Top 10 Reasons Your Band Sucks - Part 2
And so it continues… In the first part of this article reasons one through five were covered. Here is a quick review.
- Dead Air
- Mistakes
- Not Engaging the Crowd
- No Showmanship
- Crappy Songs
As if thats not enough to cause extreme band suckage, let us proceed with the next five common offenses.
6. Bad Sound: The NUMBER ONE complaint of the average audience member: I can’t hear the singer, I can’t hear the bass, I can’t understand the lyrics, the guitar is too damn loud, it’s all too f*cking loud! All symptoms of the same ailment, BAD SOUND. Do you have regular sound man? If so do you still hear these same complaints? Then you need a new sound man or you need to get another respected soundman’s opinion. The singers girlfriend opinion means exactly zip, as does the drummer’s mom or that of the pregnant bartender. Unless of course they’re professional sound techs in their other life. Even if you have to pay the other soundman to come out to a show and evaluate your sound, figure out the problem. Generally having a soundman is going to go a long way to reducing these complaints but just like bands some of them suck. Make sure they are helping you sound your best, not adding to your suckiness. If you have a good sound man, listen to them and turn down. Oh and tune your instrument. Drummers that includes you. A poorly tuned drum set that sounds like crap will, when mic’d, just be louder crap.
7. Breaks Too Long/Many: We came to hear the band not listen to the craptastic jukebox selections. Keep your breaks short and few. Try to provide the break music so that you can control the volume and energy level between your sets. This will also aid in making the break part of your “show” and help to make them less objectionable to the audience and owners.
8. Look Like The Crowd: Try to look like you belong on stage. By that I mean dress the part. Not by wearing costumes, unless that’s your thing, but by looking like you made an effort to differentiate yourselves from the crowd. Too many bands look like they stopped in after work and decided to play few tunes. Make the effort it will pay dividends in a larger more enthusiastic fan base, higher average gig pay and greater word of mouth about your band. All good things.
9. Starting Late: It’s show time, the crowd is there, ok maybe three patrons and the bartender are there. Where are you? Get your asses on stage and start the gig. U2 they’ll wait for, your band probably not so much.
10. Clueless Front Person: Just because someone is willing to stand in the middle of the stage or can sing doesn’t mean they will make a good front person. Who has the most engaging personality, can work the crowd or is just damn funny on the mic? That’s your potential front person. If they happen not to be the lead singer you need to utilize them to the fullest while your front person gets their act together, literally. Help ‘em out. Make them go see bands will a ‘real’ front person and be sure to point out the difference in his shtick or lack thereof and theirs. Once they get it and can do it right expect to see their egos expand. But that is a positive and somewhat necessary attribute in a front man.
Self evaluation time, look back over the lists in these two articles how many of these items apply to your band? More than you care to admit? That’s alright, acknowledging the problem is the first step in fixing it. Print the lists and bring t hem to your next rehearsal or just send them the link to these articles. See which items the band feels they need to work on. If you and your band have the commitment to being the absolute best at what you do then shining the spot light on your weaknesses and setting out to eliminate them one by one this mission critical.
TK
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[...] need to start working on. All bands will have to deal with some of the issues presented here and in part 2 of this article. The bands that suck don’t care, the good bands fix them. See you [...]