OINOZ
AND HOW A MUSIC BAND IS FORMED
What does it take to form a group that aspires to succeed?
If you’re here, it’s because, at some point in your life—probably this one right now, as you’re reading our blog—you have considered forming a music band. Yeah, but how do you do it? We were tired of seeing the typical American movie trope of a handsome man, who played average guitar but was loved by all the cheerleaders, forming—by means of his own hubris—a group that would go on to be successful. In fact, we’ve all been led to believe that the ignition spark for all the great bands came about by pure coincidence. We have even come to believe that fate, as if by magic, placed some of the most important musicians in history on the path to forming legendary pop and rock groups, due to the merely circumstantial fact that they were related to, or neighbours of, the band‘s founding members.
It’s similar to commercial strategies from record companies, which reference a single from this or that supergroup that has been “kept in the drawer”, appearing in a state of flux to offer a totally new sound from the group in question… Expectations soar and sales shoot up. Pure marketing.
The Mystique of Legendary Bands
Forming a band involves a certain amount of mystique. This has been the case for decades. Everyone has heard of the group who fired their first drummer, or the bassist who developed an original sound. Or the guitarist who died of unnatural causes… Sound familiar? Certainly, some of these stories happened as they are told, but there are also multiple strategies to inflate the bubble and capture the attention of the music lover. It happened a lot during the golden decades of the music business, which, although it continues to rebuild itself, has not been at its best in the last 20 years.
On other occasions, the leader of the band was simply passing by somewhere and, at that specific moment, the planets aligned and groups—such as Queen, Metallica, and Iron Maiden—suddenly emerged in their definitive form, and went on to amass millions of followers over decades of success.
The music business has changed tremendously since the birth of the internet, but do you think it was easy for The Jackson 5 to succeed? Or Black Sabbath? No, it wasn’t. These are two antagonistic examples, which focus on the theory of family or a new sound, which we will come back to a little later.
Music Franchises
But, mind you, the reality is that those bands who succeeded in their day (and continue to do so), did so fundamentally by contributing something different, and today they are practically music franchises. I’m talking about The Rolling Stones, AC-DC, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, U2… Groups that fill stadiums as soon as their tickets go on sale. It’s the recognition they deserve after many years of hard work and, let’s face it, suffering. As the dance teacher on Fame used to say… Fame costs! However, they climbed to the top bit by bit, one step at a time. Hard work, as I like to say, also in music, pays off. They worked hard to become the best.
What do you need to form a good music band?
- A different sound. You can have multiple sources of inspiration (in fact, the more the better for a musician), but the key is to be yourself, as a group. Oasis don’t sound like The Beatles, but did they have their own identity? Exactly…
2. Training and persistence. Obvious, right? Musical training will open many doors for you, but the world of music—like all artistic disciplines—is not easy. However, talent is also a key factor. When obstacles arise, don’t throw in the towel. He who seeks, shall find.
3. The right instruments for what you want to offer. At a time when everything has been simplified to the bare minimum of musical expression, and in which the guitar is disappearing from all hit singles, listen to Love Me Again by John Newman and you’ll see the wonders that can be created with multiple instruments in just 4 minutes. In this sense, the globalisation of technology allows us access to cheap, accessible instruments (software), which, until relatively recently, cost millions.
4. An identity. Certainly this is becoming more and more relative, but you have to have an essence, a well-constructed message. In the era of feature collaborations, it’s important not to stray too far from the kind of music you make, in order to maintain a certain loyalty among fans. There are fans who will never forgive you for this.
5. A bold message. We live in the age of experience. In music as well. For this reason, you have to put your heart into each composition. Listen, if you like, to the single René by Residente—the one we mentioned in point 2. He is the perfect example of a musician who was rejected by many record companies, and yet today is the proud owner of dozens of Grammys.
6. Empathy and contacts. We’re also in the era of social media. Take advantage of it! Make contacts. Right now, we’re probably at the moment in history with the most opportunity for contacting anyone in the world. Be empathetic, not pushy, but get yourself out there using these tools. Many doors will open for you.
Who are OINOZ?
Well, you’ve come this far and, as promised, we’ll tell you what it takes to start a band. However, before answering the million dollar question, I think you should know who we—OINOZ—are.
I want you to understand that our history is like that of many other bands—full of hard work—but that we’re different in that we’re based on around a single reality: wine. Although, it’s also possible that we all met at a specific moment in time, completely by chance. Our story.
We call ourselves Crianza (vocals and guitar, the heart-throb—well, not really, but let me have this one), yours truly; Verdejo (drums), and Claude Gros (bass). As you can see, names related to the land… Let’s get to know each other. It’s gonna be a lot of fun!
Yes, because OINOZ is a band made up of three guys from three different places, who all met under the shelter of a grapevine at the 2010 edition of Sonorama. From that moment on, we began a friendship that would form the basis of what we are today: a music band; the result of much sacrifice, with hard work as the forging element of a musical project that seeks to become a benchmark on the national scene.
We want to surprise you. And I know we’re going to do so. In our blog, we’ll tell you how a music group gets a contract, which group has sold the most records of all time, and what types of music groups there are on the market. We’ll do this, with your permission, while sharing a delicious glass of wine with you. OINOZ, of course, sounds good.
