Small Project: Starting a Rock Band (and Ending It Well)

What we did

It started as basically just me and him. Two people with a big idea and not much else: “Let’s start a rock band.”

A community centre came alongside us in a huge way. Their workers hired a musician to guide us, gave us space to rehearse, and even organised a radio spot on the ABC to do an equipment “call out.” That call-out worked—gear arrived, people arrived, and suddenly we had a band.

It was a kind of mock rock band at first—more dream than structure—but we took it seriously. We learned instruments fast, sang loud, brought ridiculous energy, led from the front, and honestly… we were pretty outstanding for beginners.

Why this mattered

It wasn’t really about being famous. It was about stepping into something bold together. For my friend especially, it was a dream—to be in a band, to stand on stage, to belong to something electric. And he got that.

What happened

The community centre set up gigs through their own networks. We played. We starred. We messed up. We nailed things. We became “a band” in the eyes of other people, not just ourselves.

And then—just as deliberately as we started it—we broke it up.

What we learned

Some projects aren’t meant to last forever. They’re meant to carry someone to a moment they couldn’t reach alone. This one did that. My friend went on to form his own band—his real one, his dream one. And that feels like the actual success of the whole thing.

Next small step

Not every ending is a failure. Some endings mean the project worked exactly as it should.

See more Small projects:

• Small Project: Tip Shop Trolleys
• Small Project: $5 Bag Clothes
• Small Project: Starting a Rock Band (and Ending It Well)
• Small Project: Shoes That Fit
• Small Project: Free Bread, Shared