Book Excerpts

Video clips for unsigned bands are difficult projects. A complete lack of money is of course the major stumbling block, so when the offer came along from a senior film… Read More »Video Shoots & Trespassing

Thanks to an unlikely chain of events involving a Kiwi, a drug dealer, a reservoir, Paris, a wedding, a deportation, a grass, and a serve of spectacular naivety, I ended… Read More »That Time I Joined Jesus’s Band

Sometimes a gig is simply cursed, and absolutely nothing you can do will make it better, or indeed remove the searing burn of it from your memory for the rest… Read More »Horrible Gigs (#2 in a never-ending series)

One lesson you will learn repeatedly early on in your career is that there are always better bands than you, and it’s no fun when you have to follow them… Read More »Horrible Gigs (#1 in a never-ending series)

An intrinsic part of rock’n’roll is the humble set list – that is, the list of songs that each band member has onstage, so that they all know which songs… Read More »The Set List

Selling your band’s merchandise is vitally important. And an average gig can soon be made to feel like a great one if you manage to sell a whole bunch of… Read More »Selling Your Band Merchandise

One of my bands desperately needed a new bass player – we’d fired one guy, Mark, essentially for being a miserable bastard that couldn’t take a joke, and for refusing… Read More »The Highs and Lows of Bass Players

Social media for bands meant one thing and one thing only at first – MYSPACE. It was new, fun and practically useful, despite one glaring drawback (i.e. the way you… Read More »The Great Facebook Rock’n’Roll Swindle

Finding a new member is a real minefield. If you’re lucky, you already know someone you can ask, perhaps from another band. Poaching feels pretty shitty, but on the Swiss… Read More »Finding a New Band Member

Photoshoots are fun. Sort of. Dressing up in your finest, going out to a good location and then posing like a bit of twat is not exactly hard work, although… Read More »The Band Photoshoot

Most of us have started off rehearsing in the same sort of space – a parent’s lounge room or garage being the beginners eternal go-to favourite. This is not a… Read More »Your First Rehearsal Room

There’s a very good chance your first band will be you and some close friends. There are few more exciting things to do as a teenager than forming a band… Read More »Forming a Band