Running a band is like being an octopus.
You need to have a lot of arms and you have to be able to juggle ten things at the same time….Not the octopuses actually do that. They just lounge around in sapphire blue waters, hunt for food -and shag... though octopuses apparently have an entirely different way of doing this than us humans.
According to http://tinyurl.com/octopusex :"The Argonaut octopus has a lot of sex, but it never directly experience sex. This is because it reproduces via tele-sex. The male octopus produces sperm in its penis. The penis is then detached (yes, detached) from the body and swims (yes, swims) by itself to a suitable female".
That sounds very much like being a bandleader (not..), apart from that the octopus has the big advantage of automatically delegating assignments…..
And there are a lot of assignments to be dealt with when you run a band:
You obviously have to be able to play reasonably well (not always important though…), write songs, record, produce, mix and master, and fundraising definitely wont hurt either -But setting up your own band in the internet age also consists of learning how to use a million different apps and if you, like me, have a constant fear (or should we say a “cloud”) of failure lurking in the back of your mind when it comes to learning new computer skills, it can be daunting. However. In the last three months I have achieved VERY BASIC knowledge of: Photo editing apps, video editing, set-up-and-edit-your-own-website-apps, direct mail marketing apps, reading statistics (who watches your video…and what sites are they referred from), marketing plotting, radio plugging, pr etc
Luckily I have had help from some really pro experts in some of these tasks: good friends, chat line staff, and of course google and YouTube searches.
(I imagine this is a very different world to the classic picture of the work shy musician, traveling the world, hanging around drinking, doing drugs and picking up girls, with an hours work a night only extended with the occasional, eccentric outbursts of manic, hangover-driven creation....)
But it IS a great –though frightening -challenge to overcome these obstacles, though as much as it’s a challenge it's very time consuming and often I wish I had stuck to producing and writing for other artists and running a studio instead.
But then, sometimes a little thought creeps into my mind: Do we ALL really have to be experts/amateurs in everything ?
I personally think life should be about using each others talents, complementing each others strengths and weaknesses, ying-yang, “you scratch mine I scratch yours” etc and it’s a shame that creatively, talented (…?) people have to spend 80% of their time in front of a computer learning about online marketing and checking Youtube hit statistics, when there are amazingly adapt business. Hasn’t anybody come up with the idea of making a music business/musician dating site ? -Or am I just not aware of one ?
Anyway. The reward for all this work is obviously when people acknowledge and appreciate your music by listening to the songs, watching the videos, commenting and liking/disliking, gigging etc
And it's a amazing to walk up on stage and see a bunch of enthusiastic listeners out there up for having a good time.
If you want to be one of them then drop in at our gig tonight at The Underbelly on Hocton Square in London. We're onstage at 10:30.
Lots of love, Andreas
You need to have a lot of arms and you have to be able to juggle ten things at the same time….Not the octopuses actually do that. They just lounge around in sapphire blue waters, hunt for food -and shag... though octopuses apparently have an entirely different way of doing this than us humans.
According to http://tinyurl.com/octopusex :"The Argonaut octopus has a lot of sex, but it never directly experience sex. This is because it reproduces via tele-sex. The male octopus produces sperm in its penis. The penis is then detached (yes, detached) from the body and swims (yes, swims) by itself to a suitable female".
That sounds very much like being a bandleader (not..), apart from that the octopus has the big advantage of automatically delegating assignments…..
And there are a lot of assignments to be dealt with when you run a band:
You obviously have to be able to play reasonably well (not always important though…), write songs, record, produce, mix and master, and fundraising definitely wont hurt either -But setting up your own band in the internet age also consists of learning how to use a million different apps and if you, like me, have a constant fear (or should we say a “cloud”) of failure lurking in the back of your mind when it comes to learning new computer skills, it can be daunting. However. In the last three months I have achieved VERY BASIC knowledge of: Photo editing apps, video editing, set-up-and-edit-your-own-website-apps, direct mail marketing apps, reading statistics (who watches your video…and what sites are they referred from), marketing plotting, radio plugging, pr etc
Luckily I have had help from some really pro experts in some of these tasks: good friends, chat line staff, and of course google and YouTube searches.
(I imagine this is a very different world to the classic picture of the work shy musician, traveling the world, hanging around drinking, doing drugs and picking up girls, with an hours work a night only extended with the occasional, eccentric outbursts of manic, hangover-driven creation....)
But it IS a great –though frightening -challenge to overcome these obstacles, though as much as it’s a challenge it's very time consuming and often I wish I had stuck to producing and writing for other artists and running a studio instead.
But then, sometimes a little thought creeps into my mind: Do we ALL really have to be experts/amateurs in everything ?
I personally think life should be about using each others talents, complementing each others strengths and weaknesses, ying-yang, “you scratch mine I scratch yours” etc and it’s a shame that creatively, talented (…?) people have to spend 80% of their time in front of a computer learning about online marketing and checking Youtube hit statistics, when there are amazingly adapt business. Hasn’t anybody come up with the idea of making a music business/musician dating site ? -Or am I just not aware of one ?
Anyway. The reward for all this work is obviously when people acknowledge and appreciate your music by listening to the songs, watching the videos, commenting and liking/disliking, gigging etc
And it's a amazing to walk up on stage and see a bunch of enthusiastic listeners out there up for having a good time.
If you want to be one of them then drop in at our gig tonight at The Underbelly on Hocton Square in London. We're onstage at 10:30.
Lots of love, Andreas
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