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This should never be the number one priority for a band, but something you should always bear in mind. Obviously, this will depend a lot on the type of music you do and what kind of image you want to get across. If you are a young new-punk band then you can probably wear shorts and some skater shoes and a few brightly coloured wrist bands. If people see your picture in a local magazine or on myspace or something then they can probably tell what kind of music you do from that and can then follow it up (if they like that kind of thing). But sombre shoegaze bands couldn’t wear that kind of get up at all, and should opt for darker clothes, and never ever shorts.
Obviously any photo shoot you do can be planned and everyone told what to wear, etc…, but performing live is equally important, if not more so. If you don’t look right on stage, people will lose interest, especially in the beginning when your songs might not be quite their best yet. If a band is dressed in heavy rock gear with tattoos and loads of piercings on their face, then no one will hang around if they wanted to listen to melodic acoustic music. Similarly, if there were people in the crowd looking forward to being assaulted by some megarock then they will be disappointed if you do break into some folk-country ballads. No matter how good it is.
It is important to feel comfortable, and usually the type of music you play will be reflected in what you wear anyway, as its probably part of who you are. Try not to just do the baggy jeans and striped polo shirt thing though, as it’s an old look on stage and usually the attire of mediocre pub bands. And you are better than that, right?
Make sure you can play in whatever you wear. This is really important for drummers, as if they can’t use their arms because they are wrapped in some kind of too small cardigan/waistcoat/rain mac combination then they can’t really play the drums very well. Plus they would look really stupid. Its also worth remembering that it gets VERY hot on stage, so while evening tails might seem like a good idea to give your band that upmarket image, you will be left a sweaty mess after about two minutes on stage, if even that. And the dry cleaning bill will be massive.
This should never be the number one priority for a band, but something you should always bear in mind. Obviously, this will depend a lot on the type of music you do and what kind of image you want to get across. If you are a young new-punk band then you can probably wear shorts and some skater shoes and a few brightly coloured wrist bands. If people see your picture in a local magazine or on myspace or something then they can probably tell what kind of music you do from that and can then follow it up (if they like that kind of thing). But sombre shoegaze bands couldn’t wear that kind of get up at all, and should opt for darker clothes, and never ever shorts.
Obviously any photo shoot you do can be planned and everyone told what to wear, etc…, but performing live is equally important, if not more so. If you don’t look right on stage, people will lose interest, especially in the beginning when your songs might not be quite their best yet. If a band is dressed in heavy rock gear with tattoos and loads of piercings on their face, then no one will hang around if they wanted to listen to melodic acoustic music. Similarly, if there were people in the crowd looking forward to being assaulted by some megarock then they will be disappointed if you do break into some folk-country ballads. No matter how good it is.
It is important to feel comfortable, and usually the type of music you play will be reflected in what you wear anyway, as its probably part of who you are. Try not to just do the baggy jeans and striped polo shirt thing though, as it’s an old look on stage and usually the attire of mediocre pub bands. And you are better than that, right?
Make sure you can play in whatever you wear. This is really important for drummers, as if they can’t use their arms because they are wrapped in some kind of too small cardigan/waistcoat/rain mac combination then they can’t really play the drums very well. Plus they would look really stupid. Its also worth remembering that it gets VERY hot on stage, so while evening tails might seem like a good idea to give your band that upmarket image, you will be left a sweaty mess after about two minutes on stage, if even that. And the dry cleaning bill will be massive.