Well, it's actually not really that hard at all. We'll try to give you all the tips and a little bit of preparation. While it's not hard to start a band, it IS a lot of work.

First off, punk music is not about being good. It's about DOING THINGS YOURSELF and learning from it. The most important part of being in a band, or doing anything artistic, is failing. You HAVE to fail over and over to learn what you like, what not to do. You can't skip this step. It's built in.

Failing is not something to be avoided!!!! Jump in with open arms!!!

Before we get to our own tips, here's a video Spencer found useful when starting Venus!

Start writing songs by yourself! Find a crappy instrument. Go to a thrift store or pawn shop and buy a guitar or electric keyboard for a few bucks. Start hitting it and making sounds. Write some words. They don't have to be good. Good is subjective, anyway.

Maybe find a few friends who want to hit some thift store instruments with you. Decide what your band name is. Show each other your favorite songs and talk about why they're cool. Talk about what parts are cool. Draw out the structure of the verses and choruses. Decide what kind of songs you want to make someday. Learn how to play a few of your favorite songs to help you get better at those shitty instruments. Youtube is great for that.

If you're gonna be in a band for a while, though, you gotta SET RULES AND EXPECTATIONS.

Set boundaries. If someone doesn't want to be in the band, find someone else. If you're not meshing creatively, have a long and honest talk about it. It's complicated to run a big group project with your friends. If you hurt someone's feelings, apologize. Remember that a music community is a COMMUNITY.

Start going to shows as often as possible. Talk to the bands. Tell them you're in a band. Give them a sticker with your band name on it. Ask how they got to play this show. Ask if you can open for them sometime. You can also email us to ask if you can open for a Venus show sometime. Reach out to the venue, over email or Instagram to ask if you can play a show, or if they need any openers soon. Inevitably someone will say yes eventually!

When you get asked to open, you have to decide what your setlist will be. Ask the venue how long your set is, and make sure you time all of your songs so you know how long each one takes. Make sure you have some place to direct people who want to follow you - like a social media account or a bandcamp account. (More on music streaming later.)

If you want merch, go to a thrift store and buy a few T shirts. Buy some fabric paint. Paint some cool designs. If you want to mass produce them, buy linocut materials and make a stamp of your design. (Make sure to draw it backwards!!) Youtube is also good for linocut instructions. Decide whose venmo account people will pay for merch. Print out a big QR code for it. Keep track of your finnancials.

A good way for quick and easy merch and advertising is to find a print shop and print stickers of your band. You can also find a color printer (most libraries offer cheap or free printing) and print some of the flyers for your show. Try to tape them up on poles, on community boards, and in coffee shops to get your name out there and get a few more people to show up.

At your first show, be on time!!! (You'll likely be the first ones there, but still!) Introduce yourself when you walk in, both by your band name and your own name. Always ask the other bands who they are and what their names are. Learn the sound guy's name too.

Soundchecks usually go in reverse order, with the band that plays last (the headliner) soundchecking first. A line check might happen if a band misses soundcheck, where they do a quick check live on stage right before they play.

Set up your stage like your practice space, but be willing to be flexible. It can help you prepare to play live if you know how to play all your songs without hearing the vocals or your own instrument very well. Things sound very different in a real venue than your practice space.

Be confident and look at the audience. You'll be nervous, but it'll be okay. No one will know if you mess up as long as you keep playing. And if they do notice, oh well, it's a live show, that's part of it! No one, including other musicians, will be surprised.

Don't be surprised if you don't get paid, but make sure you ask the venue if you're getting paid or not and what that process is. Thank the other bands, thank the venue staff, thank your audience and chat with anyone who comes up to congratulate you.

If anyone acts weird, shut that bullshit down!!! Tell the staff if someone is behaving innappopropriately. Tell the other bands too, but wait to talk shit until you're in the privacy of your car or practice space.

The first time you headline a show, you have to find openers. Make sure you ask more than two bands if they're free. Chances are high that not both of your first picks are available. The venue might be able to find some openers for you, but they may not be who you want to play with. Once you find two bands, decide who goes first and second.

Be friendly and super encouraging of your openers when you are headlining. Chat with them. Ask them how they became a band. Thank them at least twice for opening for you.

Avoid shows you have to pay for to put on. You can do that once you're bigger.

Now do this over and over again until you get sort of okay at performing live.

Congrats, you're in a band!!!

When you know your songs inside and out, and you're sick of people asking if you're on Spotify, you've got to record your music. Be sure to have a little bit of money on hand for equipment.

Professional music studios cost over $100 an hour to record in. If you've got that kind of money (????), go ahead. If you don't, either find someone you know who will help you out for free or cheap, or get yourself a Focusrite Scarlet interface and about 4 microphones plus cords and stands. SM 57 mics are good for recording instruments, SM 58 mics are good for vocals. Both are about $100 each at Guitar Center. Borrow some if needed.

Learn how to connect your new Focusrite interface to a laptop. Pick a DAW software you want to record into. Garageband is free, but the basic Ableton Live version is only a single $100 purchase and will sound CONSIDERABLY better, plus you'll know how to use it from now on.

Spend a week or so learning how to use the DAW, how to connect everything to it, where buttons are, what they mean. Youtube it. Ask friends who use it. Trial and error. Make some demo recordings.

Finally, record your songs. RECORD TO A METRONOME. Do one instrument at a time.

Find someone who knows a little mixing and mastering, or spend some time online trying to figure it out. (It's hard.) Make your songs sound better. Get them ready for streaming.

Make a bandcamp account. Upload your songs there. Set a price for people to buy them.

Assuming you're not going to sign to a record label, get an account on a distribution service. Distrokid is the most popular. It costs between $20 and $40 a year, depending on what plan you want. Upload your finished songs to distrokid. After they're published, use the distrokid site to change your spotify and apple music and whatever else profiles.

Buy a CD reader/writer (like at Best Buy or Office Max). Plug it into a laptop and burn your finished songs onto blank CDS. Draw a cool cover. Print it out and put it in the front of a CD case. Sell your CDs to people.

Maybe consider making a website for your band!