So, in this video, we're going to talk about what it is
to be a good bandleader and to help us out,
I brought in two of my original bandmates from Elisa Smith & The Tiny Little Lies,
I've got Erin Bonnie and Mike Moyes and they're going to share
with you some things that they want their bandleader to have,
some qualities that they want them to have,
and they're also going to share with you some weaknesses that I
have as a leader as well as some strengths that I have as a leader so take a look.
The first one that comes to mind is organization.
You know like where to be at what time,
what are we doing at this practice,
are we going to learn a new song,
are you going to hash out the form on this other song,
are we catching up a new bass player who's sitting in on the gig.
If we have a gig,
what's the gear set up?
Do they have a back line do I need to bring my own stuff.
The band leader being organized means that I can be organized.
I would also say creatively giving the musicians freedom.
Like Elisa does a really good job of giving us the structure of a song,
when she wrote a new song called Trouble recently,
and to come in and play it,
play the chord progression sing it,
and then what do you think,
how could you contribute and that freedom is something that I really admire and enjoy.
I also really respect that because I feel like I can
contribute in my own way and be a part of the creative process.
I also think what makes her a really strong
leader is that she's so passionate about what she does.
Like every song she writes,
every gig she plays,
she's just in it and she loves it,
and that really helps me feed off that energy and get involved the best way that I can.
I think early on when we first formed the band,
one thing that sort of hit me in the wrong way I guess you could say,
we were this band as a unit,
we were going out there and gig in,
and then she sort of launched a fundraising campaign and asked us to put it
out there for the world but I didn't
feel like I was involved in the campaign enough to really do it,
like I didn't have input.
I wasn't really sure what was going on with it so I could feel myself sort of
retracting from that and not being as engaged as I want it to be in the process.
Example I have this from different bands actually.
It's luckily not something that I've experienced here when I've been
in this band so long but occasionally,
you go to gigs and you're not sure how much you're going to get paid,
or if you're actually going to get paid.
Sometimes you're there and you're like,
"Oh I need to go home now and the band leader left and I still don't have my money,
or I don't know how much I was," those kind of shenanigans never really play well.
When we first started playing,
we had a pretty good set list, mostly originals.
And the key is would modulate from time to time,
and the band wasn't always on the same page,
so we'd see something in D sharp minor on the setlist,
get ready to go, and then the song would start and we'd actually be in
D minor so being professionals,
we would adjust a half step down and all would be good,
but it definitely made for some jarring beginning moments.
On stage.
From time to time on stage. It's the best practice I would say to really.
It's the best ear training I've ever had.
Oh, definitely.
But over time, I think I got a lot better,
and we grew as a group and got more in cahoots.
I would also say Elisa has grown and sort of having
more structured practices so instead of just like running
through the songs every time we have specific goals that we're going to work on.
Like the groove isn't quite working in this song,
let's figure out something to change it or really like hone in
on this transition from the bridge into the chorus,
or where is this solo section not working?
How can we make it better?
So we have goals and we can work to achieve specific things.
The vision of the band for me,
I'd really like it to be my full time gig.
This is my job, this is my career,
I don't need supplemental income,
and I know it's going to take a lot of work to get us there so
what I need from my band leader is direction.
Give me some jobs,
give me some tasks,
how can I help contribute to this so that we can be a success.
I think that having that distributed model of the business responsibilities is important,
because it's a lot for the band leader to be saddled with booking gigs,
and paying musicians, and booking studio time,
and at the same time writing new tunes and having that creative process that needs to
happen so I think for this band to continue on that trajectory that it's on,
there needs to be some distribution of
business responsibilities or some centralized management.
Absolutely.
So notice that Mike and Erin talked a lot about the business side of things, right?
A band leader being organized,
having a strong sense of
scheduling and kind of the nuts and bolts nitty gritty type things.
And they also talked about the creative aspects, writing,
allowing your bandmates to have creative freedom and expression.
And that's what we're going to talk about in this segment,
is how to, as a band leader,
find that balance between your business self and your creative self.
First, I'd like to talk about you as a leader.
We need to take some time to figure out your strengths as
a leader and your weaknesses, right?
Everybody has weaknesses. I have weaknesses,
you heard Mike and Erin share with some of my weaknesses are.
So one way that we can do that is to take some time and reflect.
Maybe your strength is organization.
Maybe you're really organized,
maybe you're good at communicating to your bandmates what you need,
and when you need, when gigs are, when rehearsals are.
Maybe that's a weakness,
maybe you're not so great at communicating to
your bandmates and telling them when practices are,
and telling them when gigs are so take a couple of minutes
and I'd like for you to think about things that you're really really good at.
Strengths. Okay, so now that you've thought about your strengths,
we're going to think about the not so fun parts.
We're going to think about the things that we might need to improve,
maybe organization, maybe communication, things like that.
So take a couple of minutes,
and now just reflect on
maybe some aspects of your leadership that you feel like need to improve.
So there's something really powerful about identifying your weaknesses.
Strengths are great, right?
That means that you're doing that right.
You don't really have to worry about that,
but weakness is having a strong sense of of what
your weaknesses are will give you a better understanding of what you need to improve,
and how you can be a more effective band leader.
It also will open up opportunities for you.
Right? Because it allows you to realize that you need to ask for help.
So if booking gigs is not a strength for you,
that's kind of a problem, right?
Because that's how you're going to get your name out there,
that's how you're going to build a fan base.
So maybe one of your bandmates is really good at communicating with venue bookers,
and booking agents so maybe you need to outsource that to a band mate.
Looking for your weaknesses will help you,
as I mentioned, identify things that you need to ask for help.
You heard Erin mention in the interview that,
when I launched that first crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter,
which was a disaster,
I didn't ask for help, I just kind of did it on my
own and I think that one of the reasons why
that first crowdfunding campaign that we did was so wildly unsuccessful,
was because I didn't have my band backing me up.
I didn't delegate anything,
I didn't ask for help.
I just kind of went in there guns a blazing thing that I was
going to be able to do this thing perfectly the first time,
and that was just not true.
I think that when you identify
your weaknesses you find opportunities to bring in bandmates,
to bring in super fans, friends, family,
people that have an affinity for you that like
what you're doing that want to support you,
and so that way, you're not left doing it on yourself because it's a lot to manage.
You have a lot going on,
you're trying to book gigs, you're trying to write songs,
you're trying to schedule practices,
you're trying to book studio time,
whatever it is that you're trying to do,
it's a lot for one person to manage.
And so by identifying your opportunities,
you can sort of start to spread out those responsibilities that you don't lose your mind.
That takes me to my next point.
I also write for the Berkeley online blog called Take Note and I wrote an article
for them called Overcoming the Internal Struggle of Artist versus Manager,
and I think sometimes when someone sees that title
they might think of two separate people, right?
A manager and an artist,
they're at odds with each other and they have to figure out how to resolve
this particular conflict but that's not exactly what the article is about.
It's more about this idea of when you are
a new artist and you are working on your own kind of a DIY musician, right?
You don't have a manager,
don't have a publicist,
you don't have a booking agent,
and you're having to do all of those tasks on
your own while at the same time taking time to create music,
and write, and arrange,
and do all the things that you really love to do.
I recommend that you read this article.
I share in it some strategies to help you kind of balance those two
parts of yourself so that you can continue to be an effective business person,
but also continue to be an artist and create the things that you love to create.
We, as bandleaders, have a ton of
responsibility as I've mentioned throughout this video and it can feel really daunting.
I know for me, there are good days and there are bad days.
Some days I feel like I am on top of the world,
and other days I feel like I just can't do anything right.
And so I think when you get in those moments,
you can always turn to your bandmates.
They're your friends, and they're your mates,
that's why they call them mates, right?
They're in this together, they want to help you,
they want to be a part of what you're building.
And so if you're needing help developing your leadership skills,
learning more about yourself,
the first place you should go is to your bandmates.
Ask them for feedback.
Ask them how you can improve.
Ask them what you can do better,
and also ask them what you're doing well so you have
a good sense of your strengths and your weaknesses.
And remember, being aware of your weaknesses is not a bad thing.
It's actually really good.
It's actually better than being aware of your strengths, right?
Because being aware of your weaknesses is going to
help you to realize the opportunities that you have.