I just had my first show with my band. I’ve been preaching a lot about what bands should do, so here’s a breakdown of how I both followed my own advice, and how I didn’t.
Unfortunately, Seattle was hit by a snow storm before we played. Anyone who has lived in Seattle knows that the entire city shuts down at even the slightest sign of snow. Two of the bands cancelled, and my band quickly went from playing last to playing first. Fortunately, playing first worked in our favor. Still, the snow killed quite a bit of the turnout.
But that kinda thing happens. Despite the storm, a good 30 people showed up. Of course, being our first show, these were mainly our friends as well as the regulars who come out every Monday for Metal Mondays.
Here’s the detailed breakdown of how I both failed and succeeded.
Taking a pic for Facebook before the show
I took a pic of our guitarist and drummer setting up on stage and uploaded the pic to Facebook. I didn’t really think much about this. Later, I found that people saw that picture and were reminded to come out to the show. A few people mentioned it to me.
So, something I’m going to try in the future is taking a picture of the venue we’re playing really early. I’ll leave enough time for people to see it to be reminded there will be a show. Upload the picture to both Facebook and Twitter. I wonder if doing a quick YouTube video of the venue from my phone would also help.
Merch Booth
My merch booth was obnoxious, and I love it. I got rope light and a ton of battery powered LED lights. I took three wire shelves and zip-tied them together, wrapped the rope light around the edges, and put the LED lights all around the setup.
It was fucking bright. You could not miss it.
The most hilarious thing about this merch stand was I only had one thing for sale: a single t-shirt design. So here’s this hilariously bright thing with only one shirt hanging on it.
Still, I love my merch setup! There’s only one thing I did wrong with it: I didn’t have my band’s logo prominently displayed on it. The point of this is to drill home my band’s logo and brand to everyone at the club. My motto: Love us or hate us, you will know who we are.
I have a cool and cheap idea to remedy the merch stand logo. I’m going to cut out our logo in a cardboard box and paint the box. Inside the box, I’m going to put some LED lights. The box will be easy enough to prop on top of my merch stand. So, my band’s logo will glow bright all night long, adding to the wonderful obnoxiousness.
You can catch a glimpse of this setup behind my friend in this video. Doesn’t that one shirt look damn silly in all the lit-up brightness? Haha!
Beer promotion results
I mentioned in my last post about my promotion for the show: pre-purchase a ticket to the show and get a free beer. One person ended up buying this. Even funnier, he bought me a beer during our set.
But I’m not done with this type of promotion. In the future, I’m going to make a YouTube video that explains the promotion and make it much more fun.
I was going to ditch this type of promotion based on the initial results, but Blasko has talked me into continuing it for future shows. Personally, I was very surprised how difficult it was to get people to want a free beer!
I don’t think I promoted this properly and not early enough to get the word out. I need to adjust my tactics and re-think such a promotion. Still, it’s a big reveal on how even giving away free beer can be difficult to sell, much less getting the word out about your shows and music.
Banner
Going with the motto of “Love us or hate us, you will know who we are”, I bought a vinyl banner that’s 10 feet wide and 2 feet high with Shiplosion prominently displayed. It’s huge! And it didn’t cost much, only $50. I got mine from ESigns.com, and I’m extremely happy with the results.
If you watch the video, you can see the banner displayed behind us. There’s no way you cannot know who we are! This is something I covered in another post, make sure to not be forgettable! It’s hard to get your name out there, so you need prominent branding to get your band’s name out there.
Giving away merch
I screwed up with the merch. I meant to experiment with the pay-what-you-want model. Instead, I gave away shirts. I didn’t even ask if people wanted to sign up for our email list.
Still, I was operating on the principle of getting my band’s name out to as many people as possible. It turns out that mainly women wanted shirts. Luckily, I made sure to order half women’s shirts and half men’s shirts. I completely ran out of women’s smalls, so I need to re-order.
The big mistake I made with merch was not having a call to action from the stage. I should have told people that we have a pay-what-you-want deal on Shiplosion shirts. Whatever you want to pay, even if you have nothing, make sure to get a shirt. Without this call-to-action from the stage, no one knew that there was something special at our merch booth.
The second mistake I made was not always sticking by the merch table. I preach against this, and I should know better. But, I was all around the club talking to people. However, talking to people and networking is extremely important. Standing by myself by this blinding merch stand probably isn’t the best use of my time in this particular situation.
Still, how are people going to buy things from my band if I’m not always by the merch booth? What if someone wanted a shirt, and I just wasn’t there? And I should have done my mobile merch table idea. I even brought my tablet but didn’t do it! Bah! Next time.
It’s so easy to get overwhelmed by the situation and forget the things you should be doing. It’s basically discipline and practice from show to show. Realize what you did wrong, don’t kick yourself, and do it right next time.
Pictures of Fans
I got a few pictures of the people at the show. However, I really should have tried harder with taking pictures and posting up on our site. It’s really difficult to balance talking to friends and fans, giving out merch and stickers, while also trying to take pictures and video. It’s a juggling act. If you do too much, you turn people off. If you don’t do enough, you don’t get leads back from your show to your Facebook and email list.
The best balance seems to be a formula that makes this really fun for people at the show. Your show doesn’t end with your stage set. It keeps on going.
I still got a few people up on our site and those that happened to be friends I tagged on Facebook. Those pictures generated some comments, especially from people that are friends with that person that didn’t show up to your show. So, taking pictures of your fans and posting them is an effective means of getting your band’s name out in front of other people. It also really makes it fun for the people that got their pictures taken!
I had one friend that commented that most bands don’t appreciate their fans. They said it was really cool that I was doing things to say thank you and recognize the people at the shows. You know what, if nothing else, I think that’s success! Your band is entertainment. It’s meant to make people feel good, regardless of your genre. Taking the extra step to make even one fan happy and appreciated really should be your highest goal. Sometimes, at the end of the day, that’s your only reward: leaving a trail of happiness in the world.
Cover Song
We worked up a cheesy but fun cover song: a metal version of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s Baby Got Back. We’re not the first to do a metal cover of this song, but the reaction from everyone was phenomenal. The whole audience started singing along and got into it.
I didn’t expect it to go over so well. I had a friend run up to me after the show who really wanted to record it. The next day, people uploaded cell phone videos of us doing Baby Got Back. Another friend wants to sing the song with us at our next show. And, hell yeah! We’d love our fans to come up on stage and join in!
I have a few mixed emotions about this being such a hit with people. And I’m sure this is the same type of thoughts that run through other bands’ minds. My original music wasn’t the hit. The cover song, even though done in our style, was the hit. People wanted that cover song, not our music.
Is it sacrificing our artistic integrity to go the easy route of a cover song? Yuk. I know it makes people happy as hell to hear that song. I know it’s done originally and in our own style. I know the greats in music have done it before me: The Beatles, The Ramones, Johnny Cash, The Rolling Stones.
But the harsh reality is, no one knows or cares about my original music. My original music isn’t up to par yet. We haven’t defined our voice. The cover song makes the connection that I want with my music. Party Metal, a fun time at the show, smiles from everyone in the audience.
But I think that cover song is a gateway into what we are. Of course, it’s going to be the easy way into people’s ears, but why not? What better way to get discovered by new people than creating an easy bridge into what kind of music and fan base we want?
Pomplamoose used cover songs to great success with their YouTube campaigns. They don’t even play live!!! But they get a ton of sales of their albums just because their cover songs invite people to listen to the rest of their music. Their original take really resonates with people which leads to record sales of their music. It even led to them getting their music in commercials.
So, when doing a cover song, I say stifle that knee-jerk reaction of not wanting to compromise your artistic integrity. As Blasko was telling me and as Johnny Cash said in his come-back album, doing a cover song is about re-imagining the song into something that expresses what your band “is”. And it makes it really easy for new listeners of your music to connect to you.
Okay, this post is getting a bit hefty.
I’ll continue the rest in another post. There’s more. Damn, I didn’t realize so much actually went into this. I thought I didn’t do that much, but, on reflection, I did quite a bit. There’s definitely more, and it’s not all shiny glamor-ridden goodness. Until next time!
Something we’ve tried to do is have clearly defined tasks for every member of the band. One person is in charge of Merch – setting up the table, banner, making sure its manned, doing inventory and money counting at the end of the night, etc. Another is our point of contact – makes sure we meet the contact we’re supposed to and that our gear and tech rider and hospitality are all taken care of. Another takes photos. Still another does videos. (These are all jobs that continue on the road even when we aren’t playing shows. I feel that photos, blogs, and videos are great for telling the story of your road trip.) And when not signing cds or shirts, the rest of us go out and talk with fans, get pics with them, and re-meet the point of contact to make sure they enjoyed the show, and want to bring us back again. This is a great way to build a venue base for future business. Also, it is really important (and really hard) to always have your logo in any fan photos. Whether its a poster, cd, banner, or t-shirt, make Sure that when they go home, upload the photo to facebook, and don’t look at it for 2 months…they and all their friends will come back to it later and Remember who we are.
Great distribution of band responsibilities! This is something that we have always struggled with, in that two members seem to do it all and other members want to just show up and play their instrument. I especially like the point of contact bit, almost like the “manager” of sorts.
I agree with Casey Gallas (above); If possible, then definitively try to share & delegate the tasks that you want to get done. And if something is more of a drag to do than other things, then rotate the tasks between the members in the band. This way it’s easier to give each task the attention it need to get it done properly.
Regarding the cover song vs original material; I don’t think there’s anything to worry about at all. I’m assuming this was the first time the audience heard your songs? Then it’s only natural that people will be more enthusiastic about what they already know, than the unknown. New songs (and things) take time to sink in and anchor itself. Even major acts experience this when going on tour with new material, it’s always the ‘old’ hits that get the biggest response. So give it time, keep promoting yourself, make yourself heard, and then eventually people will recognize you and meet up at your show because they want to hear your hits.
It’s always interesting to read a rundown like this, I’m looking forward to part 2 and future posts to see how it all evolves as time passes by. Keep up the good work!
TheMusicMan81
Well, it’s always a good idea to salt a couple covers in your set. Gives people something to sing along with. That’s why we always do Hitting The Wall. So you can sing along.
That’s funny about the snowstorm, it was the same situation across the mountains over here in Richland, WA. It was our first snow (that actually stuck) and likewise, our town also shuts down at the hint of snow. Everyone was considering rescheduling, two bands dropped out, and people were worried that nobody was gonna come out. It was a benefit show as well, so people really wanted to make sure that a good amount of money was raised. On that note, everyone was pleasantly surprised by the great turnout! It ended up being a great night and a very successful benefit concert!
Speaking of a similar experience, we did the same thing with our merch board! We used a chain-link gate bordered by rope LED lights, and have them powered by a lawnmower battery. We also rigged it up with an AC adapter, so it’s completely self contained! We can plug our phone chargers in, use spotlights, and power our merch board without an outlet. I have a picture of it if you’re interested.
Great post, thanks for sharing!
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