Alisha Sabin continues her story of getting the chance to sing with her first live band.
Alisha Sabin Singing At Her First Live Gig
My first live performance. It seemed like I should be much more nervous than I felt. I was so focused on getting the words right and singing in tune that I almost forgot that there were people sitting down listening to the band play. The first live performance felt like a regular band practice. It felt natural and not complicated. I was singing in on two songs and then I was done. As I stood before the microphone I could start to feel the uneasiness set in. The singing and the remembering of the words was no longer on the fore front of my mind. I was concerned about how I looked. Did it look natural? Or could you completely tell that I was new at this? Continue reading “The Hairbrush Chronicles Part 4 – My First Live Performance”
Alisha gets her first chance to sing at practice with the live rock band, Bonne Nuit.
Alisha Sabin - Young Rocker
You know those times of your life where you feel complacent and bored? You don’t know why you keep going through the robotic motions of life each day. Maybe you do know why but you aren’t sure how you manage to keep doing it day after day. It can become quickly depressing and you start to lose motivation for other things that are important to you. Exercise, eating healthy and productivity become a thing of the past as you wallow in your oh so boring lifestyle. You need something to keep you going, a productive and healthy change.
My change came via Facebook message and I couldn’t believe it when I read it. All of these years of singing in the hairbrush and I had been asked to sing a song at the next gig for the cover band Bonne Nuit. Excited and nervous would describe it best. It was Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now. I immediately downloaded it on iTunes and practiced my heart out. I practiced so much that my family can barely stand to hear it at all now. But there was one thing I couldn’t prepare myself for and had no idea how it would dramatically change my performing life forever: Singing live!
I showed up for my first band practice pretty unsure of what to do. I think that may have been the first thing I said to the band, “I’ve never sung like this before, so I really have no idea what I am doing.” They were extremely patient and gracious to me. Nice as can be; and from the tone of the room I could tell they were all saying to me, “It’s easy…you just sing into the mic.”
In part 2, Alisha Sabin continues her story of wanting to sing in a live band and chasing her dream.
Alisha Sabin - Singer
“Really? You are going to make all of our customers listen to your band’s EP?” That is the nice version on what I said to Quinn Allman. We worked at a miniature golf course in our hometown of Pleasant Grove, Utah. Quinn and I went to high school together and graduated from the same class. I don’t remember much about him other than the fact that he skated around and didn’t talk to very many people. Seemed like an outsider. Now he is the guitarist of The Used. During the time we worked together he and his live band were just getting started. Their non-produced music sounded awful to me and I wondered how it would ever become popular. It just goes to show what a live performance can do. The story as far as I know goes like this…John Feldmann of Goldfinger saw them perform, loved them and produced their first album. From what I can recall the music he played at work sounded nothing like what they play now. I like what they play now. Continue reading “The Hairbrush Chronicles – Part 2 Lighting The Fire”
Alisha Sabin talks about the childhood dream of being a singer in a live band.
Alisha Sabin - Aspiring Rock Singer
It was just me and my hairbrush, well, and my two sisters. There I was standing on the bed, hairbrush in hand ready to sing-off to know which sister was the best. We would compete regularly and usually we would sing the latest Disney movie hit. This time it was “Part of Your World” from The Little Mermaid. I always knew I was the best but my older sister was, of course, always right and claimed she won each and every time. I didn’t let that stop me. I knew that if I kept up my singing into the hairbrush that I would eventually get my chance to sing on a live stage. The hairbrush singing continued through my teens, young adulthood and even today. As a matter of fact, I’ll sing into anything that can give me the feeling of actually singing into a microphone. A toothpaste tube, cell phone or curling irons work too, you know, before they are plugged in and hot. Continue reading “The Hairbrush Chronicles – Part 1 The Dream Of Playing In A Live Band”
How to find roadies to help you move equipment and make your live show happen for your live band.
Bonne Nuit Does Soundcheck On Stage Set Up By Roadies
Every musician dreams of having their own team of roadies for their live band. I’m here to tell you that roadies are out there and that you can have your very own roadies hauling and setting up your live band’s equipment. The best thing is that most of these roadies will work for very little money or even for free dinner and admission to your shows. I’ve been using roadies for all my summer gigs this year and I’m telling you it’s been fantastic having some guys to haul my equipment around and set it up. Continue reading “Finding Roadies For Your Band”
The best way to improve your live band is to schedule a gig and get out and play.
Bonne Nuit Playing A Live Gig
Every live band wants to be the best band that they can be. I’ve seen so many bands that practice, practice, practice and never really feel ready to get out and play a gig. I’ve seen bands begin and end in the practice studio without ever getting out and playing a live show. The biggest reason for this is the fact that the band never feels ready to get out and play a gig. So they practice and practice until they’re bored and then they end up giving up. Continue reading “To Make Your Live Band Better Schedule Gigs”
Live Musician Central celebrates it’s second anniversary. Here are some statistics from our first two years.
Live Musician Central
Hey everyone, it’s been 2 years since Live Musician Central went online. I’ve been posting information to help you improve your live band for two solid years and Live Musician Central has gotten a very good response. We’ve had 86,945 page views and have been averaging around 5,000 visits per month. That’s pretty good traffic for a non-commercial Blog/Website.
I believe a live band is far better than a DJ because of the overall experience of a great live show.
Bonne Nuit Playing Music You Can Dance To
I’ve been playing in live bands for years now and have seen their popularity swell and recede at various times over the years. I remember when I was going to High School in the 80’s that we rarely had a big dance without a live band. Live band’s were the best and it was always a special occasion when we had one. I ask my kids if they ever have live bands play dances at their school and they don’t.
When I started playing in clubs there were dozens of them for our band to play at. Over the years and especially recently I’ve seen a lot of clubs switching over to using DJ’s. It seems like a lot of gigs that bands used to get are now going to DJ’s. I personally haven’t played a High School Prom in years because all the schools are using DJ’s in my area. Continue reading “Why A Live Band Is Better Than A DJ”
Suggestions for how to prepare your live band the final week before your gig.
Having a big gig on the calender is the main goal of every live band. If you’re lucky, you’ve had plenty of time to prepare for your gig, you’ve got all the songs learned and your show is completely rehearsed. There are a few things I like to be on top of my game the week before a big gig.
The first thing I do is spend time alone practicing any parts that I have trouble with. This includes complicated guitar solos, tricky lyrics or anything that gives me rhythmic problems. I like to just put a little more polish and sparkle on my playing the final week before a big gig so I put in some extra time playing with a metronome as well. I try not to overdo it but the extra practice really settles my nerves.
Every member of your live band should share some basic, common goals.
Matt and Tom Have A Goal Of Playing As Many Gigs As Possible
One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced in my live band is getting a group of musicians together that all share the same goals. There are a lot of musicians out there but not all of them want to play in bars. Some musicians just want to jam and don’t want to play any live gigs at all, ever. If your band is going to succeed you really need to have common goals.
The first thing you need to discuss before you even decide on what type of songs you want to play is where and when you will play gigs. This will determine your song selection as well as whether or not the individual band members are willing to commit to certain types of gigs. Too many bands dive right into learning songs which is always the first goal of any band. Let’s talk about that first goal of learning songs for minute. Continue reading “Band Members Must Have Common Goals”
