THE HARD R: GOD FORBID’S DALLAS COYLE ON GETTING SIGNED AND “MAKING IT”

It’s the songs, stupid…

A lot of the time when we’re on tour people ask us about how to get signed. It’s a hard question to answer because it’s different for every band. Every band has their song writers, their role players, etc. Essentially being in a band is a gift and a curse because it’s a lifestyle based around uncertainty and instability. Relationships inherently are unstable and uncertain.

Creation is a powerful animal. Creation is the ability to turn nothing into something. It’s the big bang theory in a rehearsal room or in your bedroom. When we go into the rehearsal room to write new songs it starts with a riff or an arrangement. But that end product doesn’t work unless you build it from the ground up with a blueprint in mind. In politics they have a saying: ‘It’s the economy, stupid.’ If you want to be a successful band I have a saying: ‘It’s the songs, stupid.’ Writing good songs is the main course in the meal. Most bands offer dessert. A sweet dish that makes you sick if you eat too much of it. Our band is much different than most bands. In the beginning, we wrote dessert songs. I don’t enjoy our first two records too much because as impressive as they are from a musical standpoint we never had the idea of writing songs when we wrote those records. We wanted to write songs that confused people. We wanted people to know we could play our instruments. If you are in a band starting out that’s the worst place to start writing.

Miles Davis said, ‘Good musicians borrow, great musicians steal.’ This is true. Nothing in life is original. There are only twelve notes. The Beatles wrote every good hook that was able to be written. So what do I mean? We steal all the time. We steal from metal bands, rock bands, hip hop bands but writing as a band we know what OUR band sounds like, so all of these elements we take from other styles serve the purpose of the God Forbid sound. We change all of the time. I’d say more so than our peers because we’ve taken a long time to find our sound. Other bands are more skilled than most. KsE knew their sound and perfected it on Alive Or Just Breathing. LOG has always had their sound. These bands beat our asses in song writing when we started. I honestly believe we’ve just found our sound in making this new record because we’ve evolved in drastic ways over the last ten years. It took us a while to live by the,’It’s the songs, stupid.’ dogma. We started living by that when we started writing Gone Forever and that’s why we added singing. I was able to do it so why not add another element of attack in the process. That record sold way more than the previous two and garnered us critical acclaim because we changed our outlook on the way we look at the band and how we attack the craft of being a musician. Not just because we added singing.

Getting signed today is much easier than it was when we started. There are more platforms to parade your music. But most of these bands today and labels are following the trends so they can get signed. Labels are signing things they know they can sell. There is no risk in signing 8000 deathcore bands which our label is guilty of lately. Most of those bands don’t have the aspirations that need 100,000 dollars of marketing dollars and a 50,000 dollar recording budget. But the math works. You can sign 10 extreme bands and when they sell 5000 copies a piece, which they will, the label makes more money. Our band sells over 100,000 records worldwide but it’s much harder to sell 100,000 of one band than 50,000 records of ten bands. Our label has been behind us and treats us better than most bands but we demand more from them for our needs. It’s hard to sell 100,000 records these days and maybe they don’t want to put their eggs in our basket anymore. There’s no way to know this but these are the pitfalls of the music business you deal with every record cycle.

Getting signed is a way to brag about your band. When we were signed we were proud and became arrogant. We were the black sheep in New Jersey and getting signed was a way to say ‘fuck you’ to the people who hated us, and there were many and still are. Our ambitions were forceful in a way that isn’t common in the metal scene and we were resented for it. Also, we were able to solidify our confidence in a scene we weren’t sure wanted us. These days your band shouldn’t want to be on a label, lawyer or a manager. We’ve learned being self reliant is much more healthy than being reliant on anyone else. With the internet you can push your own band. It’s hard but it’s worth it. Getting signed makes it easier for doors to open because people want to see someone else putting money into your band because people are followers. They want to see someone else make the leap so they don’t have to. Being self reliant also helps save time. If you aren’t reliant on your self you waste time blaming other people for your failures. We did it countless times. Now we blame ourselves for our missteps.

I’ve got an idea for you. Start your own label and sign your own band. It’s all about bragging rights and who’s cool now. I’ll tell you what won’t happen when you sign to a label: You will not be huge the next week. It takes work to build a fan base. It doesn’t change if so and so label signs you. Make your band viable on your own because most people want you to fail because they can’t do what you do. This business is all about one in a million. Out of the bands I’ve consulted for cash most have broken up because this is a hard life and business. I don’t regret having a hand in disbanding these bands because I saved them time. They would have found this out for themselves at some point and things could have ended worse than they did.

Here’s the trick to getting signed. Write good songs. Don’t worry about getting signed. Tell them to fuck off and they will come flocking. Be proud of what you do and treat your fans like friends because that’s who they are. They trust you and they make your band viable. Not a contract with your signature. Your friends don’t make you sign a contract.