Visual appearance of a rock or metal band.

Hey guyz, all of you, whether u r in a band or not, know how important it is for a band to maintain its visual appearance. Here i will share my thoughts on how to improve your visual appearance as a band while performing live. My most of ideas applies to rock and metal bands. And i also want help from the more experienced frnds here. Because as i read on this forum, they have amaging knowledge and guts. Guyz plz share your ideas about improving the appearance...
Here are some tips...
1. POSITIONING:
when going to perform live we should first decide how we are going to position ourselves on the stage. Some of us does not think about this much and just decides their initial standing positions on stage. In a metal band there are some typical standing positions viz.
Having lead guitarist and bassist on ends in the front row with rythm guitarist in middle front row if he is also a vocalist. The drummer can be positioned in the center back or if a keyboardist is present then the drummer and the keyboardist can share the same back row. Also in an another arrangement the drummer can be in center and the keyboardist can be on the side end in front row. Now some improvisations can be made on these positions like when the solo of the music comes the singer can go back and the lead guitarist can take the center position and when the solo ends the same positions continues again. Also the bassist or the lead guitarist can go to the drummer and can play there for a while.
I m typing this on my mobile and i m a lazy guy so next ideas i'll post after sometime. Bt now its time for you to share your idea on this topic, so that including me and other can also hv some more to gain. Thank you.

2. HEADBANGING:
this is most common in heavy metal music. Headbanging is a type of aggressive dance which is performed by audiance and the musicians on the stage. Headbanging include banging your head up and down violently wid d beats n rythm of the music. Bands should decide in which part of music they can perform headbanging. This part can be a main riff of the song or it can be a verse. It will b more visually appealing to the audiance if all front row members bang in a synchronized pattern i.e. all heads down at same time and up on the same time.
The standing posture you should take is to take your 1 leg behind and the other in somewhat front and bent, so that your legs are apart. This posture will give you the solid base for ur balance, so that you dont fell down on the floor losing balance. So pre decide the points in your music where you can perform head banging. Practice for the synchronization and u'll be amazed hw crowd cheers up and starts following you. Beware that headbanging can cause headache and also injuries to brain, bt thats when u bang ur head more violently.

Can't you just STFU and talk bout making some good music instead...

Cant u just STFU coz playing live isn't abt just producing music. Producing gud music is ofcourse most important bt there are also other aspects of the playing live. People goes 2 liveshows for having sm fun nt 2 just listen music. Why they are going 2 pay if dey can listen to dat music at home? Bro people dont just want 2 pay money for walking outside d venue having headache. I want 2 talk about dat aspect i.e. hw to play live better, hw 2 fetch more audiance, hw 2 let people remember, dat band's show ws awesm. If u hv sm ideas abt dis, post em here or u can take ur a*s out of here. Coz on d topic of music der is already a lot posted n people will keep posting so dont worry.

3. COMMUNICATING WID AUDIANCE:
It is also very important 2 communicate with the audiance. Becoz inviting people in will cause them to attch. Now they will find themselves as a part of the show and as a result they'll enjoy more. Pre decide wht 2 say in between the songs. Decide how to invite people in. Watch some live shows clippings of internationally recognized bands and see hw they accomplish this. Here i m posting nothing new cuz all big bands are already doing this.
Nd if frm iron maiden, metallica to bfmv is doing this then for sure this is nt a bad thing.

Guyz these are necessary, for example u can see in a competition, a band's live appereance is also a criteria for marking. There is an another example for this is dat there are awards given to internationally recognized bands, like best performance award n all which are not just based upon music cuz every big band generally dont make playing mistakes, they play very tight. So ofcouse those awards are based upon their live act. Wht u say guyz...

Its true.
Most live audience are usually the ones with low intelligence (or perhaps they switch off their intelligence), and they go there for the thrill of being amongst other audience (who are presumably in similar state).

All they want is some showmanship, some stage bullscat, and then you can even play Michael Learn To Rock - and be known as a ROCK BAND.


This is not a piano recital where ppl are coming to LISTEN and WATCH the performance.
In a rock concert, ppl go to mosh and vomit, and grope and fondle. Doesn't really matter what is being played and how its being played.

Now i understand .. you guys are talking bout Dimmu Borgir and the likes and not about the Steve Vai's....

Yup. N thanx alpha1, 4 explaining wt i m talking about here. So guyz here is d next thing dat these rock n metal bands do for their visual apperiance. This also help making their image, these are
4. TATTOOS:
it is not compulsary, nd sm artists dosn't hv a single tattoo at all, bt ur special tattos can mark a tick on audiance's and ur fans minds. Like the tattos of james hetfield hv their own image for example. Tattoos have their own impact in making ur image as a rock or metal musician. Some of ur special tattoos can let people remember "oh i know dis, dats d sign of dat metal guitarist."
in delhi, permanent tattoos can cost u almost about 3k buks, for 1 inch first time and then 500 to 700 buks per inches as i queried on some places.

5. INSTRUMENTS:
Your instruments can also hv an impact on audiance. Like d guitar used by james hetfield nw a days, hav its own image. Or the jackson's flying v used previously by matt tuck of bfmv and alexi lahio of cob. Those flying v hav their own image. Jimmy page played two neck guitar and known 4 dat... I think derz feel wid dat flying v. People alwayz luk 4 wt their icon is playing. There's nothing 2 think abt this, If u hv everything special den u r special. Be dat unique personality dat people like, if u want 2 b liked. Think abt dis, wt people want... and den giv dem wt dey want.

Originally Posted by rickkkyrich

Now i understand .. you guys are talking bout Dimmu Borgir and the likes and not about the Steve Vai's....

VAI not?
Doesn't he straighten his hair, and blow dry after putting shimmer?
Deosn't he wear designer "beach" shirts? or dark suits?
What about the sunglasses?

He has created his own suave look! Not the regular trashy grungy look of a rock band.
But it still is a "look"

Oh com'on alpha.. there's got be something different bout every musician and the look thing applies to every individual including myself and you.. and there's a difference between looking different and overdoing things...

Yeah.
Vai overdoes that Whammy bar!!
:p

lol.. and he overdo it beautifully....

u r describing the appearance of bullet for my valentine

Of course bfmv fall in dis catagory bt bfmv is nt d only band who make use of headbanging, tattoos, long hairs n ol. So saying dis dat i m describing bfmv is wrong cuz its a general form. If u hv sm more ideas abt this, then plz show up here guyz...

another thing in positioning is that
for a certain time all the guitarists stand side by side with bassist in centre(if there are 3)
it looks cool

P.S. i saw it in a vid of bfmv