COMEDIAN Chris Rock once said in his stand-up special: “...when you are in a relationship, you’re in a band. And when you’re in a band, you have roles that you play in the band. Sometimes you sing lead, and sometimes you’re on tambourine.”

Now, dear reader, I’m making an assumption here that most of you have little experience in each of the above. I, for one, concur fully with Mr Rock on this, since I play in bands, I am in a relationship (married with children) and I also play tambourine.

Being in a band is no joke. It takes a lot of interpersonal and communication skills to run one that is not only functional but also authentic.

The most important thing is understanding your role and knowing your place in the larger unit, just like in any relationship.

I feel people in general should all be in a band at some point in their life to learn a thing or two about “teamwork” – a buzzword that has gained currency in the past decade or so.

I have been in bands since 1995, so I feel I am an expert with an illustrious “career” and vast experience unique even amongst my peers – both as a musician and especially as an academic.

I always wondered why companies go on a so-called teamwork “retreat” resort to the usual circus of activities, which supposedly help learn about teamwork like obstacle courses or some whodunnit games where for once you can see grown adults run around like children on a schoolyard.

I have even helped organise some of these in my previous company, although I must confess the most fun I got out of it was making senior admin staff do ridiculous things and body movements that are totally out of sync with their age and stature in the company.

Anyway, back to the order of the day, here’s three non-musical skills you can learn by being in a band.

1) Networking

Most band-related networking begins informally. This includes just meeting other like-minded individuals in social settings (my first was in college) and exchanging a shared interest to start something together.

From this, roles are identified and designated: who plays what instrument based on ability not just interest.

At this stage, most are still in the romantic stage – just like a romantic relationship – in the sense that the whole world seems like an oyster and a general sense of an ability to conquer the world.

The next stage would be networking (usually by the band leader or most social member) to get gigs and so forth.

This is a crucial stage for from here on, the band will have to continue networking outside of their comfort zone if they wish to pursue a serious creative and potentially financially rewarding journey.

This also encompasses seeking creative collaborations with filmmakers, theatre groups, etc to find any other avenues outside of the music circuit to get the band’s music heard.

2) Communication skills

Most broken relationships often cite poor communication between partners as one of the major causes.

Just like a partner who does not communicate their wants or needs to the other, a band member who keeps quiet and harbours some unfulfilled creative desire or even contempt against another band member will eventually leave the unit or worse cause a band to break up.

Most musicians – I am generalising here based on my personal experience – tend to be introverted, so one can surmise that band’s hierarchy begins to form around the pecking order of introverts and the one who communicates to others their intention to lead the band will often be on top of the order.

Bands, just like relationships, are never a democracy – you have to give and take, and also know your role and place in the unit.

Apart from internal communication needs, bands must also communicate their so-called “brand” and their works to the public – at least one band member should have good written communication skills to write a good bio of the band.

With social media now the norm, one has to up the ante to remain relevant (and keep the evil algorithms from bypassing your profile and posts).

Heck, even song-writing requires communication skills to be able to convey emotions and mood effectively.

3) Crisis management

One of the thrilling aspects of being in a band performing live on stage is that it feels like jumping off a cliff as a team – all for one, one for all.

The entire enterprise could fall apart at any time but yet the sense of the union holds the members together for that moment in time.

Good bands are not flawless. They know how to look at a crisis in action – maybe someone played the chord, the drummer’s stick fell, a bass string broke – and treat it as a momentary slip without missing a beat.

It may also be a situation where a band member or two had to pull out at the last minute from a gig, but a decision is made to carry on. The show must go on as they say.

It may also be an internal disagreement between band members over some creative decisions – The Beatles went through a lot of these.

A band, like a relationship, needs some form of tension – it is after all friction that creates sparks.

Band fights (not necessarily involving fist fights) are common, just like how couples tend to bicker.

When one is consciously aware that everything could fall apart or be amazing in the blink of an eye, one must also know how to gather the troops back together and soldier on.

The rule of the day for any form of production – be it film, music, or theatre (a live gig is a production, don’t forget that) – Murphy’s Law is the law: anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

And just like they say in sports: the greats make it look easy. – June 10, 2022.

* Azmyl Yunor is a touring underground recording artiste, and an academic in media and cultural studies. He has published articles on pop culture, subcultures and Malaysian cultural politics. He adheres to the three-chords-and-the-truth school of songwriting, and Woody Guthrie’s maxim “All you can write is what you see”. He is @azmyl on Twitter.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.