Kalcium
As a songwriter I have found I tend to write all sorts of songs that would fit in various genres. But lately I've been wondering if I shouldn't write more genre-specific songs to go together...cause if your band performs 16 songs of 10 different genres you might find everyone has only 1 or 2 songs they like which wouldn't bring them to see you again. Whereas if you had most of your songs sounding more in line with each other, not necessarily limited to 1 genre but more or less in the same vein, while half the people there might not like any of your songs, the ones that do will like your band on the whole and want to see you perform again/follow you and show loyalty...
Any thoughts on this? And at what point do you end up playing 15 of the same songs as opposed to 15 completely different songs, how different but similar can you be to keep the audience interested and wondering whats coming next without thinking they're now watching a reggae band and what happened to their uptempo rock?
Manfred-Klose
it worked for ACDC and Rolling Stones ?
i think its good to have a focus point of the type of music you want to play, but there should always be room for new ideas.
and 1 or 2 different type of song a set wont kill anyone.
AlanRatcliffe
You do need focus, for the reasons you mention. Put the songs that don't quite fit aside for other projects you might do later with other people or by yourself.
FruitarGeek
Well, have you heard of the KONGOS?
If so, what do you think of them? Many people like, nay, LOVE them, and their set is as diverse as it comes. You can here anything ranging from solid grunge, traditional african (and pop african), hip hop, ballads, plain pop etc.
I guess in the end of the day, its not about how many songs you have, but what the quality of each and every song is. However, people do tend to prefer bands who play within the genre. I dont think Led Zeppelin would have gone as far as they did if they did some reggae too haha
Kalcium
Thanks for the replies. I have only heard a few KONGOS tracks and quite liked them, but I tend to quite a wide range of music, which is probably why I tend to write all over the place...
I suppose if you are going to have a lot of very different songs it helps to have some common denominator that people can hold on to through the set...but definitely need to start aiming for at least a rough sound definition...
Thanks again ?
AlanRatcliffe
If you are going commercial, it's pretty crucial - the first thing a record company exec is going to want to know is what genre the band will be filed under in stores and on sites and what radio stations they can pitch you to. They get nervous if they can't categorise you easily.
Those of us that like variety in the music and bands we listen to (or even in the same song) are relatively rare... Writing in different styles is a very valuable skill though, so keep up on that side, even if you are not using them with your current band. If you can reach the point where you are writing parts specifically for particular band members, you will have a very marketable skill indeed.
DonovanB
There is nothing stopping you from writing for other people in different genres.
You might find that out of 20 songs, the majority fit a certain genre. Pick that one unless they all suck. ?
Kalcium
Alan Ratcliffe wrote:
If you can reach the point where you are writing parts specifically for particular band members, you will have a very marketable skill indeed.
Donovan Banks wrote:
There is nothing stopping you from writing for other people in different genres.
Both of these are things I would definitely be interested in doing as a part time thing, even writing jingles and things for ads but how does one get involved with these kinds of things? Would you approach a record label with a song which they could then decide to give to a band they've signed that fits that style?
AlanRatcliffe
It's probably more who you know, so network, network, network - same as most opportunities in the music industry.
The direct approach seldom works, you have to work your way up by putting yourself out there doing everything that comes your way, build up a rep, make friends and prove yourself along the way. Eventually opportunity will come knocking when the "go-to" guys are all busy and someone involved remembers you.
Find out who the go to guys are and try and get in with them somehow. Work with unknowns at film, ad and music schools and as they come up, you come up with them.
