How To Be a Better Band

Saturday, November 13th @ Tom Lee Music, Vancouver

If you heard some rockin’ live tunes pouring out onto Granville Street this weekend, you were witness to some local bands gearing up for BC’s Best Teen Band Contest, a battle of the bands presented by Youthink magazine, Tom Lee Music and 100.5 The Peak FM.

The “How To Be a Better Band” workshops were presented by BC’s Best Teen Band Contest and hosted by Shaun Verreault, lead singer and guitar player of Wide Mouth Mason, and Songwriter/Producer/Artist Manager Don McLeod. Between the two, they have worked with numerous high-profile artists in the Vancouver music scene, including Aaron Pritchett, Default and The Odds.

The workshops focused on live performance and songwriting, and were also a chance for bands to find out more about BC’s Best Teen Band Contest.

“Some people were curious about the teen band contest and were able to come out and have the chance to perform,” said Verreault after the workshops. “This event was a great opportunity for bands to figure out what makes a strong live performance and what makes a good song.”

Not only was this a great opportunity for teen bands to gather some tips from the pros, but they were also given feedback and advice on their live performances and songwriting.

“The advice that stood out the most for me was realizing that while singing, you’re telling a story to your audience,” said Therese Guieb, lead singer of Far From Fiction, a pop band from Vancouver Technical Secondary. “As a singer, being able to entertain your audience is very important.”

The songwriting portion of the event got the bands thinking about what message they were trying to convey with their original songs.

“I definitely have to look at all my lyrics now and think about what they mean to me, and how they can reflect someone else’s life,” commented Jeremiah Ackermann a student at Sands Secondary and lead singer/drummer of the band, Public Access. “I really learned a lot about lyrics and lyric writing from this workshop.”

Writing a great song requires getting out of your comfort zone, and that’s exactly what the participants of the workshop were doing. Getting up in front of an audience is never easy and even Verreault was, “impressed by the bands’ courage.”

Overall, the workshop provided many useful tips, helping to mentor and encourage young local artists. The bands left the event feeling confident in their own musical abilities.