Cover Gigs

[DustinRinehart]

Hey JMJ,
I'm curious as to what your outlook on cover gigs might be.

In the past, I've always been hesitant to dive into 'coverland', simply because I didn't view it as beneficial to furthering my career as a musician in any way. That, and I looked at cover guys as if they were somehow less of a player, or not as creative. I felt like it had to be mind-numbingly easy to hop onstage and churn out past and present top-40 songs and collect your cash at the end of the night, not to mention soul crushing.

But for the past few months, I've broken down and started doing cover gigs. Initially, it was solely for a little extra income. And even though I'm still 100% dedicated to the original bands I'm in, I've found that it actually helps me as a player to learn boatloads of material that I likely never would have learned otherwise. In a nutshell, I feel it makes me far more versatile and able to keep my chops in shape for whatever I might be doing. In a sense, I suppose it's somewhat similar to doing loads of session work (ala yourself) and being required to adapt to any genre of music and/or playing style.

So I suppose my question is this: Before your career took off, did you ever hop on the bus to 'coverland', and do you feel it's a beneficial learning experience? I know a lot of guys who get trapped in the whole convenience factor of it. As in they get very comfortable playing other people's tunes and making loads of cash, so they are less apt to take any risks with something genuinely creative. And I definitely don't want to turn into one of those guys. Just trying to keep working and have my hands in as many gigs as possible.

Looking forward to your insight,
Dustin

[jmjbassplayer]

I think that playing covers can really bolster one's musicianship! Not joking here: check out Trent Reznor. That's literally how he started back in the day. More pros than you can ever imagine have done it at some stage.

I agree with you entirely: from what I've empirically observed, doing time in a covers scenario intensifies your versatility, sharpness, musicianship. As long as you aren't rocking that scenario for many years on end, that is. I have also seen people stagnate immensely. It's all about your intentions: for those who treat it like a job only, it might end up bad for them. In that instance, it might displace the innate passion they had for music. But for those who are using it as a "school" of sorts to arrive somewhere else ultimately, I really could (and have) seen it as a help, not a hindrance.

To answer your question, I never really did it personally, no. Only a few times. It might have been a cool way to improve my skills in an accelerated manner, methinks.

Best,
JMJ