Any musician who has ever followed this advice has also received plenty of very nice rejection calls, letters and e-mails to the effect of "You guys sound great, you're just not what's in right now."
So why were all these people reminding us not to imitate? Because they were talking about greatness, not flash-in-the-pan success.
When you think of your musical heroes -- your true influences and muses -- you'll probably find that they were either the first to do what they do, or the best at doing what they did, and they didn't bend to the will of popular culture, or anything other than their own instincts. AC/DC never tried to be anybody but AC/DC (thank God), and neither should you.
John Zaremba is the guitarist, tour manager and booking agent for Say When, a Boston rock band that has been touring the country independently since August of 2007. He can be reached at john.zaremba@gmail.com















































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