Establishing stage presence . . .

[twitchmonitor]

Tricky question. Ask yourself what YOU would want out of a performance (as an audience member), given the kind of music you're playing. What do some of you "heros" do onstage? Personally, I don't like contrived attitudes...I dig honest, straightforward personality. Like David Bazan (Pedro the Lion)...who is really cool with the crowd, tells small anecdotes, and stops every show to field questions from the audience. It really help bridge the gap between performer and audience.

D

[Isolation]

The whole thing about "being yourself" is NOT good advice in my opinion - you should be some amplified version of yourself. All your idiosyncrasies, quirks, opinions - let em out of the bag and light some firecrackers.

best damn advice i've read on here so far, no one wants to see you, they want to see a personality up there...they want to be entertained which as you, the entertainer, must do since you're being paid for it...and as someone else said, do something different...i know i definitely appreciate something different...

to me, a band could totally suck but if they put on a good stage show it will keep me coming every time...mainly because i'm bored but i do like a good freak show...

something i want to do is whenever i'm doing a show i'd like to get one of those springy snakes you find in the joke cans of peanut brittle and put them in my pants, then i'd start to unzip to make everyone raise their eyebrows and then make them shit poptarts as peanut brittle snakes come shooting out of my fly...feel free to use this...i would love to see it happen...

[sonikbliss]

Practice your T Rex moves and you'll make the scene.

[JGriffin]

Think about taking acting or improv classes, where they work on stage presence, focus (taking and giving), etc. It's not just what you say on stage between songs, it's the physicality of how you occupy the space. Acrobatics and huge histrionics are cool for some stages and some kinds of music (and for the David Lee Roth-esque leaping about I suggest martial arts, dance or gymnastics training), but there can also be value in simply appearing confident in your place on the stage. Someone once talked about John Entwistle, how he would just stand there while Roger and Pete and Keith flew about, and they said "it's the way he just stands there." Look at David Bowie. He OWNS whatever stage he stands on, and part of that is his theatre studies.

My middle brother is an actor, and has years of experience onstage. He recently played Hamlet, and when he was onstage it was almost impossible not to watch him, even when he was standing still. That said, he also did a great job not stealing focus from other actors. My youngest brother and I are working with him on stage presence issues, as the two of us are in a band together. We're doing well with giving and receiving focus (I can still do entertaining stuff while not stealing focus from his vocal, and he yields focus to me during guitar solos), though I'm still struggling with solid stage placement (we call this "happy feet"--you're not sure what to do with yourself and instinctually you think standing still is boring to look at so you kinda shift from one foot to the other. Very unsettling to watch. I used to have a big "box step" problem). Tai chi is helping with this as well.

[Devlars]

I get lost in the music, sing with everything I've got, find myself staring at some folks during "intense" moments in the vocal and stomp about like a lunatic. Soul man, it's about soul. Have it & give it. I actually keep away from the bottle until after the show, I want to experience everything full on (the excitement, fear, joy, silliness, aggression etc.) without dulling the senses.

[coniferouspine]

This may not work for you, but I find that repetition is key to stage presence. The more you do it the better at it you get. Also it's incremental, you learn it as you go through life and get more experience and go up in venue size, which is why so many new young bands seem to suck and come off as ineffectual when they get a big opening slot in an arena or theater when they're not ready for it. The people who are "legends" (Stones, AC/DC, Neil Young, etc.) have seen and done it all, all the bad stuff that might happen to you, it's ALL happened to them before! The more crazy gigs you play the better you get at handling crazy situations.

The people who get onstage and rock have confidence, they're comfortable there: To the best performers, the stage is like their living room, an extension of their normal lives.

I totally agree with awolksi, tuning is an awful ordeal, so is breaking strings! I'm becoming nervous just talking about it! Don't be afraid to leave that finicky old cranky delicate precious guitar at home and get something less flashy that will sound good and stay in tune!

My personal thing is to avoid surprises: everything eqiupmentwise should be set up exactly where I'm used to it, for instance so I can turn knobs on my amp inbetween strums while playing without really having to read them, etc,; know where the mic is and where the other guys are onstage, etc. There's nothing worse than playing a gig where there's a huge post in the middle of the stage or whatever. But I try and eliminate as many variables as possible and pick a good set list order that gives everybody in the band a good rhythm to work with -- paces the singer and drummer properly and gives everybody a chance to shine, get into it, rock out, etc. Having your first three songs always be really easy ones, like the kind you can play in your sleep, that always really really helps us with the stage presence a huge amount.

[Devlars]

I totally agree with awolksi, tuning is an awful ordeal, so is breaking strings! I'm becoming nervous just talking about it! Don't be afraid to leave that finicky old cranky delicate precious guitar at home and get something less flashy that will sound good and stay in tune!

Don't be afraid to get a thinner gauge guitar pick either. I went down to a 60mm instead of the 77mm I was used to playing with...WOW! Leaves room for heavy handedness without that awful awful loose feeling/ detuning that occurs with a string break.

[schnozzle]

Watch other bands. See what works for them, imitate that or try a variation.

coniferouspine is right, make sure your instruments are reliable and stay in tune as much as possible. Bring a backup if you can afford it and make sure it's in tune before you start playing. If you play guitar and use light-gauge strings, try moving up to heavier sets (like 12's) because they tend to break less (although, admittedly, our guitarist plays 13's and he still broke a string at our show last night).

[Devlars]

Also, can't believe I forgot to mention this, don't stop for little things or that which distracts you during a show. Our very first show ever (about two months ago) was fantastic, despite a small hick-up. Right near the end of a song where everything but my voice and guitar drop I accidentally unplugged my guitar cable! Rather than letting that bring the song to a halt I quickly knelt down, grabbed the cord, plugged back in and went to the next line in one swift motion and the song finished very strong. The key is not to let it get in your way or make you pull that scrunched up "oh man" face thereby acknowledging to the crowd that you've screwed up...just keep going! No one is really going to mind or notice small mistakes or other unexpected hick-ups unless you draw attention to it with a facial expression or by (NEVER) stopping. Besides I love seeing a band play through with determination despite a small problem, it's shows what matters...the music.

[joeysimms]

schnozzle and his band The Monolators had stage presence galore last nite!

[schnozzle]

(Blush).

I would have used the blush emoticon but I never use emoticons.

[schnozzle]

Yeah, but I gotta say a LOT of that was because of the drunken dancing heckler at the bar. Always, ALWAYS try to use drunken hecklers to your advantage, it works.

-Schnozzle

P.S. HARD CORE PANTS!

[Monkeyfist]

Don't forget to jut your crotch, the chicks dig that!

[Disasteradio]

The key is not to let it get in your way or make you pull that scrunched up "oh man" face thereby acknowledging to the crowd that you've screwed up...

I've made a career of out the "Wrong Key Face". I play solo synths & computer and stuff. whenever a patch screws up I look at said piece of gear like it's made the mistake, not me. people seem to enjoy it. Plus making a gun with one's free hand and pointing it to one's head on larger mistakes is fun.


Exhibit A:WRONG KEY FACE.

The best thing that helps for me is killing pre-show nerves. Once I'm up there it's sweet as. I'm playing a show tomorrow night and I'm nervous already, and this is uh.. number 33. But yeah. This might be a bit wierd, but pre-show the thing that helped me the best is to drink a lot of water, then imagine you're pissing the uhm, nervousness neurotransmitters out of you. I've had so many people admit remedies almost as silly, but whatever works ! heh.

Also, if you want to really play some stressless shows, go on tour. there's nothing like a steady rhythm of gigs to keep you going. Would be different as a band I'd imagine, but uh, I wouldn't know, yet.

[kingquasar]

Try setting up your rehearsal space like your stage layout... i.e. everyone facing forward. If you rehearse a couple times a week in a nice little circle with everyone facing each other, you'll get too used to that. When you do finally get up on stage, all of a sudden you're "exposed" on one side, your sight-lines are broken, and everyone's amp is not faced inward. It's disorienting, and you shouldn't be struggling to adjust under the scrutiny of a crowd.

-kQ