Anyone doing the Trib thing?

[Barfly]

I have been with Rock of Ages, Def Leppard trib since March or so and I tell ya, it's a friggin' blast!!!

Been playing some great rooms for good pay and perks. I really enjoy Rick Savage's bass lines and especially like the harmony vocal workouts. I had always thought that Leppard was easy stuff to play and I will be the first to admit I was wrong. Singing, playing and just the weird structure/progressions of some of their tunes is a fun workout.

All the musicians are A-1 players. Both guitar players have it going on, our vocalist is excellent at Joe Elliot (and this is his first foray into just being the frontman - he was the guitarist/singer for a popular Top 40 act for years) and the drummer and I have been a rythme section in previous bands over the years. It's hard work, for sure but well worth it when the little cuties come up and shake thier booties!!!

Check out our site:

www.defleppard.ca


Peace,
Barfly

[buzzbass]

ah yes, cuties and booties. even if the money sucks, they can't take that away from you. good show, rock on !

[nonsqtr]

Yes, trib is fun. I've done several trib gigs in my career, including Deep Purple, Rush, and Sabbath. The bootie factor is definitely one of the big upsides, and don't ask me why. Mine is not to understand, just to enjoy. In fact, if I weren't so well taken care of at the moment, I might be thinking about hitting the road again.

[B-NoteCowboy]

Funny you ask. My drummer and I started a band last December and had an idea to work up a KISS tribute show for a halloween party. Beyond that, it was going to be original material and a broad range of metal covers from the 70's and 80's.

Well, we all know that KISS music isn't brain surgery, but it is fun. A KISS show can't just be about the music, or it won't be all that exciting, so we worked up the stage show and eventually even the costumes. Blood, boots etc. Nearly a year later, this show has been our main focus and it has turned out to be pretty tight.

Booked several Halloween shows last month and everyone in attendance had a fantastic time, as did we. In fact, lots of people are now talking to us about playing corporate parties and such, so evidently we have a tribute band even though that was never the intent, long term.

But Heck, the publicity and $$ we are making locally from this thing is pretty amazing. Our biggest worries were that the hard core fans would show up and pick us apart. We have five guys in the band for one thing (two Ace's). But they were the ones who just went nuts for us. Once you get past the sour taste of copying someone, and realize that the crowd loves it and you can stay as busy as you want to doing it, it ain't a bad gig at all.



Check out our site. Pretty funny stuff, and some great pics from this last weekend. The music clips suck but they are pretty old and very muddy. The sound is much much better now. Much tighter, and better vocal effects, etc. Our main lead guitar guy is fantastic.

The FNB band's KISS project pages...

[mlwarriner]

im not doing the trib band thing right now, but im thinking i want to at some point. it would have to be a clash trib though. just because...

call it something like "casbah" or somesuch...

i think it would be a blast...

[Woodchuck]

I've always wanted to do a Jamiroquai trib under the name of Mr. Moon

[pamlicojack]

I was in a Rush tribute back back in HS called Snowdog. We didn't play anything after Hemispheres...

Also I played guitar...

[cetera]

I've been playing 'Gene' in Europe's #1 KISS Tribute "Dressed To Kill" for the last 13 years....

It's a great fun gig, very hard work but ultimately very rewarding.

The perks are great! Stunning women (who want to know whether my tongue is as good as Gene's!) , cheap gear/semi-endorsements, overseas gig travel (Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, Austria, Spain, Switzerland and Japan!) and pretty good money on some of the larger shows!

A lot of people think doing a tribute is a cop-out but believe me, as someone who has spent years and thousands of pounds on equipment and costumes, learning moves and firebreathing it is HARDER than doing a normal originals or cover band. KISS fans are notorious for their attention to detail and you have to be spot on to earn their respect and get good bookings.

You can check us out at:

www.dressed-to-kill.co.uk
and
www.kissinuk.com/dtk/index.htm

[Barfly]

Cetera, that site is excellent!! You guys really put on the show, eh?

We've just been added to rosters of 4 or 5 different agents/promoters. Gigs are flowing in steadily.

I totally agree with your comments, too. Although we haven't really perfected the stage look, we do concentrate very hard on the music, especially vocals.

Check out the media page of our site, www.defleppard.ca, for live audio. The harmonies for DL are tough to nail but we have it pretty close.

[cetera]

Nice site Barfly! Keep up all the hard rockin' work....

We just had an amazing few days..... we performed a 'private show' for Gene Simmons himself(!!) and then shared the stage with Bruce Kulick at the UK KISS Expo!

Gene is filming a new tv series called 'Rock School' here in England and he wanted us to play for him and the 'school' to show the pupils what a KISS show is like!! WOW!!! It was an amazing experience and we got to spend lots of time with him before and after our show as well....

Saturday night we played a 2 hour set at the UK KISS Expo and Bruce Kulick jumped up to play 4 songs with us.... he was a great guy and the consumate professional musician.

It's times like these that make all the hard work worth it....

[B-NoteCowboy]

Cetera,

I sent you a private message. Please check it when you get a second. Thanks!

Great site by the way. The costumes look great and must have cost a fortune!