I played in a pub band for a few years. I joined the band because I loved the instrument, rock songs and the sound I could make. It was the classic dream, built on years of listening to music, collecting records and going to 'real' gigs. The other pull was the idea of the band. The team. The tribe. Being with people who loved similar records, the same bands and the same sounds. And by playing together we became the only ones who really know what it took to get good enough to do your hobby in public. So being in the band was about me and us. But in reality, the band was only there for other people. The pub owners who needed new bands to help bring customers in. The bar teams who organised the bands. The customers in the pubs on the night we were playing. The band who had played there the previous week that people had liked more. The people in the pub who only wanted to hear a certain kind of band or certain songs. The people in the pub who didn't want to hear any band th