BareFootMusicNews EXTRA! New Reality BFMN TV Series to begin

My buddy Catfish and I were sitting at a dive bar listening to a really good, young band crank out the hits and were wondering why they were playing there. Why not a bigger house with imported beer and maybe some girls in the crowd that wouldn’t scare your mom? They were really good! We bought them beers and talked to them. Turns out they just didn’t have a clue how to go about it. They were lucky to get this gig. They did no promotion, they had no demo, no website, no myspace, no flyers — but they loved to play and practiced all the time. They had been playing together for years and on this gig they were the opening act. They were not getting paid and the beers we bought were the only drinks I saw them with.

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They wandered off to load the car while we finished our beers and talked about how many bands we had been in that went nowhere. Two old guitar guys sittin at the bar, nursing beers and wishing that when we were their age we had the internet and DVDs and mp3s and EPKs and social networking and copy centers and cellphones and all the cool tools these punks have at their disposal. In more than two years of playing together, none of them had figured out how to use any of them. They had a great garage band and they had no idea how to get from the garage to the main stage and regular paying gigs. They were good enough, they had equipment and chops, they simply never found anyone that could show them how to do it.

We decided right then and there to do just that. A few more beers and we had a plan. We decided the best way to show them is to show them. We are starting a band; not using our names, just the band name. We are auditioning players, picking songs and going to get a good garage band going and then take it on the road. We decided on blues and classic rock covers and we have a bunch of new songs that no one has heard yet.

Today was our first get-together. A girl I used to sing with 30 years ago found me on Facebook the same week, and I asked her to join. We lined up a drummer and one of our guitar buddies said he wanted to help on the project and would play bass. The plan was to get together at my house by the lake and everyone could meet, have a few beers and some lasagna, then jam and see what happened. Laura showed up shortly before 10 and Frank a little after that. We were already laughing and singing and hitting it off when Frank’s phone rang.

It was the drummer. Turns out he’d just sold his truck and bought a Mercedes and, wouldn’t you know it, his drums would not fit in it. Brilliant. So he’s out and the bass player never even called. I’m thinking, “Oh great, this is gonna look good on the blog.” Frank made the point that this is real life. This is how it works.

Someone isn’t going to show up, someone is going to quit, someone’s girlfriend will not let him play past 10 o’clock, someone will have a hissy fit and talk behind the singer’s back; it is going to happen. So we did the best we could. We chose a band name without a fight, we picked a few songs and started working on them. An interesting thing about the players is that we don’t really play together and we play different kinds of music and listen to different things. We simply all enjoy music and are setting aside our genres, our skill set, and are starting out fresh. Like teenagers, we are excited and giddy with the thought of being on a big stage all together rocking.

The plan is simple and this is what we are going to do. We have a band name and we’ll be setting up a website, myspace page, etc., and start auditioning drummers and bass players. We are going to learn 15-20 songs, blues songs and classic rock covers along with our originals. The setlist will let us mix and match about 4-5 hours of 45-minute sets. A 3-night gig and we won’t have to play the same song twice unless we want to. We’ll create a 4-song demo CD and a DVD with two music videos. We’ll write press releases and create a network of local bands to work with, open a few shows for free and play a party or two for cheap. The goal is to play at a blues festival on a big stage for money.

Join us, we’re going to have fun. I’ll keep you posted as to our progress and share clips as we get our songs down. Maybe you guys can help us pick a drummer or something.

Here is a short video from our first get together.  Really the main thing we accomplished is we picked a name. I think it’s pretty good. I’ll reveal it at the end of the video. Let me know what you think.

StayTuned.

There’s more.