Welcome to Gaia! ::

I'm gonna give you the same advice I've given a lot of starting bands:

1. NEVER, and I mean NEVER give a ******** about your audience. Ever. You are there for your own entertainment. Get on that stage and just do your thing. If they like it, cool, if not, who the ******** cares. I'm not saying be mean to them (though that can be fun too), but just don't get hung up on how they perceive you.

2. Have as much fun as you can. Its your 15-30 minutes of musical therapy, go ******** wild. Even if you suck, audiences always respond positively to a band that can have fun. If you're having fun, most likely they will have fun with you.

3. MOOOOOOOVE. Nothing saying BORING LAME BAND like a buncha people just standing around like they don't wanna be there. There's entirely TOO much of that these days! I'm not saying do what I do and run around the whole stage, jumping up and down like you're on PCP, but act like you're FEELING the music you're playing!

4. Don't be afraid to interact with your audience! Shows are a very intimate setting, talk to these people. Obviously don't start a conversation, but a quick joke here and there to let your audience know you're acknowleding their existance goes a long way.

Now some more technical tips

5. Make sure the guitarists have back-up guitars. I don't mean like a row, but at least one guitar on standby in its case waiting. I've only made that mistake once and thats all it took. Yeah the audience was so caught up in our energy they didn't care and insisted we finish the set anyway but it still sucks when you're standing there like an a*****e and your guitar has broken strings.

6. Make sure all your cables, etc are good the day before.

7. Rehearse a specific planned set. Don't just get up there and wing it, that wastes so much time that you could be playing something already. And make sure everyone has a copy of the play list. Plan your playlist according to how much time you're given. If the venue doesn't tell you, most regular venues give you 30 minutes to play, and thats including your set up time. Thats like 7-9 songs plus in between stage banter depending on the length of your songs.

8. Tune all guitars before the show and again when you get there. If you haven't already, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a hard shell case over a gig bag. It protects your guitar much better and the strings are more likely to stay in tune.

9. Stop somewhere before you go to the show or even the night before and get drinks. Believe me, you're gonna get dehydrated fast on stage so have something ready. Most venues won't stop a band from bringing their own Gatorade or whatever.

10. This is the single most important thing I can tell you. While the others are great advice that you should definitely follow, this is the one you should LIVE BY. I tell this to every person who joins my band along with new bands asking me whats the most important thing I can tell them.

No matter what, even if the stage is on fire, DO NOT ******** EVER EVER EVER STOP PLAYING IN THE MIDDLE OF A SONG. EVER. Guitarist drops his pick, everyone else should still be playing, and that guitarist should consider continueing with his fingers or getting a pick dispenser either on his guitar or to be attatched to a mic stand in front of him.

Even if you break strings, keep playing! ALWAYS PLAY THE SONG THROUGH, NO MATTER WHAT! Whether the audience is with you or not, you owe them a level of professionalism on stage, and NOTHING kills your chances of getting the audience behind you faster than stopping mid-song to ******** retune or something like a goddamn jerkoff. When you keep playing, it makes you look that more professional and that less of a buncha pussies. Cuz only pretentious pussies stop in the middle of a song for stupid reasons.

If you start a song off wrong, its fine to stop and start over. But if you've been playing the song the wrong way the whole time and you're already like a minute in, YOU CANNOT STOP. You can try fixing it and suddenly switch to playing correctly and hoping nobody notices or cares, but you CANNOT STOP.

If you forget words, just sing away from the mic and pick up where you do remember. Do NOT go back and try to sing that verse/chorus/line again, its gone, continue the ******** song. Get through the measures of those lines you forgot and continue the song. And DON'T ******** stop playing if you suddenly forget the lyrics! Just keep going!

Unless someone in your band collapses and doesn't get back up, there is NEVER an excuse to stop playing a song.

AND ALWAYS FINISH YOUR SET! I DON'T CARE IF THE AUDIENCE ISN'T CLAPPING OR MAKING FUN OF YOU OR WHATEVER! DON'T BE A ******** PANSY AND QUIT PART WAY THROUGH! FINISH THE SET! ITS WHAT YOU CAME THERE FOR!

DON'T BE RETARDED! JUST FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED!

Massive thanks, Ivan. Exactly what I wanted to read.

As john denver once said "just do it!"

Addition to number 4. Act like Ben Weasel.

D: flaming lips were in town tonight... but i decided not to go cause paying for tickets is not punx... instead i went to the free Country music festival just down the street "save a horse ride a cowboy" i always say. pirate

besides... i doubt any bubble butt'd fine a** wemmenz with not but daisy dukes and tied flannel shirts with their tits popping out drunk enough to qualify as date rape were at the flaming lips concert...


tho i could be wrong... ill never know will i?

drunk white girls lost in the big city... I think they make gang bang pornos about that...

idk about the "when you're good enough" part, but I 100% agree that any kind of EP you put together should cheaply printed to CD-R's and handed out for free. Don't spend money on professional prints until you actually have a real fanbase.

Sure you COULD do it anyway, and possibly make SOME money at shows if you sell the professional looking album for cheap. Don't be like some of these tools that think their unknown band on some bullshit garage label can sell their albums at $15 a pop. I wouldn't pay $15 for a FAMOUS band's CD unless it was something I really had to have.