What they don't tell you - the life of a wannabe rock star

I’d always wondered why some bands take 2 years to put out an album… what the hell have they been doing the whole time???

Then I joined a band.

I’m going to share a little bit of what bands don’t always tell you.



You see, being in a band is great. I get to do what I love. I get to sit in a room and make music with some of the most incredible people I know. These people have become my best friends and I spend most of my time with them. It’s what I've always wanted to do.

But the reality is that we have very little free time, and this is challenging. The rehearsal room we use can only accommodate us on weekends. So our weekends consist of band practice and/or gigs. We’re in the process of recording an EP, with our sessions being in the week. All of us have full-time jobs, partners, hobbies, things we wanna do. We all have people and family that we don’t get to spend much time with anymore. All of us have lives that we need to somehow fit into our band schedule. Over and above that, we love being in this band. We wanna play ALL the gigs and write ALL the songs and jam ALL the time and it’s really tricky for the 5 of us to manage our time, collectively.

 

 

It’s also emotionally tiring. Five highly opinionated women in each other’s faces all time will take its toll. We’re under pressure in our personal spaces and then our free time is a mad scramble to get band stuff done. We argue, we get upset and we get on each other’s nerves. We invest time and energy and quite a lot of money into this and we’re all so attached to our ideas of what being in a band actually means. Throw all this into a pot and you get a meal that is sometimes a little hard to swallow.

At the end of the day though, it just works. We get into the band room and we start jamming and magic just happens. In that moment, it’s easy to forget about work and life and the people who we don’t get much time to see anymore. At gigs, we get on stage and see our friends in the front row and we have the best time. We have people come up to us afterwards going “great gig” and that actually just makes everything worth it. Not the recognition, but the support. Knowing that we aren’t the only people who love what we do and being reminded that it isn’t always about us.

 

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that it isn’t easy, and we need support. Bands need your support. Emotional, financial and even physical support (those who help us carry our gear, we love you!!).

So next time you consider illegally downloading your favourite band's album or try sneaking into a gig without paying, think about them. Think about how much of their time they give, how much they sacrifice and how difficult it actually is to be in a band. Think about the fact that they invest their energy, time and their money into what they do... because they don’t just do it for themselves, they do it for you too.

 

Oooh-rah.

Larissa


“How did it get so late so soon?”  - Dr Seuss