In the music industry and in the mind of the bands that you want to audition for, in the chances of actually being admitted to their brotherhood of music, image is everything; period. Identifying your image is not something that I can wholeheartedly tell you how to do. But I can tell you this. If you are in your 20’s-30 seek out bands that have a similar musical style and the same flavor of dress that you are into.

For example, I am more of a grunge-styled rocker, one who takes after Kurt Cobaine in appearance, or so I am quite often told. I only seek out bands that will fit right into my target demographic. Meaning, they got to be in their early to late 20’s and no older than 35—otherwise there would be obvious image clashes when sharing a stage. I also know what type of music that I want to play and what type of image it requires. Your image is the best representation of you. If you are a long-haired rocker, than seek out other rockers who have a similar image.

Not to be drab here, by any means, but try to stay in the category that you best fit into already, on your own. All you dark gothic folks should look to bands that share a similar image, bands that you will fit right into by look from the get go. Adhering to your image will do several things for you.

One, it will assure that you only are dealing with similar and like-minded individuals who wish to create music. Two, it will automatically cut many bands out of the picture, that you otherwise would waste your time auditioning for. Finally, it will make sure that you stick true to your guns. You are who you are—there is no need to change that. There is need to find others who share your same interests if you are to indeed find that right band.

Headlines are everything

Make sure that your message has the proper headline to attract the interest of bands. For example, “Dedicated, Professional, Lead Singer with Five Years of Stage Experience,” would appropriately serve as my headline, and has garnered me 100’s of emails over the years from interested bands.

How to dress and act:

I can not emphasize this enough: be yourself! You are not somebody else, nor should you try to be. Just relax, have fun, show up on time and be yourself. Make sure that you get ample directions and plan your day around that audition. Spend a few hours warming your voice up and make sure that you are ready to sing and dressed to impress. Finally, get to that audition and try your best. This is all you can do, they will either like it or they will not.

This is the most important part of the process. If you do not have a MySpace page, create one. Make sure that you select a musician’s account (FREE) so that you can easily upload music and other tracks of your vocals for bands to hear. You want to assure that you have at least one track online for bands to listen to; this will greatly increase the number of responses that you will receive.

Finally, create a short biography about yourself, inclusive of how you got into music, how long you have been singing, stage experience, how many bands that you have been; who they were and when. And, what you are looking for in a new band, what area of town that you live in, and how far you are willing to travel for rehearsal each week. There are actually many free resources that the internet offers which will allow you to easily find bands and contact them to set up potential auditions for their act. Here are the three best resources online, ones that have allowed me to find a new band easily every single time that I was looking for one.

This is the final step. Before you agree to go to any auditions you want to be sure of several things that will help you to avoid wasting your time and efforts and experiencing much let-down. First of all, assure that the interested bands who contact you have had a chance to see your MySpace page, your pictures (which show them your image) and of course, a chance to listen to your tracks and make sure that your voice may be a fit for their band. Finally, make sure that you contact them via phone and talk to at least one member of the band for a little bit. This will allow you to get a really good feel for what type of person they are, what they are into, and whether or not you may be even socially compatible with that person much less the other members of the band.

If you do not hit it off from the get-go when talking to the said band member, perhaps it is a good sign that you will not fit in to this project. Use your own prowess here, and try and make the best decision for yourself. Never act out of desperation and agree to audition or a join a band that does not fully suit you. This is a huge no-no! You will not only be wasting your time and find yourself conveniently unhappy, but you will be wasting their time as well. Again, be patient, do your due-diligence, wait for the right bands to contact you and go from there. Desperation offers let-down, patience offers sure success.

Following through:

After you have experienced several auditions make sure that you email the bands back for a follow-up; especially bands that you were fond of. I recommend emailing because it is far less personal and you have the best shot at getting a reply. Bands tend to be not the best at letting somebody know they did not need them in-person, but they will tell you anything by email. This will let you know if you need to keep looking or if you have found a band that is right for you. Remember, if at first you don’t succeed, try again.