Hi Sue,
Using PHP and HTML to implement your project is a good choice. To create the functionality you desire, you will need to learn some basic PHP along with having a solid foundation in HTML. Luckily, building a site like the one you described is not overly complicated, but you do need to know something about procedural programming. A great place to start on PHP - apart from any tutorials found here at PHPBuilder - is:
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/programming/php/
This is where I learned PHP (or least started to learn). I believe the WebMonkey tutorials to be very clear, straightforward, and ultimately useful.
As for the steps you will need to go through, here are some thoughts:
Learn HTML
Learn some basic PHP. I usually learn by example, so go ahead and copy code snippets that provide the functionality you need, and then modify them bit by bit according to your needs.
Make sure you DO the tutorials that you read. So get set up with some webpsace that supports PHP, and create a couple simple PHP files that demonstrate that PHP is working on your webspace (e.g., create a PHP file that prints out your name to the screen).
Your page that lists the bands will need to be altered a little bit. The best way would be have the page query your db (another thing you need to set up) for the names of all the bands. This query will also look for links to the pages for each band.
A template is a good idea. It shall be a PHP document the pulls all the information from your db about the band specified in the link. So each band on your page of bands could possibly link to one template, and then template could ask request info on the band that was mentioned in the link (the request to the server is the link).
Good luck on your project. Feel free to email any questions for which you may need answers.
I hope this helps.
-Michael
