BAND AID

THE BALTIMORE SUN

YOU GOT THE BAND TOgether. You found a practice space. You've even started writing your own songs and performing for friends and family.

Now comes the hard part.

Cutting your first demo CD, scoring local club gigs and going on tour is the natural progression for local bands. But each of these steps is tough enough to break up a band before it can really get rolling. Calling or e-mailing the right people can seriously increase your chances of success. Here is a guide to getting ahead, with advice from club and studio owners and renowned and up-and-coming local bands.

If you've got the talent and the drive, this is your road map.

Recording a demo

You mail copies to venues, hand them out (or sell them) at shows and upload them to MySpace. While you can pass out fliers and tell people how good your music is, your demo is physical proof. It's one of the first priorities for all serious bands.

Cheaper, better technology has made cutting demos in your basement much easier in recent years. With a couple of thousand dollars worth of equipment, you can get sound quality that rivals some local studios.

Baltimore-based rock 'n' roll band J-Roddy Walston and the Business recorded its debut album Hail Mega Boys in guitarist Billy Gordon's basement.

"You can make a pretty good-sounding record on your own at this point," said frontman Walston. "It's totally affordable to buy equipment. If you have a good ear and read up or help somebody else out that knows what they're doing, you get the basics down."

But there is still a definite advantage to having an experienced engineer behind the mixing board.

"Would you do surgery on yourself or would you go to the doctor?" said Frank Marchand, who owns and operates recording studio Waterford Digital Inc. in Millersville.

"That's where it stands," he said. "For all intents and purposes, recording and engineering ... is really a vocational skill, like mechanics or a chef in a restaurant."

The average four-piece rock band can record, mix and master a three-song demo in a studio for anywhere from a couple hundred bucks to $5,000, depending on the studio, Marchand said.

Don't let recording studios awe you with top-of-the-line recording equipment and then charge you a heavy bill. The engineer is a crucial and sometimes overlooked aspect of the studio, Marchand said.

"I still see artists who get wowed by the big room and the big console," Marchand said. "It's the guy behind the desk or the guy who hooks up the microphones and listens who is the sole difference-maker in the whole process."

Once you have a demo, you're ready to start trolling for club gigs.

Booking your first gig

For most bands, nothing quite compares to the rush of playing in front of people. While house parties and open-mike nights are good starting grounds, the real goal is a club gig. But getting to that point takes a mix of determination, professionalism and talent.

The best two ways to break into the local club scene are to play local-music spotlight shows and to network with other acts in your genre.

Most live music clubs in the city have a booking ladder for local acts. Open-mike nights and locals-only shows are usually the first step, with the goal being a Friday or Saturday night headlining slot. Play well, bring friends and act professional at these venues, and you could wind up scoring regular gigs there.

"Every club has a booking system -- a philosophy," said Brian Shupe, co-owner of the 8x10 in Federal Hill. "You just need to follow it."

Start by sending your information to the club's booking agent. Press kits, which were the best way to get the word out 10 years ago, are now preferred at only a handful of venues.

Press kits should consist of 1) a one-sheet -- a single piece of paper listing where you've played locally, how many people you can draw and your contact information; 2) a photograph; and 3) a demo CD with a few tracks.

The Internet is quickly replacing traditional press kits. Shupe, who receives 40 to 50 press kits a month, said he listens to only a quarter of the demos bands mail him.

Instead, the majority of local club owners and booking agents want a brief e-mail with your contact information, band name and Web or MySpace site.

MySpace is quickly becoming the industry standard for up-and-coming groups. Through it, club reps can listen to four songs and see how many friends a band has -- sometimes a sign of how many people they could bring to a show, said Lonnie Fisher, who owns the club Sonar.

"The last thing I want bands to do is send me a press kit with paperwork and pictures and all that," Fisher said. "There's no reason to waste the paper."

Though some clubs and events let you play for free, larger clubs like the 8x10 and the Recher Theatre in Towson make you buy a certain number of advance tickets. In turn, you can sell them to your friends and make a little money.

Bands that make a big impression at events like 98 Rock's Noise in the Basement, hosted by Matt Davis at Fletcher's in Fells Point every Monday night, often end up playing Fletcher's or the Recher Theatre.

"It's the first steppingstone to catapulting yourself to another show," Davis said.

Networking with other bands is another important way to book gigs. If you're a funk band, go see other funk bands play, shake hands and hand out copies of your demo and fliers with show dates. When Walston moved to the area from Tennessee a couple of years ago, he met and started performing with other local rock bands right off the bat.

"If you're playing with friends and you have similar musical styles -- especially initially -- it's really beneficial," Walston said. "If you're trying to get to play in front of these crowds that are into that kind of music and are willing to come support local music, it's pretty key."

Once you've proved yourself as a solid band, you can team up with a couple of other groups and pitch yourselves to venues. Club owners are more likely to book you if you come to them with a full roster for one night -- instead of just asking for a show yourself.

"The best bet is for bands to make friends with other bands," said Ottobar co-owner Craig Boarman. "For example, a band like the Mishaps, or the Payola Reserve -- they come to us all the time with full bills. ... We trust those guys and they have a good draw."

Booking your first tour

When you've played around Baltimore long enough to establish a following and are ready to branch out, the tour is the next step. It can also be one of the hardest challenges a band faces. Some of the best advice other local bands offer is to start small. Work your way up from weekend stints in other cities to weeklong minitours and then eventually to full-out monthlong tours.

"It's all about baby steps," said David Hardy, guitarist for the Baltimore rock band Two If By Sea. "You've got to know what you can bite off in one chew."

Don't expect to make much money, either. The Oranges Band, one of the city's premier indie rock bands, either breaks even or loses a couple hundred dollars most times they do a larger tour, the group's singer / guitarist Roman Kuebler said.

Self-promotion in distant cities is one of the hardest aspects of touring. Before the Oranges Band's most recent tour, Kuebler created a Web page with downloadable photos, a bio and MP3s. He then e-mailed music and arts editors at weekly and alternative papers in advance of the band's shows. It was time-consuming but paid off, he said.

"It generates the awareness that it's happening. It kind of makes it into an event and potentially helps you promote. If it doesn't bring a whole lot of people out to the show, it can at least be used to keep the name in circulation."

It's easy to deal with band mates you don't get along with on a short trip. Before you set out on a longer tour, make sure you're traveling with compatible people, Hardy said.

"It's not going to be this warm, nurturing environment," he warned. "It's going to be a lot of sleeping on people's cigarette-strewn floors. You're going to be cranky, and people are going to have attitude problems. Be ready to deal with that. There are going to be great parts, but it's not all going to be a walk in the park."

Next month in LIVE, look for a guide for local MCs.

sam.sessa@baltsun.com

SOME LOCAL RECORD LABELS

THE BEECHFIELDS P.O. Box 6732, Towson 21285 E-mail info@thebeechfields.com or go to thebeechfields.com Clients: The Seldon Plan, Among Wolves, Private Eleanor

FALL RECORDS P.O. Box 20886, Baltimore 21209 E-mail info@fallrecords.com or go to fall records.com Clients: Page France, Shelly Blake, Southerly

HUMAN CONDUCT 4504 Prospect Circle, Baltimore 21216 Call 410-878-2499, go to humancon duct.org or e-mail info@humanconduct.org Clients: Wax and Wane, the Organ Donors, the New Flesh

MORPHIUS RECORDS 100 E. 23rd St., Baltimore 21218 Call 410-662-0112, e-mail info@mor phius.com or go to morphiusrecords.com Clients: Rod Lee, the Thrushes

REPTILIAN RECORDS 2545 N. Howard St. Baltimore 21218 Call 410-327-6853 or go to reptilian records.com Clients: Swarm of the Lotus, Dactyl, Upper Crust

[SAM SESSA]

SOME AREA STUDIOS

BUNKER RECORDING STUDIO 10746 York Road, Cockeysville Call 410-303-3717 or go to www.recordinbaltimore.com Clients: the Bridge, Eva Castillo, Smooth Kentucky

HOUR HAUS STUDIOS 135 W. North Ave. Call 410-539-2328 or go to hourhaus studios.com Clients: To the Moon, Names Can Own

INVISIBLE SOUND STUDIOS 4401 Eastern Ave.| Call Joe Rinaolo or Dave Nachodsky at 410-327-2122, or go to invisiblesoundstudios.com Clients: Splitsville, Fertile Ground, the Pale Stars, the Beltways

ORION SOUND STUDIOS 2903 Whittington Ave. Suite C Call 410-646-7334 or go to orionsound.com Clients: The Wire, Uriah Heep, Asia

SHEFFIELD INSTITUTE FOR THE RECORDING ARTS 13816 Sunnybrook Road, Phoenix Call 410-628-7260 or go to sheffieldav.com Clients: Child's Play, Kix

UMBC RECORDING STUDIOS University of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle E-mail Dr. David Kim-Boyle at kimboyle@umbc.org or go to umbcrecord ingstudios.org Clients: Thinking Toys, Public Eye

WATERFORD DIGITAL 8213 Old Jumpers Hole Road, No. 201, Millersville Call 410-315-9996, go to waterforddigi tal.com or e-mail Frank Marchand, frank@waterforddigital.com Clients: the Decemberists, the Shins, Jimmie's Chicken Shack, the All Mighty Senators, the Seldon Plan, Bob Mould

WRIGHTWAY STUDIOS 425 Fawcett St. Call 410-889-8030 or go to wright waystudios.com Clients: SR71, Jah Works, Kelly Bell Band, 2 Live Crew

[SAM SESSA]

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