13 Thoughts You've Had If You've Ever Started A Band
Better than Nirvana? You and your mates think so.
Who hasn't, at some point, dreamed of starting a band? For most guys, and a lot of girls too, music is a huge thing from an early age, and once it gets its hooks into you, it's tough to pull away. It seems like a magical industry, where anyone can go from being a nobody to being a superstar, so long as they have a little bit of talent, and they're willing to put in the hard work - whatever it takes - to be the best.
The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent, and the Voice, have all provided platforms for success, springboards to stardom and all that, but really, only for a scant few. Leona Lewis, Olly Murs, and One Direction have all done pretty well for themselves, and two of those didn't even win the X Factor. Most of the rest fade from the musical map without a trace in no time. X Factor season two winner Shane Ward has just joined the cast of Corrie. Good to see his musical career is still going well.
But there's something about being in a band that X Factor, and all these other TV shows just can't replicate. It's the feeling of being part of a group, writing your own music, and just becoming the most adored people on the planet. Selling out Wembley isn't the same if you're just singing to a backing track.
Here are 13 thoughts you've had if you tried to do it the old-fashioned way.
13. Where To Practice, Where To Practice...
It's a massive decision - this will be the place you start your band, the place you'll look back at in your best-selling memoirs when you're old and grey, and think "Yes! Those were the days. Music was simpler in those times."
You'll always remember your first haunts. That place where you lug your instrument to every week to sit and do nothing.
Even though your early days are usually pretty awful in terms of musical output, it's a magical time - starting out into the great unknown, fame and fortune are just around the corner. So making that decision of where to set up shop... well, it's one that shouldn't be taken lightly.
...But it's usually the drummer's house, for obvious reasons.