The band was formed because I needed musicians to record my stuff FREE and these guys agreed to do it. Once people started hearing our music on the self titled debut CD, they started pestering us about playing out. Our first gig was outside, in a park, at a big private company picnic. It rained all day. This was also our worst gig although we sounded fine.
Nothing can ever replace playing live.
We seem to feed off the energy of our audience. The internet hasn't made this less important but it has dramatically increased our audience and our ability to market the music. To a man, we all believe the internet has had a very positive effect on the music scene. Just look at the MP3 site alone. The financial breakdown on signings sucks.