STARTING A BAND: The “It Just Happened” Plan

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In the beginning of The Dirty Marmaduke Flute Squad I didn’t know what the hell I wanted to do. I was just recording songs, things kind of happened. There are many ways to start a band, and eventually I will write more about some different approaches, but here is one awesome scenario:

The Lone-Songwriter-Without-A-Plan Plan

Nikc & Steve playing as ‘Wild Bonerz’ in Baltimore circa 2009

Much like actively pursuing this approach in real life, this is less of plan than a laundry list of observations of things that I either did or wish I did correctly:

  • Give Your Music Away

The way my band started was simple.

  1. I crudely recorded a 6-song CD-R called “Songs About Rabbits”
  2. I gave this CD-R to just about everyone I met

I wasn’t even playing out at all, in fact I was terrified of performing. Before too long, some new friends of mine told me I had to start playing out and that they would help me. So we practiced and practiced. Then an amazing thing happened. New people started showing up to the rehearsals and the band became “a thing.” The lesson here is that giving my songs away not only gained me fans early on, but actually got my band started.

  • Don’t Play Live Until You Have Merch

One of the major things I’ll be pointing out here again and again is this:

If You Don’t Have Merch, You Don’t Exist.

Time and time again I see tons of bands playing out for the fun of it. They eventually fall apart and no one can remember their name. It’s like they never happened.
Before you start playing out, have something to offer your fans. It could be a full album or a sticker. No matter how awesome you are if you have nothing to physically give your fans then they will forget about you almost instantly.

  •  Fail Cheap

One of my favorite bloggers Charlie Hoehn wrote about the virtue of “failing cheap.” Simply put, it means that you don’t have to throw a whole lot of money into starting a new venture.
Shitfever Album Cover
When I recorded my first full-length album, I put the (burned) CD-R in a brown paper bag and colored the name on with crayons. Of course, this didn’t look as good as a nicely packaged and shrink-wrapped CD but people always noted how unique the packaging was. Plus, it was easy for people to open and listen to. In a sea of free indie music, the outlier always gets the listen. Just make sure it’s easy to open.

  • Sure having merch is great but Don’t Over-Do It

Don’t make six albums and give them out to everyone at the same time. This is not generous. In fact it’s anti-generousity and I’ve done it a bunch.

Like almost everything you will do in promoting your band, you should think of this transaction from the listener’s perspective. Getting something free to listen to is nice. It gives people a warm fuzzy feeling. However, getting 10 free things to listen to is a FREAKING JOB that no one wants to do.

Instead of listening to one or two of your ten FREE albums the whole package will end up in the back of someone’s car. Leave your other material behind. Figure out one item that is worth promoting, and promote the hell out of it.

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If you like this article check this one out:

What The Hell Is This? – An overview of who The Dirty Marmaduke Flute Squad is and why we started this blog.

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