Saw this poster taped to a lamppost in my neighborhood last weekend. There is so much to admire about it. My first thought concerned the talent/practice angle as espoused by Anders Ericsson.
I played in a bunch of bands when I was a kid. Although we were generally dreadful, playing clumpy versions of bad cover songs at poorly attended basement gigs, it was hard to deny that all that very deliberate practice paid off. By the time you’re 16 or 17 and start writing your own songs, you have some idea of what works and what doesn’t and, perhaps most important, how to not drive each other crazy, since being in a band is essentially like being married to four or five people at the same time.
So it wouldn’t shock me if the kids who put up this sign accumulate some worthwhile human capital — whether or not related to actually playing music — by the time they’re young adults.
First of all, I love how organized they are. Looks like they went to the trouble to secure use of their building’s common room for an hour on two consecutive days (no easy feat in New York). I love the alternate coloring of the lettering. I love their upbeat attitude (“Hope to see you there”), and the fact that they’re taking themselves seriously enough to hold auditions. I especially love that their band is called Punx (and is trademarked), and the sign has a skull-and-crossbones on it, and yet they’re also looking for a pianist to round out their hardcore sound. Finally, I love that they’re recruiting within such a broad age rage, 9 to 14. When I was a kid, 14-year-olds and 9-year-olds didn’t hang out; as a parent, however, I’m all for such age diversity.
Yeah, I’m not crazy about the i’s dotted with hearts, or the ungrammatical “your own,” and I doubt they really meant for kids to lug their own pianos to the audition. But it wouldn’t shock me to one day see the Punx (or, more likely, some eighth or fifteenth iteration thereof) actually making some good music.
and 
. You can also watch it on 
My gut tells me this poster was done by one of the band members’ older sisters or mother. Most 9-14 year-olds don’t yet know all the elements of style that were used in this — and still being in school probably wouldn’t make the “you’re own” mistake like many adults do.
I’m guessing by “pianist” they meant “electronic keyboard player” or “synth player.” If 13 year olds are buying expensive synths, then, well, I guess this is New York.
Forget the pianist, I’d hate to have to bring my own drum set to an audition, especially as a 13-year-old.
I am hoping someone challenges the trademark lol
There are girl punx in that band.
Looks like a good way to abduct children ages 9-14.
there’s definitely a conflict
in the hearts vs skull
Girl band?
btw Everyone adds extra apostrophes these days, young and old alike.
As a member of a rock band, what struck me was they were recruiting just about an ENTIRE band. As in perhaps one person, who wants to be a rock star, deciding to hold “auditions” for, well, everything else.
Bands are notorious for the difficulty within them. There are at least a couple of contributory reasons beyond just having a bad attitude:
1) Good musicians are, to some degree or another, “artists.” They CARE about their music, and are very territorial about it. So, when working on a new song, and somone says, “That sounds like something out of the 80s,” well, you can imagine that the writer might have some problem with that. And if he/she doesn’t bark back right then, then it just goes into the Resentment folder for future use.
2) Being in each other’s faces all the time. I love my wife, but if we don’t have some apart time here and there, we’ll break apart here and there. That’s why many bands, close as brothers on the road, lead relatively separate lives off the road. They either know better, or simply don’t WANT to be around these people anymore…until a couple of months later they start missing the band.