When you start gigging, it always seems like someone in the band pipes up to say, “Hey, man, we shouldn’t play so much-we don’t wanna saturate the market.” Bullshit! Gig as much as you possibly can and learn to deal with the harsh world that looms outside of your garage. Performing in front of an audience is a pretty intense experience-especially if they walk away or lose interest and start talking after a couple of songs. Ouch. And then there are the setup issues: every room, stage, PA and monitor system is completely different. And these are just two of a million things that all take getting used to. To my mind, one live show is worth 10 practice sessions. So, play at your school, play at parties, play in the park…play anywhere you can. Learn where bands play in your town, find out who the owner or booking agent is and drop off your tape. A lot of clubs have what they call “audition nights” (White Zombie’s first gig was at a CBGB’s in New York on “audition night”), which are “off’ nights when business is slow and new bands are allowed to play for free. Like it or […]