Watching a documentary on African wildlife recently I was intrigued about the similarities between the animals that fight to survive on the plains of Africa and being in band. Strange thing to compare you may think but consider this: In such a harsh environment where you can be literally killed at any moment only animals with cunning and guile survive. Conversely, traversing the musical landscape can be quite daunting, especially for a new band. A few years ago when we first started out we’d be the first to admit we were fairly naïve about the industry. It didn’t take too long to realise, ‘hey this is actually pretty tough’. When you first get going and no one seems to give a shit about your band you are starting at the bottom of the musical food chain. Dealing with shonky promoters, dodgy venues and the like can be a potential downer but with a little (or a lot of) persistance someone will give you a break. You’ll get your first gig, invite all of your friends, a few may actually turn up and you’ve taken your first step. ‘Well that was great fun, let’s build on that’. You begin to ‘write’ your music resume and after a few gigs you might think about doing some recording. You see the next step up the chain and gladly climb up.

After some time (and time really isn’t an issue – as cliché as it may sound it is the journey that is important. If you’re in this game to get famous then go and apply for X factor…but that is a topic for the future) you’ll have a bunch of gigs under your belt, an EP done and you’ll be looking for the next step and always having a goal in mind. It’s wonderful to have all the rock star aspirations but you won’t get anywhere near that without actually ‘doing’ something. Small goals first and work from there. At the start of every year we write down our goals for the next 12 months on our whiteboard and tick them off as we go. A visual reminder that keeps us on track and focused.

And so on it goes, you’ll play and record more, create a website that captures your journey, keep connecting with your fans but most importantly enjoy the ride.….it can be tough but far outweighing that is the reward from playing music with friends. Bands, venues and even fans come and go but there is always one constant…you.