{"id":745,"date":"2013-03-28T22:36:35","date_gmt":"2013-03-29T03:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alandmoore.com\/blog\/?page_id=745"},"modified":"2013-03-28T22:37:54","modified_gmt":"2013-03-29T03:37:54","slug":"how-to-write-a-good-band-bio","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/alandmoore.com\/blog\/how-to-write-a-good-band-bio\/","title":{"rendered":"How to write a good band bio"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was originally written around 2003-2004<\/em>
\n

If you’re an independent band trying to
\nget attention from promoters, record companies, radio personalities,
\nor other elements of the music industry, you’ve got two main weapons
\nin the vanguard of your assault: your demo and your bio. When it
\ncomes to making a good demo, there’s no lack of discussion about how
\nto get a good recording. But writing a good bio is a subject that
\noften gets overlooked, and the evidence of that can be found in
\nalmost every indie promo pack that you see. Now I’m no expert, but
\nI’ve written a few bios in my life, and have had them picked apart
\nenough by music industry folks to learn what constitutes a good and
\nmeaningful bio. So grab a pen and paper, and let’s get started on
\nmaking the most of your band’s bio.<\/P>
\n

The bigger picture<\/H2><\/P>
\n

The first thing to
\nunderstand about bio writing is that your bio is just a small part of
\na much bigger picture: your marketing strategy<\/I>.
\n If you’re like I used to be, that phrase makes you queasy, because
\nit summons up images of yuppies in suits talking about how to sell
\ntoothpaste. But what a marketing strategy comes down to is
\neffectively communicating that which you have to offer to the people
\nthat you are offering it to. In other words, you want to get across
\nto people, in their terms<\/I>,
\nwho and what you are.\n<\/p>\n


\nThe most basic part of this is your band’s image. Do you have an
\nimage? What is it? How do you dress when you get on stage? What
\nkind of music do you play, and what kind of people like your music?
\nWhat kind of people don’t like your music?<\/P>
\n


\nFinding an image is really a topic unto itself, but suffice it to say
\nthat without a cohesive image for your band, writing a bio is going
\nto be tough work; because to write a bio, you’ve got to know first of
\nall how you want to present yourself to the public. This is going to
\nshape the language you use, the type of information you present, the
\ntype of information you leave out, and the way you present the
\ninformation that you do.
\n<\/P>
\n

Understanding
\nKey roles<\/H2><\/P>
\n

This is where we all have to put our egos aside (yeah, I know, good luck).
\n In 95% of the acts out there, there are no more than three roles
\nthat the public is concerned with: 1. The frontperson (almost always
\nthe lead singer) 2. the main songwriter 3. the virtuoso musician (not
\nnecessarily the best player in the group, but rather the musician who
\nsets the musical tone of the group. Typically the lead guitarist,
\nkeyboard player, DJ, or programmer, depending on the style of music).
\n Sometimes these three are the same person. Sometimes they are
\nfilled by two people. Rarely are they filled by three people, though
\nit’s possible. For example, in Aerosmith, Steven Tyler is the front
\nman and songwriter, and Joe Perry is the musician; most people
\nprobably couldn’t name the other band members.
\n<\/P>
\n

In all honesty, until you are as big as
\nU2 or the Beatles, nobody but your most slavish fan is going to care
\nmuch about anyone else in the band beyond these main personalities.
\nSo when you write the bio, focus primarily on those members, and
\nfocus on them with respect to their key roles. <\/I>What do I mean
\nby this? Bono of U2 occasionally plays rhythm guitar in concert; but is this of consequence to the
\nband’s image? No. When U2 is presented to the public, Bono is the
\nfront man, Edge is the guitar player. That’s what’s important.<\/P><\/p>\n

Now, I’m not saying
\nthat you can’t mention the rest of the band, or that it’s not apropos
\nto list the members of the band at some point. In fact, if you’ve
\ngot a band of permanent members, it’s silly not to mention them all
\nat least once. But you really don’t need to mention much more than
\ntheir names and their instruments, unless something in their
\nindividual histories is important to the band’s image or
\nmarketability (for example, if you’re a jazz quartet and your bassist
\nplayed with Miles Davis, or your drummer used to be in a well-known
\nregional cover band), or if something about them uniquely influences
\nthe band’s sound (like a drummer who’s really into African percussion
\nand took the band in a world-beat direction as a result). If this is
\nthe case, though, stick to talking about them with respect to these
\nthings. Remember, in the end, it’s about the band, not the
\nmembers…<\/P>
\n

More than the
\nsum of its parts<\/H2><\/P>
\n


\nA band is not just a group of individual musicians playing together.
\nA band has a got its own personality, its own goals, and its own
\nsound. Think about this: if you go to a website of a company that
\nmakes a product, say Pepsi for example, the first thing you’re going
\nto read about on that site is the product, followed by the company’s
\nvalues, and then maybe some news about the company. You’re not going
\nto see a list of the company’s employees with a brief individual bio
\nnext to each of them. Why? Because nobody cares who the assistant to
\nthe vice president for marketing is, how long he’s worked for the
\ncompany, or what he did before working for Pepsi. At best it’s
\nuseless information for most people; at worst it might be detrimental
\ninformation for the company.
\n<\/P>
\n


\nOne of the biggest marks of an amateur bio is that you’ll see a
\nsection where each member has a little mini bio, telling their age,
\nthere influences, how long they’ve played, what bands they’ve played
\nin, etc. Once again, at best it’s useless information. At worst it
\ncould be detrimental to your image.<\/P>
\n


\nAgain, understanding key roles<\/I> is what matters here. We don’t
\nneed to know that the keyboard player played tuba in middle school,
\nor that the singer can play guitar even though he doesn’t do that in
\nthe band. You’re not trying to sell your individual talents, you’re
\ntrying to sell the band as a whole.
\n<\/P>
\n

Describing your
\nsound<\/H2><\/P>
\n


\nA person reading your bio may or may not have the ability, the time,
\nor the desire to listen to your demo. So it’s your job when writing
\nthe bio to introduce the band’s sound in a clear, memorable, and
\ndescriptive way. This can be more challenging than it sounds.
\nYou’ve got to tread a thin line between making yourself sound cliché
\nand derivative, while at the same time providing references that are
\nfamiliar enough and detailed enough to communicate the sound and make
\nthe reader feel that your music isn’t going to be too obscure for
\nthem to enjoy. Before you start writing, pin down some ideas for
\ndescribing your band’s sound, including artists you sound like,
\nstyles that are similar, etc. The descriptions you come up with may
\nnot necessarily enter the bio verbatim, but it will give you an idea
\nof how to talk about the band’s sound as you develop the bio.<\/P>
\n

Getting down to
\nbusiness<\/H2><\/P>
\n


\nNow that we’ve got our facts together, it’s time to start writing the
\nbio. Let’s go over a good basic outline for a bio (this is just one
\nsuggestion, by the way), using a fictitious Omaha rock band "Willie
\nand the Widgets". The basic structure is:<\/P>
\n


    \n\t
  1. Introduction
    \n\t
  2. Your history
    \n\t
  3. Your sound
    \n\t
  4. Points of note \/ Quotes about the band
    \n\t
  5. Your goals \/ Statement of purpose
    \n\t
  6. Personal moment
    \n<\/OL>
    \n

    1. Introduction<\/H3><\/P>
    \n


    \nYour introduction is probably the most important part of the bio.
    \nYou’ve got about two sentences to hit people with a quick summary of
    \neverything else in the bio and hook the reader in enough to get them
    \ninterested in the rest of the bio. Craft these sentences carefully.
    \nTake a look at this example:<\/P>
    \n


    \n

    “Willie and the Widgets were a little surprised when the Omaha
    \nMusic review named them the region’s best rock band of 2004; but this
    \nprodigious group of youngsters and their neo-80’s rock sound have
    \nbeen building a buzz in the Nebraska scene since they started touring
    \nlast year.”<\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/P>
    \n

    Consider
    \nhow much information I’ve communicated with this one opening
    \nsentence. You know the band is young, you know they’ve got a sound
    \nthat is 80’s rock but with some kind of modern twist (since it’s
    \n“neo”), you know that a major regional publication has
    \ntaken favorable notice of them, you know where they’re from, you know
    \nthat they’re nice guys without egos (which you might conclude from
    \nthe fact that they were “surprised” to hear of their
    \naccolades). Let me emphasize that you need to trim the fluff from
    \nthese first sentences, and get creative with how you open the bio.
    \nSo many<\/I> bios start out
    \n"_____ is a band from _____ that has been together since______."
    \nor something like that. Have you no better information to hit people
    \nwith in the first sentence than that? What’s the most intriguing
    \naspect of your band? What’s the biggest feather in your cap? What’s
    \nthe one thing you want people to think of when they think of your
    \nband and your music? If the answer to any of those questions is
    \nwhere you’re from, how long you’ve b<\/SPAN><\/SPAN>een together, and
    \nthe mind-numbingly obvious fact that your band "is a band",
    \n you might want to think about a different career…<\/P><\/p>\n

    2. Your history<\/H3><\/P>
    \n


    \nThe band’s history is not a place simply to give a detailed account
    \nof the band getting together. Your purpose here is to give a point
    \nof reference for how the band came to be, why the band came to be,
    \nwhat the band has been doing, and why people should care. If you’re
    \na fairly new band, you’re probably going to focus on how the band
    \ncame together. If you’re an established act, this is a good place to
    \ngive a general overview of the band’s career (e.g. How many albums
    \nhave you recorded, how many shows played, any special press or
    \nawards). Whatever you write, it should all be with respect to
    \nyour image,<\/I> and it should focus on the members in the key
    \nroles.<\/I> For 95% of the bands out there, the band history is going
    \nto be the story of how the frontperson met the songwriter or virtuoso
    \nmusician and they made the band what it is today, or how the
    \nsinger\/songwriter\/virtuoso decided to join or put together a band to
    \nplay his or her work. I don’t care if the drummer, bass player, and
    \nrhythm guitarist had been jamming together for 3 years prior to this
    \n(though you certainly can mention it); the formation of the band is
    \ngoing to be when the key role members got together. Let’s go back to
    \n“Willie and the Widgets”.<\/P>
    \n


    \n

    “The band started in 2003 when singer\/songwriter Willie Jones
    \nmet lead guitarist Paul Pickle of the Leather Socks at a Poison
    \nreunion concert. Fueled by a mutual interest in 80’s rock, the two
    \nbegan recording original material in Willie’s home studio. ‘It
    \nbecame clear right away that we had something worthwhile after the
    \nfirst few demos’ says Paul, ‘Will and me just clicked, and we knew
    \nthe time was just right to bring back this classic sound.’”<\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/p>\n


    \nI want to go on a tangent here for a moment and talk about style.
    \nTake note of how that paragraph is written. It’s in third person,
    \nfirst of all; this is a must. Don’t write your bio in first person,
    \nbecause if it sounds like you’re actually saying the things that are
    \nprobably going to need to be said in a bio, you’ll come off as being
    \nfull of yourself. Even if you write your own bio (and most people
    \nknow that indie bands do), it sounds a little more legit in third
    \nperson. Secondly, notice the use of quotes. Quotes are great,
    \nbecause they allow you to use third person, but also give a personal
    \nfeel to the text. This also lets the band’s “voice” or
    \npersonality come through while keeping the main voice of the bio in
    \nneutral, standard English (in other words, you can talk street lingo
    \nin the quotes and stick to standard grammar in the narration). When
    \nyou use quotes, use them to fill in the details of a statement.
    \nNotice above that the third person voice tells the general story of
    \nthe band’s formation, then the quote comes in with a more personal
    \naspect on the statement. This is a good basic form to follow.<\/P><\/p>\n

    3.Your sound<\/H3><\/P>
    \n


    \nNext comes the arduous task of describing the band’s sound. Don’t
    \nget obsessive about this; I know you’re an artist and you can’t be
    \npigeon-holed, categorized, or labeled. But nobody wants to read half
    \na page of small print describing your exact sound, the influences of
    \nevery member, where you got your inspiration for your snare drum
    \nsound, etc. Now if you’ve followed my advice above and done some
    \nthinking about your sound and how you might describe it, you’ve
    \nalready got a good idea of how you want to describe your sound to
    \npeople. But don’t have a paragraph that just starts, “Our band
    \nsounds like ______.” If you look at the sample bio, I’ve
    \nalready given you a good idea of what this band might sound like in
    \nthe intro and history; now it’s time to clarify it a bit and maybe
    \nwork in some quotes from band members about how they might describe
    \nthe sound, or how audiences react the sound, or generally what they
    \nthink of the way the band sounds. Such as this:<\/P>
    \n


    \n

    “The band was soon joined by drummer\/DJ Ed Farrel, who spiced
    \nup the mix with both his powerful Bonham-style playing and
    \nelectronica loops. ‘At first we just had this sort of 80’s revival
    \nthing in mind,’ recalls Willie, ‘But when Ed came along he started
    \nbreaking out all these loops and effects and we were like, cool!’
    \n<\/I>The combination worked, and it gave Willie and the Widgets the
    \nunique edge that defines the band’s sound.”<\/BLOCKQUOTE>
    \n<\/P><\/p>\n


    \nNotice a few things here; first, we’ve made a smooth transition from
    \nthe history to talking about the sound. Also, we’ve given you the
    \nreader a context for what you’re going to hear, and some insight into
    \nband’s inner dynamic. Sure, we haven’t described the sound to the
    \nlast detail, but by now you have a pretty good idea of what you’re
    \ngoing to hear from these guys. Enough to get you interested, anyway;
    \nand it’s a lot more readable than something like this:<\/P>
    \n


    \n

    "Willie and the Widgets sound like 80’s rock with live and
    \nsampled hiphop beats. The drummer is inspired by Jon Bonham, Tommy
    \nLee, and Chuck D. The guitarist Paul is really into Poison and
    \nTesla, but he gets his guitar tone from a Wolfgang running through a
    \n5150 stack, so he sounds more like Eddy Van Halen." <\/BLOCKQUOTE>
    \n<\/P><\/p>\n

    Etc.,
    \nEtc., blah blah blah…. Save this stuff for the album reviewers.<\/p>\n

    <\/P>
    \n

    4. Points of
    \nnote \/ Quotes about the band<\/H3><\/P><\/p>\n


    \n“Points of note” would be little tidbits of information
    \nthat might help you to stand out among the crowd and give the reader
    \nanother reason to take interest in you. It might be a quote from a
    \npublication, an endorsement from some respected musical figure, facts
    \nand figures about album sales, etc. (Of course, if you’re a brand
    \nnew band without individual histories in the music scene, that’s
    \ngoing to be challenging; you may want to gloss over this section…)<\/P><\/p>\n


    \nIt’s important to understand that if you’re going to put quotes and
    \nwhatnot in here (and if you’ve got them, you should), it all needs to
    \nstay focused on the band <\/I>and the key members<\/I> in their
    \nkey roles<\/I>. Quotes from your high school band director saying
    \nwhat a great flugel horn student the guitarist was don’t help. You
    \nwant quotes from people about your band’s sound, your live show, the
    \ndevotion of your fan base, your professionalism at gigs, and so
    \nforth. When you tour or network with other musicians, it should be
    \nyour mission to harvest quotes from anyone you can (and be sure to
    \nask them if you can quote them on what they say). You never know
    \nwho’s going to make it big next, and if you have a quote from them
    \nthat’s going to catch your reader’s eye and attention. Let’s go back
    \nto our example.<\/P>
    \n


    \n

    “Excited as they were with the new sounds they were laying
    \ndown, the band never anticipated the enthusiasm which critics and
    \nfans alike found for their music. Within two weeks of releasing
    \ntheir debut EP, SnakeSpeare<\/I>, they were all sold out, moving
    \nalmost 1000 copies! ‘I can’t get over this band’, comments Bob
    \nBrown, host of Good Morning Omaha<\/I>, ‘Their songs are fresh and
    \nfamiliar a t the same time, with absolutely addictive melodies.’
    \nLocal promoter and club owner Jed Bailey agrees, ‘Willie and the
    \nWidgets’ stage show should be registered with the FDA as a stimulant,
    \nand probably only available by prescription.’"<\/BLOCKQUOTE>\n<\/p>\n

    It should go without saying that quotes from your family, significant
    \nothers, or close friends (unless they’re colleagues in the music
    \nbusiness) are definite no-nos. Nobody cares if your grandma and your
    \ngirlfriend are impressed with you. Don’t be afraid to ask the people
    \nyou gig with or who listen to your music to give you quotes; it’s
    \ncommon practice, and the worst they can do is say no (or ignore you).
    \n<\/P><\/p>\n

    5. Your goals<\/H3><\/P><\/p>\n


    \nNow let’s talk about the band’s goals. Goals don’t have to be your
    \nfive-point plan for success. We want to get across to the reader why
    \nthis band bothers to do what it does. Are you looking to dominate
    \nsome local or regional scene? Trying to make it onto a major label?
    \nJust having fun? You want the reader to understand the spirit of the
    \nband, and what you’re doing or working toward as a result. For
    \nWillie and the Widgets, we might write something like…<\/P>
    \n

    “Although
    \nthey couldn’t be happier than they are with their devoted fans in
    \nNebraska, Willie and the guys have set their sites on
    \nthe Midwestern region. Following the February release of their
    \nsecond album, Willie and the Widgets II<\/I>,
    \nthe band is planning a tour that will stretch from Southern Wisconsin
    \nto the east coast of Florida. ‘We just want to get out there and
    \nplay at this point,’ Paul says, ‘With two albums and some EP’s under
    \nour belt, we’re ready to get back to what it’s all about: rockin’ the
    \nhouse!’"<\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/p>\n

    You could probably
    \nsay a bit more than that, but you get the idea; you’re telling people
    \nwhat’s going on with the band. After all, you’re probably sending
    \nthis out to people who you hope to do business with, it’s good to
    \ngive them an idea of what kind of business you’re after, both in the
    \nimmediate and distant future.
    \n<\/P><\/p>\n

    6. Personal moment<\/H3><\/P><\/p>\n

    With the business
    \npretty much out of the way now, it’s time to draw the audience in for
    \na personal moment, to close the bio with a little insight into what
    \nthe band is really about and what people think. If you’re a
    \nsongwriter, maybe end this with a bit about what makes you write
    \nwhat you do; if you’re a band with a social or religious agenda, talk
    \nabout that. This is kind of a "statement of purpose", but
    \nwith a more personal aspect to it. You want to leave the reader with
    \na sense that you’ve communicated to them on a real,
    \nnot-so-businesslike level. It doesn’t have to be soppy or deep, just
    \na little more first-person (and yeah, this is a good place for
    \nquotes; almost imperative, if you follow this model).
    \n<\/P>
    \n


    \n

    "’What it comes down to for us,’ remarks Paul, ‘Is that we
    \nreally dig what we’re doing, and we’ve brought a lot of people
    \nsomething they really dig too.’ ‘Exactly,’ agrees Willie, ‘Even
    \nwithout all the success, we’ve met so many people who say "this
    \nis the kind of music I love, why is nobody else playing it?"
    \nthat we wouldn’t want to do anything else.’ <\/BLOCKQUOTE>
    \n<\/P><\/p>\n

    You take it from
    \nhere<\/H2><\/P>
    \n


    \nLet me reiterate once again that what you’ve just read is one model
    \nfor a bio. You may find that a different model suits you better.
    \nBut regardless, I hope you’ve learned from this the kind of things
    \nthat a good band bio should communicate, and a better idea of how to
    \ncommunicate them in an interesting yet readable way. I also hope
    \nyou’ve come to understand that successfully marketing your band is
    \nabout seeing your band in the terms that the public sees it (rather
    \nthan the way that you and the egos you work with see it), and
    \ncommunicating with both the public and your potential business
    \ncontacts in those terms. Best of success to you!<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This article was originally written around 2003-2004 If you’re an independent band trying to get attention from promoters, record companies, radio personalities, or other elements of the music industry, you’ve got two main weapons in the vanguard of your assault: your demo and your bio. When it comes to making a good demo, there’s no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-745","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alandmoore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alandmoore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alandmoore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alandmoore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alandmoore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/alandmoore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":749,"href":"https:\/\/alandmoore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/745\/revisions\/749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alandmoore.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}