Covers in a (non school) sponsered band contest, cliche or not?

Time Consumer · #1 02-12-2008, 12:43 AM

So my band participated in a band contest yesterday and there was a lot of good(and bad) competition, some very good talent and a couple really unique sounding bands, except the one who won. I will have to give it to the guys, they sounded really awesome and tight together, and they put a cool sounding kind of ambient vibe to the songs they played, the only problem was, they played all covers while the rest of the bands played their own stuff. Believe me, im the last person to be a sore loser or hate on someones skills, but that kinda p'd me off, they just played a bunch of incubus, corn, and taproot covers and won the whole thing, I was shocked to say the least. I'm not even mad at the fact that my band didnt win anything because there was another band that really kicked ass with their own stuff that I really thought should have won, but I guess covers will win. I'm just blowing off steam i guess, What do you guys think?

meev992 · #2 02-12-2008, 01:21 AM

I'm heavily into jazz, and all I can really offer is that if a cover is done, it has to be more of an interpretation more than just a reproduction. Beyond that, the judges should have been given a set-list of each band and they should have disclosed which ones were covers. With that said, band contests will always be a political thing.

Vic Winters · #3 02-12-2008, 02:44 AM

Personally I think the two should remain separate. Original bands with original bands and cover bands with cover bands when it comes to competitions/battle of the bands situations.

IanStephenson · #4 02-12-2008, 02:59 AM

Was it a band contest or a song writing contest? (or both?). Were they the best players/performers?

Band contests are always a disaster anyways - music's not a competition! You went, you played, hopefully got some exposure and had some fun. Thats all they're really good for. If you get obsessed about the results then it can only end badly.

Ian

Vandelay · #5 02-12-2008, 04:12 AM

It all depends on the judging criteria. If one of the stated criteria is "originality", then you're probably better off doing some original material and/or covers that sound very unlike the original.

But if there you aren't judged partially on "originality", or if there is no stated judging criteria at all, a good cover band has a better chance.

My band has been in a few 'battle of the bands' in the past couple of years, and that's been our experience, anyway.

Time Consumer · #6 02-12-2008, 11:13 AM

There were no judges, that was the infuriating part of it, this was a contest for a 500 dollar prise where they have the crowd choose the winner, therefore, the band that had the most of their friends there won the whole thing, sorry I forgot to mention the judging. It wasn't based on musical skill at all, just whoever had the most groupies.

werks · #7 02-12-2008, 11:20 AM

Get used to it ... Cover bands do very well no matter what. I know it ticks you off and it used to do the same for me but like what was said above... they should be kept separate.

Phalex · #8 02-12-2008, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Time Consumer

There were no judges, that was the infuriating part of it, this was a contest for a 500 dollar prise where they have the crowd choose the winner, therefore, the band that had the most of their friends there won the whole thing, sorry I forgot to mention the judging. It wasn't based on musical skill at all, just whoever had the most groupies.

Ahhhhh!! That'll do er right there. Original bands get some fanatical followers to be sure, but cover bands appeal to the masses.

meev992 · #9 02-12-2008, 11:54 AM

School-sponsored battles are generally better. The judges are usually old-timers who run the local mom-n-pop music shops, so they know what to look for in a good band. YMMV, but that's how it is where I live.

nsmar4211 · #10 02-12-2008, 04:25 PM

Lots of good players I know wouldn't touch a battle of the bands with a 20 foot pole. They'd rather not get into peeing contests with other musicians. Being friends with local people gets you a lot more gigs than being competitors ......espically as a bass or drummer who can get the fill in gigs

All contests/shows/whatnot end up being political, learned that years ago. Art, music, horses, rabbits, writing, photography......all the same

Enjoy it for what it is and keep playin....

Time Consumer · #11 02-14-2008, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nsmar4211

Lots of good players I know wouldn't touch a battle of the bands with a 20 foot pole. They'd rather not get into peeing contests with other musicians. Being friends with local people gets you a lot more gigs than being competitors ......espically as a bass or drummer who can get the fill in gigs

All contests/shows/whatnot end up being political, learned that years ago. Art, music, horses, rabbits, writing, photography......all the same

Enjoy it for what it is and keep playin....

Yeah, but the prize money from those political contests can really help a band in need

Matthew Bryson · #12 02-14-2008, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Time Consumer

but I guess covers will win. I'm just blowing off steam i guess, What do you guys think?

I think covers will always win.

Why were you surprised? Did you think it was a song writing contest? It was a contest judging bands performance - and people prefer the performance of familiar material.

People will always prefer covers. People already love 1000's of songs - they want to hear songs they already love. Bar bands make money playing covers. Original bands can barely get gigs playing for free. It's how it is.

I'm sure that even bands that have "made it" and then stood the test of time deal with this. Nobody wants to hear anything from their new album - the crowd really only wants to hear songs from their best album, even though the songs are 20 years old or older now.

People crave the familiar songs they already know and love. So do I. I don't even want to play my band mates originals. I'd much rather play covers.

People really don't give a damn about the song writing process - they can only understand the performance aspect. Your band will be judged on performance alone. You gain no points for having written the song yourself. You will actually gain points by playing a song they know and like.

Also - I've known people who play "originals" because they don't have the skills to properly cover a song - so they just make up their own form of self expression. They suck. To me, a good cover band seems much more musically legitimate than those that play originals only. If I was in that cover band, I'd have been looking down my nose at all the "original bands" that "can't even play covers" - So remember, judge not lest ye be judged.

To recap - until you "get signed and make it big" in the music business, covers will always win.

Pilgrim · #13 02-14-2008, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Time Consumer

There were no judges, that was the infuriating part of it, this was a contest for a 500 dollar prise where they have the crowd choose the winner, therefore, the band that had the most of their friends there won the whole thing, sorry I forgot to mention the judging. It wasn't based on musical skill at all, just whoever had the most groupies.

Covers are never a cliche! They're the most popular music around.

There's a reason that cover bands are popular - because they get to choose from people's favorite music. Under the circumstances you describe, I'm not surprised they won. I'd generally vote for covers rather than originals - usually the music is better.

I'm not convinced there's anything inherently "better" or "more noble" in playing only original music. Some of it's good, but much of it stinks. I was a DJ in the 60's and 70's, and I know that 90% of the records coming across my desk were crap to my ear. That's not a great ratio, and I don't know how it could have improved.

I'd much rather hear good covers played well.

Time Consumer · #14 02-14-2008, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matthew Bryson

Also - I've known people who play "originals" because they don't have the skills to properly cover a song - so they just make up their own form of self expression. They suck. To me, a good cover band seems much more musically legitimate than those that play originals only. If I was in that cover band, I'd have been looking down my nose at all the "original bands" that "can't even play covers" - So remember, judge not lest ye be judged.

To recap - until you "get signed and make it big" in the music business, covers will always win.

Damn dude, chill, my does actually have a couple of covers we play during normal sets to get people goin, we just figured we wouldn't play them since covers weren't allowed in the last contest we participated in. I wasn't judging anyone(other than the people who set up the contest that way) There were too many non-musical factors that made it impossible for a few really good bands(including mine) to even be in the running, like that fact that the audience judging was not done til 9:30 on a sunday night, so most of our fans had left cuz they had school in the morining. That meant that the bands with the oldest fand, or that went on later, were the ones that really got the votes.