Tips to Keeping a band together.

So Happy Together
How to keep your band together
(in spite of its members)

By Brett McCarron Originally: http://www.blamepro.com/mwn/tips/happyband.asp

Your band has lost it’s focus. Members are late for rehearsals; or they don’t show up at all. When everyone does show up, the sessions deteriorate into a lot of bitching, leaving everyone angry and resentful.

If your band is no longer the well-oiled machine it once was, perhaps these tips will help restore everything to its former order and glory.

1. Have a band meeting once every six months. Ideally a band meeting is held at a neutral location, such as a bar or restaurant. This helps everyone feel at ease. Try not to hold them at your rehearsal location and whatever you do, don’t allow anyone to bring instruments or significant others. You don’t need noodling guitars or whispered conversations between lovers to detract from the meeting.Use this time to air suggestions for new songs, critiquing past performances (not just went wrong, but also highlighting what went right), promotion ideas, performance and rehearsal schedules, new venues to consider, and brainstorming ways to improve the group.If you can find something to do after the meeting to build camaraderie and blow off steam, so much the better. How about having the band meeting in a bowling alley snack bar, then bowling a game or two after the meeting? Never bowled before? It’ll be a new experience for you, and lots of fun for your bandmates!
2. Revisit your band’s common goals. Are you a cover band, or do you play originals? Does everyone want to play six-nights-a-week, weekends only, or casuals? How often should you rehearse? How many members does it take to remove a song from your set list? Is there a certain style or genre of music that you are aiming for? Are things getting stale the way they are? Are there adequate performing opportunities in your area, or do you need to branch out to surrounding communities? Revisiting your band’s goals — and reaching agreement on them — is a great salve to put on a sore situation.
3. Voice your opinion. Silence is tacit acceptance that you agree. Try not to remain silent when you should be voicing your disagreement. A healthy band is one that promotes discussion and communication. An unhealthy band has festering problems that will eventually lead to the band’s demise.
4. Encourage discussion. While it’s not always possible to reach a consensus agreement on every issue, it helps to allow each member the opportunity to discuss their opinion. Especially encourage the shyest member to contribute. He/she may have an insight that the rest of you will find helpful.
5. Identify the main problem. It helps if you can break down the symptoms into manageable chunks. From there you can point to the main, overriding problem — and correct it. Is there a bandmate with a drug or alcohol problem? A girlfriend or spouse that attends practices and insists on giving her/his opinion (the Yoko Syndrome)? One or more band members that have come to hate the style of music the band is playing? Or perhaps the band leader is treating the other players like inferiors, and a mutiny is ready to occur?
6. Elect a leader. It can be the best musician, the player with the most performing experience, the lead singer, the person who put the band together, or simply the person who has been in the band the longest. Agree on this person, and their duties. Does the leader have an equal voice in band politics, or the deciding vote? Does the leader contact the members to remind everyone of practice and upcoming gigs? Is the leader the main point of contact between the manager, booking agent, and gig contacts? Is there a term for the leader, or is it for the life of the group? Don’t assume anything. Discuss it and get band acceptance.
7. We already have a leader, but it’s not working. Then perhaps it’s time for a manager. This person, surprisingly enough, manages the day-to-day activities of the group. The manager works with the band, booking agents, venue owners, members of the press, web sites, recording label A&R staff, and other interested parties to free up time that would otherwise be spent by the band leader. The manager will also visit with the band to help it agree on an image, and will work with the members to help them reach their goal.Some managers may demand as much as 35% of the gross in exchange for their services. This might be fine for a band just starting out, but the term (length) of the contract should not be for the life of the band, so that the members can renegotiate the contract at a later date, once the band begins commanding higher performance fees. (You’ve heard it before, always seek legal help before signing a contract.)
9. How is everyone paid? In a typical four-piece band, the members share whatever proceeds equally. Along comes a sound man. Does this person take an equal share? Or is he/she paid as an expense item off the top, and the remaining proceeds divided among the members? Does the band leader take an extra share (or half share)? Is transportation an expense item, or do you give your roadie(s) a full or half share? Equipment maintenance? Discuss it now, or otherwise you may have members quitting when they discover that the leader has been getting an extra share. The downtime to replace a member will hurt everyone’s earnings, so be up front with the split.
10. Who gets the gigs? One band I was in had a band rule that whomever got the gig, as long as it was over an agreed-upon minimum amount, received a 10% finder’s fee bonus. This was off the gross amount received, not just 10% added to his/he regular share. This turned out to be a nice incentive to find private party gigs to keep the band’s calendar full. This is a fair percentage, equal to what we later gave our booking agent for finding venues for the band to play. The reason we agreed on a minimum threshold amount was that it would be easy for members to find scores of low-paying gigs, which would wear us out physically without adequate financial compensation. The minimum amount was also raised periodically, as we became busier, due to the laws of supply and demand.
11. Vacation time! The more members you have, the tougher it is to agree on a schedule for gigs, practices, and band meetings. One option to consider is setting aside an entire month for a band vacation. The members will arrange their individual vacations with their families, allowing them some much-needed rest and time away from the band. Everyone will come back energized, and ready to get back to “band work.” Get everyone to agree on the band’s vacation schedule and you won’t have to say no to gigs later in the year.
12. Set up a communication network. Get each member to identify a primary and secondary means of contact and the best times to be reached. Quite often this is a personal cell phone number. But it could also be a home or work landline number. Email addresses should also be collected. If a work email address is provided, ensure that it is permissible for the member to send/receive personal emails at work. Often this is prohibited, and many employers use this as grounds for termination. You may also want to include the numbers of spouses and/or significant others to use in case of emergency.In one of the best bands I was in, our booking agent contacted me one Friday afternoon at 2 pm, asking if we could perform that evening at a club some 75 miles away. We had earlier agreed with the agent that we would have the weekend off, having played the previous five weekends. But since the club was a trendy one we hadn’t performed at before, it was my job as bandleader to offer up the opportunity to the other members. Using our communication network, I was able to contact everyone but the lead singer. I did reach his wife, who said it was okay with her, but that he wouldn’t be home until 4:30 pm, which would leave us no time to pack and little travel time to get to the gig. The rest of the band decided to do the gig, subject to our singer’s availability. I called the agent, she faxed me the contract paperwork, I signed it, we loaded up our gear, and waited in our singer’s driveway for him to get home and learn of the gig. Lucky for us, when he did get home, he agreed to do the show, and while we were late getting started because of the last-minute notice, the performance went well, and we even made a little extra money (our agent gave us a performance bonus for helping her out). This would have been impossible if we didn’t have contact and alternate numbers in advance.
13. Set up a comfortable practice space and make efficient use of practice time. I’ve written a separate article about making efficient use of practice space and time here.
14. Are you ready to add a new member? Adding a member can add a new dimension to the band. If you’re a three-piece, adding a keyboard player or second guitarist gives variety during solos, and a fuller, more complex rhythm sound. If you’re already a four-piece, an additional musician will allow rhythmic variation and a sound “closer to the record” if you’re performing covers. The additional musician may also sing, giving your lead singer a break, and enabling sweet-sounding harmonies. Chances are, the new member also knows several songs that would be great to add to your existing repertoire.But new members add another dimension to a band’s political makeup. Does he/she agree with your band’s original direction? Does he/she fit in with your band’s image? For example, when soul keyboardist/singer Michael McDonald joined the Doobie Brothers rock band in the late 1970’s, it changed the direction and style of the entire band. Will any of the existing members feel threatened by the new addition? Does he/she have any bad habits you should know about? If at all possible, treat the audition like a job interview, and ask the prospective member to provide you with musical references. Call those references! It could save you time … and possibly your band.
15. It’s time for a change. Sometimes the best thing is to step away. When a member leaves, it won’t be the same band. That’s a fact. Or perhaps you’ve outgrown the other members. Or the band has moved in a different direction than you’re looking for. If, after giving it your best, you honestly feel that you can no longer give the band your best, then it’s time to take a break.It could be a permanent vacation (to quote a Rush album title), or a sabbatical where you step away from the whole music scene to rediscover yourself. Whatever it is, discuss it with your bandmates. You may or may not wish to discuss it with your significant other. That’s because it may lead to extra pressure for you if your band makes a concession to keep you in the group, while your significant other makes plans for your free time because she/he thought you had quit the band.During your time away from the band, if that’s the direction you decide, there are several things you can do to say busy with music. You can write songs, record a CD of original material using musicians you’ve met during your time in the band, learn to play new songs that you’ve never had time to master, take lessons on a new instrument, set up a home recording studio, acquire new instruments and repair those you already own, or even join a different band. If all else fails, you can always start up a brand new band, establish yourself as leader, and start again from scratch!