Why We Do What We Do

So, you want to be in a band? Great! Few activities are as fun and fulfilling. But now, here's a tricky question, and one that I think far too few people ask themselves: WHY?

You don't have to spend too much time perusing music forums to realize that an awful lot of people in bands find themselves in situations that are not optimal, and in many if not most cases the problems can be traced to a fundamental disconnect: the people in the band want different things out of it. In most happy, successful bands, the members know what they want and their goals are the same, or at least consistent or complementary.

You will never know whether you are working towards the same things unless you know what you yourself are after, so again, ask yourself why you want to be in a band.

There are many many reasons why people join or start bands, but in my experience most fall into a handful of categories, including:

1) Artistic creativity. A person with artistic inspiration bubbling up like a spring inside him or her may fix upon music as an outlet, and depending on the style of music, that may require putting a band together. This person's goal is to Make Art, and in many cases, present that Art to the public. "Art" is an imprecise term that can mean a lot of different things, so when used in this context, let's call it "creative art".

2) Artistic expression. This can be considered a separate category of art---let's call this kind "interpretive art", less about creating something from nothing than the artistic interpretation of something someone else has written. It includes arrangement and recording, but the biggie in band terms is usually performance. Some people just love to get up on stage in front of a crowd and put on a show. Playing in a band is one of the easiest ways to achieve that. This is related to, but not exactly the same thing as . . .

3) Ego/Narcissism. For some people, the real motivation is simply an overpowering "Look at me!" impulse. This category includes people who require being a member of a band to complete some part of their view of themselves.

4) Money. Everybody likes to have money. If you can play, there was a time when you could make pretty good money working less hard than "real jobs" tended to require. That's not so much true anymore, but if one plays one's cards right there is still money to be made playing music, and if it's not as easy to make an actual living nowadays, it can certainly provide a nice supplemental income.

5) Libido. Nobody likes to come out and say it, but the prospect of attracting potential sex partners encourages a number of people to take the stage. Again, related to ego/narcissism, but not (necessarily) the same thing.

Of course, any or all of these factors may be present in any given person, but (in my experience, anyway) most people are motivated predominantly by one or two of them.

So, if you're looking to form or join a band, it's important to be on the same page with your potential bandmates as far as why you and they are doing what you're doing. Consider what it will be like being in bands with these people. If you are a creative artist with a strong artistic vision and want to form a band to play your music for the world, then you probably don't want another person like that in the band. You may do just fine, however, with interpretive artists, as long as they get room to do what they do---how much they require varies from person to person. People concerned with the Show aspect of the band will probably want to do more rehearsal and tighten things up, and will want to get on stage in public, whereas some player are perfectly happy just playing together in the basement and don't really care if or when the band plays out. That's not going to work with many of the other motivations.

I should note that although it may sound perjorative, the "ego" and "libido" driven band members are not necessarily a bad thing. Running an effective, not to mention successful, band requires a lot of work, and those motivations may drive people to do work for the benefit of the band that might not get done, or not get done well, otherwise. Taken to the extreme any of the above motivations can be destructive. Someone who is pure ego or pure libido may be difficult to take in a band situation, but so is someone who is 100% pure "art". Fortunately, as I said, few people are motivated 100% by one thing. If those factors are part of what's motivating someone (or even---be honest---motivating you), that's not necessarily always bad because that energy can often be channelled into productive work for the band.

So if you're joining or forming a band, first, figure out what you are looking to get out of it, then see what the other members or potential members are looking for, and then think about whether the project will allow everyone to fulfill his or her goals. I see so many forum posts like, "I joined this band X months ago but [these guys never want to play out] [the leader is always telling me how to play my parts] [we're not making any money] [they won't play my songs] [they won't play what I tell them to] [they want to rehearse all the time] [they never want to rehearse] [etc. ad infinitum/nauseum]." Most of the time, if everybody's goals were clear from the beginning, such issues could have been avoided.

Of course, musicians being great bullshit artists, there are plenty of people who will tell you about their grand plans and goals, but if that is indeed blowing smoke, it should become apparent pretty quickly when actions do not correspond with announced intentions. But if you never define what you're trying to achieve, it can be tough to spot when you're going in the wrong direction, or at least not making progress.

One final note: it's important to keep in mind the distinction between goals and motivations. Goals are a function of motivation. Unfortunately, announced goals are often the first and maybe only superficial indicator of a person's true motivation, and they are easy to misrepresent...or, similarly, many people assert goals without the necessary drive to achieve them. Most people, all other things being equal, would like to be successful, in terms of at least being rich and in some cases being famous. So everybody can claim without completely lying that they plan to be successful, "make it" (within whatever parameters they consider making it), etc. But if their motivation is just low-level narcissism that is satisfied by them being able to say they are "in a band" (and that covers LOTS and LOTS of people out there), obviously they're never going to put in the work and sacrifice that is required for any level of real success, even on a local level. It may be impossible to avoid occasionally getting embroiled with big-talking flakes, but if you look for their motivations and keep a keen nose to the wind to detect when action deviates from talk, you can at least minimize the time wasted in such situations.

One final final note, after re-reading that paragraph: great ambition is not a prerequisite for being happy in a band. In most cases ambition seems to vastly outstrip industry and talent, but I don't want to suggest that there's anything wrong with just playing occasionally with a few guys in the garage, if that's what you want to do. The shoe fits on the other foot too: it's annoying when you join a band with grand aspirations that doesn't follow through on anything, but it can be equally annoying to put together a band for the purpose of drinking a few beers and jamming on Saturday afternoons, and then having somebody complaining about a lack of gigs and agitating to polish things up for a show. In each case, the problem is someone whose motivation is at odds with yours.