Everyone should be in a band at least once, and now is the time for you to realise your vision inventing The New Sound. Go on, you might enjoy it.
Everyone’s thought about it, right? It’s hard to be a music fan without at least occasionally toying with the idea of being up there. Y'know, actually in a band. It might be because you’ve seen someone so good that you’re inspired, it might be because you’ve seen someone suck so bad that you feel you could absolutely do better, or it might just be a case of 'why not?'
Do it. Give it a go, at least. Trade in that air guitar for a real one, and get up there and fuck shit up. And if that’s not enough to convince you, here are a few more reasons to put your mouth where your mouth is.
Everything Is On Fire
The world’s not doing amazingly at the moment, and it’s hard not to be at least a little bit enormously livid about three quarters of the time. The (very slender) silver lining on that is that maybe you can channel that rage into something badass. Punk didn’t just come about because it’s excellent, it came about because a generation was angry about the world they’d been left by the previous generation. Does that ring a bell? Volatile times always lead to great art – be part of that.
You Don't Even Need To Talk To Anyone Or Go Outside
Before the internet, finding people to start a band with involved striking up conversations with them at gigs, scouring notice boards in music shops and going through the small ads in the back of music magazines. Now you can find collaborators online, or just do it all yourself – maintaining the 'never having to talk to anyone' thing might be hard once you become massively successful, but you can cross that bridge when you wealthily come to it.
You Don't Need Money
If you vaguely know what you’re doing music-wise, or have the nous to reverse-engineer something based on what you love, there is loads of free software out there that can be sure to make your ideas a reality. Tools like GarageBand, Audacity and Traverso are completely free, and there are massive sample banks and effects libraries available to anyone that mean you can even get away with not owning instruments. If you have a decent phone and / or a decent computer and if you're willing to put the time in, you’d be amazed at what you can create.
If Not Now, When?
Much like getting away with soiling yourself in public, starting a band is a lot easier when young. Responsibilities and hard living are not easy bedfellows, and it’s a lot harder to justify living in a van for three months when you’re 46 with three kids and a mortgage. It’s probably not too much of an exaggeration to say that with every day that passes, the rock star dream becomes less attainable: get a bloody move on, eh?
Hobbies Are Good
Look, realistically this isn't going to make you rich. Being in a band is, for most people, a hobby – an outlet for their passion and creativity, something to pour themselves into and something to look forward to when struggling to get through uninspiring periods at work. That’s not a bad thing though - there are loads of benefits to hobbies, from the social connections they lead to to the beneficial structure they necessitate (Psychology Today has a nice piece on the multiple benefits of hobbies). Plus being in a band is one of the few hobbies that also makes you look sexy as all hell.
You Might Become A Better Fan
“I have a lot more respect for great bands since being in a shit one,” says James, a teacher who spent his early twenties in an unnamed band. “I know how hard it is going onstage in front of a bunch of people who couldn’t care less, so I’ve got all the time in the world for the guys who stick with it and end up becoming amazing. I also think I got a better appreciation for great songwriting after struggling with bad rhymes, worse metaphors and stolen riffs.”
You'll Have Something Great To Reminisce About
The music industry contains some of the weirdest people in the world, launching any creative endeavour is an inherently ridiculous thing, and egos can produce deeply strange behaviour in even the most sensible of band members. Whether they involve success or failure, standing ovations or dying on stage, starting a band guarantees some ridiculously interesting experiences, and even if you go absolutely nowhere, you’ll end up with some awesome stories.
You Might Turn Out To Be Really Fucking Good, Who Knows?
Someone’s got to be the next Dave Grohl, right? It might as well be you…
Words: Mike Rampton
