Body language can say alot to the audience about how you feel about them. If you are constantly in profile (rather than facing them), just looking like you're jamming in your practice facility off (in your head) doing your own thing, it's off-putting and insulting to an audience - their understanding is that you're just there to make noise & get paid. Your posture and some simple gestures with the instrument & some true eye contact can do quite a bit. If one doesn't appear to be enthusiastic about showcasing their music neither will anyone else. Possibly one of the reasons that people unfamiliar with surf will run to the default response of "get a singer." It's because they want to be engaged by "someone."

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

Rev sez "And how about no fat and unattractive musicians either"

Gaw we are so screwd then.

http://www.reverbnation.com/thegreasemonkeyz

caddady wrote:

Rev sez "And how about no fat and unattractive musicians either"

Gaw we are so screwd then.

Rev

Canadian Surf

http://www.urbansurfkings.com/

Last edited: Apr 03, 2014 11:05:00

I will expound on that, in practice we do goofy stuff... really goofy stuff. Playing behind the head, playing between the legs, running in place, massive leg kicks, windmills, any anything else stupid or athletic you can think of. Gets us laughing, having fun, and feeling comfortable with the guitar in our hands. If you see a 'Verb looking down, chances are it is at the setlist. My bad habit is staring at our setlists, I always forget what is next and our setlists are always a really fun design with funny song titles.

You kind of have to move to the music, you know. I'm not talking thrashing about, but a head bob, swaying, bobbing about. Great way to keep time, give the audience something to oscillate to, etc...

I find it's a bit inconsistent. We've had many fantastic shows, when you really feel in sync with the audience, and feel their energy flowing through you. Everything is relaxed and fun and it's just an amazing night. But then there are nights when there's no connection at all, and I find it's really hard to play like that. BTW, I'm not blaming the audience, absolutely not. Often it's us - or me. If you're not in the right state of mind, or are just very tired (driving for six-to-ten hours before the show and then playing really late may do that!), it's not so easy to connect and project fun. A true pro can get over that, but if you're not playing all the time, you may simply not be able to pull it off. So, you may have to accept that not all shows will be great, and some may be downright stinkers. But it sure makes the good ones so much more special!

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube

Las_Barracudas wrote:

If you think about the most successful 3rd wave Surf / Instro acts all have more than just musical virtuosity happening.

Every great musician/band, really. And you don't even need musical virtuosity. Surf isn't really a virtuosic genre, which is maybe what draws me to it. Songwriting is king.

'Presence' is an ineffable thing. You can't quantify it and you can't fake or manufacture it. Stage antics do not create it though they may point it out (or mask it).
As someone accustomed to standing up in front of people I can say by experience that it has to do with a precentor's thorough absorption into the act at hand – being present in the moment of doing it. Perhaps interest is generated in the complexity of relation between being and doing. Observing oneself and then forgetting oneself. I think if the player (in specific of surf guitar) gets caught up in the moment that the music is happening, it gets interesting.
By contrast, boring performance is where the sense of risk is eliminated by the player's need to stay on top of the unfolding of the moment, which is self-defeating anyway.
One of the advantages of surf music, or any 'traditional' form is that it provides a template of musical expectations and a bond of shared enthusiasm for them between artist and audience. Obedience to the precepts of surf constitutes a kind of 'piety' that gives permission to all involved to relax into the sonic experience. Without a set of boundaries – or when the boundaries are too compromised (as in having an egoistic singer rule the stage, or playing Jimmy Buffet tunes) – audiences feel deprived of that experience. It's like getting one's stomach ready for Chinese food. To switch to Indian food would cause psychic indigestion that leads to physical revulsion.
That revulsion would translate in musical performance to the band sucking.

Squink Out!

PolloGuitar wrote:

In rehearsal, practice not staring at your hands. Look up, smile, make a connection with the audience, so you don't just look like your jerking off.

C'mon, don't hold back; tell us how you really feel.

The LSJ example was superb. A shorter example of involving the audience would be some guy standing there looking at his watch asking them how long the other guitar player can hold that 'A'... who would do such a thing?

Brief, but now they've been engaged directly by someone up on the stage which may suck their eyes & ears away from the latest i-thingy in their hand. This kinda stuff requires subordinating your ego some. And with relatively short song duration it's perfect for that.

Have fun. (It helps to have some "uplifting" songs to execute that with...)

Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel

DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.

This brings back the discussion of practice and rehearsal:

I am guilty of not wanting to practice or rehearse the same old songs but, playing music is a motor skill and the more you do it the more auto pilot can take over giving you time for backflips, walking on the bar, sitting at people's table while playing....

The biggest reason our band disengages is when we are not 100 percent on top of the music.

So.... More practice until you hate those songs more than you hate them now will allow for some more fun on stage.

*revhank wrote

And how about no fat and unattractive musicians either. Just so we don't have a double standard.

Fat Guys rocking is way entertaining! icon_rock.gif>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1st6O1tqII

Rev

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases

Last edited: Apr 03, 2014 18:00:15