Franklin's Garage to Stage
All things starting a musical band. From garage to stage getting your band going and beyond.
Interviews with musician's, Producers, club owners, recording artist's and others in field of recording or performing.
Discussions on pitfalls to avoid and what works from personal and other's experiences.
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dana@franklinsgaragetostage.com
Franklin's Garage to Stage
From Rehearsal Spaces to Stage Triumphs
The episode reflects on key insights from previous discussions, emphasizing the importance of rehearsal spaces, auditioning musicians, and band dynamics. Rob and Dana explore the significance of image in music versus musicianship, encouraging aspiring musicians to engage with their passion genuinely.
• Recap of previous guest insights
• Importance of secure rehearsal environments
• Strategies for successful auditions
• Establishing band goals and identity
• Approaching rehearsals with professionalism
• Tips for recovering from mistakes during live performances
• Discussion on the role of band image versus musicianship
• Call for new guest musicians in Season 2
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https://franklinsgaragetostage.buzzsprout.com
https://franklinsgaragetostage.com
Hello and welcome to Franklin's Garage to Stage podcast. My name is Rob Franklin and my co-host is my friend, brother and fellow musician. Who are you man?
Speaker 2:Dana Franklin, otherwise known as Thunder Bass. There you go.
Speaker 1:I'm doing really well. A little upset about practice yesterday because I wasn't on my game, but you know it takes a while.
Speaker 2:Even a bad practice is a good day.
Speaker 1:That's true, it's very true. Well, this episode is basically a recap of our previous episode. This is our end of season one and in 2025, we're going to start season two. But first I want to thank our two guests that we've had on our show, which is John Franklin and Eric Bogumil. They contributed and they did a great job and it was great to hear from them. One's a brother and one's a fellow musician that we jammed with for a while. Dana, what do you have to say about those two guys?
Speaker 2:Well, you know it's always good to get you know different people's insight on what's going on in the music world right now, and you know to hear it from someone that goes and sees a lot of shows as opposed to somebody that's actually participating in a band. It's good to see the contrast of you know what's going on, because obviously the music scene out there now is a whole lot different than it was, you know, 40 years ago when we were doing our thing a lot. So it's interesting to see the changes. And you know good and bad. You know I look at it as, like you know, you can't stop progress. But you know the 80s and 90s were they were fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they were Definitely.
Speaker 2:It's a different animal out there right now, but it's all good.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, I want to put a request out there also If you're in a band, or if you're a sound person, a sound engineer, we'd really like to have you as a guest on our Season 2 episodes. So please get us your information and we'll contact you. So please get us your information and we'll contact you. And if you're in a band, we're more than happy to supply your MP3s and your band information on our website. So free publicity is a good thing, huh, dana.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. Who can turn that down?
Speaker 1:It's all about social media these days, so it's a good thing to get with any additional information out there you can.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're kind of new to this whole social media stuff, so if there's anybody out there that can give us some tips on how to better deal with it. We'll take those comments too good or bad. Let us know.
Speaker 1:Cool, cool. Okay, so the first thing we want to recap on from our previous episodes is basically auditioning and having a place to play. It really depends on kind of your financial situation to begin with. I mean, I know we're called from garage to stage but to tell you the truth, I've never really done the garage thing to stage. But to tell you the truth, I've never really done the garage thing. It's always either been a storage unit, a rehearsal place that's established by companies, or in a house. But in my opinion, the best place to do it is in a rehearsal spot. That's what their business is. Rehearsal spot, that's like. That's what their business is.
Speaker 1:Um, one of my successful bands in sacramento was rehearsed at a place called sacramento rehearsal and it was kind of a not only sacramento but they were kind of a bay area company. And not only was it secure, where you had to have a, you know, a, a card key kind of thing to enter, but a gate entrance and all that kind of thing. So it was secure, it was climate controlled, had restrooms and all those kind of things. So it's kind of the best scenario. But it all kind of depends on your financial situation. But as far as I'm concerned, that's the best route to go. What do you think?
Speaker 2:didn't you say that one that you played out in sacramento? Now it was also soundproof too, right?
Speaker 1:yeah, in every room was soundproof and some rooms had roll-up doors where you could just back up your you know cars, trucks or whatever you had to get your equipment to a show. So but you know, you know the rates vary. Nowadays they're a little bit more expensive, but back in the day we were at this place it was, you know, less than 500 bucks a month, and if you're playing every weekend, you know you can handle a place like that and it's nice to have a place.
Speaker 1:you know where you can go out, you know you can go to the restroom, you know it's climate controlled. You don't have to worry about all that shit.
Speaker 2:Be able to back up the U-Haul or set trucks to load everything up and unload Exactly. That'd be really nice.
Speaker 1:So I mean, that's my preference, but I know, financially if you're not able to do something like that, you may have to do it in a home. But then you have to consider neighbors, the proximity to your neighbors and things like that. We've also done storage unit type thing. As long as there's climate control, that works pretty well too.
Speaker 2:But then you have to worry about security who has access to the room and things like that? Yeah, and other bands playing at the same time yeah and sound travels through the walls. Not as soundproof, so you're listening and hearing everything that's going on two doors down from you, exactly. If you're a band that plays at a low volume to hear yourself, and all of a sudden you've got a screamo band next to you, I think that could make for a bad experience, which we kind of experienced yesterday actually. Exactly.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you've got your location, like we've talked about. Okay, so, whether it be a garage, a storage unit, a established rehearsal spot, kind of, the next step is like auditioning. If you haven't already done so, so you really need to audition people. So the best steps for that are what would you? What would you say, dana?
Speaker 2:for auditioning people. Well, if you're, if you're the ones that are getting the band going and you're looking to audition people, you know, like we've mentioned before, there's tons of social media sites now that you can. You know, advertise on um, you know, local music stores, or you know, once you find the people, you know this is this is kind of where the area gets great. It's like you really, you know I think you mentioned once and I think it's a great idea is, you know, before you even go and practice with these people, it's like just meet somewhere, you know, go meet at a restaurant or a bar and hang out for half an hour just to see if you guys even get along, before you waste, waste the time on practice because, you know, 10 minutes into you might realize like, hey, you know, you're just not what I'm looking for.
Speaker 2:Vice versa, they could be like, yeah, no, this isn't going to work out. So I mean, excuse me, personality is it's gonna, it's gonna make or break the band. I mean, you can have five guys that are all great musicians, but they don't get along. So you know that doesn't do you any good. So, yeah, I would highly suggest some kind of meeting ahead of time to uh, you know, just feel everybody out, see what everybody's all about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, good point, good point. Okay, dude, we talked about you know getting people. You know you've met them in a bar or whatever and you're getting ready to go practice, get into a practice place and then you want to really determine what kind of genre number one you're going to play, what kind of set you're going to do, are you going to play what kind of song? I mean what kind of sets you're going to do. Are you going to be long sets and short sets? Are you primarily focused on playing to a particular group of people, or you know, basically, how you're going to set up your practices? In your opinion, what's a good way to the the format that?
Speaker 2:yeah, I. I guess the the first big question would be you know how does everybody feel about you? Are you going to be strictly a cover band or are you going to be an original band? Are you going to kind of be a hybrid between both of them and try to do both? I mean, it's one of those things where I think, once again, this is two different scenarios and two whole different animals. You can be a great cover band or you can be a great original band. To try to do both, I think it's hard, unless you're just starting out and you know you want to do a couple of originals, just so people recognize something that you're doing. Um, but you know that's one thing you really got to decide on. You know in the beginning is you know which, know which which. What's your final destination?
Speaker 1:you know what are your goals what are you going to focus on exactly?
Speaker 2:yeah, because you know if you're going to be a cover band, then you know you can spend all your time, you know, trying to figure out, okay, what songs you know. Not only do you want to do, but what are the. You know the places you're going to play. What are the people want to hear hear? For your cover band, it's not all about you, it's what the people want to hear, whether you like it or not, whereas an original band, it's going to be your stuff. You're representing yourself and you're showing your style and influence on what you're doing and not trying to copy somebody else. So that's a discussion that you definitely have to have during those first couple of practices.
Speaker 1:And I know what we've run into a lot is having a vocalist join later. So ironing out those songs previous to having a vocalist, I think is kind of a good thing actually, because you're getting a good foundation for your songs before you bring in a vocalist, which could be a good thing, I believe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a great thing. Like you said, with a couple of those bands that we were in we'd play for three or four months before we got a vocalist, so our musically was tight and we weren't relying on when the vocalist came in and lyrics.
Speaker 2:We knew where all the changes were, whereas, you know, recently some of the other projects we've been trying, it's like, you know, we had a vocalist from day one, so all of a sudden they don't show up when we try playing. We were so reliant on the vocalist coming in that, you know we had to really think like, oh wow, how does you know where's our changes and how do the progressions go?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a bad habit to get into too, keying off somebody else rather than just concentrating on your part. Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 2:You know they come in even one measure late, then it really throws everything off and you've got to think, okay, are we going to play that extra measure, or are we going to just cut him off? You've got to be on the same page.
Speaker 1:Exactly. Well, another thing we need to talk about, too is like okay, we've talked about, you know, getting the people in. You know we've auditioned them. How do we control rehearsals? I mean, do we establish a timeframe they have to be there in, or um, and the amount of times you're going to show up and you're within like a week or two, or what's your opinion on how we should establish that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, my opinion personally is, you know you got to, you got to approach it almost as a job it's. You know, it all depends how serious you really want to be, which, you know, these are all things you can discuss in that, you know, first meeting, maybe, first practice. You know, is this something just fun to do, that you want to just hang out on the weekends and throw a couple of jams together and, you know, maybe play out if you get to that point, or is it something where it's like, yeah, I work a full-time job but you know, I can practice three nights a week still because I, you know, I really want to do this. Um, so, depending on how, how serious everybody is about it, you know that's gonna play a big toll on you know where you're going and what practice is going to be like.
Speaker 2:But, like I said, personally, I think you know, even if you're only going to practice once a week, you can be like, okay, we're going to practice every Friday from six to nine and we're going to go through the set list. So, you know, do your homework before you come to practice, you know. Know the songs, don't use rehearsal time as your practice time. You know you should be practicing the stuff at home and at least have a good idea of you, know what's going on in the song and what you're, what you guys are doing you know, before you even show up for rehearsal cool good point.
Speaker 1:Another thing is um, I've always been a real opponent or proponent of uh practicing the way you play live. I know a lot of times, depending on you know, obviously, your rehearsal spot, you may not be able to rehearse at the same volume that you play out live, but I've always been. Really I really like the emphasis on playing at your practice the same way you play live, because once you play live, if you're not at the same volumes volumes when you go to play live, all of a sudden it's a shock to everybody that different volume levels and it's it's kind of tough on not only you but uh the pa. You know person handling the pa and all that as well. So what do you think about it?
Speaker 2:no, I agree 100. I mean it's not a. It wouldn't be a bad thing to maybe once a month do a rehearsal and I've heard this from other musicians do a rehearsal at a really low volume so you can really hear what's going on and if there's like some real subtle changes or time changes, you can hear what everybody's doing. If you're doing it at a low volume, but I like the idea of practicing as if you're playing live, you know especially me being a drummer.
Speaker 1:I mean, I like to hit the hit the kit at the same volume. I'm going to do it live, because if you're practicing at a different level, I think it's going to come across in your live performances as not being. You know, you're not really gelling with the other musicians if you're not really gelling with the other musicians, if you're not doing it the same way you did it in practice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I agree, especially as being a bass player and you being the drummer, it's like you know, I got to feel that bass drum.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:I got to feel what you're doing. It's like you know, if you're just, you know, just kind of tapping it, then yeah that doesn't work for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that, yeah, that doesn't work for me. Yeah, when I'm at a live show, I mean I want to feel that that kick in my chest I mean I'm sure everybody else is too I mean something to stomp your feet to. Is that that's really what you want to hear when you're going to a live show?
Speaker 2:yeah, exactly okay, dana.
Speaker 1:I think another thing we need to talk about is okay, you, you've rehearsed, you've had good practices, you're getting ready to play out, and you play out and mistakes happen. What's a good way to not only cover them, but to recover from mistakes?
Speaker 2:yeah, that's. Uh, you know, and like, yeah, like we, like we've said, every, every band goes through this.
Speaker 2:I don't care how professional you are, how long you been playing exactly I mean, you know we've been in bands together that have been together for two, three, four years, and you know it happens. Uh, and in bands together that have been together for two, three, four years, and you know it happens. And I guess the longer you play together you figure out how to cover up for somebody else. So that's, you know that is a really good question.
Speaker 2:I know, you know, as a bass player, if I hear the guitar player doing something totally different, but I know that it's. You know he just came into progression either late or early, you know I'll just follow his lead as long as I know that the drummer and everybody else is in sync. You know he's kind of, you know, tilt your head without making it too obvious. And you know, maybe, as you're on stage, you know you're strolling over, you're running over, you're doing your stage thing and you just make it look as if, like, you're going over to that person and you know you're just kind of like looking at each other, like, okay, do we know? Are we on the same page?
Speaker 1:now, what the fuck? Well, I know as a drummer, I know as a drummer, a lot of times what I would do is just kick, keep the kick pattern going and then kind of fall back into the groove with my snare when if I missed, if I missed the section, you know.
Speaker 2:So it's tough sometimes to recover as a yeah, and as a guitar player or bass guitar, but even as being, you know, one of the guitar players. It's like if I know I'm. Just all of a sudden I feel like I'm lost and I totally forgot something. I'll just play like really lightly and maybe just hit some root notes, you know, just pretend like maybe that's even part of the thing until I figure out where the hell I'm at.
Speaker 1:I know you've always been. You've always been great at it, cause I very seldom heard mistakes from you, and if they were, there.
Speaker 2:They weren't noticed. Like I said, it's you know and and what I've heard from other people, especially, you know, people that are watching you. Unless it's a cover song that you're doing note for note, they're not even going to notice it.
Speaker 1:You're going to notice it more than them, so it's just a matter of you not making it look as if you made a mistake.
Speaker 2:You almost got to be an actor and just play it off as if like, oh yeah, that was a cool little thing I was just throwing in there.
Speaker 1:Good point, and you know what I've noticed. I mean, I'm sure a lot of other musicians have felt this way as well, but some of my best shows you get the least amount of compliments. Your worst shows, you get the most compliments. And I've never really understood that. I really haven't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think a lot of it is. Also, you know who's who's in the audience, you know what kind of people do you have?
Speaker 2:Of course Do you have more musicians in the audience, or or is it family members and just friends that you know? They don't know what the hell you're playing and you know less like, unless you're going into the right key or the wrong key or you come in early or late on some progression. But the musicians, if they know that song or particularly what you're doing, they'll notice any little mistakes you make. But they're also the first ones to compliment other musicians. If you're on, they're going to be like damn dude, that was a fucking great show. Yeah, very true, most musicians we're all to be like damn dude that was a fucking great show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, very true.
Speaker 2:Most musicians. We're all a small family out in the world and we're not going to go and berate anybody, unless you're just an asshole.
Speaker 1:If you're one of those kind of musicians.
Speaker 2:You're just doing it because you're jealous that those particular people are on stage and you're not. And with that kind of attitude they'll probably never be on a stage.
Speaker 1:Very true, not, and with that kind of attitude, they'll probably never be on the stage, very true? Well, speaking of other musicians, please do send us your information. If you're just starting in a band or if you're in an established band, if you've got 20 cds out, regardless of your situation, please get a hold of us if you want to be on the show and we will. We'll definitely support your, your website or whatever mp3s out there you have, so please contact us and we'd love to have you on our show. Okay, dana, what else do we need to talk about here? We're recapping last season, so what else have we talked about in previous episodes that we need to step on today?
Speaker 2:I think another one is image, you know. I think another one is you know, image it's. You know, when we were talking with our other guests, you know our brother John, he said the first thing that he notices is what the band looks like. You know.
Speaker 2:I kind of disagree with that because I do too actually he said oh, there's a bunch of bald guys up there. Well, you know, you look at Joe Satriani, wolf Hoffman from Accept. I mean, they're all bald dudes. I mean a lot of the good guitar players out there now that are aging. I mean, you know, we've all lost our hair.
Speaker 2:I mean, if you're a 20-something band and you're looking for that, you know metal and you still want the long hair and maybe even throwing you know, throwing some of the gothic makeup and stuff like that on there, then, hey, I understand. If you're doing image as a whole, the whole band, I agree.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately, I used to feel that way as well. Unfortunately, I did feel that way at one point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we definitely were doing that the whole time. At one time my hair hair down to my ass and I refused to cut it because no matter what job or what it's like, no, I've got to keep the image for the band.
Speaker 2:That was a huge thing. I totally understand the bands that are are still doing that, um, but that's one thing you got to agree with with all all your other fan, other other, your fellow bandmates. It's like you know what? What are we? What are we looking for as far as an image is? Are we going to have an image? We're just going to do street style jeans and shirts or, you know, leather? I mean, where are we going with it? So that's something I talked about yeah, in my opinion.
Speaker 1:I mean nowadays it's more about social media than it really is about. Like. Back in the day it was flyers with pictures of you and you know image was a huge thing. I think nowadays, to me, what's more important is your musicianship. Are you a good musician? That's what I listen for when I go see other bands oh, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I don't give a shit what they look like. You know, I've I've listened to hundreds of bands on spotify. I have no idea what they look like exactly you know, and I don't care because they're great musicians. You know it means you know. I always use the, the band volbeat, as one of my examples now because you know, first time I saw what they really look like, I was surprised. They looked like a bunch of you know yuppies and you know guys with short hair, but they kick ass and I love their music.
Speaker 2:So it's like you know. I don't you know, unless you're a particular doing a particular genre and you want to look a particular way, I I don't think image is as big of a deal as it was in the 80s I don't think so either.
Speaker 2:I really don't well, another thing about musicians. I just want to throw this and there's like, you know, enjoy the ride, you know, when you're doing it, enjoy every practice. And I mean I, I love going to practice. It's, you know, I I never say it's like I just don't feel like doing it. You know, like some people might have practiced if they're, you know, if they're, you know, professional athletes and like, yeah, I just don't feel like you know, but musician, I just I can't wait to go to practice. I mean it's just not only is it just an outlet, but it's just like I love.
Speaker 2:You know, I love the feel of playing music. I mean, hearing it and playing it are two different things. And I just I love hearing that. You know that bass drum in my chest and you know, and the guitars and everything, I mean there's no feeling like it. And once you get to the point where you're playing in front of people and you hear people cheering for you, especially if you're an original band and they love your music that you created, there's no drug that can replicate that.
Speaker 1:That's an excellent, excellent point. And your musicianship shows that as well, because when you play, even at practice, I mean you're always on point. And you know, your musicianship shows that as well, because when you play, even at practice, I mean you're always on point and I think that's really, really important. If you're not feeling it, I mean maybe musicianship isn't what your goal should be, because you really have to love it. I mean, in order to be a good musician, you have to feel the music. I mean feel the, you know what you're doing and be able to perform it like you enjoy it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and going back to a point that you said earlier about practicing as if, like you're playing live. Another good point would be when you're practicing, you see so many guitar players and bass players and maybe even vocalists looking at iPads trying to figure out the lyrics, or guitar players and bass players and maybe you know even vocalists looking at ipads, you know, trying to figure out the lyrics, or guitar players and bass players, always looking at the neck, at the notes that you're playing. It's like you know practice as if you know you want to interact with the crowd.
Speaker 2:You can't do that if you're always looking at your, you know, fretboard or keyboard or whatever you know your choice of instrument is like you know, yeah, you're gonna make mistakes until you get a feel for everything you're playing. But you know you look at these professional guys out there that have been on tour forever. It's like you know they're interacting with the crowd. They're looking up the crowds, you know. Maybe during the solo they might be doing some little bit of glancing, but for the most part their heads are always up looking at the crowd all right, I I think that comes across too.
Speaker 1:I mean how you feel it's going to come across to the crowd? I mean I enjoy shows where I see musicians, like looking at each other, laughing, you know interacting with the crowd, like you said.
Speaker 2:I mean it's a totally different feeling you have for that show than bands that just stand there and then play and, you know, don't express any feelings yeah, if you're just standing there playing and looking at what you're doing because you don't feel comfortable not looking at it, you know that takes you away from running around on stage. You know doing all the stuff that the audience wants to see exactly you're there you know you're there for them.
Speaker 2:I mean they're they paid, or they're they're paying buying beer or whatever they're doing to come see you. It's like you know you got to give them a show. You know you're. It's a, it's a performance. It's not. It's not practice, it's a performance.
Speaker 1:So it is, it is worth.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, thank you everybody. This has been a just a kind of a minor recap of what we covered in episode one. Like we said, episode or season two, we really want to cover more of the playing out in the clubs aspect of it all, as far as, uh, working with a sound engineer or working with the bar owners and basically getting gigs. So if you're involved in any aspect of that in your band, like I said, please get us your contact information and and help us with these episodes. Being a guest, dana, what do you think?
Speaker 2:Cool, I, I, I like everything you just said. And the more, the more info we get from everybody, the more we can spread the word. And I mean, you know we're doing this to help out other musicians, know we're not getting paid for this, it's, you know, it's not like we're sitting at home.
Speaker 2:Just, you know, getting money for this. We're doing this to help anybody. It's it's in the situation that we were at or that's, you know, looking to get something started, or even if you've gotten started, it's like you know, and we'll talk about that next year with our new episodes. As far as legal stuff that goes into it studio time and now that you are out of the garage and you're playing live, okay, well, now you've got another whole set of stuff to think about, exactly, and we'll discuss that next season.
Speaker 1:Sounds good. Sounds good. Hey, well, I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas, if that's what you celebrate, and a happy new year. And Dan, thank you. And I want to thank everybody out there that's that's been a loyal listener and our to our two previous guests. I want to thank them and please do visit us on season two. Cool, keep the music alive. People All right, and please do visit us on season two.
Speaker 2:Cool. Keep the music alive, people.
Speaker 1:All right, Thank you everybody. Bye.
