We Want People To Dance pt. 2

I’d say most of the time…and i’ve been to thousands of shows…people use the fact that there’s a stage and humans playing music on the stage as a common focal point to dodge any sort of awkwardness or insecurity that could come about by interacting with the people around them…i.e. Dancing.

‘Looking at the stage’ is a safe place. (And it can be a wildly entertaining too.) 

And people value their safety more than anything in the world.

So perhaps as it pertains to dancing at your shows, it would be good to play for the type of people who don’t necessarily need a safety outlet via the stage…People who didn’t necessarily come to watch the artists on stage all night.

Because I guarantee you…if you want your people to dance and they don’t want to dance, they ain’t dancing.

(Unless you have the magic, the juice, to cause people to change their minds…that’s an elite skill)

p.s. People who don’t want to dance need you to not need them to dance in order to put on your best show.

p.p.s. This is a repeat note from the last post, but worth mentioning again…a dancing audience is an audience that is not looking at you.  Is this something you’re willing to work toward…to have the goal be that the audience looks at you less, not more?



Don’t miss a post. Sign up for free.

I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

We Want People To Dance

‘We want people to dance at our shows.’

That’s the most common (although certainly not the only) thing I hear artists want their audience to do.

What an interesting problem to dive into and (hopefully) solve.

So what causes people to not only WANT to dance but to ACTUALLY dance?

Most often: music. Good. You’ll be playing music on stage so you’re already part of the way there.

Beyond that there’s a lot of variables specific to you. But here’s a couple things worth pointing out…

1. If you’re sitting in a coffee shop and a reeeeally good song comes on, notice how you’re probably not the only one who physically reacts to it.  If you can’t help but smile or tap your foot, nod your head, mouth the words, etc…there are others.

2. When this happens, try to remember what song was playing just before this one.  The previous 3 minutes have an amazing power of setting up the current 3 minutes.  

3. What is it about the song that everyone is loving and what is it about the song that played just before it that set it up so perfectly.

This observational process isn’t confined to a coffee shop…it happens all the time in restaurants, Home Depot, club shows, theater shows, stadium shows.

The ‘answers’ you can observe here aren’t the only ingredient in getting your people moving, but one realization leads to another, which leads to another, which leads to an idea, which leads to another…and “all of a sudden” it just clicks for you.

Get moving. Get seeing.

p.s. Something to consider and usually overlooked if you’re goal is to get the crowd dancing:

-dancing crowds are almost never facing the stage…think of a wedding, people don’t face the speakers or the stage or the DJ, the attention is on the dancing and the music, not the source of the music (are you willing to give up that attention?)

Don’t miss a post. Sign up for free.

I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Repeating Lyrics

For your next EP, LP, triple record…for your next project record, what if you repeated the same lyric in each song? 

In some way…maybe it gets sung in one, whispered in the next, then spoken, spoken by someone else, done with tons of vocal effects…use your imagination. 

But you get it, the same phrase shows up in each of these songs.

It might help a cool way to communicate the theme of the project. 

And if you’re doing a project (as opposed to singles), I’d argue it should have a theme.

And if you have a theme, it bears repeating. It bears driving home.

***At this point, for those who are scoffing at this idea thinking it’s pretty stupid/elementary/calculated/trying too hard, there is an album that came out this year by a band that you absolutely know of and respect who did something like this. And I’m not telling you who it was.  If you buy me a cup of coffee I’ll tell you.

****And now at this point, for those of you who are scoffing because this is no longer an original idea so you’re definitely not going to do it because you only do things that have never been done before…I can’t help you.

p.s. And maybe it’s not whether or not you employ this idea…but whether or not you COULD. As in, the distinct theme is there just waiting to be repeated in each song if you decide to.



Don’t miss a post. Sign up for free.

I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Just Something About It (Charlie Brown)

Isn’t that why we all got into this business in the first place?

If we could explain it and calculate it and write the answer out in a ten step process, it would be replaceable and replicable (and as we all know, this is tried over and over).

It’s the day after Thanksgiving, which around here means the onset of Christmas decor, music…the whole thing.

One of the songs that came on today was Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, the version from A Charlie Brown Christmas.

The recording, the timing, the pitch, the mix…everything about is horrendous.

But it doesn’t matter. I absolutely love it.

There’s just something about it.

(That ‘something’ is most certainly tied to my childhood, but even though I know that I still can’t separate from it…and I don’t want to.)

Just something. It’s beyond all the calculable aspects of what makes a song good, of what makes a song professional.

‘Just something about it’ is a tough goal to write towards…and maybe even something you CAN’T write towards.

But we all know that’s why we got into this business, and we know beyond the shadow of a doubt that ‘that thing’ exists.

Thanks for the reminder, Charlie.

Don’t miss a post. Sign up for free.

I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

So Angry You Have To Be Nice

The scenario is this:

It’s been a long day on the road and the drummer has been pissing you off all day anyway…and then during the show he really took it to the next level with something stupid, and then he said something even more stupid after you got off stage.

You’re fuming mad…and you need to get away from this guy. As quickly as possible.

But now here’s the thing.

The only way you get away from this guy and have some peace and quiet is when you’re finally back in the van or bus.

But you can’t get back on the road until everything is loaded up.

And the faster everything gets loaded up the faster you’ll be back on the road and have your much needed peace and quiet.

So you realize now that a fast load-out is the immediate gateway to getting what you want…and the best way to do that is to help the drummer load out his gear!!!

You’re royally annoyed at this guy but the best way to get what you want is to lend a hand.

So you do.

He knows you’re pissed, but you’re helping anyway.

You’re both talking in respectable tones. It might be all logistics (is this ready to go to the trailer? is that ready?), but you’re talking and interacting in a non-upset way.  You’re doing something together.

And it’s funny how doing something nice and speaking in a not-raging-mad tone (while still possibly rightfully angry at him for the previous incidents of the day) actually has the power to change minds.  It puts things in their rightful place.

So the gear is loaded up, you get back on the road, and yeah you still need some space but it’s not as bad now.  It’s not so much about the other person anymore…more about it’s been a long day and it’s late and it’s time for bed.

Don’t miss a post. Sign up for free.

I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

If You Owned A Mexican Restaurant pt. 2

If I owned a Mexican restaurant in Nashville and if you owned a Mexican restaurant in Nashville, that’d be great!

It turns out Nashville really likes having more than one Mexican restaurant. In fact they like having thirty or fifty or a hundred.

It’s a good thing the person who was thinking about building the second Mexican restaurant in Nashville didn’t think ‘ahh, there’s already one of those so I need a different idea’.

No, that person thought ‘Mexican restaurants are a good idea, I’ll build one’.

There’s already been a Michael Jackson, but it sure wouldn’t hurt to have a few more. People would like that.

There’s already been a Katy Perry, but it sure wouldn’t hurt to have a few more.  People would like that.

People like Mexican restaurants. People like Michael Jacksons and Katy Perrys.

It wouldn’t hurt to think about opening something you know people are going to like…something that there’s already one or two or ten of.

Don’t miss a post. Sign up for free.

I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com