Stage presence and the importance of people noticing

So.  I have been very aware of something lately.  There is this thing that seems to matter a LOT. People noticing you.

For years, I have been aware that people didn’t seem to remember me no matter what I did. Now, if you’re a musician, guess what…that’s bad.  You want, NO NEED people to remember you. If you are not a familiar face, you are the crowd. How can one become successful and prominent if no one knows who you are?

This has become my mission, to be remembered.

We have, in the past, performed places and met new people who we will run into again later and they remember Ty, but not me. I couldn’t figure out why. We have talent, we have drive, and people enjoy our music.

Then I realized that I have always had an understated style. Even when I tried out for American Idol YEARS ago, I wore a blue polo and khaki pants. Earrings were my only jewelry and my make up was everyday. I looked around me and saw people in sparkles and heels and scarves and some very loud clothing and I honestly thought at the time they were ridiculous.

All of a sudden, it isn’t that way anymore. 

One day, after a meet where Ty was recognized and not me, where we were also introduced as Ty and Melody (Its natural to say your friend’s name first even if it’s not the bands name) I went home and put two blonde streaks in my hair. I started pinning the streak in my bangs back and had a sort of Cruella DeVille thing going on.  Slowly, I saw people noticing me. Something SO simple. The hardest transition is from stage to floor. We rarely have a person at a merch booth for us, so if someone forgets who I am between the time it takes for me to walk off stage and get to the merch, they don’t know who to ask to buy it. Right? See where I’m going with this?

I have been seeing that there are a few things, though silly and seemingly political, that are very important to grow a full fan base when it comes to stage presence.

1: People must remember you.

2: Photographers will come to your shows to take your picture. They take tons of pictures in that time, unless you’re standing still and there isn’t a shot. You WANT them to get good shots of you. Why??? Because attendees of your shows see photographers and say ‘wow, they have photographers’ but then, in the follow up, if that photographer gets good shots, and shares them or you buy them, those are exactly the type of press and promotional material every successful musician needs.

3: Dressing in jeans and t shirts is ok. BUT, you have to perform. People come to your gig to be entertained. There is a HUGE difference between a musician and an entertainer. Entertainers make the most money. If you want to do this for a living, you have to make money.

4: Know your songs. I am SOOOOO guilty of not having this one down. My memory has never been good and it’s hard to keep songs in my brain. BUT your confidence isn’t going past your music book if you have one and therefore the audience gets left out.

5: Watch other bands with great stage presence. I recommend Uncle Scam (##1),  The Wayne Hoskins Band, Royal Bliss, and Juana Ghani.

Here are a few articles I found on stage presence. You will all see some changes with us soon as we learn more about movement, dress, and attitude.

http://www.catch-22productions.com/stagepresence.html

http://www.wikihow.com/Improve-Stage-Presence-As-a-Lead-Singer

http://www.rockyourguitar.com/how-to-develop-stage-presence-as-a-guitarist/

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/columns/general_music/on-stage_antics_tips_and_suggestions.html

http://www.ehow.com/info_12136847_acting-tips-stage-presence.html

I highly recommend these articles to anyone who cares about their stage presence.

Also, If you don’t know, our CD release is this coming Friday April 20 at Fat’s Grill. 9pm. Dustin and Dave from The Wayne Hoskins Band will open for us and we will play songs from the new album. We are extremely excited about this album. Its our first full length, and we have put a lot into it. We recorded it at our house, wrote all the parts, and Ty did all the album art himself. It’s a great album and we can’t wait to share it with you all.

Thanks for all your support. We love you all.