How to hold a first band meeting

You are starting from scratch. You have an instrument, friends who also have instruments, a place to make a lot of noise and a dream… now what? You all want to make good music. You all have opinions. Everyone wants the same number of people who got into the band room to get out of the band room alive. Here are a few things I’ve found helpful to set up in a first band practice:

influences – this is the cornerstone of any band, and can quickly let you know if there’s any kind of compatibility… as weird/cheesy as it sounds, think of a first band practice as a first date: you’re trying to find out if there’s something in common and if it is worth continuing. If one person is totally committed to progressive rock and another is hell-bent on death metal, you can form a progressive metal band, or more likely, those two people should be in different bands.

If you find some common influences, that’s a great starting point. While you should never go out and say, “I want this band to sound exactly like (insert artist),” it helps to set the general mood in which you’ll work by saying you like the sound of (artist) or (artist), then over time find a way to make it yours.

It should also be mentioned here that you don’t need to start writing on the first day. Sometimes starting with one or two cover songs allows you to see how they work together and will also help to establish that foundation. You can look back and say yeah, we learned that song as a whole band (go team! band falls pretty fast too)

collaboration styles – you want to have an idea from the beginning of how each member works and how best to work with it, changing their styles as little as possible… if possible. For example, some guitarists are very good at just improvising and creating riffs on the fly and improvising. Others often need to take an idea home with them, go over the details of the solo, and practice again on a finely tuned riff.

These need to be handled in very different ways: if you have a guitar player who’s a riff machine, invest in a shitty boombox or something with recording capabilities, put it in the room, hit record, and let it go to town. You can always go back to review the tape at a later time to see what went well and what didn’t. I worked with a guitarist who forgot more good riffs than I had written, and we found this was the best way to deal with it. Conversely, if someone is the second type, don’t expect them to strike gold on the spot. In all likelihood, it will only waste practice time and make them uncomfortable as well.

Remember: it’s only when you let each member contribute in their own style and NOTHING comes out of it that you should start to worry.

expectations of each person. – It doesn’t hurt to lay down the ground rules from the start. If someone in the band is constantly falling short of your expectations, then, well, it’s your own fault for not making it known. Lay down the basics:

-How many days of practice a week would you like?

-What days can everyone meet?

-Do any of the members have fluctuating work schedules?

How will you keep in touch with each other? (side note: it’s always a good idea to make a sheet with everyone’s email and cell addresses, and make sure each person has a copy)

-How many days in advance should a member try to let everyone know if they can’t do a practice? (With the obvious emergencies not being factored in here…we once had a drummer arrive an hour late for his audition, only to get a call from him and look out the window of our practice space to see what he’s doing. had screwed up half a mile away. It was fine, and obviously punctuality wasn’t a factor in this situation)

Expectations of the band as a whole. – this is one that is often ignored and acts as a time bomb for band implosions. Some band members may want to quit their day jobs, tour the world and sell a million albums. Others may see this as a creative outlet and just a fun hobby. And some may just want girls.

It’s important to get this out of the way early on and figure out what each member wants to do with this thing they’re collectively creating, because the conversation gets a lot more difficult down the road. Imagine if you were about to sign a record deal and found out that half the band never intended to tour…see the dilemma?

Member functions: Finally, figure out the roles of each member (but this is also something you can relax about). For example, some members may be better at managing finances, some better at booking shows and interacting with other bands, some better at writing song lyrics, etc.

…and there’s always someone who needs to be the guy in the band and make sure things stay on track. If no one else is stepping up after a few practices and your band is wandering aimlessly, then dude, it might just have to be you. It’s not that bad. If you’re wondering if I’ve ever been in that situation, I’ll answer you with a question: how do you think I was able to write this so easily?

Rock on.