Forming a band - How to find musicians

Real life stories: Def Leppard
By the time Pyromania was being recorded, Def Leppard had held the acquaintance of Phil Collen for a while and had even jammed with him. Phil was in a glam band called Girl, but he took up with Leppard when the latter sacked Pete Willis for his alcohol problem.

(See the re-enactment on Hysteria: The Def Leppard Story)

Real life stories: Guns N' Roses
Ambitious bands tend to fall apart and reform in their early years. To hear drummer Steven Adler tell the tale, he and Slash played together in the early days and caught a show by a group called Hollywood Rose, featuring one W. Axl Rose and one Izzy Stradlin. Steven recounts, "I said to Slash, 'If we get that singer and that guitar player, we'll have a kick— band." And that's exactly what happened. Throw Duff McKagen into the mix, and you have the iconic (and best) lineup of Guns N' Roses.

(Hear the account on Guns N' Roses: Behind the Music.)

What to do
If you're already attending the venues where you hope to be playing in six months, then poaching bandmates shouldn't be too much of a step forward. If you're not, then you should be.

You can either be agressive and try to change the lineup of existing groups or be less agressive and just position yourself to pick up the pieces in case existing groups fall apart. Remember that musicians don't always have to leave their current bands behind in order to join yours. You should jam a number of times to test your compatability and build a rapport.

Wrecking an existant band is not a bad thing altogether. Pick from bands that are nothing special but which have one or two good elements. It's not impossible to find a rose growing in the dungheap. And if you do, that rose may only be staying with its current band because it knows of nowhere else to go.

It won't cost you a thing to approach your target musician after his/her set to talk shop. Get to know the other musicians and don't be afraid to just invite them to informal jams. It's okay to ask, "What do you think of the guys you're playing with?" or even to offer him/her a seat in your ensemble.

This has worked in the past, and it may work for you. Give someone an axe and some coaching, and you may successfully fill that hole in your lineup.

Real life stories: The Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols are probably an exception to a number of rules, but the fact is that both of their best-known members (Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious) were acquired this way:

Steve Jones and Paul Cook had Johnny Rotten, a non-musician, suggested to them for a singer by the proprietor of the haberdashery they frequented. (At least he's who they thought was recommended.) Later, Sid Vicious (who had been the singer actually in mind by aforementioned haberdasher) was enlisted to play bass, though his experience was as a drummer and he had no experience to speak of with a bass.

Real life stories: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Whether you love or hate Red Hot Chili Peppers, you probably know the name of their bass player, Flea. Flea took up bass at the request of crony Hillel (future co-member of RHCP) who required a bass player for his band at the time.

Running an ad in a periodical or e-listing is cheap (or free) and takes only a little bit of work. Reading the ads takes even less effort.

Real life stories: Mötley Crüe
When Mötley Crüe was looking for a guitarist, they looked in the classifieds rag called The Recycler. They found Mick Mars' ad, and the legendary foursome was solidified. &mdash!That was not Mick's first time running an ad or the first version of his ad. (The first ad he ran read, "Extraterrestrial guitarist available for any other aliens that want to conquer the Earth.")

(Hear the account on Mötley Crüe: VH1 Behind the Music.)

Real life stories: KISS
You might remember the wanted ad placed by to-be KISS drummer, Peter Criss, in Rolling Stone, October 1972: "Drummer willing to do anything to make it." A short ad that attracted the attention of Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons.

(Hear it on Family Guy episode "Road to Europe" or read the transcript.)">

What to do
If at first you don't succeed... try, try again. Maybe that drummer you're looking for didn't pick up the paper this week, or maybe you should change the wording of your ad to draw the notice of a different type of reader. Modify your ad and run different versions of it week after week.

Ads placed online should be different from ads in print. You've got lots of room to write online, so tell the reader about your style and goals. Nobody likes to label their sound, and real musicians don't like to confine themselves to a single genre. It's fine to say that in your ad, but also list a few artists or genres that have influenced you. Next week, list other bands or genres that have influenced you.

Regardless of whether you're in print or online, you need to grab attention quickly. Use short, pithy statements (or sentence fragments) at the start of your ad copy.

If you're not in a music-rich area, then it may be hard to find places to put your ad. Try the classifieds (wanted ads) of city, local, and college newspapers (even if you're not in the college). Try classifieds-only papers. Try craigslist. There are a number of musician-exchange websites out there as well, but as yet I have found no such community with a decent interchange.

If you are in a music rich area, then you may have to compete with a lot of other ads for the attention of readers. What's unique about musicians of your ilk? Pick something recondite and use it as a code that will attract only the attentions of the right kind of people: "Anyone else think Kerrang lost its way in 1991/1992?"

Real life stories:
If some reader knows a relatable, fairly well-known example of this coming off in real life, let me know, and I'll add it to the page (or start a lens of your own, and maybe I'll link to it).

What to do
Print them. When designing your flyer, be sure to include an image (even if it's hand drawn). Use coloured paper. Include tabs with your contact info (phone, email, or website) which can be ripped free by anyone who's interested. And of course, say who you are and what you want. E.g. "Rock startup seeks keys player. Influences: Pink Floyd, Tommy James, Billy Idol. Ages 14-20. Ambitions to gig bi-monthly."

Place them. Venues, music stores, and record stores often have bulletin boards. As the management if you may display your advert there. Need help finding venues that might attract musicians of your style? Do a local search online for places offering "open mic" nights or "live music." For music stores and record stores, use the yellow pages (if you can still find a copy) are pretty comprehensive.

Being in the biggest band in the world isn't going to be all that idyllic if your mates can't keep up.

Real life stories: Iron Maiden
Before Iron Maiden, bassist extraordinaire (and writer of the larger part of Maiden's material) Steven Harris was with a group called Gypsy's Kiss. Nicko McBrain tells the tale that Harris parted with them because they didn't care for the complexity of the material he wrote.

(Hear the account on Listen with Nicko Part I or read the transcript.)

Harris passed through at least one more band before forming Iron Maiden, which exemplifies that the journey mayn't be over even after you've made a bit of progress. Lather, rinse, and repeat.

What to do
I'm not saying you have to leave your current band or set your current bandmates adrift right off, but you do need to start the hunt for new and more competent musicians. Dedicate less time to playing with your less-competant mates; if you still play with them at all, let them be a purely recreational activity for you.

As a rule, there are two types of musicians: flakes and egomaniacs. To have a happy (and productive) band experience, you've got to find the exceptions, not the rule.

Real life stories: too many to recount
There are thousands of acts that fell apart or at least had to change their lineups because of members who missed practice, missed gigs, drank too much, or were just hard to work with.

If you're the only one in your coterie who isn't a flake or an ego, maybe someone's looking for you. The road to finding a workable group of musicians is arduous for most people, but mastering your axe is too; if you've done the latter, you have the mettle to do the former. Add to that an idea of how to go about finding musicians, and you're ahead of the pack.

What to do
If you identify that you're working with a flake or an ego, don't stay with them like the iconic housewife who thinks she can change her boorish husband. People become who they are through a lifetime of experience, and two or three years of your efforts are not going to turn that tide. Either you walk or you give them the brush-off.

There's a webcomic, "Toothpaste for Dinner," which ran a pretty accurate joke called "gifts for musicians". (I didn't embed it here because it contains profanity.) Here's the edited text:

Gifts for musicians:
1. A watch.
2. A —ing watch.
3. A —ing calendar so you can tell when we have practice.

rossbr (Street Artists in Glasgow 3)

For the following attributions, click the images themselves to visit the contributors' pages:

sanchopuntocom (Sex Pistols ¿?)
minnowbay (Guns N' Roses)
Luis Ramos (Iron Maiden en Lima)
posterize (Rock Guitar in Case)
MPR529 (Nikki & Tommy Lee)
Affendaddy (The Runaways)
Chris Blakeley (flier)