Fly High: Words from a grounded rock musician

I know these terms probably seem contradictory in the minds of many, but follow me for a bit. Over this past weekend I had one of the more interesting experiences playing out with bands that were less than professional. The names of the guilty shall be protected because it isn’t really my style to blow up people’s spots.  To sum up the scenario shortly, a set of bands that were allied to each other believed it in their best interest to play in sequence at a show and were determined to do anything they could to play together. One of the bands was “running sound” so they took it upon themselves to reorder the band list that was emailed by the venue’s management to all the bands several days prior. As per usual, we showed up early to show support for our fellow bands and to make sure that we had enough time to be prepped and ready to roll. Getting close to our set time we went up to the “sound guy” to verify that everything was okay. This is when the drama ensued…

The “sound guy” was the guitarist for one of the bands and tried to tell us that we were playing last, which would have been close to midnight. Obviously we weren’t having that since we were scheduled to play at 9:30. Childish complaining ensued and the “sound guy” went off telling his friends that he was going to pack up his stuff and play the rest of the show at his house. Real mature, right? It gets worse, the same guy’s band conveniently played next, around 9:45 and on top of playing late, they had the nerve to be insulting our band at the microphone for insisting that we maintain the order as it was.

Long story short we have learned to avoid certain types of “all ages” shows because of the level of inexperience and unprofessional nature of some of the younger bands. For the uninitiated, here is a short list of how to be professional:

1. Show up on time or early to support the other musicians.
Even if you don’t like the music it is common courtesy and respect to give other bands the respect you would like to receive. You’re not a “rockstar” and you won’t be treated like one.

2. Maintain professional communication with other bands and their respective management.
You have NO idea who you could be talking to and that one chick in sweats might be your ticket to bigger venues or to a blacklist depending on how you act.

3. Communicate in advance.
If you have concerns that you need addressed don’t wait until the night of the show  to voice them. How many bands  do you know of that don’t have a Myspace or an email address available for you to get in touch with them? Exactly.

4. Never duck out on a show the same day unless it is truly an emergency.
This should be obvious too, but the best way to end up on a venue’s blacklist (as well as other bands/managment) is to not show up or cancel your appearance at the last minute. You just screwed a whole lot of people and they will likely never do business with you again.

5. When you come into contact with unprofessional bands maintain your cool.
Even if you see or hear something you don’t like,  don’t lose your cool. Be the bigger band. When you get more experience, you can pick and choose who you want or don’t want to deal with. Remember that “Johnny Rockstar” is probably a douche to everyone and his days of Bowling Alley glory will probably come to a close quickly as him and his band are blacklisted.

6. Always thank the other bands, whether you liked them or not.
They’ll do the same for you and who knows… you might get more gigs as a result of JUST your professional manner. No one likes a show off or a douchebag. Remember that.

As an aside, I’m sure the bands from that night think that we’re now rivals, but as of this post you’re distanced from my mind and will never likely never come into contact with my band again. However, because of the connections we have it is likely that you will never play at that venue again and may have trouble at spots that you would dream of. All it takes is a little respect.

Peace and love.

It’s always difficult to begin something like this so let me just say hello and welcome to this little corner of the web. I’m the singer/guitarist of South Jersey band Bound By Nothing and this is my little page. You’ll find in due time that I’m a bit of a UNIX geek and my interests probably are more along the technical side. I’ll also be keeping you updated with the goings ons of the band and perhaps give you some musical tid bits and misc. tutorials on a vast array of subjects. With that out of the way… again… welcome.