Why Hard Work and Dedication to Your Performance is Essential if You Want to Succeed in Music.

There is one essential element to a professional performer: dedication. If you are not 100% committed to a performance, no one will buy it. More importantly however, you let down your band mates. These are the people depending on you to give a solid and committed effort on stage all the time. This means that when you’re onstage, you are pushing yourself 110% and when you’re offstage, you are thinking of how you can be better onstage. This is the cycle. This is where we separate the men from the boys, so to speak.

Invest Your Time

If you want to be a low to mid-level cover band playing dive bars and birthday parties that’s fine, do that but if you want to take it to the next level and get downright seriously professional, you absolutely need to push yourself.

Not only am I talking stage performance, but the homework has to be done, all the time. When you reach a certain level of musicianship, people expect you to deliver and in order to deliver serious chops you need to be on your ‘A’ game. You don’t need to be fancy mind you, just tight. Everyone needs to be on point all the time, or as close to it as possible.  This means practicing material, taking notes, working on your riffing, soloing, vocals, and swagger. All of it; at home and at rehearsals.

Out of all the bands I’ve been in, only a handful have been at that level where it can potentially go national. These are groups that perform and tour regularly and have a following of loyal fans. Once you are at this level, there is no flaking out, there is no half ass-ing it and there is no stopping a performance midway through. It is not an option.

Don't Take It Personally

This is not a business built on friendship people, although you can be great friends, but it’s the music that comes first. That’s harsh, but necessary because if you can make it to the point where not getting paid is not an option, the only question is how much will you get paid? Festivals, national touring acts and yes, casinos only want the very best they can get so you want to be your absolute best, don’t you? So do your fellow musicians.

This Is Serious Business

Besides, it is more fun when you take your music seriously and accomplish great things on stage. At the peak of your performance, the crowd feels the energy and you feed off of that energy and give it right back: all engines are firing at this point. That feeling is amazing and why were in this unforgiving and godforsaken business in the first place. Do you really want to be the squeaky wheel at this point? Hell no! For my band, whichever band I’m in at the time, this is how I run it, or how I expect it to be run:

1: A Band Is About Music. We are in this band because we are musicians, we may happen to be friends as well but the two are NOT the same. If you want to do something together as friends, let’s play a round of Disc Golf.

2: Musicians Work Hard. I expect everyone in the band to be working hard on being a better musician all the time. I do and so should everyone else. Music is FUN but it is also a lot of work to perform it really well so if you’re not dedicated to that kind of effort, you are no musician.

3. You Will Be On Time. There is no excuse for being late. We are getting paid and like any other job, showing up on time is your responsibility. Check Sigalert.com, if there is traffic, leave early. If we practice at, be there at 8. If load in is at 3, be there at 3. We are trying to get hired again and if you establish a pattern or develop a reputation of being late, guess what? You won’t get hired. Remember, everyone is depending on you! If you simply cannot avoid being late, we're talking car crashes, maybe you're hospitalized, your mother is dying or some extreme circumstance and we understand but treat it like you would your day job and be on time and at least have the courtesy to give us a call and let us know. We take it very seriously and so should you.

3: If You Continue To Perform Poorly, You Will Be Cut. If you are struggling with your parts, come to us, we can help you. However If you really cared about the band, you would put in the extra effort and learn all of your parts make them better and contribute to the improvement of the bands performance on your own. We are trying to do something great and one poor performer can ruin everyone’s hard work. If you are not putting in this kind of effort, you don’t really care and you have no place in this band.

4. If The Performance Is Intentionally Compromised, You Will Be Cut. I’m talking about deliberate and intentional sabotage.  This includes arguing on stage, walking off stage, not showing up, or stopping the performance in any way because of a poor attitude. If you make a mistake, you suck it up, find the beat and get back in. The place to handle your grievances is the following day at rehearsal or band meeting. There is simply no excuse to sabotage a performance, especially for any kind of personal reasons.

Its Fun But This Is A Job

The reason for this hard-nosed approach is that everyone else in the band is working this hard. Everyone else is giving it 110% to get to where the group is and it is simply unfair to the rest of the band if you’re just phoning it in from the sidelines. You make the whole group look bad. Why should you get paid for that? You don’t. We’re compromising our pay for you and if you’re not holding up your end, we won’t pay you; I have a kid to feed with that money.

There is a lot riding on any given performance because you never know what even the smallest gig might lead to if you are all in the pocket. When music is your livelihood, you need to take it as seriously as any job and so do your band members. In any job if you’re not performing at your peak ability, you will eventually have to find another job. Music is the same.

All On The Same Page

As a musician, I have this inner drive to create music with passion and it consumes my pain, and my joy and That has to be matched or even exceeded by my fellow band members otherwise it’s just not being expressed. More, it feels as if my music is being shit on when someone is simply going through the motions or refuses to adapt and change with the flow of the performance.  It’s inborn. I can’t help it. Moreover, if I’m doing my absolute best to make great music, I need everyone else to do so as well otherwise I’m wasting valuable time. I don’t want to waste my time.

I want to make something great that touches people and lifts them up, gives them respite from their daily routine, and makes them forget about their troubles, whatever they may be. To me, it’s a spiritual act and a labor of love. This requires dedication and sacrifice. I have unfortunately had to sacrifice friendships due to my commitment to make the best music possible because, frankly, many of my friends just wanted to have some fun. They didn’t take it as serious as I do and that’s fine, it really is but it does mean we can’t be in a band together. It does not reflect any feelings of friendship one way or another. Go have your fun band and be a friend to me and let me go do my thing with others at or beyond my level.

Again, Do Not Take This Personally

Of course, this means I must be willing to do likewise and be let go for the same reasons. I have been let go before and I am still friends with these people. I’ve been kicked out of 2 bands, one because I was not dedicated to the music they were making, and the other, because I simply did not fit with what they wanted to accomplish. I am fine with that because it opened new doors for me and allowed me to find likeminded players. I am still friends with those bands to this day.

The moral of this story is that if you want to be a fun on the side, house party cover band for a weekend here and there, do it with others who want the same but if you want to be in a professional, gigging band then you must make sacrifices and work extra hard to be a better player and be willing to be a part of something greater than yourself. It takes time and patience but it is very rewarding.