Midnight Channel Band Dynamics

By Nikhil Khatana | March 15, 2019

Pictured left to right: Liam Numrich, Gabe Pino, Joey Handel

Introduction

To most people without experience playing in a band, their knowledge of the inner workings of a band primarily originates from the media. With the exception of a few documentary movies such as Spinal Tap (1984) and Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), the media tends to over-glorify the social unit that is a band. For this reason, when people picture a band, a tight-knit, close group of friends traveling the world in a perpetual state of adolescence often comes up. While parts of the narrative regarding interpersonal band relationships are true, a large portion is definitely false http://www.acidlogic.com/band_politics.htm

All bands somehow incorporate a group of people working together to reach a common goal. To reach their common goal, decisions must be made and this is where internal conflict typically occurs. Where bands tend to differ is in their style and this is where the larger topic of interpersonal band dynamics, or simply band dynamics, comes into play. Interpersonal dynamics is defined as, “how people cope with and deal with different situations and scenarios… the demonstration of self-concept, emotions, attitude, and behavior (Interpersonal Dynamics, 2011).” While a band can theoretically thrive even with poor relationships as seen with Axl Rose and pretty much everyone he has played with, as well as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, band politics can ultimately make or break a band. For most groups, learning how to resolve conflict can both ensure longevity and lead to creative innovation. https://diymusician.cdbaby.com/musician-tips/dealing-with-band-politics-why-it-doesnt-have-to-be-so-complex/.

I chose to study Midnight Channel, a local punk rock band consisting of lead singer Liam Numrich, drummer Gabe Pino, and bassist Joey Handel all from Northeastern along with a lead guitarist Brian from Berklee College of Music. Originally, I planned to focus my research around sources of conflict and resolution strategies within the band, but decided to pivot as there did not appear to be really any conflict whatsoever in the band. I was intrigued by this and settled on answering the larger question of how are Midnight Channel’s band dynamics formed and developed?

Research Methods

To understand how Midnight Channel’s dynamics manifested and changed, I conducted a series of interviews as well as observations from band rehearsals and combined these with the fairly sparse literature on band politics. I began with an interview with Gabe Pino and Joey Handel, the drummer, and bassist of the band. The subsequent interviews were individual so I could gain a deeper understanding of the relationships the members had with each other. All interviews were recorded in a quiet room in Ryder hall, the same building in which they rehearse. Band politics can sometimes be a touchy subject, so before I began the interviews I made sure to acknowledge the sensitive nature of my topic of study and took care to kindly ask the members to be as honest as possible. I also made sure they knew they did not have to answer any questions if they did not feel comfortable. Luckily, all members were cooperative and claimed to not have any information or thoughts they felt they would want to withhold from me. In the first interview, I began with questions about the band’s history and origin along with other questions to try to get to know the band better influenced by the scholarly sources listed below. [After this, I proceeded to have them describe a typical rehearsal and subsequently moved down my list of questions] to glean information of the inner workings of the band. These questions included topics such as negotiations during rehearsals, feedback, and decision making. For the most part, the interview went smoothly with a balanced mix of conversational moments as well as more targeted questions. In the individual interviews, I generally began with inquiries into their first experiences with the other members. I attempted to learn more from these interviews about the members place in the band and how, where, and why they fit into the band, as well as comparisons to the previous musical experience they have had.

In order to gather additional insight into the band dynamics, I observed rehearsals. At first, I found this method fairly difficult. There were many times where I was unsure of what exactly I was supposed to be taking field notes on. Eventually, I learned to focus in on things like cues and eye contact the members utilized during songs. I learned more in between songs during rehearsals than while they were playing- I was able to pick up on and expand on aspects mentioned to me during the interviews.

Findings

Stepping into the rehearsal room in Ryder Hall for the first time, the space (as seen in the video) is a small, soundproofed square with a drumset in one corner, amps lining the left side, and multiple speakers on the wall furthest from the drumset. The whole atmosphere is relaxed and not super professional-feeling, with Liam singing in the center of the room from a mic lying sideways on a music stand. Gabe- the drummer- appears to be a humble, outgoing, funny and fun guy who takes his shirt off fairly soon into playing, once he gets warmed up. Out of all the members, he seems to be the most expressive with his playing. The bassist, Joey, is more serious- thought this is most likely due to the fact that he is currently on co-op, and rehearses at the end of his long day at work- but at the same time funny similar to Gabe. Finally, lead-singer Liam seems to be on the shyer side, soft-spoken, yet always with a charismatic warm smile on his face.

Throughout my relatively short time studying the band, I have begun to understand the simple yet intrinsically complex band dynamics process Midnight Channel has undergone since its inception. I found that the band began with Liam and Gabe- the lead singer and drummer, respectively- as the founding members as well as the only members for an early portion of the band’s existence. Thus, early on, the band’s roots were formed with their solid relationship and as time went on, they added the rest of the members. Interestingly, I discovered interpersonal dynamics played a large role in this process, whether they intended it to or not. A key to Midnight Channel’s dynamic was their process of adding members, which was based heavily with interpersonal compatibility in mind instead of solely musical ability. The process of adding members affected the band’s dynamics to a certain extent. Along with personality, the decisions to add members were primarily based around whether Gabe and Liam found themselves to be on the same page musically with them. In an interview with Joey – the bassist, along with the aforementioned aspects, I learned that his eventual successful integration was largely due to his receptiveness and perseverance to learn the songs. Additionally, I found that musical ability did not change the band’s interpersonal dynamic. Liam explained how he felt this was largely due to the fact that the music they play does not push their skill levels to the max, for example. However, certain members that have more musical knowledge such as the drummer, Gabe, will at times explain certain concepts to others when necessary (Personal Interview 21 March 2019).

As far as Midnight Channel’s decision making and the creative process, it primarily centers around Liam. Liam writes nearly all of the band’s material by himself and then brings it into the rehearsals. The members then work with Liam’s vision to create the song. I learned that there is no one member of Midnight Channel’s that is particularly emphatic, which appeared to contribute to the band’s minimal conflicts, although Liam admitted he is fairly rigid when it comes to his vision for a song. It was interesting to me that Liam was simultaneously the front man in the band and the quiet one. In a study about negotiation in band rehearsals done by Dorothy Miell and Karen Littleton, they found that during arguments: “What is notable is that the collaboration between the band members did not break down in these moments of vehement intensity. Rather, these conflicts were the very sites or moments in which creative breakthroughs seemed to happen, or which fuelled subsequent useful rounds of re-working and re-playing (Dorothy, Littleton 2007: 42).” When I posed the question to Joey about any sources of creative breakthrough from negotiations, he concurred with the study:

Yeah I mean we’ve never had heated arguments or anything but yeah we’ve definitely had disagreements and I would agree with that. It does kind of lead to something better because it’s sort of like you find kind of a synthesis between the two ideas be it a compromise or a completely different thing that sort of mixes in the two elements and it kind of gets the best of both which obviously isn’t the case all the time sometimes like let’s just be honest one person’s idea is better than the other but. But like I do think that whenever we do kind of have disagreements and we sort of flesh them out I think it sort of forces us to go deeper in depth like what makes this good, what will make this better. And when we do that most of the time we will come up with a better product (Personal Interview 23 March 2019).

Through my observations, I found that in between songs during rehearsals, Gabe and Joey were more vocal in pointing out corrections and suggestions, while Liam either respectfully agreed or disagreed. In a way, this seemed to have a positive effect on the band where Liam would be more of the ‘igniter’ and then allow the rest of the members to then give input and shape the sound, while also guiding with his vision. Midnight Channel’s ability to openly communicate distinctly appeared to help foster their positive dynamic. When I asked Joey about their communication habits, he responded, “We usually just vocalize it, you know, just feel like that was sick or something like that. As I’ve mentioned, we’re very open with each other, so we’ll just sort of be honest with each other. There’s not really many psychological things that I focus on but we will ‘say that was great’ or whatever it might be. If that was the case I think we just communicated basically (Personal Interview, 23 March 2019).” One of the positive effects of open communication is more chances for arguments, negotiations, and thus creative innovation.

Overall, in addition to having most of the songs written already leading to minimal conflict, open communication that can lead to creative innovation, a key to Midnight Channel’s dynamic Liam revealed was the band’s mutual agreement and commitment to simply, “make the best songs we can (Personal Interview, 14 March 2019).”

Bassist Joey Handel Mid-Song

Lead Singer Liam Numrich during a break in rehearsal

Conclusion

Drawing from class topics that were discussed, I did my best to foster the best possible interviewing environment I possibly could, making sure to not appear nervous and asking an open-ended question designed to get the musicians to open up about their thoughts. Moreover, at certain moments in my interviews, the symbiotic nature of my ethnography became clearer. I first realized how I was helping the band during the first interview with Gabe and Joey. At one moment in the interview, Joey was talking on the cues that he takes from members in the band. He mentioned a specific drum technique that Gabe did that helped him during songs. At hearing this, Gabe was pleasantly surprised to learn that someone was paying attention to the extra work he was putting in, something of which he was unaware.

This is just one example of how the members learned new information that at times appeared to strengthen and solidify certain relationships and reinforce behaviors that they had never discussed before. If I had a longer time period to conduct my study, I would spend more time with the band conducting more interviews and observing more rehearsals. With more time, I would be able to take a deeper dive into how the band’s dynamics change over time. Additionally, I would attend performances and observe the differences from a rehearsal along with explorations into how the crowd affects the band.

 

Endnotes

Botkiller, Brian. “Dealing with Band Politics: Why It Doesn’t Have to Be so Complex.” DIY Musician Blog, 27 Oct. 2011, diymusician.cdbaby.com/musician- tips/dealing-with-band-politics-why-it-doesnt-have-to-be-so-complex/.

Forbis, Wil. “Reflections on a Failed Music Career: The Politics of Being in a Band.” The Ethics of Judge Dredd – Acid Logic e-Zine, 9 Jan. 2010, www.acidlogic.com/ band_politics.htm.

Gaggioli, Andrea, et al. “Networked Flow in Musical Bands.” Psychology of Music, vol. 45, no. 2, 2016, pp. 283–297., doi:10.1177/0305735616665003.

‘Interpersonal Dynamics’ .Researchomatic. 7 , 2011. 7 , 2011
http://www.researchomatic.com/Interpersonal-Dynamics-77503.html.

Miell, Dorothy, and Karen Littleton. “Musical Collaboration Outside School: Processes of Negotiation in Band Rehearsals.” International Journal of Educational Research, vol. 47, no. 1, 5 Nov. 2007, pp. 41–49., doi:10.1016/j.ijer.2007.11.006.

O’connor, Brian P., and Jamie Dyce. “Interpersonal Rigidity, Hostility, and Complementarity in Musical Bands.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 72, no. 2, 1997, pp. 362–372., doi:10.1037/0022-3514.72.2.362.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Gabe Pino, Joey Handel and Liam Numrich for participation in this ethnography.

HELP SUPPORT. BUY MIDNIGHT CHANNEL’S DEMO ON BANDCAMP https://midnightchannel.bandcamp.com/releases

 

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