This is my Second blog post about what it's like to be in an unsigned band (or at least in my band). Hopefully it'll be interesting for non-musicians and musicians alike.
Setbacks
They're an inevitability surely? But why is it that every time a setback happen I feel a mixture of surprise and devastation? We've had tours cancelled, bones broken, band members leaving, money lost, records flopped - to name a few.
It's human nature I suppose, but for me when you're in a band social media has a big role to play in adding pressures you didn't foresee. When scrolling through Facebook it seems that I'm the only one not making a success of my music career.
Of course, no one sensible ever posts anything negative on social media about their band - so it's easy to feel like everyone else is having a great time and you're trailing behind the trend, especially when you're friends with lots of other musicians on Facebook.
No one tweets a picture of the empty gig at The Dog And Duck pub in Keefley or uploads their pitiful iTunes stats for everyone to see. I recon for every picture of packed-out show or festival slot my band posts up on Instagram there will be 10 other shows with no one there #TheMusicBusinessIsntAllItsCrackedUpToBe - it seems like we're definitely part of the social media cycle.
However, can you name a band that's had it easy? One documentary worth watching on Netflix is 'We Are Twisted F***ing Sister'. Just about everything went wrong for Twisted Sister at the start of their career. However, they came out stronger at the end and sold millions of records. It's pretty inspiring to watch (even if you don't like their music).
It seems to me that if you're in a band you've got to ask yourself: can you take the heat and for long long can you bare it? Because most give up.
I don't want to sound negative, we love playing music no matter what the audience size it and the secret is that the setbacks are actually good for you, it just doesn't feel like it at the time.
When our old guitarist left the band everything felt it was crashing down around me - I didn't want to end the band, but I was unable to see past the idea that anyone in our band is replaceable - when Tom joined it turned out to be an injection of creativity and a new direction for the band's next records.
Below is a video of my band Little Brother Eli doing our thing on BalconyTV - we're heading into the studio at Challow Parks in January to record this song...
