HOW TO START A ROCK BAND IN NIGERIA

How to Form a Rock Band in Nigeria

Rock music or any of its 256 sub genres has and is gaining more fame and followers as the sun sets and rises. Whenever I think of these growths – of the genre in the country, the manner Christianity spread in the country comes to mind, though they may not be following same path but then I usually see day it becomes a trend with the way churches pop out of every door in every street.........Bands be up there and major labels promoting the bands and artists to the top and it’ll come to a time like Christianity of course, where we will then be exporting quality rock songs back to those who actually had and ‘redefined’ it.

In truth, its dreams and visions of these particular nature that I’ll slap my best friend (who likes to dream about things that will never happen like a briefcase filled with dollars, falling from the sky or an airplane or a pretty rich white chick, coming from the US to Naija to get married to him) on the back of his head, asking him to wake up.

In even more truth, all these could be possible though, but how? For Naija to have awesome bands and songs to even export, we’ll have to first see more bands, but how? Though there’s a bigger stone standing on the tomb of these bands who want to scream, run guitar riffs and do the whole of that stuff to be called a rock star and that’s definitely HOW TO START A BAND? In the west it’s quite easy as you can start with your friends from say maybe same college or music school or perhaps friends from same street or like all the wonderful stories we’ve read about our favorite foreign bands coming together.

Now all those awesome stories will only be fairy tales in Nigeria, yeah fairy tales I called them because we are Africans and Nigerians and everybody most times joins a cause for their individual gain. Ok, I said that too but let’s face what’s on the plate now which is how we can actually and really put together or add up  other instrumentalist to your group and I’ll take you through different steps that could help you guys in the process.

HOW TO BE A ROCKSTAR IN NIGERIA

1.       FIND BANDMATES:- Your band could be just you like Avril or Eric Clapton but recording aint cheap and you may need guys to share the recording funds and ideas right? So for a band you’ll basically need a drummer, one guitarist, one bassist, a keyboardist or a pianist and of course a lead singer who may or may not play an instrument. How do we then find these guys?

a.       Firstly, the easiest way to find them is in the church, your church is a good start, if it’s the music type, though most churches are. It’s beyond all that too.... Most of these guys who play for churches are dead and buried into the grave of highlife or “Ariaria” and it’s quite hard for folks from that genre to cross over unless they are versatile or they are mostly into contemporary music.

b.      Secondly, it’s not about just taking in friends who know how to play but those with same vision as yours. That’s because a guy who has same vision as you but doesn’t know how to strum a simple C chord on a guitar, will take up to learning just to achieve what he/she wants. Now that’s worth looking into and the most important kinda. It’s because, though music is all  passion and fun but there’s the business part and a lot more work involved, so everyone in the band will need to put in an equal amount of work and dedication and be on same page.

Note: it’s not always about the best musicians or players but people who get along, are easy going and willing to learn.

2.       FIND YOUR IDENTITY: - That includes your exact preferred genre and style, your band name(try to make this short and easy on the lips, trust me, it’s more fun that way), what audience you guys are aiming for. You guys need to settle on a definite and consistent genre, a look, and swag and roll with it. Your branding is quite important so don’t joke with it.

3.       FIND A REHEARSAL GROUND: - As a band, rehearsals are very important as becoming a good band takes time and effort. Rehearsal enables you guys to develop cohesion in your playing. So make it a routine thing for the band because it helps everyone individually and as a band. Score songs of your favorite bands and artists and play them together.

4.       CONSIDER AN INTER BAND CONTRACT: - Though this may not seem relevant or necessary at this stage but believe me, it is – it is hard to get people with individual lives to commit to each other and the musical project but this keeps you guys together and far from troubles, like at this stage, a band member can never be available to rehearse or do shows and that can kill a band from the infant. This contract offers a kind of protection from that and maybe what a member can do with the name, payment, ownership of songs, instruments, etc, if or when he/ she leaves the band.

5.       BEGIN WRITING SONGS:- Write as many quality songs as you guys can, without sacrificing quality for quantity. Compose good tunes, beats and melodies and work on songs with lyrical depth.

6.       RECORD A DEMO: - This will be your best piece of promotional material. You can sell them at shows which i will definitely kick against because you are still a new band and want to gain fans than chasing them away. You could also use your demo to land yourself record deals, against, managers, A & R, etc. and also to promote to fans online. 

7.       BUILD A PRESS KIT:- This here is the music industry’s standard for resume, Labels, Agents, manages will always look at your electronic press kit before deciding on anything. So? Get your hands around over but if you don’t know how to go about it, we'll write about it here for you guys in our next article but that depends on popular demands or regard

8.       SEARCH FOR GIGS: - Gigs are also called shows, and with your press kit and demo CD, you could use that to search for gigs which bring exposure and all that to your band.

9.       SPREAD THE WORD: Tell your friends, colleagues or school mate about your new band, ask them to have a listen on the songs you’ve written. Make flyers about your gigs and be sure to invite as much as you can to every gig. The social media is another tool for quick and easy fame….Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, SoundAloudNaija, NaijaRocksMusic, Naija School of Rocks, etc. Use ‘em all to your fullest. After all they are all free *winks*

10.   SHOOT A VIDEO: If you guys have a deep pocket  for this then why can’t it happen. Shoot a good video and post it on YouTube and sit back to count your views and criticisms. Of course, you guys don’t expect only praises right? Also expect to have vegetables thrown at you guys too. Its part of it all but just try and shoot a good video, thats it.

SOUNDALOUDNAIJA

*************Don’t get your hopes too high, but never stop trying. It’s a long way to the top in Nigerian but it’s worth a try because in the end, you are better off than the man that didn’t try. Make sure your heart hears the music, if you don’t feel the music; it’s going to be hard to be and feel the success. It is also important to note that people will turn you down, just keep forging ahead and finally, bands are never going to be permanent, so if the feeling to end it ever arises, don’t fight it, simply acknowledge it and end the ride.

And here’s a quickie, for those who want to start one and don’t know who and who to start with. You guys can simply drop a comment with your name, contact details and your current location/ city so we help you in starting one from here, after all that’s what this post is all about.

ROCK ON /m\                  #BringBackOurGirls