You’ve practiced your hearts out, night after night. Envisioned in your mind the kind of experience you want for your audience. Wrestled on paper and in rehearsals for the best placement of each song. Confident that you’ve got something worthwhile.

Amazing!
Lights go up.
It’s show time.

From the first chord, you take the crowd on an amazing roller coaster ride--visually, sonically and emotionally. They clap their hands, sing along, cry, laugh and get challenged to change. And, they want more. An encore! All because you have given them what they came for. An experience.

Isn’t that why we do this?

I hope so.

Now, let’s back that all the way up to the beginning. Before the beginning...

I would venture to say that most indie artists (the locals, the almosts, the up-and-comers) don’t often have this experience when we perform. Most of us just throw a set-list together moments before a show, hope we make it through the night without too many flubs, and shoe-gaze our way to the end. But thank God our music is so cool. People will just get it! (Ahem) How do I know? Because I’ve done that more times than I care to mention, and have painfully watched it from out in the crowd at many a friend’s show.

So, how have I changed that? How do WE change that?

Welcome to The Indie Road. For the first few articles, I’m going to be writing about performing--combing my own experiences along with some very helpful advice I’ve learned from live music producer, Tom Jackson. You can find out more about his services at onstagesuccess.com.

In this article, I’m going to go ahead and expose the BIG elephant under the rug that separates most indies from the “pros”.

Work.
If you can remember (or just scroll back up to the start of this page), the first thing I mentioned was practice. Night after night. Or day, in some cases. This is one of the most obvious and most critical details so often overlooked by everyone but the audience!

They see right through it. They are totally turned off by it. And, they are the ones we are trying to reach.

So how do we get better? Work the songs out, then work them over and over until the rough spots are smooth. Listen to each other. I can’t tell you how many times my bands would go into the studio to record, and in embarrassment, I’d say, “I didn’t know you played that!” Know it in your sleep. Did I mention, make sure they’re GREAT songs? Be willing to take constructive criticism from your band mates, and do what’s best for the songs. Egos can take a back seat. And stay.

After you and your band know your songs forward and backward, figure out what makes them so great, each and every song, and find ways to show that to the audience. To quote Tom Jackson, “Audiences are ignorant”. Meaning, they don’t know what they’re supposed to know, until you show them. Maybe it means extending a cool rhythm section, solo, or highlighting a vocal thing. Find those special moments, and figure out a way to invite the audience into them, and you’ll already be a step ahead!

Next comes the plan. Work out where each song will happen best within your set. How do you want each one to move people? Does it convey that? Video tape your practices and watch it back with the perspective of an audience member (not your mother, she’s already a fan). Do it better the next time, rinse and repeat.

I’ve often thought about which shows I've been to that really moved me, and I can tell you that Switchfoot has to be right up there with the best. Each time I’ve seen them live, I’m actually not paying attention to what chords are being played, what gear is being used, etc. Musicians, you know what I’m talking about. By the time their show is over, I’m completely worn out and elated over the experience!

Then, it hit me. That’s what I want to do! It doesn’t matter if I’m just a local guy in a band, a regional touring artist or doing this as a living. I just want to move people and leave them feeling, no, knowing they’ve just experienced something amazing! And it takes work. But, so does everything great.

We just started to dip our toes in the water here, but this could be, by a long stretch, the most important vehicle to getting you were you want to go with your music.

Say it with me one last time. W-O-R-K. Good. Let’s both get to it!