Brandon Cook's Shreds of Wisdom
Punctual Rock
Everyone has times when getting places exactly on time is just a nightmare. You hit every red light, traffic and arrive 10 minutes late, even though you left an hour early to drive 10 miles. Everyone makes mistakes. The human in us makes it impossible to be perfect all the time. Some hold everyone to an impossible standard of perfection in regard to punctuality. But, I have some basic things you can do to keep your gigs and keep your reputation for being a prompt responsible musician.
Call Ahead
One thing no one will stand for, in this day of communications technology, is arriving late without a text, call or email letting everyone know you will be late. Even children have cell phones to let their parents know where they are, where they’ll be and when they’ll be home. Musicians have a reputation for being flakey, so we always have to spend a little time planning our lives a little better than most to avoid being stereotyped and keep getting work. I agree, it’s difficult to teach lessons in one city, then get to a studio session that is in another city on time. But the call ahead, relieves some pressure on everyone. The bassist on the session might arrive early and be able to cut his tracks before you arrive. But if they’re waiting for you, that wastes time. Even in music, time is money. This is a business and people remember that guy who was late all the time.
Be Awesome When You Arrive
Whatever the situation that causes your tardiness, no one cares. They’ve all been in those situations and any list of excuses (short of a medical emergency or a relative dying) will get you no sympathy. So, plan to have things go wrong. One of those plans is solid preparation for your job. If it’s lessons, a studio session or a performance, be well-oiled, warmed up and ready to rock when you show up. People are always more forgiving when it’s too good for words.
Make a Checklist for Your Jobs
Before you leave make sure you have everything. A mental checklist helps, but an actual check list for the gig makes sure you have everything before you leave the house. I used a physical checklist for years before leaving for my gigs with Appetite for Deception because I forgot my guitar on a church gig. I had an Appetite gig the night before, arrived home at 3am, left for the Sunday morning church gig at 6:30 am. I didn’t even realize that I took my guitar inside the house, until I was 5 minutes away from the 7am pre-service rehearsal. I had to borrow my friend’s guitar. But, I played perfectly when I arrived, I had practiced thoroughly for the performance and the show went off really well.
Keep a schedule
Take your mode of transportation(feet, bike, car, bus, train) to Office Depot and get yourself a calendar right now. Use your phone, sync your calendar on your computer….whatever. Get organized and do it now. A musician’s lifestyle is hectic, messy and just plain confusing. Most people cannot handle the constant changes, late nights and early mornings required to be good at this craft. I suggest getting a regular job if this doesn’t sound appealing to you. If you’re not on top of scheduling, professional and personal relationships will suffer and possible dry up and go away.
Compassion for People
If you’ve been late, give people a break. If you’ve never been late, educate. Get people on task. Berating someone for being late isn’t going to change the fact that the schedule has changed. Don’t waste 2 minutes reading the riot act, get ‘em into the planned situation quickly, efficiently and get to work. Odds are the person arriving late is embarrassed. Giving them hell for being so will often make the situation worse by creating animosity and unnecessary tension. Wait until a time when you’ve calmed down and the moment is passed to talk about the problem behavior. Listen to the tardy person’s reasoning for being late, then depending on the behavior, set up boundaries for future planning and make suggestions for your employee.
The bottom line here is Communication works in the music biz too. The better you learn to communicate with others, the better your team for creating becomes.
-Brandon Cook
