6 Things That Make Band Life Hard

by: Erwin Wizzy Estrella

Having a band is like having kids and really genuinely caring for them. You got to feed them, tuck them to sleep, give them advice on life etc. Maintaining a band is almost like that. In other words, its hard. Period. If you are the guy who is the one that makes your band what it is and cling on your every move, you have a bit of a problem. Well, a lot actually.

1.       Money: Money is the root of all evil. But on the other hand you can’t live without money. This unfortunately is a necessity in starting and keeping a band together. You can’t rent a studio without it. You can’t record your swarm of fantastic songs without money. You can’t afford those nifty gadgets of yours without it. You can’t order food while on a gig so that you can do the production you are playing with a favor. You can’t get wasted and drunk and have that “drunken master” thingee working without it. Heck, you can’t go places without it! So, money is indeed one of the important factors in living the rockstar life.

2.       Creativity: Fueling the machine with a lot of creativity is hard also. You can’t write and make the same old song over and over again. Even though you have this really rad song in mind but your band mates can’t generate useful pinches of ideas to make it more rad, then you have a bit of a problem.  Making music with a band requires teamwork! Lacing it with harmonious instruments and kick ass lyrics are one of the things that the people are looking for. If you or one of your band mates can’t generate such things then maybe you should think it over.

3.       Passion: Playing music requires a sincere amount of passion. Passion to play that tune over and over again until you make it perfect. Some people tend to have lots of passion in playing music at the first years of being in the band. It’s just like marriage. The first years are like the honeymoon period. It is the time where you guys are like “we should play everyday to get better!”  It is the time where creativity is also abundant. You guys also have sheer amount of time and money to fuel your band. But as the days and years pass by, that flame sometimes burns out. It’s a fact. There will be a time that you will get sick of playing that soundcheck over and over again. Getting sick of having to pitch in money to rent studio for practice. Getting sick of travelling to get to that venue that you are scheduled to play

4.       Family Pressure: Believe me that some families and parents are not OK with their sons and daughters are in a band. Some are going to far like banning them to learn an instrument. Some are associating bands into that infamous line “Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll”. I believe that died like in the 90’s. But because of that annotation, parents are worried that their seeds will succumb to the same thing that previous musicians indulged. Another thing is that they are worried that band life will affect their sons or daughters’ studies or work. Getting home late from a gig is another thing. We are sometimes getting late because we are 1. In the later part of the band line up. Or 2. To drunk to get home. Another thing is being an indie artist; we don’t get any money for playing our original songs. If we tell that to our parents and family they might think of it as a waste of time… arggg.. parents…

5.       Band Member Conflict:. We all have our opinions. Some are right, others are just plain stupid. In a band you have tensions and conflict most of the times.  Sometimes its because of the difference in the music that you want to play. Maybe it’s a matter of professionalism. Being late in practice and gigs or not paying for your share in studio rent. Or maybe just you liking one of your band mates’ girlfriend or boyfriend.  Love stirs things sometimes.

6.       Time: This is one of the difficult things to handle. Band mates have different schedules and so do you. Time management and handling their free time is hard work. You need to figure out the most available time for all of you to get together and make music. Balancing time is a skill.