Spend a lot of time trawling the grimy-toilet venues of the Tokyo music scene and, apart from gaining an encyclopaedic knowledge of how to smuggle alcohol past staff members guarding the doors of various venues, you will start to pick up on the minutiae of musicians' stagecraft like a sommelier when it comes to fine wines. After several years serving time in the country's underground music scene, and in a spirit of sharing, here is one indie-music snob's guide for artists on how to avoid possible pitfalls in your performances:

1: Don't bang the drums incessantly while setting up.

In fact this goes for guitarists just as much as drummers. You have time set aside before the doors open to do a sound check or rehearsal, so the sound guy/girl has your levels all ready. There should really be no need to hammer away at your drums or thrash away at your guitar while setting up. I can understand why drummers might need to give the kit a quick test, to make sure each piece is positioned comfortably for them, and there are of course shows where the bands have no chance for a sound check (and if you're Tatsuya Yoshida or Keiji Haino, the audience might consider a noisy set-up period from you an actual bonus). But as a general rule, you're sparing the crowd a lot of pain, and annoying the DJ a lot less, by keeping the noise to a minimum.