Banding Together - Networking With Other Bands

Sound and Recording
B. Thomas Cooper
Editor


Some bands are good at it, some are not. Some musicians understand how important it is, others don’t. Frankly, some people are simply too concerned about they’re own egos to do the right thing. What is the “right thing”?. Banding together, of course! Networking, so to speak.

Far too many young musicians think the club scene is some kind of ‘dog eat dog’ scenario, but it doesn’t need to be that way. Nowhere has the pressure been greater than on the Sunset strip in Hollywood during the ‘Big Hair’ era, and yet my band, based in Phoenix nearly four hundred miles eastward, played alongside Guns & Roses, Poison, and other future legends without getting sucked down by personal egos. We were always supportive of the bands on the scene, and it paid off for us in big ways.

Of course, there are ways to be helpful and self serving at the same time. I would urge my guys to help the other bands strike the stage, for example. After all, the sooner the stage is clear, the sooner my band can set up. Doesn’t this just make good sense?

Ultimately it’s up to you, but having personally booked literally hundreds of gigs at dozens of clubs, I can assure you that a band with a bad reputation is far less apt to be offered the choice gigs, no matter how cool they may think they are. On the other hand, if you can’t network on the local level, what ever gives you the idea you’ll be ready to work with the big boys?

Get out there and get it done! Making excuses is not going to get you where you want to go. Don’t be shy to show your meddle and remember, networking is your friend. Now that’s what I call ‘sound reasoning’.