Musician’s Creed

1. Never cancel a gig unless it’s an absolute emergency. Canceling gigs will give you a bad reputation very fast and if that happens, you will need to find another profession. — Chuck Gee

2.  Everybody sets up…everybody tears down. Even if you are a singer…or a guitar player who’s rig takes 5 minutes to set up and tear down.  The band can’t play without every member on stage doing their job.  So help out your fellow band mates, it makes it go quicker and you will find it is more fun. — Edmund Dantes

3. Play TO your fans, keep it fun and keep it real. Give a show and move around a bit on stage. If you have fun, most likely, your crowd will too. Don’t stand with your back to the crowd playing to your band. — Suprdave5150

4. Have One guy (or gal) do all the bookings. If not, you could end up being double or triple booked. Nothing spells out unprofessionalism like canceling gigs. — Mike Thomas

5. Don’t hire another band member’s wife or girlfriend to be in the band. If they break up, you will lose one or both of them. — Mike Thomas

6. Don’t sleep with other members’ girlfriends or wives. — Chris also known as Lck47630

7. Don’t get so fucked up on alcohol or drugs that you can’t play! (You really should play clean anyway.) — Chris also known as Lck47630

8. When you are at someone else’s gig, DO NOT ask to come up and play a song. If the band wants you on stage, they will ask!   Don’t ruin a band’s set by coming up and asking them to play, they don’t want to have to tell you no.  A band that has a good set and vibe going doesn’t want it brought to a halt by bringing in an outsider. — Edmund Dantes

9. If you go to someone else’s gig, enjoy yourself! As musician’s we hear more of the little hitches and minor mistakes than most people, so what, everyone makes mistakes.  Have a drink, enjoy yourself, and if you don’t like the style of music, then go see a band that is the style you like.  If you like really heavy metal, don’t get mad because the No Doubt tribute band doesn’t play Sepultura,  go see a band that plays Sepultura!!! — Edmund Dantes

10. If you sing Karaoke,  it doesn’t mean you can automatically sing for a band. Especially not at their gig, when they have never heard you sing before.  And no,  I don’t care how good you say you are!  And no you don’t have any right to be pissed when the band tells you no.  The members of that group were hired to come in and do their job.  So don’t screw it up for them. — Edmund Dantes

11. Do not quit your band the day/week before a gig. Especially not for some stupid reason.  When your band books a gig, and you are in it,  you are supposed to play that gig.  If the band however by majority kicks your ass out,  well…you’re on your own. — Edmund Dantes

12. NEVER EVER agree to use the gig money to buy equipment without drawing up a real contract on how the equipment will be split up or sold or parted out  when you quit or get fired because eventually, all bands fold.

For example, someone says we are going to take the next four gigs money and buy a trailer for the gear…You all are part owners, however, “if you quit, you forfeit your part”…

NEVER EVER DO THIS. The only one left standing in the band gets the trailer if you do this and it’s almost always the person that brought up using the band money to buy a trailer or gear or what ever…It’s a very bad move if you agree to this…I have seen this happen over and over. BAD. BAD. BAD — Chuck Gee

13. Make sure everyone in the band is of age to be in the club your in. — Dana DeMaris

14. No wives, girlfriends, or assorted hangers-on at band practice. I don’t need the drummers “ho of the week” telling me how to play a song, or how her cousin Tater blows one mean harp and would be a great addition to the band, BTW he’s out in the car waiting to come in for his audition… — Bryan Gibson

15. Don’t quit your day job! No matter how good you think you are, playing music for a living is a long shot gamble at best. — Big Dave

16. On stage, be professional. Don’t jam or play your instrument in between songs. Guitar players are the worst about it. It looks totally unprofessional to be up there “working out ” in between songs or before you go on. — Chuck Gee

17. Be on time for your gig. Play the time you are hired for. For instance, if you are hired to play a set of 45 minutes and then take a 15 minute break. well play for 45 minutes and take a 15 minute break. Don’t play for less time and take more time on your breaks. — Chuck Gee

18. Never ever mess with another band’s gear. If you are sharing the stage, it’s taboo to move or touch another band’s gear. This will cause bad blood real fast. Need an example? I was scheduled to play at a club one weekend and the band that played the week before hadn’t picked their gear up yet. The bar owner called the band and we set their gear off stage. A week later the guitar player in that band accused us of stealing his pedals. Of course we didn’t but we did move his gear. Came down to his word against ours. — Chuck Gee

19. Never assume you’re the most important member of a band. This is especially true if you’re just a cover band in a relatively small market. You can and will be replaced. There is no room for self importance in any band. — Allen Tate

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