This question may seem a bit silly, but how many bands do good musicians usually go through before they find ‘the right chemistry’.
I see a lot of bands with every member as talented as the next, it can’t just be coincedence, there must have been some member swapping and band name changing along the way.
Anyone an insider and have any knowledge about this, or perhaps owns a subscription to the rolling stone? 
Moving this to Cafe Society, where questions about The Arts belong(and usually get answered more fully).
samclem
Usually, bands get together long before they get a recording contract. It’s usually a gathering of musicians living in a particular area, who meet either by knowing the others or, occasionally, due to an advertisement by an existing band. Then it’s just a matter of talent. Groups that don’t have it either break up or spend their careers doing school dances and nothing more. Rarely, one of these groups manages to create a sound, and its own music and style, and ends up with a record contract.
Usually a group does some switching of members before it gets a recording contract, but there is usually a core that stays together.