Rocking in the Free World

This is the second piece I wrote for my column on Rock Street Journal. I’ve been told that the content of my column is owned by me, and will not be included under the RSJ copyright.

Hence, I have a chance to unleash it on my website as well. Check it out under the fold.

So you are part of a band. You guys know you are the next best thing since bread came sliced, you’ve got it all, you’ve got it right. But the avenues for you to succeed are few and far between, and the road is long and winding, the lights are blinding and you don’t know when you will get there, if at all you will.

You’d want to quit your studies and your job, throw caution to the wind, and embrace the life of a rockstar being courted by record labels, the media, artist managers and most importantly, the fans. These castles in the air also need to have a concrete foundation to begin with.

As a new band, you need to create waves and be in the limelight for all the right reasons. Your music should do all the talking, rather than your possible involvement with substances or your outrageous attire or your fake accents while on stage. Of course, showmanship is an important part of being recognized for a distinctive style, but without good music and without believing in yourself, you’re as good as the next garage band which will split when members either get married / relocate or move out for higher studies without even having been a storm in a teacup.

There are many eventualities that you can’t deal with, and so this column will not focus on trying to show you the doomsday scenarios that your band might encounter. What I instead intend to propose is a novel way of trying to get your band seen and heard by a lot of people, without you having to invest too much into making it happen. Sure, you could perform at pubs, and in festivals and at the odd live gig and so on, but what I am about to suggest might hasten the process and help you get there faster.

This venture is one that a few bands might have already implemented inadvertently, without being aware of it. What I am about to tell you would just formalize this process and give it concrete shape.

Consider your jam room. It is the place you chill out, the place where you sit and write songs, where you experiment and try out new riffs, where you fight amongst your band members and eventually develop the camaraderie and friendship that will last you for a long time to come.

This is the place where you are in your element, and are uninhibited by constraints of time, and can play whatever you want for as long as you want. You can set the sound levels to your liking and not complain about a shitty sound guy wrecking it all for you. You remain in your comfort zone, and in your jam room, you are King (or Queen or whatever).

How about if you converted your jam room into a venue for having a show? Sounds daunting, innit? Yeah, it does at the outset. But think about this. What if you were to allow people limited entry into your performance area and play out a show for them?

Your room might not accommodate more than ten to fifteen people at a time. They’d have to stand cramped or squat next to a bass amp, or God forbid, sit right in front of the bass drum and then turn permanently deaf. However, if you end up getting a small group of people for your audience, and they promise to behave themselves and not mosh (and cause destruction) you’d have a show on your hands.

The parents, neighbours and other people in the vicinity who might complain would already be used to your incessant practising, and as a result, if you were to just get in a few people and jam like you always do, you might find a few fans in the audience.

Do this once or twice a week, and rotate the crowd in your jam room, and a steady buzz would be created about you guys, if you are really good. As the word spreads, and more and more people listen to you, utilize the power of social media such as orkut, youtube, our RSJ forums and create communities, upload your videos / audios and generate a vibe that would suggest that if fifteen people at a time can be provided a fabulous experience by your band, imagine how hundreds of people would react to it simultaneously.

The possibilities are mind-boggling, eh? I know. There are many pitfalls to this method as well, but with a little diplomacy, a little politeness and perhaps a little ingenuity and most of all, with pragmatic rather than an obstinate form of will-power, your band might just have a good platform to end up going places.

If you are a music lover, rather than a band member, and if ten bands that you know of follow this system of regulated live performances in their jam rooms for limited audiences, you could as well end up attending ten live shows in three months, for free! Now, if this isn’t a win-win situation, I don’t know what is. If you do make it big thanks to these suggestions, do send me your autographed album so I can add it to my growing collection. Good luck!