h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

this week my friends band are headlining a gig for the first time, and they have managed to tell me this 500 times since they first got the gig. having my own band this is slightly anoying to say the least. but to be honest i wouldnt want to play this gig anyway, the fact that it is in woodhouse is a little daunting. woodhouse is a rather bad area of sheffield. plus its only a 'working mens club'.
this week has increased my desire to get my band off and running, the only thing that is stopping me is the fact that two if the members of my band are in the other rival band 'red heaven'. they are my best mates so i can rely on them to a certain extent but i am starting to have doubts about this situation. red heaven have benn aroung for about 8 or 9 months, i will conform this, and they now have a demo deal with a local company.
now my job is to try to get my band more interested in playin and performin together instead of playin with red heaven. obviously i want both bands to do well but, your own band is most important. i have already managed to get us a gig in late november of this year and i am lookin forward to it emensly because i have never played live or had much experience of band life.
the question that has been rolling around my head for the last few weeks has been 'how do i get my band up and running?'
is it just a case of practisin every week and working throughly or should i wait and see if red heaven falter?. i want to be successful but will that come at a cost, my band or my friends?.
also i have found that in recent weeks i have been greated with hostility when tryin to talk about my band and to the other members, and even ridicule whenever i mention the band or the gig i have got for us.
i have supported whichever band was around when i wasnt i the band frame, but my thought is that they, my friends will not support me in this way. how far can i take this ridicule, i am not sure but why should i stand for it, after all i am a human being and i derserve as much respect as any other person.yes i admit i can be a t**t at times but that something i have realised and have started to stop.
i believe this band could go far together, but we have to start first.

one thing that must be acheived in any success is the activity of actually doing. procrastination gets you no further than a few good one liners and a lot of regrets.

to be succesful, or at least happy with your own performance levels, then you should offer to play free, or low rent, at some places, just for the sheer experience of playing somewhere. maybe even busk!

i wrote some lyrics and poems years back - i still write (see my journal entry) - and saw a band whose guitarist i spoke to during as set break. we eventually became great friends and he encouraged me to make some of the lyrics into real songs which i sang, became a bit of a song-writing team and pushed ourselves musically (i had never learnt music academically) and we had a really great (even if i say so myself) repetoir of over 4hrs blues originals before he gave up music to become a computer programmer (damn computing! )

we had great fun, i have some tracks we recorded semi-professionally at a local abc (australian broadcaster) radio station and now i am finding solace in performing with a friend's local blues scratch band. the regret i have is not to have pushed myself to learn music and write some stuff on my own. i relied on his 'music' for my 'words' and i think i had some potential as a song-writer... i know it is still not too late, but i'll allow myself a modicum of procrastination on this front

tell the other band members to make a decision, to do so in respect of your own right to make a decision about how serious this is for you and get them on or off, one way or another - and if they bail, go hunt for serious members: you'll find them if you look...

good luck!

astroboy

thanks for the good advice,

there have been developments and i have split with the other members and am trying to start 'hunting' for new ppl

cheers flixz

hey, good move, prob'ly... a break from old ways is cathartic and good music - especially blues - comes with catharsism, i often found. much good luck in the hunting.

lemme know when you're touring australia and get my name on the door!

ciao,

astro : )

i will let you know, but it could be more than a few years away yet. at the start of the road the end seems to be miles away, thats because it is.

cheers flixz