Hello friends! I've hatched a new (hopefully!) money-making scheme, and I've decided I'm going to chronicle my journey on here so I can share examples of the obstacles and decisions I have to make, hopefully providing some inspiration for others getting businesses off the ground. I also hope that documenting it all will help me keep myself accountable for the project's progress!
The background
Just before lockdown, a friend invited me along to a jam session, as he knew the drummer in my band Almeida had moved up North and I was twiddling my thumbs a bit musically.
I went along, and had a nice time - it was good to get in a room with musicians and jam again, even if the covers we had played were a bit sporadic. The lads had mild aspirations of doing some gigs at some point, but it was all very casual. I was up for having another jam, and then the pandemic hit.
Skip forward eighteen months - I've become a lot more busy with other musical ventures, having joined Guildford-based melodic hardcore punks Darko on lead vocals. Writing and gigging with these guys has certainly scratched the itch I had, but where did this leave the covers band I'd joined prior to the world shutting down? Was it worth spending much-needed time on? Or should I just pack it in, and spend more time fussing over the dog my partner and I had rescued during lockdown instead?
Make or break?
As the plans started to pop up on WhatsApp to return to the practice room, I toyed with the idea of letting the guys know I wasn't up for it anymore. They're all very good musicians, but as I mentioned earlier, the cover choices were all over the place, and I was no longer sure that I'd be getting much out of it. While fun for the people playing the songs, nobody's hiring a band to play obscure B-sides from lesser-known rock records.
So, I went along to the practice and suggested that if we're gonna do a covers band, let's do it properly, take our branding and song choices seriously, and actually make some money playing rock clubnights and functions/parties. I was nervous about turning up to my second session and proposing a massive change of direction. Thankfully, all the band members were absolutely fine with me coming in and bringing a bit of order to the chaos. Everyone was excited that with a bit of organisation, we could actually make something out of the project, rather than just turning up and jamming songs for a laugh.
Deciding on a USP
We soon settled on basing our setlist on the early 00's Alternative Rock scene - the sort of heavy metal and pop-punk bangers you'd read about in 'Kerrang!' magazine. With this in mind, we've settled on 'KERRBANG!' as a band name for now.
There are loads of covers bands knocking about, but none in the Sussex area we were aware of that are tapping up this niche. We agreed to scrap the obscure songs for the big hit songs that people actually knew... and after three practices they're already sounding AWESOME!
I'm looking forward to sharing the next stage of getting this business off the ground with you all. Any song requests or advice are very, very much welcome!
