So... Who Has a "Persona" On Stage While Gigging?

[Old No7]

This comment from the "This may sound stupid but..." posting got me to thinking... (Not always a good thing...)

Most of my past gigs were in dive-ish places, so no one could give a sh**. (I AM the guy who once tried to start a thread titled "Dig My Wreck".) For some reason I have found myself much more concerned about the manner of dress some of my fellow music makers adopt than I have ever felt about cabling. (Crocs? Shorts? Golf shirts? Sweat pants? Severely normal dress? Blues hats and two-toned shoes? You've got to be kidding!)

So...

 

* How many of you have a "persona" on stage while gigging?

 

* And does it change based on the gig or venue?

 

Truth be told, back in the early 80's when I was gigging, we didn't think too much about it -- being poor college students probably helped -- as we wanted "really good music" and our musicality to shine through (as we were all classically trained musicians). Turns out, though, that wasn't enough... (This was back when Boy George dressed in drag and made millions with mediocre material...)

 

Anyway, I'm curious how much effort you guys or gals put into YOU and not your boards or gear when you gig.

 

(I guess it could depend on whether you're single, married -- or in-between... )

 

Old No7

[Baldwin Funster]

Not a persona but maybe a persona non grata.

[Dr88s]

I try to wear flashy clothes, but as fun as I envision myself being while selecting the wardrobe, every single silk picture of my playing has the same look of intense concentration on my face. I must not be fun at all. I find it amazing that someone could put on a persona for a performance.

[CEB]

You mean something like this ?

 

 

[Piktor]

I don"t have a calculated stage persona, at least not one that relies on anything that I wear.

 

Since it was my comment that you quoted, I should clarify that I think that there are many people who actually pull off certain looks while there are some people who just seem to be wearing costumes. That"s probably just my perception. I have played with some blues guys who had a manner of dress that authentically matched their actual personalities. It was not a persona. Some other guys? Not so much. Again, maybe that"s just my perception.

 

As a guy who lost most of his hair before he was thirty, I was shaving my head before it became a thing. To me caps are comfortable and as necessary as a pair of shoes, but I don"t wear them indoors or on stage. I wear caps, but brimmed hats seem to wear ME. For people like me (nerd?), that item says 'costume'.

[The Real MC]

I have gigged since 1981 and the constant has been a hat. More often it is a white fedora.

[CowboyNQ]

My on-stage behaviour is very much dictated by the music. This can vary wildly, however the common thread for me is it"s important to look like you"re 'into it' no matter what the context.

 

My default dress code is all black. However when my party band plays a big 80"s show I"ll wear a flight suit and shades a-la Top Gun"s Maverick.

 

I"m also playing in a Faith No More tribute these days and the dress code for that band is collared shirts - some rather ostentatious.

[Mighty Motif Max]

As most of my gigs are either solo gigs (or church gigs), I have to develop my own persona. I tend to aim for somewhat of a dressy old-fashioned look, which somewhat reflects my music [heavy on ragtime, Balkan folk music, Russian folk music, some jazz, and various pop/rock arrangements). Always suitably dressy and professional. Usually a paisley-print vest, bow tie, dress shirt, and dress pants, often with a hat that matches the tie. Mostly either navy/gray or burgundy/gray color combinations, with the dress shirt varying in color. Sometimes a suitcoat for higher-profile gigs.

 

I.e. [various pictures from the last 5 years]

 

 

Orchestra or large ensemble gigs are usually concert black or whatever the ensemble in question does. For some specialized gigs I'll don my Russian kosovorotka, or during hot, humid summers I wear a green Tanzanian dashiki. I used to have a US patriotic white outfit, shown above as well for special occasions like veterans events. For "vintage"-themed events (i.e. pioneer village days etc) I'll swap the vest for an olive green cotton vest, like one might have seen in working men in the early 1900s or earlier. That's about it.

[Stokely]

I can't do a persona very well. I've tried to be that dancing, having fun guy but best I can do is nod my head if I'm really into it. Maybe a semi-dramatic stance (I stand to play) during a real ripping part of a song. Boring but again it feels completely awkward to do anything else. Fortunately we have a lead singer and a guitarist who take up the slack for the most part!

 

I also sport a hat, if only to keep the audience from suffering the Southern version of snow blindness as my dome reflects the lights. So hat persona it is.

 

I do pay attention to wardrobe but was hoping to drop more pounds before really getting a bunch of new stuff. For fancy gigs it's kind of the "Nashville dress code" (nice jeans, nice long sleeve shirt and shoes) but normally it's a pair of black all stars and an appropriate shirt for the gig. I did get a vest but the darn guitarist tends to wear his a lot recently and I don't want to look like twinsies

[mauriziodececco]

A persona no, but i while ago, looking at some concerts photo, i found myself boring. Wearing the same shirt i ware in the office.

 

So i moved to a personalised look:

 

http://www.barbogio.org/img/barbogio.jpeg

 

The t shirt is home made, my wife made the drawing

 

Maurizio

[cphollis]

My stage persona is a 62-yr old retired dude who doesn't give much thought to what he wears on stage.

[Stokely]

If your attire can include t-shirts (I know some of you tend to dress up more, as do I on some gigs), I've just now discovered custom tshirt sites...went with Teepublic over a couple others after reading a quality review. I got a "Flynn's Arcade" tshirt and one for an "upcoming" concert starring the Soggy Bottom Boys, with special guest Governor Pappy 'O Daniel

[pinkfloydcramer]

Rain Man.

[allan_evett]

Aging, rock curmudgeon.

 

Summer: untucked, black band-collar shirt with jeans - black, gray or blue. Winter: similar to summer, but usually a dress T-shirt paired with the band-collar shirt. I'm the guy who looks like he's stuck in the 90's on a north side street in Chicago. Since 2010 I usually wear a hat on stage. I was hired several times in Denver to cover a required '5th player' for country road bands that played the Grizzly Rose; the first leader I worked for remarked that my head looked like a moon under the stage lighting. So after that it's been either a cowboy hat or more often a military-style cap to cover my oddly thinning hair.

[Dave Bryce]

During the 80"sâ¦yeah, sure, some.

Did the sleeveless tee thing for a while, The past few years, I"ve taken to wearing shades and a hat.

 

dB

[MathOfInsects]

1. Black jeans plus 2. black t-shirt or black button down shirt, plus 3. Black rock'n'roll boots or dress boots, or the trusty black chucks, plus sometimes 4. Black sports coat or leather jacket, plus occasionally 5. Tie, all very occasionally replaced by 6. Full black suit or tux for some private events, and all similarly coopted occasionally by 7. White-pantsed yacht-rock foolishness.

[KuruPrionz]

I do. I pretend to be nice.

[Docbop]

Hate that persona stuff when I was gigging if something specific was required I would come as close to it as possible. Otherwise casual and I tend to wear black all the time. Also since I worked behind the scenes a lot doing sound, roadie, etc black is good for not drawing attention when having to move around on stage during a show. As a little kid the first group I people I got into was the Beatnik scene which wore mainly black so that's how it got started for me and continues to this day.

[allan_evett]

....and all similarly coopted occasionally by white-pantsed yacht-rock foolishness.

 

Ah, yes; the yacht-rock uniform. It's required for the Jimmy Buffet tribute I gig with 8-10 times a summer. Thankfully no white pants though. I've had to get creative with the Hawaiian shirt part; camp collars just don't work on me. I feel like a creepy, 1970's uncle wearing one of those - like one of the characters Rodney Dangerfield played.

[Lou Gehrig Charles]

I have waist-length hair, so I have to go to great measures to look like I don't belong to a dive bar or metal band.

[Lou Gehrig Charles]

I feel like a creepy, 1970's uncle wearing one of those - like one of the characters Rodney Dangerfield played.

 

"Look at this hat, it's hideous! Oh, but it looks good on you!"

[allan_evett]

I feel like a creepy, 1970's uncle wearing one of those - like one of the characters Rodney Dangerfield played.

 

"Look at this hat, it's hideous! Oh, but it looks good on you!"

 

"I tell ya I get no respect from anyone. I bought a cemetery plot. The guy said, 'There goes the neighborhood!'"

[MAJUSCULE]

Not a persona, no, but I dress for the gig (whether it's a tux or jeans or whatever). I also act the way I do on stage based on what gig I'm playing. It's still me, but I allow myself to let loose if I'm also trying to contribute to a packed dance floor. I don't act the same way playing a wedding ceremony or a background jazz gig. Also is part of whether I sit or stand (although I do sometimes sit for rock gigs, if that's the vibe).

[drawback]

I dress appropriately for whatever gig it is. Suit & tie these days, but in past decades in bands or as solo piano it was always whatever was going on in band fashion at the time, usually some variation of "sideman black." The persona that we speak of is more about personality, which I can't disguise. But the personality they see is just me in the moment, because when I play for people, I'm (as Joni put it) "unfettered and alive." I've had many relationships short-lived after she discovers I'm not the easy going, go with the flow groover she apparently thought I was.

[MAJUSCULE]

I've had many relationships short-lived after she discovers I'm not the easy going, go with the flow groover she apparently thought I was.

 

Yeah, I'm not nearly as outgoing as people think I am after having seen me on stage with my original band.

[area51recording]

I've had many relationships short-lived after she discovers I'm not the easy going, go with the flow groover she apparently thought I was.

 

Yeah, I'm not nearly as outgoing as people think I am after having seen me on stage with my original band.

 

I'm the same way, which I think actually appeals to my wife. I don't think she would dig it if I were as animated in the rest of my life as I am onstage......

[Adan]

On solo piano gigs I'm much more an extroverted entertainer/jokester than in normal life. I believe that's the real me, and the more introverted person I am in the rest of my life is a persona.

[StanC]

I tend to follow what I call the "chameleon effect" to blend in with environment: i.e. the rest of the band and the venue. In one of my bands, the leader requested all wear Hawai'ian shirts. (if you didn't own one, one would be provided). This is a 60's 70's band mostly outdoor gigs for fundraising and the like. The other band is more of a club band where the level of fashion is commensurate with the club. Typically all black or "designer shirts" (i.e. for lack of a better term, those that are not "button down office shirts")

[Stokely]

This might sound weird, but I miss Sears because they had a large selection of those kind of shirts...kind of dressy shirts but with "flair", they had a large "young adult" section they called it. I'm still looking for a new source of cool duds (not counting tshirts, I found those!). Our singer goes to thrift stores and has some pretty cool stuff, I need to try that (being big and tall though I doubt there will be too much in my size, we'll see.)

 

While it wouldn't really work for us, I always liked how Flogging Molly looked with the old-school dress attire.

 

The same band I've been in for nine years started out (before my time a bit) as a theme 70s band, the singer was hoping everyone would dress the part and of course stick to 70s music. Happily, we don't, and we don't

[MAJUSCULE]

All my best show clothes (not including full suits) are from thrift stores. Hot tip: don't limit yourself to the men's section.