Respect your Kit

Maintaining Drums

We had some great feedback on the “how to maintain your guitar” Blog and a few of you have asked for the same but on a drum kit.
Your wish is our command!


There are some simple rules to live by that will minimize cracks, stripping, warping, and so on. There are three situations that put your gear in danger: transporting them, setting them up, and, of course, playing them. Percussion instruments are pretty sturdy instruments. However, they are far from invincible. Bass drums are particularly vulnerable because they are often fitted with wooden hoops and are large, heavy drums. If you are carrying your bass drum in a case over your shoulder and you drop it, chances are the hoop will crack. Considering this, a hard plastic case is best suited for your bass drum even though this will make the drum considerably more bulky.As stated earlier, cars are problematic, too.

In addition to theft concerns, you need to worry about the weather. If the weather is really hot, a parked car becomes a greenhouse. Leaving drums in an extremely hot car could cause plastic veneers on your drums to peel off and crack. Packing your drums in a car or in storage without cases can also be a problem; the most obvious reason being that drum shells could get nicked up. However, carrying your drums around without cases can also be perilous for your bottom snare drumhead. This head is ultra thin and a bass drum spike or cymbal stand can easily pierce through the Mylar, rendering the drum useless until you buy another head. So if you plan on taking your drums en route, get cases.Humes & Berg makes great bags called Tuxedo Bags. They also make lightweight vulcanized fiber cases that are more durable than a gig bag. Anvil Cases offers the most durable case of all. These are virtually indestructible and are great for drummers who need to take their gear on airplanes, and the like. The downside is that they are very heavy. While cases are necessary for the working drummer, they can be a bit hazardous to bass drum pedals and hi-hat stands. Hardware, for one, is very heavy.

As you drive, items tend to shift around. For this reason, incorrectly storing bass drum pedals and hi-hat stands in hardware bags can cause the footboard stabilizer rod on the bass drum pedal and the foot pedal linkage rod on the hi-hat pedal to crack if you don't unclip them before placing them in the case. The worst feeling is showing up at a gig and realizing that something is broken, so make sure you're careful.It's a good idea to put your bass drum pedal on top of all the other stands in your hardware bag or case. This will protect it from getting crushed by heavier, double-braced cymbal and snare stands, and the like. The way you set up your drums also promotes or prevents damage to your equipment. One common mistake is placing your snare drum too close to your 12" rack tom-tom. Since this tom-tom hovers over the snare drum at a slightly higher level, the rim of the snare drum, if too close, will rub up against the tom-tom as you play. Heavy playing will cause your whole drum kit to shake a little. If your snare drum is touching the 12" tom-tom, it will scrape the varnish off the drum and even cut into the wood of the drum itself. When playing, always be sure to watch for this, back up your snare drum immediately if you see this occurring.

Band of The Month: The Mathletics Team

Well, new year new band of the month.

Let's hear it for The Mathletics Team!

BA: Atomic Warrior" is an awesome track can you let us in on the story behind it?

TMT: The song is based on the classic 2000AD, ABC warriors. The formation of that unit on mars and it's trials through their career as giant robot mercenaries. We thought it was a cool concept and it evolved from there.

BA:You have such a pretty unique sound - was that a conscious decision? how did you come up with it?

TMT: The Bands sound evolved through the use of the phrase "wouldn't it be cool if we had a....." and we just added from there till the sound felt full and complete.

BA:What is your writing process?

TMT: The General writes the basic structure of the songs and then brings them into the band and we all work on them together to add little touches of our own individual styles and sounds. Lyrically speaking The General finds a subject be it in comics, films, cartoons or pulp fiction that interests him and trys to find the story within a story. Those are the tales we attempt to tell.

BA:What do you find most difficult about being an unsigned act?

TMT: As a nine piece I'd say the most difficult thing is finding venues with enough room and equipment to fit us all in to play.

BA: What is your top tip for other acts?

TMT: We say preparation is the key to a good live performance. Practice seriously and often both as an individual and a band.

BA: What is your fantasy band line up (Vocals, guitar, Bass and Drums)

TMT: We're very lucky to already have our fantasy line up

BA: Tell us an amusing Band Story!

TMT:Back in December we played at a a couple of friends of ours' joint birthday party. They asked us to play some covers in our set just for kicks and we agreed already having thought up some cool stuff to do. We ended up playing that old Village People classic "macho man" as our joke song of the evening and as we began the tune one of the party goers leapt in front of the stage and began stripping off in a wild dance in time to the music. By the end of the song the guy was standing there in a sparkly thong flexing at anyone that came close.
We played macho man twice that night.

BA:Proudest moment so far in The Mathletics Team?

TMT: Apart from being band assists band of the month it would probably be playing the old fruitmarket in Glasgow last may as it was a pretty big venue and we had only been a band for about four months by then.

BA: What are your views on Band Assist?

TMT: Band assist has been a great resource for us as it's got lots of good advice and the news letters always give us something to think about.

BA:Whats next for you?

TMT: In February we go into the studio to record our second EP which will include remasters of the current EP and three new songs that we currently only play live. We're appearing on the opening episode of trinity force records' TFTV show online on January 28th which will be streamed live as well as launching our own website which guaranteed to be full of flash animation madness. We're recording some promo videos for an as yet undecided single and getting some super cool merch.

Look after your Axe!

Am I the only guitar player who is a little anal-retentive about my guitars? I’m always hesitant to let people pick them up. I take a mental note of belt buckles and zippers on anyone who comes near them. In the back my head I think “is this the day my guitar gets dropped?”. Don’t even get me started on the panic that ensues inside my head when children get involved.

Even though I go a little crazy when it comes to the safety of my guitar, I do (or don’t do) things on a daily basis that could be harming in the long run. So, I have compiled a list of things manufacturers always tell you to do, but you probably don’t. Well, I know I am guilty of at least the first three of these. If you really truly are concerned with keeping your guitar mint, these should be second nature to you.

Here are the 10 maintenance rules that everyone should follow to keep their guitar in pristine condition:

Wash your hands before playing. Your hands are oily and dirty. Washing your hands before playing can preserve the fingerboard as well as prolong the life of your strings.

Before you put your guitar away in it’s case always wipe it down with a damp cloth to remove any hand oils that may be on it. Not a wet cloth, just a cloth that is slightly dampened.

Put that guitar in it’s case! Yeah, it’s fun to display them for everyone to see, but your guitar doesn’t like to be exposed to anything. It doesn’t like changing temperatures, changing humidity, or direct sunlight.

You know those black canvas gig bags? Yeah, forget they ever existed. Get a real hardshell case.

Properly humidify your guitar. Get a case humidifier and find out what the manufacturer of your guitar suggests the relative humidity should be.

Have your guitar’s bridge and neck setup properly for the gauge of strings you are using. If you change string gauges, have your guitar setup properly for the new strings. Obviously you don’t want to do this too often. If you know how to do this yourself that is great! If you don’t, you might want to get a professional to do it.

Keep your guitar clear of any heavy temperature changes. Wood expands and contracts. If the temperature changes too quickly it expands and contracts too quickly – this is bad.

Change your strings on a regular basis and never remove them all at one time! Remove one string at a time to replace them. Keeping your strings at the proper tension will keep that neck healthy.

Play your guitar every day. Thats right – play it. What happens when you leave your car parked for a few months and then try and start it up? It doesn’t really like that very much, whether it tells you or not. Run your guitar through it’s paces, it’s good for it.

Follow the above steps, and never, ever, let anyone else touch your guitar. Only kidding.
Obviously these are rules that only people with full time guitar techs can follow. Maybe the most diligent of us have the persistence needed to keep up such a strict maintenance routine, but thats not me. Your guitar won’t fall to pieces of you don’t follow these tips, but if you do it will guarantee that the guitar will live longer than you.

What are you guilty of and what tips did I miss?

Fill The Place

Promoting your band’s website locally is about getting more people to come to your gigs (if you don’t gig, don’t bother), it’s usually only locals who’ll turn up and support you. By promoting your band’s website locally you are also promoting your band locally - it works best if you’re hands-on, real world, for instance, if you want to get a link from the local press or local radio, it would help if your band proactively supports a local charity.

Local is the area around your favourite venue (the venue you like and play most) or your town. Get a map. Find the venue or town centre. Draw a circle with a radius of about 25 miles (about 40 kilometres) around the venue or town centre. That’s local. 25 miles represents the distance people would be prepared to travel to see an independent band in the UK. Because of the transport infrastructure and familiarity with commuting, you can have a 35 mile radius around a London venue (same in most large cities). Bands who operate in large cities have a big advantage - of course you don’t have to target everyone!

1. Swap links and get involved with local: businesses, charities, record shops, fashion shops, cafes, pubs, clubs, venues. Get links from local: press, radio.

2. (Legally) Hand out, post, pin up, stick and drop (accidentally!): flyers, stickers, business cards, button badges - in and around: schools, colleges, universities, record shops, fashion shops, cafes, pubs, clubs, venues and churches. Include your band’s name, website address and free gift details.

3. Team-up and collaborate with 5 or more local bands of the same or complementary genre and promote each other online and offline.

4. Use the networking communities (esp. Facebook, MySpace, ReverbNation) to communicate with the locals. Always make your website The focal point.

5. Create a mailing list / database of fans, friends and family, target those within your locale and ask them for support. And don’t forget, if you can’t make it locally with the support of your fans, friends and family, you’re not going to make it anywhere!

The Art of Composition

Suppose you’re about to practice, compose, or improvise: Do you aim to restate past ideas or come up with fresh ones?

Assuming that deliberate self-copying makes you cringe, then, to be creative, you’re going to have to step beyond your known universe and toward an indefinite future.
Maybe your ideas will soar; maybe they’ll sputter. How can you know where your intuition will lead?

You can’t.

And that’s one reason why so many people don’t create: The uncertainty of the process sends them fleeing toward the familiar.

For example, musicians who dread risk will devise conventional programs, improvise with shopworn licks, shy away from entrepreneurial projects, and otherwise languish.
Creative artists, by comparison, love venturing outside of their comfort zones. They know that their greatest discoveries will be found in uncharted waters, and they fearlessly set off in search of adventures. For them, the thought, “I don’t know,” echoes, “Let’s find out!”

Becoming a fearless creatorHere are five ways that aspiring musicians can embrace the mysteries of the creative process and become fearless creators.

1. Refine your goals Your big and small goals will interact either to fire your enthusiasm or douse your potential. Authentic long-term aims and specific daily objectives will spur you to work. In contrast, vague aspirations – such as to “get better” – can leave musicians unsure of what to practice.

2. Trust yourself As W.S. Merwin states, your accumulated knowledge matters. Still, your know-how isn’t your art; rather, it comprises the tools you use to create art. To innovate, then, you have to trust your abilities, dive into a task, and let go of worry about how things will turn out. Although you can’t know where your creativity will take you, by believing in yourself, you can be certain you’ll arrive somewhere meaningful. For instance, a trusting songwriter will decisively start composing a new piece, confident that the simple act of beginning will stir up ample material she can craft into a song.

3. Generate copious ideas If you want to scuttle your creativity, tell yourself to come up with brilliant insights exclusively. Then, your wellspring of ingenuity will become blocked by an inner critic. Conversely, to tap your reservoir of imagination, let yourself churn out an unfiltered stream of ideas; then, toy with them.

4. Experiment & evaluate playfully With a cache of ideas in hand, adopt a playful approach to separating out the valuable nuggets from the raw material. In the practice room, let’s say, you might record some passages, listen back, make revisions, record again, and so forth. Take pleasure in the possibilities you open up, pursue the ones that resonate, and set the others aside.

5. Persevere Some days you’ll enjoy a cascade of ideas and a flood of accomplishment; other days you could be snarled in difficulties. Nonetheless, creative achievement is typically built on piles of discards. So bring a tenacious attitude to your work. Perseverance and mental toughness are as vital to the creative process as are artistry and technique.

Overcome Stage Fright

Stage fright can turn the experience of performing in front of others into a nightmare of dread. Luckily, there are several things you can do to get over your fears and get on with the show. This page will give you some tips on How to Overcome Stage Fright.

You've probably felt it before—your palms are sweaty, your hands are shaking, and you have a mild feeling of nausea. Whether you're about to rock the crowd with your band or speak in front of a large audience, stage fright has a way of getting the better of even the most experienced performer. So how do you overcome the potentially crippling effects of your own jittery nerves? This post will help you figure out how to get over it.

Step 1: Know the Symptoms of Stage Fright
The first step to overcoming stage fright is to know what the signs are so that you can identify it when it happens. Symptoms of stage fright can include tightening of the throat, parched mouth, upset stomach, cold and quivering hands, trembling and rapid pulse. In addition, out of the ordinary emotions or physical occurrences can signify stage fright.

Step 2: Right Before You Hit the Stage
Be prepared. Make sure you're well rehearsed before your performance. You will only be more nervous if you don't feel completely ready to go. You might even try performing for a couple friends beforehand as a sort of dress

Eat right. Don't chow down on any greasy fast food beforehand. It might upset your stomach even without the anxiety of having to go on stage.

Warm up. Whether you sing, speak, or play an instrument, you should warm up before you perform. This will ensure you are comfortable and at 100% from the first note of the show (or the first word of your speech).

Stretching beforehand will help keep you lose, especially if you're playing an instrument.
Vocal warm-ups aren't just for singers; you can stretch out those vocal chords to get ready for speaking, too.

If there is no green room or backstage area at the venue, warm up at home before you leave.
Listen to music. Listening to music that will pump you up can help get you energized, confident, and in the zone. Conversely, listening to soothing music might be best to calm your nerves down.
Meditate. With meditation, it's all about the breathing. Learn some basic meditation techniques or other relaxation breathing exercises. This can help you focus while relieving tension.
Think positive. There's no reason to worry about mistakes. The more you think about messing up, the more likely you are to do it. Picture yourself succeeding and executing your performance flawlessly.

Exercise. Getting some exercise in beforehand can help you expend some of that nervous energy in a constructive way. Do some backstage push-ups or jumping jacks.

Do something silly. You're going to have to leave your inhibitions behind, so you can't worry about looking dumb. The best way to combat this insecurity is to do something that makes you feel silly or embarrassed backstage like making funny faces or dancing around. This can help you get over the feeling and realize that even making a fool of yourself isn't that bad.

Have a group pow-wow. If you're in a band or performing with a group of people, get together right before the show starts to help everyone get focused and on the same page.

Realize it's no biggie. Never forget that when it comes down to it, it's no big deal! You're there to have fun, and you will do your best. Even if it doesn't turn out to be your finest moment, it's not the end of the world.

Leave it all backstage. It's game time—are you ready? Take a deep breath. This is when you have to leave all your baggage behind and just go out there and do it!

Step 3: Once You're On Stage
There's no turning back, now... Hopefully you're relaxed enough at this point that everything goes smoothly.

Make eye contact. If it's appropriate to your performance, you should make a point to make eye contact with the audience.

For musicians and public speakers, eye contact is essential. For athletes and dancers, not so much.

Eye contact may seem distracting at first, but the more you do it, the more you'll get used to it. It is much better than staring at your feet or a script the whole time.

If you're in a dark club, try looking at the wall on the far end of the room. This way, you're looking up at the crowd, but you won't get distracted since you can't see any audience member's face from that distance. This only really works if there are people standing in the back, of course.
Relax even more. You may tense up again when you first get out there. Acknowledge it and let yourself relax again. Loosen up and move around a little. The crowd wants to see you succeed as much as you do, and they want to see that you're enjoying yourself.

Be conscious of your body language. Avoid nervous body language such as fidgeting and sticking your hands in your pockets. Being more animated will help you loosen up.

Band Flyers that WORK!

Good Flyer Designs

Flyer’s are a very effective method of promoting your nights to people offline, they also have an easy way of finding their way to your target audience by being left at Venues, Bars, Clubs (the usual places). Getting your Flyer’s to the right people is important, but getting people hooked into reading your flyer with interest can be difficult.

Planning is important when creating a flyer you have a few things to consider –
Flyer size – A4/A5/A6/A7 and Business Card size. When i started i went straight for the A5 size, until one day when someone give me a flyer advertising a car wash. This flyer was a5 aswell and i decided to keep hold of the flyer. I folded up, creased it and ripped it trying to get it into my pocket and when i did it went straight through the washing machine, i then had a light bulb moment. Why not make your flyer’s Business Card size? Now obviously this means all text, images and artwork have to be smaller, but if you design them to be double sided you shouldn’t have a problem. When handing out these flyer’s i noticed a lot of people slipping them straight into their wallet and i never changed back to a5. Not only did more people hang on to the flyer’s but they are also a lot cheaper to produce.

Color and Fonts – Lots to choose from, but i suggest you use the principle Keep It Simple Stupid. Nice Bold Text in an easy to read font and nice vibrant colors. I have seen many flyer’s with crazy looking fonts and unusual colors. I have good eye sight but i struggle to read some flyer’s, consider people who don’t have good eyesight if they cant read the text they wont know what your advertising. Another point i would like to make is that when you hand these flyer’s to people you are taking their attention away from their busy lifestyles, if they cant read the entire flyer within 20 seconds and make a decision whether to keep it or bin it, they will just throw is straight in the bin.

Images and Photos – These provide a good summary of what your flyer is about, i highly recommend you add some form of image to your flyer. If nothing else they make the flyer look more interesting. Be careful what images you use, make sure they are relevant to what your advertising.

Design for your Target Audience – If your designing a flyer for a Punk rock night then make sure it’s obvious in the color, font and design you use. Somebody should be able to walk past your flyer and have a rough idea what it’s about within a split second of looking at it.
Themes – Keep it topical! I once generated lots of interest for a gig purely by theming the flyer. The event was taking place next to Portsmouth Harbour used heavily by the navy. The Event night took place the day after the anniversary of D-Day, so i used a military theme. Purely by having a photograph of a navy boat on the flyer, they went like crazy!

Selling Points- Before you start designing your flyer you need to jot down 3 selling points, 3 points that will make people want to come to your event. Once you have these, you need to make sure these 3 points dominate your flyer design and can be clearly seen above everything else.

Include the important information – Once your flyer’s go to print there is no time to correct any errors. Make sure your flyer includes the following information. Venue, Venue Directions, Time, Dates, Participating Bands, Cost and any special discounts that the flyer offers.
Proof Read, Proof Read, Proof Read

Quick Tip: If you have room, always promote your other upcoming Gigs. If someone can’t make this one, they might be able to make the next one!

A simple summary is to use your common sense, make it attractive to as many people as possible and don’t forget people who might have disabilities