Things that Bands Suck At

1. Communication

Don’t start a band, grab a gmail address and then not check it for a week. I don’t care how busy you are. Unless you get all of your gigs through your personal number that all of your friends have, just check your email and see if anyone has tried to book you a show or wants to write about your music. Some real missed opportunities out there.

2. Giving a shit about shows

I know its cool as shit to not give a shit. Hey, you’re in a band after all. But if even one person is there to see your or they just happen to see you cause they were already there, try and act like you want to be there playing music. It is what you do after all.

3. Giving a shit about pretty much everything else

One of the most the aspects of music that I find most interesting is why some bands make it and other just as talented bands don’t. I like to know about their genesis stories, or how they came to be. In the Beatles’ case, they were discovered by Brian Epstein and given a HUGE opportunity with George Martin and they succeeded. Makes me wonder how many other bands had that exact same chance and failed.

Bands today have this really obnoxious habit of acting like they just don’t give a shit about anything whatsoever. Not their music, not their shows, not the fact that they’re doing well or the fact that they’re doing poorly. I’m not sure why it is so cool to pretend like nothing phases you, like you don’t care that you’re in a band that is going all over the world to play shows to strangers. One of the most obnoxious bands in terms of genesis story is this California group called FIDLAR. They eschew that whole “we used to skateboard so we’ve got that ‘fuck you’ attitude but now we play straightforward songs about cheap beer and parties ‘n shit and it sort of carried over into our band” attitude. Their genesis goes something like this: (1) early twenties dude is homeless, works part-time in a studio and sleeps there out of necessity, (2) early twenties studio dude meets other early twenties dude and they bond over skateboard trucks, (3) one day other early twenties dude called early twenties studio dude and sees if he’s around, but early twenties studio dude is hungover from too much cheap beer so he just asks early twenties other dude if he just wants to jam and then, like, whatever, they started a band after that. Just give one shit so that the rest of the world knows you’re a human being with aspirations and not just some overly rewarded brats that has shit fall in their laps. (Also see: Wavves).

Bands, stop sucking, start giving a shit about something.