BACON BLOODY BACON: Matt Bacon on How To Break Your Band


So I was thinking about this recently as people are frequently asking what it takes to reach the next level of being a band. It’s a tricky question after all. What does a band need to do in order to break? There seems to be so many different possibilities and factors that could have a very real impact. Figuring this out is incredibly tricky and of course, if the formula was defined then everyone would do it. However, I wanted to distill four key points I see in bands from the underground scene who break. Remember – doing this is really goddamn hard and if you don’t manage to do them no one will think any less of you. So with this in mind, here are the key things you need to do to elevate your band.

via GIPHY

4. Play 200 shows a year

When I look at bands around the underground who have very outside sounds and who have made it they almost all got their start by crisscrossing the country playing hundreds of shows a year. Even now some of the shows bigger bands like Primitive Man play are DIY shows but that’s part of the fun. You

need to be extremely active on the road for a long time for things to start to pay off. There are no bands who break doing a single two week tour every year. You have to spend a long time playing empty rooms before the word starts to get out. There are of course strategies you can partake in to make these shows better though. The main one of course is that you need to…

3. Give Back To The Scene

If you look at bands who really grind it out on the road they almost all have a way of giving back to the scene. This can be like Dylan from Full of Hell who prints merch. Or you can be like the band Deadly Apples who have their own festival up in Canada. Whatever it is, there needs to be a way for you to connect with the people in your scene and to be able to push connections. Otherwise when you are out there trying to book all these tours then you are just shooting yourself in the foot. No one will have a point of connection to you and thus won’t care.

2. Refine Your Music And Live Show To Perfection

This is maybe the most important and intangible step. If your frontperson isn’t top-notch then you’re screwed. If your songs drag on too long, then you’re screwed. If you aren’t fun to watch on stage then no one will care. This is what makes this whole thing so difficult. There are these intangible factors you need to figure out. One of the best ways to handle this though is to hire a great producer, they can really help you to figure out a more thoughtful approach to your songwriting. Spending a lot of time talking with other bands about how you can refine your live show will help too – this is part of why consuming live music is so important for bands trying to define themselves.

1. Hustle All Day On Social

I left this one for last since it is the one you have the most direct influence over. If you post a lot and focus on creating a cool and clear narrative for your band then people are going to start paying attention. The issue is of course that you need to have an excellent product in order to make sure that all your hard work on social pays off. Still, there are a lot of bands who can get surprisingly far just by being good online. If you can invest the time to focus on this and develop your following then things will start to happen. This doesn’t mean posting a week. This means posting multiple times a day across multiple platforms because THIS is how you start to get the word out in 2019.

MATT BACON

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Matt Bacon is a consultant, A&R man, and journalist specializing in the world of heavy metal. Having worked with everyone from Glam Rock icon Phil Collen of Def Leppard, to post Black Metal titans Alcest, by way of legendary thrashers Exhorder as well as labels including Prophecy Productions and Ripple Music, he has dedicated his life to helping young bands develop. Having started his own blog at the age of 14 he views his career in artist development as ‘a hobby that got out of hand’. In 2015 he formed Dropout Media in order to better support the artists he loves. We sit here now, years later with countless tours booked, records released and deals signed, and loving every minute of it.

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