When I look at this photo of Ripon band the French Cassettes, winners of the 45th annual Hayward Battle of the Bands earlier this year, it symbolizes what’s so cool about musicians.

No matter how tough it is to buy equipment, to find practice space or to get gigs, somehow they do it. They do it with style, personality, attitude and flair.

Kids, teens, oldfolks — rich or poor — find a way to come together to jam. To share a love of music, a love of expressing themselves before a handful of people or a crowd.

We think the Bay Area, which has a long history of giving birth to musical phenoms, deserves a comprehensive, unique online presence for its homegrown talent. We think the bands need the support and resources we can offer them. We think the fans deserve a place to network and to find new sounds.

Put more simply: Bands of the Bay will be a place where artists and music lovers of all ages can come to share music that otherwise might never escape the confines of the Bay Area’s garages/alleys/backyards/bar rooms.

Join (it’s free) to post a profile of your band (or performance venue) as well as song clips, videos and photos. Don’t forget to list your next gig in our calendar.

Our staffers, real life LOCAL music writers, will keep things real and entertaining with insightful articles and reviews featuring hot talent.

Fans can join the party by rating band songs and videos and posting comments in our forum.

We hope this site quickly evolves to become a support system for musicians. We hope to comb the area’s wealth of talent in the biz and share that wisdom with newcomers. We hope musicians will come here to support one another. We hope fans will come here for fun and to share their love of rock blasting out of the car window on a sunny day or the quiet sounds of a violinist playing alone in a busy San Francisco BART station.

The bottom line: This site is in its infancy so please tell us what you think so we can make it something you can’t live without.