Constructive Blowouts: DW3 on Keeping an R&B Band Together for 25 Years (Episode 37)

Make Music Your Business.

Episode 37 of The Career Musician was recorded at the back table of a Sunday brunch gig. DW3, short for Down With Three, is an R&B vocal group from Southern California with a residency at Spaghettini's in Seal Beach, and Nomad has played guitar with them there on and off. Between sets, over food, he asked them what it really takes to keep an R&B band together.

The group is brothers Eric and Billy Mondragon and close family friend Damon. The brothers say they have been running the group for about 25 years. Here is what they shared.

Thrown in the fire

Damon was a studio singer doing demos when the brothers first heard him. He was about 15. Years later, right around his 20th birthday, they called him with an offer: we have 14 gigs in two weeks plus New Year's. Can you learn 25 songs in five or six days?

He did, and the rest is history. Coming from the studio, he had no live experience, so he learned as he went. Nobody hired him and fired him for not being good enough. They tried it out, and it was natural. That is Everything you do is an audition. Those demo sessions years earlier were the audition. He just didn't know it yet.

Three voices, three jobs

What keeps a vocal group together, they say, is the blend. You need a high voice, a low smoky tone and a falsetto, because you can't all sing the same part. Each of them is a solo singer in his own right, and they take turns on lead. Eric plays keys with the band, too. Their influences run through Stevie Wonder, Steve Perry and Luther Vandross.

Learn the business first

Ask them for advice to young artists, and they go straight to the business.

"Learn the business first, and then it'll all fall into place... Talent will get you so far, but if you don't learn the business, you're not gonna get anywhere."

DW3, 10:01

Part of that is relationships. They have been in LA long enough to know players who can come in on short notice, and they say being a great hang is as important as being able to play. Networking matters, and you have to be seen.

"If you're not seen, you'll be a garage musician your whole life."

DW3, 12:33

Same with recording. If you make a demo, have a plan for it. Too much music sits on hard drives because of fear. Not everybody is going to like your music, and that's fine. They also learned to mix and edit from YouTube instead of paying someone by the hour, because it was a necessity. Put in a week, and you never pay for it again. The effort, they say, is the difference between bands that make it and bands that don't. That is Make Music Your Business.

How a band survives 25 years

People see the two glamorous nights a year at an award show. They don't see the 16 to 18 hour studio days, the hours in traffic or the time away from family. So Nomad asked the real question: how do three guys, two of them brothers, get along for that long?

"We have a blowout once every three months, but it's a constructive blowout."

DW3, 15:08

Address the issues instead of letting them build up. Have thick skin. Don't threaten to break up every time you argue. Think business: what is the smart thing to do, hash it out, create new rules and guidelines, and keep evolving. That is how you stay Low maintenance / no drama over decades, not by never fighting, but by fighting fair and moving on.

One more tip on marketing: keep your name and handles the same on every platform so people don't get confused.

The takeaway

Learn your part, learn the business, get seen, and settle your fights like partners. If you want help getting in the room in the first place, grab the free Get the Gig guide, and check out DW3 at dw3music.com.

Get the gig. Keep the gig. Build the career.

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