It's been a few weeks since our first installment of Beginner Band Mistakes where we discussed planning excessively while not practicing.  And now we're back to discuss something equally detrimental to bands at the outset: not caring about vocals. 

I've been a in a bunch of bands over the years and this was probably the biggest problem we encountered.  We were all very enthusiastic about playing our respective instruments, but nobody was very excited to sing.  Normally, singing duties would fall to one of the guitar players and he would take, at best, a passing interest in it. We figured the musicianship would cover up any bad vocals while playing live.  Boy, were we wrong.

Vocals, like every instrument on stage, are supremely important.  Crap vocals can ruin a live show quicker than you can say Milli Vanilli.  It's all too common for fresh bands to view vocals as something that comes in between guitar solos but, please, break away from this kind of thinking.  I wish someone had told us to find a singer who was as passionate about singing as we all were about playing our instruments.  Maybe our live shows wouldn't have been the ear-wrenching affairs they were. 

So, if you're starting a band and can't decide which one of you should sing, stop arguing.  None of you should sing.  Go out and find someone who can - and wants to - man (or woman) the mic.  You'll thank me someday and, more importantly, so will your fans.