Tips For Singers Forming A Band
At some point while you are creating your music or when you have finished, you are going to be thinking about how and who you want to perform with. Sometimes some simple background tracking will do the trick in is much less of a headache and is the easiest way to perform. However, if you are looking to enhance your show experience for your audience, you may start looking into having a band. With bands come much flexibility in creativity as well as a great level of responsibility. Here are some tips to assembling your new band.
1. Know what you're looking for
Before you start your hunt for the perfect band, make sure you know who your audience is and what type of musicians and or background singers you will need. You need to decide whether or not your style is more rock or r&b or country or pop and then look for individuals that will work well with that market.
There is some flexibility with that. As a primarily r&b artist, I had an eye for a keyboardist with a heavy gospel and jazz influence. So just because you are catering to a specific genre, do not feel restricted to having other artists in your band play only that genre.
2. Give yourself time to find the right people
Few times will you find the musicians and backgrounds singers that you will need and ultimately work with in the blink of an eye. So give yourself enough time to look for these people before it is urgent.
Ask around with other performers and musicians you know. Look at boards in rehearsal and recording studios for musicians. Put up ads. Go to other shows and network. Put yourself in a position to hear and see other people while they are doing what you are looking for.
3. Go for a trial run
Once you feel like you have the right people, practice your show material. Go over it a few times before you go out on the road for any serious shows. After you feel you've got enough practice, take your new band to an open mic or do a street performance to see how well you all work in the middle of a performance.
This is a great time to figure out performance strengths and weaknesses. It is also a good time to note if one of your band picks needs to be reviewed. It is better to find out now if someone works well with you and your other band members during a show than while on the road building your brand. Personality clashes and unprofessionalism can cause lots of headaches.
4. Be ready to manage
Bands need rehearsal for gigs, they spend time and money traveling and someone needs to keep that in mind. Although you may have an assistant and or manager yourself, that someone should always be you. You should always know what is going on, when it is going on with your band. You should be able to answer any questions they may have or be able to quickly find an answer.
5. Make sure you can pay them
You need to keep in mind that if you have good musicians, they should be getting paid. No one wants to work for free and if you believe in your work and you have a great team of people with you, then you should be booking gigs that pay so you can pay yourself and your band.
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6. Be prepared to start over
Because things can and always do change, remain flexible. You may feel like you have the best band in the land and then one by one they start to disappear to seemingly bigger opportunities, home obligations, or they just may not work at the same level they once did. Don't fight what is out of your control. Be prepared to find someone else to replace those individuals.
Hopefully this is not something you have to go through with, but if it is be prepared to deal with it and move on to your next show with your newest addition. or new band. Just make sure you are fair and keep your audience happy.
