The Biz with the Buzz: Please to Meet You...
So now that you've reaped the benefits of knowledge handed down from from your best friend, your music instructor, and of course whichever influential music gods have tickled your ears, it's time to get out of that little rehearsal cubicle whether it's your bedroom, a friends garage, or your instructor's room in back of the music store. You and your buds have a band...now all that's left is to take on the world...right? You've seen the movie: kid picks up guitar, plays a show, gets seen, makes a record, and becomes the next biggest thing since that Justin Bieber kid. (OK bad example...if he can make I guess anyone can). Well unfortunately life doesn't always play out like in the movies otherwise, we'd all be rock stars. Not everyone can just sky rocket to the top like the Wonders from the movie "That Thing You Do."
So like I was saying before getting sidetracked - you and your buds have a band...and you're pretty good...getting better everyday but still...pretty good. You're working on getting a gig and excitement is starting to swell for you and your bandmates but slow down...don't forget - first impressions are everything. You can create the biggest hype in the world...but if you can't live up to it...well I'll leave the onstage prep to the pros who write those type of columns here...my job is to talk about the hype...just make sure you're ready for that point before you jump into it. But first impressions in the way you promote yourself is pretty important too. Do you want to step out into the world as the next up and coming band or just a bunch of kids out to make some noise? (Don't answer that, I still like to make noise too!) Your band sounds good, plays good, has all the moves down...now you just have to get your future fans interested in actually coming out to see you play. That starts with how you want to present yourself to the public. Things that will come into play from everything to flyers, posters, promo kits, even how the press presents you. Sure you want to record the next rock classic...but right now, who's gonna buy it outside of your releatives, friends, and slightly significant others?
One thing that irks me is a band that is impossible to get any information on. I can't count how many times I've had to work on an article and have gone to a band's MySpace only to find a confusing bio, a bunch of very badly taken live photos, and a band logo that looks like a page from an ink blot test. Incomplete names of band members doesn't help much either. When you're rich and famous you can do whatever you want...but out of the starting gate...there's nothing more important that getting your point across. Artistic license comes only after people care what you have to say.
So you decide that your next step to getting your band out to the masses is to create a web presence. For young bands this usually means a free site involving MySpace, Facebook, Reverbnation, etc. or all of the above. When it comes to logo art only MySpace leaves you room to really flex your artistic muscles and there's a reason for that. In the early stages most prospective fans bookers, promotors, venue owners, etc. are only concerned about a few things, the name of the band, the music of the band, a direct visual of the band, a contact, and possibly your story. They could care less about your logo until you're booked and they want to put your posters up then they still probably won't even hardly notice them alongside the many others they have to put up around the venue. You have a name, you're working on music, so how about we work on two things that every promo and press pack, whether in print or digital, should have, a good promo picture and a well written band biography.
Now for a new band a good bio should contain a few very important elements - the members of the band (with correct first and last names please, you do want the lokal paper to write about you don't you?), a short to the point history with a few unique tidbits, good grammar/spelling, and whatever you do please try to avoid any words that sound like they come straight out of a comic book. No one cares that your guitar player might "have the fiery intesity of a young Steve Vai." That may be true but they will either find out via your demo (more on that next time) or if and when you play their venue. Keep in mind, not every venue booker books bands they like or are familiar with. Bobby Booker at Club Rock My Sack Off might not have the first clue who Steve Vai is based on the fact that while he books hard rock, his guilty pleasure listening ipod is filled with tracks by Air Supply and Culture Club. Stick to the basics and remember, keep it short and simple. Oh yeah, and remember to include a contact name and number. Someone who is NOT in the band.
So you have this bio that tells your story and now people are reading it and are interested. Interested enough to ponder "Gee I wonder what these guys look like?" Well seeing how it's always good to make a venue booker or music writer's life easier, you just happened to also send a great photo of the band with your great bio. But what's this? The picture is of the band from a distance in a field or...is that a cemetary? There's four or five guys, I think, but you can barely tell what they look like! The guy working on what couple be great free press via an article of your band to promote an upcoming show loves your bio, wants to maybe talk to the band, but...scraps the article in favor of another band. Why? Because your photo taken at a distance will not reproduce in black and white screen and to top it off, with the smaller size the paper wants to run of your photo, readers will barely be able to make out the band. Sounds far fetched but trust me, the paper is more concerned with a good looking product than your rookie band. They can always find another young band with a cool story yet with a GREAT picture! You might be asking "Stoney? No field of trees? No cemetary? Well how about a brick wall or maybe even the train track bridge that goes over the Savannah River?" Well in response I will say that those are all fine ideas but...FOR THE LOVE OF GOD NO! This is your first promo picture so let me toss some great rules out for you that will work every time (even well known bands have been known to consistently use these throughout their careers)...
1. Close tight knit shot of your band from the waist or shoulders up.
2. Make sure everyone relatively is dressed like they belong in the same band. (A guy in pink Izod looks odd surrounded by dudes in black leather and spikes)
3. Please try and refrain from wearing shades or baseball caps. Unless you're Hootie and the Blowfish, this just makes you look like the next hobby band.
4. Get someone with a decent camera to take several shots. You're bound to get a good first promo shot without going to Olin Mills.
So there you go...you now have the means to show and tell people about your band...soon you will blister them with your demo...but for now...get to plastering that info on your MySpace, Facebook, Reverbnation, whatever page...your takeover of the music world has begun...
John "Stoney" Cannon
you can check more about Stoney out at his all things lokal music website at
http://www.lokalloudness.com
and check out his lokal musicinternet radio show at
http://www.confederationofloudness.com/
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