the beginnings of your artists email list. List all of your companions /family/anyone else that you want to include and their email addresses and compile them all into one mailing group. Send out an email outlining the competition and be ready for the pointers to come flooding in.

It is important to have a cut off date for the competition (perhaps by your first performer meeting) and to have a prize on provide. Of course the prize is totally up to you.

Ensure that when you do find a performer name that you announce it through your email group. You have just started email promotion of your band.

Whatever you do have fun with the process and do not let the quest to find a band name override the other things that you have to do such as writing songs and finding rehearsal space.

I guarantee that once you have agreed on a performer name you’ll all collectively breathe a very large sigh of relief. The hardest part of the journey has been achieved.

(For the purpose of this article I am going to make a couple of assumptions before I go any further. They are that you’ve a little bit of vocal or musical instrument knowledge and that you likewise have a fledgling network of friends and contacts)

Starting up a band is a unusually interesting time in a artists life. There is a fine balance of nervous anticipation and the fear of the unknown that follows the whole process.

A band has a divergent dynamic than working as a solo artist. There are other individuals involved, other individual ities, other strengths and weaknesses in character and abilities and because of this it’s really necessary that you’ve several things worked out before you start looking for band members.

1. Have a good idea of your own strengths and weaknesses

The performer members that you want to get will need to be around the same level of competence as you are. The main reason for this is that you might all grow together rather than have one or two artists carrying everyone else. This type of player imbalance causes doubt in the group and doubt is one of the major killers of bands.

2. Know beforehand how the performer is going to be run

Is the performer going to be run by you or the whole group? The individual ity categories of the musicians that you select will need to be agreeable to the way the performer is going to be run.

3. What instrumentation is the band having in its lineup?

This is mainly determined by the type(s) of music that you want to performance but having an idea of what performers you are looking for will be of great help.

It is now time to hunt down some band members

4. Ask your network of companions and/or contacts

This is always a nice place to start. Ask anybody at all that you know or come into contact with. If you don’t have much of a circle of friends and/or contacts this will be a great opening  to wide n it. This is one of the reasons why networking in the industry is so vital, for opening s such as this.

Having a musician referred to you has a much better occasion of working than one that comes from an advertisement. This leads me onto my next point.

5. Post an advertisement

Having said that I’ve had made some great contacts from performers enquiring from a ‘muso wanted’ ad. The key to effective ads is that they need to be concise, to the point, not too lengthy and put in places where performers are wonderfully like ly to see it and read it like in a music shop, a Local music magazine or a music classifieds website.

A sample ‘ performer wanted‘ advertisement may read something like this:

BASS PLAYER WANTED

To join folk/rock band

Influences include

Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Counting Crows

Some experience like red

Own gear and transport essential

Interested?? Give me a call

Corey – (put home and/or cell telephone  number here)

As you could see, the ad is evident in its intention.

It evident ly states the musician wanted, the type of music the band is playing, what the music might sound like and that the band has some experience behind it. Make sure you have a evident contact name and phone numbers (if you want to include an email address as well that is cool).

Don’t put in stuff like ‘work waiting‘ or ‘no time was ters please‘. You might judge those sort of things yourself when an interested musician contacts you.

Once you’ve done that the waiting game begins.