How to be a better front person?

[guitarman78]

don't really encourage drinking ... i played more wrong notes than i usually do when i drink. But sometimes when you play in a pub ... a few glasses is inevitable.

Well ... my best advice is .. just be yourself. Whoever you are on stage ... whoever you should be out of stage. Dun be pretentious ... bogus ... phony ... whatever that is. If you are generally an enjoyable person on the floor ... so will you on stage. But if you are not .... why force yourself to be someone you are not? Just be you .... candie.

 

[bongman]

you must connect with the people

 

[bin4christ]

wen talking to the crowd,do u hav to speak in tt westerner kinda slang?

 

[judaspiss]

I don't know how you should be a good front person.
But I'll tell you how NOT to be a crap front person:

1) No fake American accents.
2) No copying of stage banters from known acts.
3) Trying too hard to rock out.
4) Being drunk out of your mind.
5) Mumble incoherently into the mike and look positively depressed and suicidal.
6) Poor diction and enunciation.
7) Yell at the crowd to rock out as if they'd just insulted your mama.
8) Singlish does not sound cool onstage.
9) Show up onstage dressed as if you just came back from the shops buying cigarettes.
10) Afraid to mess up your hair.

 

[bin4christ]

thx judaspiss..1) n 8) helped..tho i may not wanna be a frontman ...

hey,imagine if a worship leader does wat u wrote...hahaha...

 

[Kwerty]

Look at those live concerts, and see wat the frontmen do to rave the crowd, take it down and see if u can incorporate it into ur performance.

IMO, it doesn't really work for our Singapore local scene, part of the problem is due to the crowd/audiences. Live performances, say RHCP's frontman are really high, jumping around and doing crazy stuffs; definitely engaging. But IF we do it in Singapore, crowds will go like "errr?", "Whatever!". Unfortunately, most of my friends are like this.

I guess it is just like the "level" difference; being true rockstars on stage and being an unknown band in Singapore.

 

[madmonkeykungfu]

Singlish is cool on stage

 

[Kwerty]

I guess being Singaporeans, Singlish is still alright as long as you don't use it excessively. Using it to cut tension? Or stress on something? I guess it is still ok. (Watched Russell Peters? Lol)

Of course, do not go up the stage and, "This is our band lah, called XXXX, We hor play rock lah, then we together about 4 years liao lor, We always play that one lah, like XXXX and XXXXXX, we got EP liao leh ha ha etc.etc.etc."

 

[judaspiss]

Oh yeah, and one more thing.
If you're in a death/black metal or grindcore band, please, for the life of you, don't do the following:

*Growling* – "This next song is called blahblahblah...*still growling* – Opppsss, sorry! It's called blahblahblah"

I saw this in a gig and let me tell you, I laughed for weeks!
Apologising in evil grunting doesn't work apparently.

 

[Kwerty]

Hahahaha that was funny dude. I'm imagining the scene hahaha.

 

[Vaiyen]

omg that had me in stitches!

 

[candie]

LOL!!! Luckily I don't do growling man.

So what I gather is to be yourself, but be extra crazy. I can manage that HAHA. Well, at least I hope so!

But then again, sg crowds are really really hard to entertain! I'm sure frequent gig-goers know what I mean.. =\

 

[Vaiyen]

not really. They do feel entertained and appreciative...but they are just not expressive.

 

[serialninja]

yeah doing a show to an unresponsive crowd can be about about as fun as playing to an appreciative brick.

but hey, at least people turn up!!

 

[pepper-]

Haha. I'm trying to take note of the posts here. I get serious stage frights on stage too. Which suck cuz it kinda stops my progress in whatever ever. Okay skip that.

I kinda feel okay performing to a crowd but I feel like shit when I need to TALK to the crowd. I don't even know why.

 

[candie]

I know how that feels cause talking to a crowd is really hard! You won't know what to talk about =\

 

[deon]

you people should watch a robbie williams concert. to me he may not be the best singer in the world, but i would rank him as my top entertainer. HIs really good at it. although he does pop which may people dont like, but i must give him credit for his ability to connect real well..

 

[somebody]

hey candie.
i'm really glad to see you posting a topic like this.
it shows ur commitment to the band,
and to being an excellent frontman/woman.

this takes you halfway there already. :wink:

to me,
being a frontman doesnt neccesarily mean being the leader of the band.
you help the crowd/audience relate to the band.
help them understand your music.
educate them on the music you're making. (not too much though)

but most importantly,
gel with us and have fun.
when we see you having fun,
we have fun,
everyone has fun.
fun fun fun.
know what i mean :wink:

u could introduce the song, band.
try something different each time ure on stage.
get the crowd to sing a line or 2.

dun worry abt how the crowd thinks of you, or the band.
everyone's entitled to their own point of views.
everyone has different preferences.

like what everyone said,
be yourself.
be random if you must. =)
headbang if you must.

just remember to enjoy the music.
dats whats important for all musicians.

your drummer,
somebody
\m/

 

[madmonkeykungfu]

personally im ok with musicians not talking to the crowd and just doing their own stuff. Infact many of the musicians i love dont talk in between songs. Some musicians are constantly bugged by stagefright, like Cat Power or the late Nick Drake.

When Tortoise performed at the Esplanade in the Mosiac festival, they didnt say a thing, and only at the 2 encores they said something like "thank you singapore" , and "u guys are crazy"


i think ultimately u need to look comfortable being there, and most importantly your music must be good. I like to listen to good live music, as for kungfu i prefer them on TV :twisted:

 

[brundisium]

the likes of tortoise and the rest of the postrock/ambient/noise/drone movement, doesnt believe in the usual interacting with crowd kind of and should not be compared to the usual genre of rock music.

Well, just imho...