There’s that commercial out right now with the two camels at the zoo and they’re hearing all the humans make hump-day jokes. The humans think they’re hilarious, insightful and clever, and the camels are annoyed and unimpressed.
It made me think of how many millions of times I’ve been on the road and had to field the question of “so are you guys in a band?”. And I must say, including the word “so” on the front of that sentence is no mistake, almost everyone starts with that.
Why does that question make so many bands squirm and not really know what to say?
There’s a long answer to that question, but I’ll save that for a different day. I don’t want to go there right now.
Where I do want to go is this…What is the cashier at the gas station, the hotel front desk worker, the people sitting near you at the restaurant really asking when they muster up the chutzpah to approach you and ask the question?
The truth is they’re most likely not audiophiles. They’re not highly interested in your music and are not scrambling to find themselves the next Bon Jovi.
What they’re asking is this: Are you someone who I can have a conversation with that will make me excited about today? Will you take me out of the norm? Can I step into your leather-clad world for a moment? I’m inviting you to make me feel special, will you do it? Will you give me a thrill?
“So are you guys in a band” is an invitation. Even when the tone of voice is slightly condescending, they’re still taking the time and nerve to ask it, so it’s still coming from the same place.
No matter what level of success you think you have or haven’t achieved, when someone asks this, you are in a cool band, you are on tour, you’ve found a way to not have a 9-5 (at least not 5 days a week). You are an interesting person. So are they. And they just had the guts to make the first move.
What’s your move?
