Over ~15 years of seeing bands consistently I've developed a little mental cheat sheet of visual cues that indicate that I am about to see a really bad band. Of course this only applies to bands about which I know nothing. It's gotten to the point where (sadly) I can tell how much a band is going to blow before they play a note. A lot of you probably have bad-band-radar too. So help me fill out the list. The Big Three in my experience are:

1. Drum racks. Whenever I see a drum rack, I immediately understand that it is 99.6% likely that the drummer can't play the fucking drums one lick. Drum racks, which are heavy, bulky, and inconvenient, are purchased exclusively by gear-obsessed people who spend more time polishing cymbals than practicing. Racks = impending suck.

2. Banners. Bands playing in front of a large banner bearing their name and/or "logo" cannot possibly be good. This is science.

3. Crate amps. Crate are shit. At least Peavey Bandits usually indicate poverty. Crate amps indicate poor taste.


Honorable mention: "Explorer" guitar bodies. I suppose someone's going to cite a person who plays one and makes great music, but in my experience Explorer = some serious Butt Rock is on the way.


Now. Go.

No laughing or chatting between band members while they are setting up.
It's gonna be boring.

Some local radio dj coming onstage to introduce them.

PRS.

dean guitars.

the clothes.

line 6 amps.

Make-up

iembalm wrote:Some local radio dj coming onstage to introduce them.

Not sure bands can control that in many instances.

ginandtacos.com wrote:Honorable mention: "Explorer" guitar bodies. I suppose someone's going to cite a person who plays one and makes great music, but in my experience Explorer = some serious Butt Rock is on the way.

Gary Lee Conner played an Explorer, IIRC.

He is not crap.

If you call him crap, he'll sit on you and crush you.