Like many young musicians, I formed my first band months before I owned an instrument. Actually, none of us in the band had instruments. Nonetheless, we knew exactly who was going to play what. It was just a matter of time until we could each save up enough money to buy our axes; then we were going to be famous. And, like any self respecting junior high band that doesn’t have instruments yet, we immediately started on the ever-so-important task of selecting a band name… and then a band logo… and the name of our first album… and the name of our second album… and the album art for those albums… and how we would pose in the band photos… and what we would wear in those photos. I think we had even named a few of the songs on the first album (mind you we still didn’t know how to play, much less write a song). Those were some great times. Rocking out in my parents basement. Pissing off the neighbors (who had a newborn at the time). So don’t get me wrong, the junior high rock band was a huge part of my musical experience, but…
I’ve been thinking lately that the idea of “my band” is not good for musicians. It’s not the band itself. Playing consistently with the same group of musicians can be really good for creating music. The problem is, it seems like a lot of musicians, especially early on, feel that they can only play with their band. The idea of playing with other musicians feels something akin to committing adultery. In music, this attitude is stifling. A huge part of the fun of music is creating something new and different. Playing with lots of different musicians expands your musical vocabulary. Playing different styles of music makes you reach outside your standard bag of licks and come up with something new.
So to recap, being exclusive in relationships = good. Being exclusive in music = bad.
