Article No. 1: Out of The Garage

All right, your neighbors are going to be happy. You're taking your band out of the garage and heading in the direction of a club, pretty much any club. This is the way nearly every band starts. Unfortunately it is also the way that many end because they fail to get out of the gate properly.

First, you need to do is not take everything personally. Just because you know your band is going to be a huge success doesn't mean anyone else knows that or can even recognize that fact. You are going to have to prove it and one way to start is at Open Mike Nights. You can find them just about everywhere and the reason is really simple, so pay attention. This is how clubs manage to have free entertainment. The club owner or manager couldn't care less about you. They don't know you, nor have they heard how great you are because no one else has heard you either (other than a few friends who have stopped off at the garage to drink one of your free beers). You will have to prove yourself, but not to the club manager. He still won't be paying you any attention. He gagues everything off of what the people in the club think, say and do.

At Open Mike Nights the people are there first off to have a drink. They are not there to hear your music. They probably won't pay any attention to you in the beginning. Why should they pay you any attention? You're nobody, just another band playing a song really loud so that you will be noticed and probably an original song that is too advanced for their ears. This is important and while it will not land you a recording contract at this Open Mike Night from an A&R type hidden in the back, it will gain you the attention of those drunks at the bar. Play something they recognize. Play something boring that every other band has played for years only play it perfectly. Make them come out of their alcohol daze and say "man, I remember that, what a great song".

Don't stop there. Give them a few more songs they recognize and coax them to sing along if you can. When you've finished your fifteen or twenty minutes you might have turned a few heads. Pay close attention to those people who for a brief moment paid attention to you and go introduce yourself to them at the end of your set. Thank them for coming to the club and search for a way to flatter them. Also, and of prime importance, make a mental note of their name and remember it. Tell them that you will be back next week for Open Mike Night and really would like to see them again. Chances are that since it's a neighborhood club they will be back, but when next week rolls around and you show up and see them and call them by their name in front of their friends, you will make their day (night) and have the beginning of a fan. Those initial fans will be the beginning of your following because while your high school buddies may also follow you briefly, it is those people who didn't know you in the beginning who will be your strongest supporters.

This is great. You have a few Open Mike Nights under your belt and people are beginning to hear that your band is pretty good. Yes, they might start saying you're a "cover band" but at least they're calling you a band. Now it's time to introduce those original songs you have been working on for months and the way to introduce them is by making a Demo. First because you are going to need a demo to garner (that means get in industry lingo) paying gigs. Don't spend your money foolishly by running straight away to the most well known studio in town. Price shop and go listen to some material the studio's have recorded. What you will need for a demo is a simple two-track recording, mixed and mastered then transferred to a disc so you can replicate (make more) them on your pc at home. Two-tracks is just fine and you accomplish that by playing the song(s) live in the studio with all your instruments on one track and vocals on the other. Sure, the studio will try to tell you that you need to multi-track everything to make it professional and if you were going straight to the radio with it they would be right, but for club Demos, two to four tracks is just fine.

For the sake of expediency we are going to assume that your songs are intelligent and that you have written them in your style and geared them toward commercialism. You may laugh and sneer thinking of articles written by the few bands that did make it anywhere who say "commercial music sucks" but bottom line, if it isn't commercial, it won't get any radio airplay. Loud for the sake of loud does not represent good music and anyway, the dj's would just turn it down to the level associated with normal airplay. But forget the radio for now. Just be pleased you have a three or four song demo that you can take to clubs and also to start to sell to your initial fans. This is your first real start.

[Next Article: From Open Mike to Club]Next Issue we will move further into the first level of the Local Music Industry. The evolvement is geared toward success which as the articles keep coming, will be explained.