So, first post on my first blog and what do I choose to talk about? My musical failures.
Or more specifically, why my music failed; the mistakes that I made with my last band and how having a solid business plan could have helped.
Mistake Number 1: Not choosing the right people
OK, so in my 2nd year of university I decided to form a band; I'd started exploring my guitar playing in ways that I hadn't before, I'd discovered new bands and new styles that I wanted to emulate and I wanted to experience gigging and a music scene. So I met up with a friend of a friend who I got on well with, we had a couple of jams in my bedroom and we decided to put a band together.
Over the next couple of weeks we managed to find a bassist, a drummer and a singer, we all met in the Student's Union, had a pint and decided to 'give it a go'. That was the first mistake: I wanted to play thrash metal, as did the drummer, the singer was a fan of My Chemical Romance and other pop-alt bands, the bassist wanted to play punk and my friend the other guitarist wanted to play wierd experimental stuff. We all thought that that led to a recipe for new and interesting music, a fusion of genres that would drive the audience crazy. How wrong we were.
Obviously it sounded awful and within a few months they had all left, leaving just me and the drummer to start afresh.
The lesson here is to develop a vision for your band before you even put it together. I probably wasted 3 months working with musicians who wanted different things from me, that's something like £120 in rehearsal fees, not to mention that it just wasn't fun. If I'd have known what I wanted to do besides, 'start a band', I would have been better placed in recruiting band members and it would have worked out better for everyone.
The current project that I am working on, some 5 years later, is the polar opposite of that situation. What I have now is a concept, but no band. But that's because I'm waiting for the right people to help my dream band come to life. I know now that instead of simply signing somewhat up because they play the right instrument I need to find the musicians who I like, share my musical tastes and writing style, and are prepared to work towards the aims that I plan to lay out here: my music business plan.
