Thinking about starting a band? A brief overview of mostly everything I know!
So I’ve tried to capture all of the things being in a band – or at least being in The Wondersmiths involves. If you’re thinking about starting a band – you should probably consider all of these things – or at least, recognise it as something that will only ever be a hobby / a back story for X Factor.
Dotting the I’s, crossing the T’s and replying to the daily emails you’ll get from your record label, promoters, gig leads, designers and generally doing all those small jobs you said you’d do!
Logo’s, releases, posters, banners, cover images – the chances are you can’t afford to pay for artists or designers – but having bad artwork could be the difference between your music getting heard or not (we’re not supposed to judge books by covers, or music by artwork, but everyone does right?). So you’re going to need a friend offering mates rates (completely free – with the promise that if you do ever get £1m, you will buy them a boat!). We’ve been lucky enough to work with some seriously gifted designers in our time -
Ian White who made our beautiful WonderLogo as well as the artwork for “Free” and the “Live EP” (the artwork for the “Live EP” was the best thing about that release!).
Alex Franklin (Oli's bro who designed "Don't Go" and is currently working on our brand new website - coming soon!).
And more recently David Hunt who created the artwork for our band new EP “ONE” coming out 19th May!
So you’re reading one! We have many more, some far better than this one (my favourite so far is Alex’s “Rock n Roll on a budget – no need to do it any other way” ) the goal of all this blog writing is to give you, our WonderFans a glimpse into our lives, our struggles, our successes, our thoughts, our experiences (hope this one isn’t too preachy!!), and make a few more friends along the way!
So this is just our word for making sure we’re always talking to each other: an open dialogue where we’re free to bounce creative ideas or influences off each other, talk about strategic innovations (check back in next week’s blog!), delegate our WonderAdmin tasks, and laugh a funny things:
Time spent with your band mates, whether that’s online, on the phone or in the flesh, is just as important as emailing promoters, sending off T Shirt designs or selling a CD – if you’re not mates now, what makes you think spending a month in the back of a sweaty tour bus together will be all that fun!?
If you’re lucky enough to be the offspring of the owner of Camden Underworld, then well done... If like the rest of us your parents don’t and haven’t ever owned an iconic live music venue, then you may have to choose between playing your first few gigs at open mic nights, youth clubs, Monday night shows, or buying 50 tickets (to sell on to your fans) in advance, just to play on a Friday night in London. There’s no one way to get gigs. You may get given the advice that ‘any gig is a good gig’ and although I appreciate the sentiment of working hard, putting yourself about etc – because ‘you never know who’s going to be watching’... But I seriously doubt A&R guys from Universal Records will ever be drinking on their own in a pub in Dunstable on a wet Saturday afternoon, so there are some gigs you really shouldn’t play!
My advice is to play at established live music venues where there is a sound guy (who’s not also pulling pints), play at obscure venues (we played at half time for MK Lightning Basketball team a few years back, and it was SO MUCH FUN!), play at places where there’s a built in crowd i.e. where the promoter isn’t relying on your friends and family making up the numbers (The Student Union circuit is great if you can get on it!), play at places that your fans are excited about going to (somewhere with a bit of nostalgia – for us this was Bedford Esquires!), play as many festivals as you can get your hands on (our favourite was a mini Thai fest in a pub car park – we got fed noodles, given beer and made good dorrar!) play with well matched bands – if you’re indie, play with other indie bands - you might even make a few new fans that way (remember, no one who’s gone to see a Peruvian flute band wants to hear your music) and you’ll have someone to call on when you’re organising your EP Launch Party, don’t play in venues where the bar is in another room, don’t play at venues that have an alternative stage where cover bands are playing for free entry, don’t play for Real Music MK, don’t play gigs where the headline act is a DJ set (we learnt the hard way that no one wants to hear a Tribes DJ set!). Most importantly enjoy gigging, it should never be hard work playing a set, and if it is either you suck, or you’re playing in the wrong place – don’t go back to that place!
Here’s a list of some of the good and bad places we’ve played:
The Purple Turtle (packed and nice tall stage) The 100 Club (iconic), Camden Proud (built in crowd - photo above), O2 Islington (prestigious and trendy), MK Watershed (cool, small but sadly closed now), The Hat Factory (old school – we love it so much we’re hosting our “ONE” The Launch Party there on 17th May!, Camden Underworld (EVERY band has played there and the dressing room has a shower - check out our video we made last time we were there...!), Charlie Browns Luton (nice tall stage with barriers – makes you feel famous!), Beds SU (built in crowd, one hell of a green room / lecture hall), Royal Holloway SU (built in crowd), MK Snobar (when the stage is up it feels great, when it’s not –there’s still a ski slope back drop, which is pretty cool), Camden Barfly (iconic venue with a build in crowd) and Scala (massive stage, massive venue, super premium).
Nambucca (bar in another room), Camden Enterprise (tiny venue it upstairs and the bar is in another room), most pubs (they’re just not music venues – they don’t have stages and you’re always going to be 2 steps away from some old drunk), Craufurd Arms (bar in another room), Buszy (was an office with glass and low ceilings – everything you do will sound bad!) The Horn St Albans (thinks it’s better than it is), The Dublin Castle (bar in another room), The Islington (shut a curtain between the stage room and the diners – trying to be too many things at once – I’m sure the diners had a bad experience as did the gig goers), and any Greenfield Village Hall (Chris is banned from ever playing there again... There may be a future blog in there somewhere!
Probably the first thing you do with your band mates – maybe even before you realise you’re in a band!? But going forward (once you’ve given yourself a name and invited all your friends to like your Facebook Page), you’re going to need time together perfecting your songs, rehearsing your set and having a laugh with your mates (WonderTime). Living a train ride away from each other (Alex and Oli in London and Chris and Dave near Luton), coupled with student sized transport budgets, means we can only get together once a week (Wednesdays at WonderHQ). So when we do get together we have to make sure we’re in the zone, fully focused, committed to the goals (get this song finished, rehearse the 30 minute set, improve this song etc) and sometimes we even have prewritten agendas – premium right?
Oooh And sometimes we play the VideoGame at WonderPractice »
So that’s it for this week, part two next Monday will include: PhotoGame, VideoGame, WonderPress, WonderSales, WonderSocial, WonderSongs, WonderStrategy,and a few bonus topics!
For now, thanks for reading –leave us a comment below or get in touch with us on our Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.
Peace,
Dave
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