10 things every band should have

10 things which every band should have

Forming a band is very easy, but forming a good band needs many things at the level of perfection. Now a days you will see many people forming a band without even learning the basics of musics because they are attracted to the lifestyle of musicians not with the music. According to me, it doesn’t matter how small or big the gig is, you should always give your best because the people standing in front of you are expecting a performance from you, not a  jamming session on stage. I am not saying that you should perform without making a single note mistake because some bands who are the pioneers of metal genres have also made mistakes on stage and that’s fine, but going on stage with no idea of sound, song structure, without proper jamming, can make you a piece of mockery on stage.  

Nowadays, making a Facebook page of your band is considered much more necessary than making OCs. But all the successful bands have a few things in common. So through this blog, I want to share the 10 most important things a band must have

        

Friends before bandmates

Before a jamming session, before deciding on the playlist, before your first OC, the very initial things a band needs is friendship. When you will see the great bands, you will notice the strong bond of friendship or what we can call brotherhood they have. Imagine a situation when you have a great band with professional musicians, but one of your guitarists hates your bassist like the election results of USA and imagine another situation where you have mediocre musicians in your band but they have a very strong bond of brotherhood between themselves. Now tell me which band will have more sustainability? Obviously, the second band because they knew how to hold each other’s back in even difficult situations.  

Understanding

A good understanding between the bandmates is very much necessary because it will have an impact on every single aspect of a band like performance, jamming, OCs etc. A better understanding allows the member of the bands to know the weaknesses and strengths of each other and instead of shouting on their weaknesses, they utilize the strength of their musicians and allow them to work individually on their gaps. 

  

Music Taste

A good band should have a common music taste and here while talking about music taste, I am not talking about what you listen but what comes out of your musical instrument or voice. I am mentioning this because we listen  and cover different genres according to our taste, but being a musician, we are able to produce something unique in some specific genres only and that’s not a limitation, but that’s the quality of musicians, as said by Jimmy page “I believe every guitar player inherently has something unique about their playing. They just have to identify what makes them different and develop it”. If in a band, the guitarist composes blues, bassist composes hard rock, drummer composes metalcore and the vocalist sing thrash metal, then your OC will become “Core Rock Blues Thrash”

Dedication

Dedication of every band member is the key to become successful. Even if one of your band member considers music as a part time hobby in his life, it will have an effect on your whole band. I have seen many band members saying that they don’t know how long their band will continue or they have any future or not, dude, it’s your band, you can shape the future of your band and make it last for a lifetime, but just because you consider your band as a formality or a way of getting publicity, such nonsense things comes out of your mouth. Every band member should have only one thing in mind “Music for life”. They should see themselves performing on stage, even after 10 years from now.  I am not saying that you should leave your job, skip the responsibility of your family and just sit with your guitar and band 24*7 but then you need to give ample amount of time for your passion and aim of life.

Stage Act

Anyone doesn’t go to a gig to listen to a song which he could listen on his headphone with the comfort of his home, they go out in the huge crowd gathering to see a stage act. Imagine a situation where you see a band performing a song live exactly like the studio recording, but without moving an inch from their position or without cheering the whole crowd for the next song, isn’t that boring. Yes it is and that’s why fast tempo of songs, running to different corners of the stage, jumping in the crowd and even biting a bat’s head off  (that can only be done by our prince of darkness ozzy) is done on the stage by the great bands to cheer the crowd and make the place alive. Every band has its unique way of performing on stage and you should perform like the song of Pearl Jam “I am still alive”      

Contribution

The contribution of each band member is very much necessary and let’s talk about it in detail.  I have seen many guitarists of a band explaining the notes to a bassist which he needs to play in their next oc and that’s good because you are helping your band member but it will wipe out the uniqueness of your song as every mind is different and you could miss the unique bass line which could have done wonders to your song if your bassist has composed it. Yes a guitarist can also play a bass, but there is a reason why there is a bassist in a band he only he plays bass in your band. Contribution of each band member is necessary to make a band perfect. Allow your band members to explore their talent instead of guiding each note on their instrument.  

Covers at the starting phase

Doing covers is very much necessary to check the fluency of each band member. It helps your band members to gel in with each other. All the great bands have started with covers and the same thing applies for you also. Don’t ever think of doing an OCs at an early phase of your band when you have just started jamming. While covering a song, everyone will be clear about their portion (whether it is bassline, drumtrack, vocals or solo) which will allow each of your band members to understand the style, range and limit of playing and singing of each other.   

Good musicians at individual level

Before joining or forming a band, the first thing which you need to ask yourself is“Whether I am a good musician at individual level or not?” because a good band requires good musicians at an individual level. I have seen many musicians performing on stage who still need to practice at home for at least 7-8 hours a day, but because they are hungry for the stage, they just jump in. So don’t rush for forming a band, practice at your home first and if you find yourself good enough for a band then go for it. 

OC (own composition)

OC for a band is as important as pinch harmonics for Zakk Wylde (no harsh feelings, I am a big fan of Zakk Wylde). OC shows the uniqueness of the band, its quality and it has the power to bring the most influential change in the world. I am not saying that cover bands are not great, but there is a limit to which they can grow because if you will search on the internet, you will find many people covering songs of the great bands with perfection. It is not only about becoming big in the industry, but binding yourself to cover songs hides your unique portion of musicality which could have done wonders. Covers are good till a point where you get stage experience, gel in with each other, after that you need to move on and start composing your own songs.    

So, this post is not about the guidelines of forming a band, it is just about the common things which every band needs to have. Practice, dedicate your life to music and come out as a revolution in the music scene.

Demonetisation: it all started in 2014

The bold move of demonetisation, taken by our great PM Narendra Modi is having mixed reaction from all over India. While some people are saying that it is causing chaos for the common man and will increase the bribe and black money, while most of the people are supporting this historic decision. But it will remain as one of the most effective move against black money in India for many ages. Some of the politicians, who have collected and saved a gigantic amount of black money in cash are coming on the camera and making baseless reasons to remove this ban. Some of the politicians are saying that our PM could have given ample amount of time and should have announced this step a bit earlier. It’s like saying, you should have informed the thief before catching them, so that they could have got time to escape.

But this decision was not made in a month or two, it took 2 years for finally implementing this decision. We can see the roots of this decision back in the year 2014, when the government added issuing of adhar card in their list of priorities and then took further strong steps to finally reach at the present stage. This step involved three major things, an identity proof, a bank account and statement of black money and our government took care of these things, one by one in a well structured manner. So let’s see how demonetisation was implemented with step by step process in these two years.

An identity proof for everyone

It all started in the month of June, 2014, when the cabinet committee on Adhar was disbanded. Adhar card was not a new concept, it was started in the year 2010 but its implementation was a failure. The new government of BJP restructured the system of issuing Adhar to cover everyone in India and PM Narednra Modi set deadline for universal enrollment till December 2015 and with the new structure and process of Adhar card issuing, the new government was able to increase the number of people with Adhar card from 50 crore to 107 crore in just two years. PM Narendra Modi knew that many people in India are not having an identity proof and after demonetisation, it would become difficult for common people to exchange money without identity and that’s why firstly he issued an identity proof for everyone. The effort for issuing adhar card for everyone was also a part of PM Nardenrda Modi’s next step, which was Pradhanmantri Jan Dhan Yojna. While Adhar card has many other uses and benefits for people and country, but it was also a part of the big step taken on 8th November, 2016.

Bank Account for everyone

Pradhanmantri Jan Dhan Yojna, which was announced by PM Narendra Modi on his first independence day speech on 15^th August 2015 was a big part of demonetisation. This new scheme was heavily dependent on Adhar card as an Adhar card was enough to open a bank account under this scheme with zero balance. As per the current rule of demonetisation, a bank account for everyone was very much necessary to deposit the old currency notes of Rs.500 and Rs.1000 and for withdrawal also and, at that time (August, 2015) only 58 percent of the Indian households were having access to bank services. On the first day of this scheme, 1.5 crore bank accounts were opened and the first week performance of this scheme was entered into the Guinness book of world records for the most number of bank accounts opened in a week. And till June, 2016, 22 crore accounts were opened and even after the allowance of opening an account at zero balance, more than Rs.384.11 billion was deposited in all the accounts. Now most of the people were having an identity proof and a bank account, so the next step was declaration of black money.

Last Chance for declaring black money

After equipping most of the citizens of India with identity proof and bank account, now it was time to give everyone a last chance to declare their income. This was done by PM Narendra Modi under his Income Declaration scheme which he announced 1 June 2016.  Under this scheme, people were allowed to declare their undisclosed income and pay tax, surcharges and penalty according to the rule. The best part of this scheme was the privacy of the people who declared their income. The Government didn’t ask about the details of the income like where it came from, how long you have been keeping such income and the identity of the person declaring their income was also kept secret. One of the key points to notice in the speech of PM Narendra Modi regarding the Income Declaration scheme in “Man ki Baat” was his warning of the difficulties which people with black money are going to face if they don’t declare their income before 30^th September. At that time, many people ignored this warning and are now burning their money or discarding it in the rivers. But this scheme was also a huge success for our government as $10 billion of black money was declared under this scheme.

Only having a good strategy doesn’t make a plan successful but it requires proper implementation also and PM Narendra Modi did it with perfection. After implementing every step towards Demonetisation, now it was time for the big plan which was taken on the evening of 8^th November and now it’s our responsibility to give support to this plan and make it successful. If you think that our country will improve while the government spoon-feeds you, then you were in big misconception. A country becomes great with the mutual efforts of citizens and government. Be a part of this great change and watch India becoming corruption less and an ideal country for everyone.

Cast is a Curse

The caste system has evolved through many phases in India. From being introduced by Aryans, it went through subdivision, new laws and a big issue for India. But one of the most common things through all these stages is the use of caste system for personal benefit. The introduction of caste system was done by Aryans, so that only they can be the  king, warrior, priest and businessman of the society and if you look at the current status of the caste system in India, it’s the same case. Now caste is being used by politicians and is applied to the baseless reservation format in the education system.

There are more than 3,000 caste and more than 25,000 subcastes in India and I don’t think they are of any use. We are already categorized on so many basis (like country, state, color, religion, etc.) that adding a caste over and then segregating those small groups of caste again into subcastes makes no sense. Does your caste system guides you how to live your life? Does your caste system help you in living a better life? Does your caste system teach you lesson of equality and kindness? The answer to all these questions is a big, fat no. The most important thing regarding caste is; it has never benefited the people but has always fulfilled selfish goals of leaders.

The religious theory explains the formation of Varna (Brahmins, Kshatryas, Vaishyas and Shudras) and it is done according to the occupation of different Varna, which is as follows:-

Brahmins- Priests and Teachers

Kshatryas- Warrior and Ruler

Vaishyas- Farmers, Traders and Merchants

Shudras- Laborers

Earlier, the son of a priest was supposed to be a priest, he couldn’t be a ruler while a son of Farmer was supposed to be a farmer and he couldn’t be a teacher and everyone was ohk with that because there was nothing like job opportunity or competition at that time and also because it was thought that children carry the inheritance of their parent but do you think the system is still same. Are we bound to our caste, while choosing our profession? Obviously No. Everything has changed according to time, from transportation to living standards, from communication to job, then why we are still stuck with the old system of caste?

Let’s firstly talk about the reservation in education system on the basis of caste. This all started due the partiality done by the British Government under their divide and rule policy. The British Government separated the Indians by codifying caste between 1860 and 1920. During this period, the British government started giving administrative job and senior appointment to the upper caste (which was based on their code of caste). They also passed some inhuman laws like Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, according to which everyone who belonged to a certain caste were considered to be born with criminal tendencies. Yes, we have such meaningless roots for the origin of our caste. This law included Ahir, Gujar and Jats, but later it was extended to so called untouchables.  So at that time, you could have been arrested without doing any crime, just because you belong to a certain caste. 

Due to the social unrest during 1920, the British government started giving reservation for lower caste and they were successful with their planning while we lost the battle of national integrity. They firstly started the segregation on caste and solved it with a tool which penetrated much deeper into discrimination and we are still suffering because of this. Education should be based on the ability of a person not his caste. A hard working young student may not be able to clear exam because he belongs to a general category, while another student can clear that exam easily just because he belongs to Schedule Caste or Tribe. The wealth of Indian families can no longer be determined by his caste. You can find a Brahmin family facing the problem of everyday meal while a family from Schedule Caste may be enjoying high standards of living, so now how do you find the reservation in education system on caste basis to be justified.

Now let’s see the use of caste as a political tool in India. While many leaders (like.B.R.Ambedkar) have tried to abolish the inequality of caste system, but most of the political agendas have helped this segregation to be alive. Many Indian politicians have been using the concept of “uplifting lower caste” for increasing their vote banks and their concept has nothing to do with any welfare of the lower caste. Whether it is election in Bihar, UP or TamilNadu, caste is a major propaganda in most elections of India and after winning the election, the lower caste is left in their condition, so that it can be used for future also.

So after reading this blog, if you still think that caste is very much important to maintain humanity and equality in India, then you are either mindless or a corrupt politician. Instead of being useless, caste has been prevailing in our society from long and causing social unrest and discrimination among people, whether it is dalit student committing suicide or protest of Jat for reservation.