Finding out the tastes etc.
Hi, 5Rule.
5Rule - would that also be the name of your band?
Here's my input...
First, think about why you are in the band thing, as the other post-ists have mentioned. Is it a hobby? If you want to get into the scene, decide if you want to specialise as a live act (as an amateur at first), a pub band (he-he), or a recording band (extremely rare here) etc. I'm not joking, for these choices are very real.
Find out the Singaporean tastes. Notice the plural form, tastes. Actually, its not that difficult to find out. And contrary to popular belief, we locals don't have such bad musical tastes. I mean, you'd be shocked to hear the commercial crap Americans love to gorge down! It is true that Asians are mellow, musically, but not always. The most widely accepted musical styles here are modern R&B, hip-hop, commercial pop, Mandarin pop and Chinese audiohpile 'jazz', Brit-pop, so-called alternative rock, vocal jazz - and more recently, classical cross-over and lounge . The smaller fringe groups include nu-metallers and trance ravers. I speak from experience in having worked in a record shop.
I assume you'd want to write your own songs (unless you're a cover band). Songwriting is half the fun and it can be the one thing that makes you still love music, even when commercial dreams seem to wither. Go listen to your favourite records, study them deligently, find out what makes you love them so much and apply what you've learnt to your own art.
There are many aspects to being a band, too many to mention. You might want to ask the experts out there. Here are just a few more things you might want to look into: copywriting your songs (songs are not to be confused with recroded material); becoming a songwriter; selling your songs to other people to record; finding affordable recording studios; finding a good sound engineer or learning the art yourself; marketing strategies; sending out demos to locaal and foreign radio stations, clubs, deejays, MP3 sites; making remixes for different audiences etc.
Good luck, 5 rule and we hope to hear your MP3s sometime on this site etc.
Meaculpa