Being up stage: to talk about live shows

[Nomurah!]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="HotPink"]Alright. So, to discuss live shows. And for us that actually are in bands, and don't sit around and ramble about what genres are what with internet friends all day, we must work on it...

My band, and my best friends in the music business (Strike the Choir) have been discussing how to improve our live shows. I mean, I like... Crowd involvement.. unfortunately, all the kids we get are mostly scene kids that care too much about not looking bad to the girls that they talk to in between every song. So. Yeah. The crowd doesn't really try and make us feel good while we're on stage.

My favorite shows are the homey, inside ones, at small places. And, I also love going to Kaiden and Asteios concerts. Because, metalcore and deathcore are just fun to go see, because you know what the time sigs are going to be like, so it's easy to dance along (at Kaiden's last show near here, I got on stage and hardcore danced in front of a crowd of a hundred or so after their bassist asked the crowd to try and and bob their heads even a little bit)

Open D Chord Palm Mutes- Good thing or bad thing on stage?

My most recent show was Trans- Siberian Orchestra.. It was great, thanks to Claire's recommendations. :] Kind of long though, some parts were BORING as crap, but most of it was amazing. Afterall, it is christmas music, aha. [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[Claire]

[FONT="Arial"]Yay, TSO. I won't say they put on the best live show in the whole world, but I've seen them three years in a row and I was basically floored every time.

So, I've been to six concerts my whole life put on by ten bands (including six opening acts): Louis XIV (which I didn't like) opening for The Killers (bleh); Trans-Siberian Orchestra; The Dear and Departed and Sick of It All opening for AFI (best night of my LIFE); Trans-Siberian Orchestra; Sherwood, The Rocket Summer, and Armor For Sleep (who I really didn't pay any attention to) opening for The Academy Is; and most recently, Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

The only reason I've seen TSO so many times is that they start their tour here every year and my dad loves them. Haha.

I've yet to go to a local show, mostly because there are a lot of ska bands around here and I don't really like ska that much. I also don't like spending money on something I'm not sure if I'll even like, so I'm not going to drop even five bucks to go see some bands I haven't even heard of.

I haven't played a real show live yet, but I'm working on it. One time my band's vocalist and I randomly got permission to play on Sam Ash's stage setup, which they've since taken down, which was awesome.

If I were in a screamo-whatever-core band, I would do Open-Drop-D chords just so I could give high fives to everyone during the breakdown.[/FONT]

[Justin]

I'll say this for metalcore: One can make an incredible stage show out of it. I don't know what you play, but when I was in my metalcore days, I was a vocalist. That's just damn fun.

I recommend punching stupid scene kids in the face. If you piss them off, they'll move. Also, try just full-on shoving them back. Incite the pit yourself. It's not hard, I promise. If people dig you, they'll buy anything you say from stage. Start downing the fashionxcore stuff. People will bite it, and the moshing will begin.

Hardcore dancing, you say? Get all your dancing friends together, and bum-rush the pit. Push the scene kids out of the way and tear it down. That's the thing about a hardcore scene: You make it what you want, if you have the strength of personality and confidence to stand up and do something.


[End Hardcore Scene 101]


-Justin

[Billy Shears]

[SIZE="1"][COLOR="DarkRed"]The good thing for my band is that we display some originality and talent to keep the crowd in shape.

Dude, you are in a metalcore scene, with no originality whatsoever. Regardless of what you say, I won't care, because I know it is fact. Thats what pisses me off about metalcore. You listen to the same song over and over. But anyway...

There needs to be something to keep the crowd going. If you want no one to talk, don't pause in between songs. Make noise, have a drum solo, who the hell knows, but do something to keep all the attention on you. Have other members put more energy into their movements. Don't just have them stand, have them run around like ****ing lunatics.

I think my band rides on kind of a gimmick, since it is a gangly white guitarist who is mediocre (me), and a gangly black drummer, who is amazing. There is bass, but it is played thru an amplifier with an MP3 player.

During our shows, no one is talking, just staring. I don't want to sound like a jag-off, but we put on a good show. I go nuts, dance around like crazy, try and get the crowd to clap, get close to them and *almost* hit them with my guitar, do something to keep them on edge. The drummer is like an octopus and he is always going full-on. You need to convey some original energy to get the crowd in it.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[Claire]

[quote name='Billy Shears'][SIZE="1"][COLOR="DarkRed"]There is bass, but it is played thru an amplifier with an MP3 player.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/QUOTE]
[FONT="Arial"]
This is what I was planning on doing for my band for drums, so it's good to know it works. Bass and drums are obviously different, but I've already had one band practice doing this and it sounds fine.

A question, though, are you using a separate bass amp for this or are you playing it through your guitar amp? I don't have the means to acquire another amp (not even a crappy little 15watt one, which I know is not stage wattage anyway), so I'm having to play the drums through my own 60w half-stack.[/FONT]

[Billy Shears]

[quote name='Clurr'][FONT="Arial"]
This is what I was planning on doing for my band for drums, so it's good to know it works. Bass and drums are obviously different, but I've already had one band practice doing this and it sounds fine.

A question, though, are you using a separate bass amp for this or are you playing it through your guitar amp? I don't have the means to acquire another amp (not even a crappy little 15watt one, which I know is not stage wattage anyway), so I'm having to play the drums through my own 60w half-stack.[/FONT][/QUOTE]

[COLOR="darkred"][SIZE="1"] They are plausible ideas, but I just don't see any of it sounding good. First off, having pre-recorded drums is going to look and sound bad. Unless you have a pro-quality track of them, its going to be hard for them to actually be heard over everything else and have them sound clear enough for the crowd and you. Second, running it thru your half-stack along with the guitar will make everything sound pretty cluttered. If you do go along with the pre-recorded drums, try and use a separate amplifier and them mike it up if there is a PA.[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Claire]

[quote name='Billy Shears'][COLOR="darkred"][SIZE="1"] They are plausible ideas, but I just don't see any of it sounding good. First off, having pre-recorded drums is going to look and sound bad. Unless you have a pro-quality track of them, its going to be hard for them to actually be heard over everything else and have them sound clear enough for the crowd and you. Second, running it thru your half-stack along with the guitar will make everything sound pretty cluttered. If you do go along with the pre-recorded drums, try and use a separate amplifier and them mike it up if there is a PA.[/SIZE][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

[FONT="Arial"]The problem is that I have no friends who are good at playing drums. I'm not even acquainted with any drummers. So having a pre-recorded track playing is my only option at this point.

The vocalist is good friends with a drummer, but now she can't find his number to get in touch with him. Assuming he'd be willing to help us out. Every time I've spoken to a musician, they're already in another band and don't have time to join another, even temporarily.

I may be able to get another speaker, but I'm already having to borrow one for the bass, and I'm not sure if I CAN get another.

Oh, and the drum track would at least sound real. I have Guitar Pro, which has a "realistic sound engine" that simulates guitar, bass, and drum sounds. It's not like a midi at all. [/FONT]

[Nomurah!]

[COLOR="HotPink"][SIZE="1"]Aha, the metalcore scene is fun though. And most of the time, we don't just get blank faces, we get the guys that are looking at us like idiots..

We're not anything really peculiar, except for just acting crazy, and making fun of everyone in the show (we tend to yell at the crowd "YOU SUCK!" alot..and act like it's taking effect into their tiny little brains) .. I play guitar and I scream high-pitched crap, which tends to get their attention... We've even done guitar-duals, and the only ones going crazy were the other bands playng at our shows, which always help out other bands in need. :] I like to wear pajama bottoms and a white under shirt to shows, and it's really nice on the few songs I'm fronting as vocalist only, because then, I pull out all the HORROR MOVIE MOVES! wooh. rolling my eyes into the back of my head, sticking my abnormally large tongue out (Gene Simmons style..)...may be the reason why they look at us so funny.

vocalists dudes rock. We always have our stage guy get our singer and me a box or something, to jump off of, lean on, stand on, sit on... Those boxes make the life of the shows. :]

Anyway. The only word I can think of is idiotic... if you mixed feminine-dudes together and added pajamas and weird tongue-flicks, and headbands of course..

I have to ask, Kam. What kind of stuff do you guys parade around doing, because, no offense, but a metalband just doesn't seem as likely to do weird crap like a hardcore or metalcore band.. Obviously, I'm not in a metal band aha. But then again, what genre do you play and what kind of shows do you play? [/SIZE][/COLOR]

edit: just to give example, even though none of these involve pajamas-

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