Written on
Tuesday, August 12. 2008
in
General Advice by Dan Christopher
I believe you must be as serious and picky about the band mates you are about choosing a spouse. Sure, you can just spread yourself thin playing with as million people, but the real beauty and joy (for me) comes from the commitment you make to stay and grow together with a few select people. You can learn a lot more about music, life, and relationships by making the commitment to a few people. "Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another." -Proverbs 27:17
Much like a marriage, you need to make sure that the lines of communication stay open and everyone is clear on the nature of the band. Are you weekend warriors? You just want to play rock covers college parties? Or do you want to stick together and go the long haul together? Those are all well and good, just make sure that everyone is on the same page. A band can be a serious, and difficult business, and you are going to need everyone to be equally as serious and proactive with it.
Here is a good starting list of questions to discuss with your bandmates, if you are planning to go the long haul (reproduced from
The Musician's Handbook):
- Are you ready to devote [at least] three to four years of your life to the group and stick with them through thick and thin?
- Are you ready to work your ass off and treat the band as a serious business?
- Could you relocate to another city and commit to staying there for a few years?
- Are you able to hit the road for extended periods of time for little or no pay?
- Can you tolerate sleeping in one hotel room with three or four other band members?
- Can you deal with traveling across the country in a small passenger van in the dead of winter?
- If you are in a relationship with someone, how serious are you about getting married and starting a family?
- Are you committed to rehearsing and being the best musician you can be?
- Are you open to experimenting with your visual image however the band may evolve in the following years?
This echoes the idea from my
previous post, that you and your band need to gel together as human beings first and foremost. Making sure that everyone is on the same page is an important part of this, so that no one is surprise or disappointed after you have put months/years of work into this project. Getting those issues cleared up early will result in a lot more/better time doing what you really want to do: make music!
This is why I love my band. This is the most open, exciting, talented group of individuals I have ever had the pleasure to play with. Best of all, is that every one of us understands the respect, and the communication we need in order to make this last. I feel incredibly fortunate that we have come together in the way that we have, and its kind of mind boggling to think of the journey that brought us all together now. A band filled with chemistry and love truly is a gift from God. And when you find that, you need to appreciate it as such.
