Rehearse
Record
Perform
Rehearse
Record
Perform
Build a Band Program
“The Farm Rocks” (Build A Band Program) experience begins the moment you sign up. After completing an easy questionnaire that will help us assess your skill level and musical preferences, you will be matched up with other like minded players to form your own band.
Here it is, for 12 weeks, you are placed in a band, rehearse weekly, perform two live showcases, record a song or two in a world class studio. Then you’re onstage for a final Farm Rocks concert, where you’ll be playing to a packed house of friends and family! This program is geared toward everybody and anybody from beginner to more seasoned players who sings and/or play an instrument. Along the way, expert musical feedback and instruction from some of the best studio and touring musician in the Canadian music industry. All this wrapped up in one program for adults! We even supply the refreshments.
There are no auditions or egos. If you feel the need to get out the garage or basement, want to connect with other like minded musicians, record and play live on stage, let loose your “Musical Mayhem” this is a truly magical experience you will not forget.
Call 1 (888) 771-2327 to reserve your spot.
next Tour starts Wednesday, SEPTEMBER 28, 2022
The 12 week tour dates
Week 1 is where you meet your band and brainstorm possible songs to work on over the tour. Your musical journey/tour will be interactive, fun and collaborative with bandmates who are in the same situation as you. Keep an open mind to what suggestions are discussed, as you never know what might spark an awesome selection of songs to build your bands set. The Farm Rocks Tour Crew will also be on hand to help you over the next 12 weeks. Contact details are shared with bandmates so you can communicate from week to week about song selection and potential arrangements. All the studios are fully equipped and ready to plug and play from week to week.
Week 2, you and your band are assigned to a rehearsal studio, all you need to bring is your instrument. Refreshments will be on us. It will be challenging at times but always interesting. There will be no official instruction for week 2 & 3, The Farm Rocks Tour Crew will be there to help out, provide support and try to answer any questions the band might initially have.
Week 3, hopefully things are starting to come together and ideas are being solidified, working toward a short list of 3-5 songs. And along the way starting to find your groove or common ground as a band.
This is when the Sidemen (mentors) join you and your band! The weeks leading up to now, have given all the bands a chance to gel, get to know each other and what is working. Also it has given the bands time to learn the basic structure of each song that has been picked. The Tour Sidemen will be there to help each band with trouble spots, arrangements, vocals, dynamics and what ever else might be giving the band a bit of difficulty.
By week 5 the band should be seeing and hearing all the hard work starting to pay off, and you should be feeling the progress. Our Tour Sidemen will be on hand again this week to help you and your band keep focused.
For some of you this is the the first time you will be on stage to play for a live audience. This first live performance is the moment where you and your band start to hear your song choices coming together. The Farm Rocks crew has booked different venues through out the GTA. Each band on the tour will get to play through their set of 3 songs for this first live performance. Each band will received feedback and pointers from our Sidemen, the feedback is there to help improve the bands next live performance. These live performance nights are always fun and and help to build our Farm Rocks family. Back-line is provided along with our Farm Rocks stage tech.
There will be No Sidemen on hand this week, as we are back at the rehearsal studios. You now get to assess what you did as a band on your first tour stop live performance, taking and working through the panels feedback. This is also the week The Farm Rocks crew will send out available recording dates and times, keeping the weekend of week 10 open for recording.
Week 8, one week before your next live performance.The sidemen will be on hand to help work through your arrangements and with any other questions or prep you and your band might need.
Week 9 brings all the co-headlining bands back to the live stage. Again another chance to streamline all the things that did not work at the last live performance, and work on all the points and suggestions that have been presented and discussed over the last eight weeks. The Tour Sidemen will again be on hand to encourage, suggest, and provide positive feedback. These nights should be where everybody is there to support each other through the whole tour process. All back-line is provided once again along with our house stage tech.
This is the final rehearsal before the bands head into the recording studio. Tour Sidemen will be on hand to help finalize, work out any final kinks on the song that the band has chosen to record. Use the Tour Sidemen to help go over starts and stops as well as arrangements, dynamics, and vocals.
All the bands should be prepped and ready. The scheduled dates and times have been set. The recording studio and producer has been booked for each band. All details for this weekend have been finalized. Each band will arrive at their scheduled time and get ready to have fun, this could be a bucket list item for some of you. Once the recording session is done. All the songs are taken for some final touches and then each song will be added to a CD as a keep sake for each member. All you need to bring are your instruments.
This puts the bands back out on tour and into the rehearsal studio for the last time. This week gives the bands a chance to prepare for the final stop on this tour, “The Farm Rocks Concert”. The Farm Rocks Crew and your Tour Sidemen will be there to help with final questions, arrangements, starts/stops and the over all presentation for each bands set list. Work with them and use your time to get through your final preparation!
“The Farm Rocks Concert” is where all the co-headlining bands shine for a truly captive audience of family, friends and co-workers. The venue will be determined at the start of each tour, and as always it will be an amazing experience to play at any one of the great live venues through out York/Durham Region and the GTA. It will be a night to remember, so let’s wrap up this tour and play some KICK ASS Music!!! All back-line is provided once again along with our own Farm Rocks house stage tech.
Musical Direction
The TOUR sidemen
To help you navigate this incredible musical journey will be some of the best musicians/instructor’s that we can pull together. Our Sidemen/Mentors are not only tremendously talented, have played on Juno nominated records and have performed along side some of the best not only in the Canadian music industry, but international acts as well. They are patient, talented and are here to help and give back as well. Passing on the know how and knowledge they’ve gained over the many years in the industry. They will be on hand at you rehearsals as well as your performances to help you hone your playing skills and performance chops.
Frequently-asked questions:
Call 1-888-771-2327 or visit our contact page.
Musical Beginner. A musical beginner is someone with little experience playing/performing music, someone who struggles to make it all the way through a simple song with only a few chords – for example: “Proud Mary” If you feel or have any hesitation about easily making it through a song like this, with your instrument in tune, or your voice on key, then you are a beginner.
Musical Intermediate. A musical intermediate is someone with some experience playing/performing music, who tunes up and warms up immediately upon entering the rehearsal studio. Someone who has played for at least a few years and can get through a small set of music with few mistakes – for singers this means not cracking, singing off key and being relatively comfortable with knowing the lyrics, etc. A musical intermediate should be able to get through the songs without holding the other musician back.
Musical Advanced. A musically advanced person is someone who has a lot of experience playing and performing music. Someone who “owns” the song they are playing and/or singing. Someone who knows their instrument well enough to where the song itself is second nature and their musical/artistic personality can shine threw. They can easily make it through basically any pop/rock song hearing it once or twice before attempting to play it and can switch parts with little or no effort if asked to.
The Farm Rocks (Build A Band Program) is for adults 17+.
Weekly rehearsal currently take place at our facility “The Farm Rehearsal Studios” (Markham Ontario) and our off-site live performances are on stages located in and around the GTA – Richmond Hill, Toronto, Ajax. Weekly rehearsal time will be Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 10:00 pm.
After you complete the registration form, you will receive a questionnaire that will help us determine your skill level and musical tastes. This helps to ensure you will be with like- minded musicians and make your band experience that much better! You can always call our office to speak with us. We do our best to make sure your placement is perfect!
We have a done our best to come up with a reasonable costing assessment of $948.00 +HST for the twelve week program. If full payment is not made at start of the session. We will consider a payment schedule prior to the session start (3 pay package – three equal payments : one at registration, second payment first week of program and final payment at the midway point or week six). Note we do provide incentives for those who bring in another person or if a full band signs up.
Methods of payment preferred: cash, cheque or e-transfer.
Refund Policy: there is a limited space available. Cancellations must be received or made one week before the start of the tour date to receive a full credit toward any future Farm Rocks Tours. Cancellations received less than a week prior to tour start date will receive a credit toward any future Farm Rocks Tour, less $250.00 processing. There are no refunds.
The Farm Rocks program provides weekly rehearsal rooms, pizza and cold beverages, covers all mentors / sidemen costs, production crews and support staff for the live events and rehearsals. All recording facility costs : engineers, producers and back-line. Each person who takes part will get a recording of their band, as well as copies of recordings done by the other bands in the session. Weekly rehearsal time will be 7:00 – 10:00 pm.
