Band Advice

We’ve covered the basics of band musicians and how to prepare for a ship contract.  Now I will focus on some advice for bands once they get to the ship.  There are many things needed for success, but here are some tips based on my experience as a Musical Director who supervises the bands.

Split Responsibilities:

A Caribbean-themed band onboard a Royal Caribbean ship

Although there is a bandleader for each band, some of the responsibilities should be shared amongst all band members.  Yes, the bandleader does receive higher pay due to increased responsibilities but it should still be somewhat of a team effort.  Nobody likes working for a dictator and in my experience a bit of democracy can go a long way in keeping morale high.  Being a musician is about creativity and expressing yourself through your art and being given a set list every day without the chance to give any input will eventually cause problems.  Involve all the members of the band when developing repertoire and set lists.

Another thing that should be shared are the vocal responsibilities.  People do get sick and it is nearly impossible to go up to 8 months without needing to take a day off.  While bands typically get about one day off per week, depending on the ship’s management, there is no guarantee of a day off.  Most bands perform around 4 to 5 hours each day, so you can imagine that one person singing 4-5 hours per day, 6-7 days a week for 8 months spells disaster on the vocal cords.  It is common to develop a cold when first boarding a ship, I think it must be due to the closed environment and living in a world with few windows and fresh air in the crew areas.  Also realize that by working with 40+ nationalities and guests coming and going each cruise, the crew are exposed to lots of different germs.  Bands have different instrumentation; it is common for bands have all 4 members playing instruments (keyboard, guitar, bass, drums) and one person being given lead vocals and other members singing background vocals.  Some bands have a dedicated lead singer with 3 playing instruments (keyboard or guitar, bass, drums) and sharing background vocals.  But in any case, I highly recommend that lead vocals are not just assigned to one person.  What happens when that one person loses their voice?  It puts a serious strain on the Musical Director and Cruise Director when a band cannot perform their sets because somebody is sick.  The set still has to be covered so it takes some creative scheduling and the other bands must work extra sets to cover.  Trust me, another band does not want to give up their day off or run to cover your sets during their band’s breaks and pull double duty.  This could all be alleviated if the band can perform songs with other people singing lead vocals.  Also have some instrumentals in the repertoire just in case the band gets sick together.  Crew members live in small spaces together, so more than likely if one has a sore throat the rest of the band will too.  The band should also have backup plans to be able to perform missing one of its members just in case.

The band Hi-Lux, onboard a Carnival ship

Another unfortunate reason to split lead vocal duties is due to the fact that musicians do sometimes get fired.  I will go into the top no-no’s in a future post, but I have seen musicians fired for excessive drinking (ships have a blood-alcohol limit), drugs (zero tolerance), sleeping with guests (also zero tolerance due to the legal liabilities), stealing (on a ship you can’t run very far!), and other reasons.  During one of my contracts as Musical Director, we had a Latin trio and the only member who sang lead vocals was fired for being in a guest’s stateroom in the early hours of the morning.  He was fired by the Captain, but his two bandmates remained onboard because they did nothing wrong and it was nearing the end of their contract.  It turned out that the other 2 band members couldn’t sing at all and they struggled nightly.  Luckily their contract only lasted a couple more cruises, but it was quite painful to walk by and hear them struggle each night.

I have also seen a band have their bandleader fired after a late night drinking session.  He was the type of bandleader who made every decision himself and sang lead vocals on every single song night after night.  After a night of heavy drinking, he was fired and sent home by the Captain and the band’s agent sent a replacement bandleader instead of replacing the other musicians who followed the ship’s rules.  I didn’t know how it would go with the band losing their bandleader and the person who sang all of the lead vocals.  The band had been together for a few years and didn’t think about this scenario.  There were also cultural differences as the 3 remaining members were from Eastern Europe and the replacement bandleader was from Indonesia.  Well, it turned out that the replacement bandleader was the best thing ever for the band.  The replacement bandleader was very laid back and knew he had a better chance of keeping peace by involving the members as a team instead of making every decision himself.  All of the members began sharing lead vocals and all helped make the set lists each night.  The usually straight-faced band started to have smiles on their faces every night and began playing better as well.  It was just a shame that it took having their dictator-like, lead-vocal-hogging bandleader being fired for it all to happen.

Be a Team Player:

A band performing onboard a Norwegian Cruiselines ship

Another piece of advice is to work as the band that you would want to work with.  Be a team player with the rest of the department.  Everyone is there to do a good job, but sometimes it takes some effort to see how all the pieces best fit together.  One of my main responsibilities as a Musical Director was to put together the music schedule in every lounge of the ship for every night of the cruise and I can tell you that there is a lot to consider when putting together the schedule.  I have worked with some bandleaders who complain about working too many hours, not having enough days off per week, or not having their preferred port off.  While every Musical Director would love to give each band a perfect schedule, in reality nothing is going to be perfect.  It all comes down to trying to produce the best product for the guests.  I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be able to stand up to yourself and ask the Musical Director a question.  If every other band is getting 2 days off per cruise and your band only gets one and this goes on cruise after cruise, then you have the right to ask why.  But if your band’s day off is in Jamaica and you really hoped to have Grand Cayman off, just remember that you are there to work.

I would suggest working closely with the onboard ship management.  This means developing a good working relationship with the Musical Director, the Cruise Director, and even the Hotel Director.  Most of the times the onboard ship management stays on the same ship for a number of years so they are experts on that particular ship.  They know the typical guest needs, their complains, and the little things specific to that ship.  Don’t be afraid to ask them questions and seek their advice.  It doesn’t mean that you are weak; it means you are committed to providing outstanding entertainment.  If you feel like you your band is not connecting with the guests, then ask the Musical Director for advice.  Be open to change if necessary.

Change in Times:

Something I will cover in a later post is to understand the typical cruise ship guest in today’s cruising industry.  The cruising industry has a long history and many stereotypes exist about cruise ships.  Gourmet food, live music, dancing, elaborate entertainment, and pampering are all a part of the cruising stereotype.  Now when it comes to music, you have to realize that over time things will change.  Traditionally there was a lot of big band and jazz music onboard cruise ships.  Some still have it, but others are starting to change.  If you think about the Big Band era, the last period of time when jazz was “popular music.”  To all the jazzers out there, please know I am not trying to say anything negative about jazz music, I graduated from a very jazz-heavy school.  I’m not saying it doesn’t have its place in the music world.  But this is about the general population and pop culture.  To give you an idea just look at social media.  One of the most famous current ambassadors of jazz music, Wynton Marsalis, has just over 57,000 followers on Twitter.  As a comparison, Katy Perry has just over 48,000,000.  Again, I’m not saying one is better than another, but obviously one is more recognizable by the general public.

A band performing onboard a Carnival ship

Now what does this mean to a band coming onboard?  Use this information to your advantage.  Being able to adapt will allow you to be successful in connecting to the guests and drawing higher ratings.  According to industry research the average age of guests is 50 years old, meaning they were born long after the end of the Big Band era.  Those average guests were born in the 1960s so it pays to learn songs from the 70s and 80s.  Continue to include jazz, but take a look around and see how it is received.  Also don’t forget the ballroom styles and people will always want to dance.  But if you want to connect to your audience, play music that they can relate to.  Going back to my last post, ask your agent or cruise line about your assigned ship and itinerary.  If you get assigned to a ship that does 3 or 4-day cruises to the Bahamas, then the typical crowd with be younger and want to party.  If you are assigned to a ship that does 14-day cruises in Europe or 7-day cruises in Alaska, you will see a completely different kind of crowd.  Use that information and plan accordingly.

Originals vs. Covers:

People who are on vacation want to listen to something familiar, something that they can sing along to.  To put it bluntly, cruise ships are not the place to perform your original music.  Bands are hired as cover bands onboard ships and this should be understood before accepting the contract.  If playing covers is not for you, then playing onboard a cruise ship is also not for you.

This doesn’t mean that you have to leave songwriting behind when joining a ship.  If you are a songwriter then use your free time onboard to write new songs.  Even if your band works every day there is still a lot of downtime.  One of the major reasons that some musicians don’t enjoy their contract is because they are bored. Having a hobby or project to complete helps keep downtime productive, so write as much as you can.  The environment is incredibly diverse and within a music department of 20-25 musicians you might have as many as 10 or so nationalities.  This can make for some interesting and rare collaborative opportunities.

Supplement Your Income:

A band performing in a lounge onboard a Carnival ship

Every ship has a gift shop where they sell various items from sunscreen to clothes to alcohol.  Some cruise lines will allow the bands and entertainers onboard to sell their CDs in the gift shops.  There is protocol to follow and it will take advanced planning on your part.  The CD   But please make sure to do it the right way.  Do no hide them and try and sell them in secret from the bandstand on breaks or after your sets.  You can be fired if the management finds you are not going through the proper channels.  Typically the ship will take a cut, but you will get a lot of exposure, as guests like to stop by the gift shop on sea days and do some shopping.  The CD must be approved by the cruise line’s corporate office to make sure the quality is up to their standards- both sound quality and packaging and appearance quality (usually shrink-wrapped). This is a great opportunity to supplement your band’s income by selling your CDs during your contract.

Be sure to ask the Musical Director if the ship allows the band to take tips for playing.  The policies vary between cruise lines and ships so make sure to ask first.  If you are allowed, then just make sure that you follow all the rules.  Since there are few expenses to working on a cruise ship, just a little bit of extra income can go a long way.

One other way to make extra income is to sign up for side jobs around the ship.  I will cover side jobs in more detail later, but there are some jobs that are filled by crewmembers with extra time and are looking for some extra cash.  This can be from helping with art auctions to working various jobs at a private destination.  These jobs pay by the hour and pay in addition to your salary as a band member.  But make sure you get the approval of your Musical Director and always remember that you were hired to play music first and that any side job comes second.  Do not sign up for a side job that you know will conflict with your normal music schedule.

These are just a few tips for bands based on my own experience.  Up to this point I’ve now covered the major positions for musicians onboard an international cruise ship.  My next post will cover what happens between being hired and joining the ship.   Sometimes that gap can be a couple of months, like in my case, or it can be as little as a couple of days.  But there is quite a bit of paperwork and appointments that will be necessary for that first contract.