You have to keep the business side together as well as the creative side. We have constantly surprised people and stayed with bands until they have grown on people.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Being in a band is always a compromise. Provided that the balance is good, what you lose in compromise, you gain by collaboration.
If you start off writing an album with a band, the reality is that you're constantly in each other's company, so it's really important that you get on with each other.
That's one of the problems with making music your business, it becomes a business. You're no longer just this kid who is a fan and going to see every show. I've been in a bar every night for the last 15 years. Going to see bands for me is work.
Most of your day is spent working, and being in a band is no different. We're just business travelers in a way.
I can show bands how to produce themselves. In the same way, many bands think you can't make it without some fat cat in London or New York to manage you. That's just crap. All you need is someone a bit older than you with a bit of business nous whom you trust.
Some bands today have the experience of really working together and honing their craft. And other bands are very much like, 'I just got a guitar for Christmas, let's start a band.' And you can hear the difference.
I've seen bands split up for five years and do nothing. That sounds great to me, but it just hasn't worked out that way.
Ultimately, running a band is about the relationships you have with people.
When you get together in a group, it becomes like a family, with the different personalities and the politics that comes with being in a band. It's different than bringing something in by yourself.
People forget that keeping a band together is hard; man, it's really hard. All the cliches apply about living in each other's pockets; of it being a relationship, a marriage, a family.