Band Meeting to Discuss New Songs - Hope it Turns Out

[jaywa]

My cover band has been at it for about 4 years and really starting to get a name, rep and good following. We finally are breaking into the rotation at the biggest live music spot in town but are not sure the current show we're playing is exactly what will go over with their crowd. So we're having a sit-down tonight to talk about the status of our setlist and adding new material.

1 guy doesn't think we need to add any more new songs cause we have all the gigs we want doing what we're doing now; really I think it's cause he doesn't want to put in the time on new material; he also doesn't think we should have to learn new material just cause we're playing a new venue, i.e. they should take us as we are.

1 guy wants us to add some newer stuff like Nickelback and I've heard the trashy lyrics of some of the songs he wants to do and have no interest in them. My argument is going to be that we should only be working on songs we can play at any gig. The stuff he wants to do would never work outside of a bar setting (e.g., wedding dance or all-ages events or corporate parties).

1 guy agrees we need to freshen up our setlist but also doesn't want to do any more of the old beat-to-death classic rock warhorses that every other band around here does. He is probably going to float some songs that will meet resistance from the others because they think they are too obscure and/or will take too much work to learn.

The 4th guy (my drummer and best friend in the band) is out of town on business but is pretty much demanding we have the meeting anyway and decide on some songs cause he wants us to start practicing them when he gets back. So I kind of feel like I'm without my wingman on this cause he and I tend to line up almost always on philosophy-of-the-band things.

I don't necessarily see anything bad coming out of this, but as you can see there is going to be plenty of room for "differences." So anyway... will let y'all know how it goes.

[Jared Lash]

The only thing I can say for sure about being in a cover band is that all your song choices should be predicated on what will get the crowd into it and therefore lead to more/better gigs for your band.

The difficulty of course is that it's very hard to tell which songs will go over well, not just in general but from crowd to crowd. Sometimes "obscure" songs go over amazingly well. And sometimes the song that you were so sure would be a crowd pleaser just doesn't work at all.

My feeling is that it's always good to have a large enough catalog and get good enough at reading the audience so that you can tailor the set to best suit what they'll dig.

I can see the POV of every member of your band EXCEPT the guy who doesn't want to learn new material. To me that's always a red flag in a cover band. Not just for the reason I just mentioned, but because if you don't shake things up a bit every once and a while it will get very stale for you guys too.

Best of luck.

[jaywa]

Originally Posted by TheBigO

I can see the POV of every member of your band EXCEPT the guy who doesn't want to learn new material. To me that's always a red flag in a cover band. Not just for the reason I just mentioned, but because if you don't shake things up a bit every once and a while it will get very stale for you guys too.

Yeah, and the "stale" thing I think is especially driving the "obscure songs" guy and our drummer. Our drummer has said several times recently that if we don't start getting some new types of gigs and some new material, he is going to lose interest. I.e., leave. I'm not quite that desperate but that's probably might be because I have a couple of other regular outlets to play (another band that I sub for, and my church), whereas this is pretty much our drummer's only gig.

Also... IMO we have songs on the setlist we've been doing for years and still are not doing them well enough, so I would rather polish those up more before adding 5 more songs we may only ever do 80% right. But since the only time we practice is on new material, that won't happen. And we don't have many "spare" songs so I'm hoping if we get a few more in our pocket maybe we can dump some of the ones we haven't been doing very well.

Thanks for the thoughts.

[MNAirHead]

If you were serious and legit about being a cover band..

There'd be the entire predictable catalog being worked on for your genre.

People like familiarity and comfort.

I've often found this stuff works better via email as brainstorm meetings are pointless.

Have you ever thought business 101 and setting up a request list?

[CapnSev]

My 90s cover band only plays songs that the audience will recognize, but each of us pick 1 or 2 songs apiece that we like from that era, to satisfy our own egos.

[jaywa]

Well we cover about 4 or 5 genres in the course of a night (oldies, 80s rock, classic rock, classic country, modern country, blues)... which a lot of people tell us is one of the best things about our band but also makes the potential "catalog" gi-normous.

Re e-mail, we've tried that (and I would much prefer that), but one guy only checks his e-mail about once every 2 weeks and another guy pretty much only uses text messages (which I detest for anything but the shortest exchanges), so a sit-down seems to be the best forum for our group, anyway.

Good thoughts, though.

[ChrisB2]

Be sure to keep us posted on the progress. My band is also in flux on our set list right now, and I'm interested in how this goes for you.

Good luck!!

[jmattbassplaya]

The guy who doesn`t want to change or add any songs really is a red flag and one that should be discussed in private with other members. To me, that`s a signal that he doesn`t want to improve the range the band can cover, and thus is a potential job risk because you`ll be losing possible gigs because he won`t learn something outside his tastes.

My best advice is to take 3-5 songs that each person would like to add to the list, learn them, and see what works and what doesnt. I would also sit everyone down and discuss the need for a few rehersal practices. That way you guys can discuss any bad parts in songs you already do and clean them up. Just play through the list a few times and fix what needs to be fixed. If someone doesn`t want to do that, then that`s a sign that the person doesn`t want to work for that extra mile.

But yeah, if you guys don`t change your setlist around, you`ll burn out pretty quick because every will know exactly what you`ll be playing before you even strum the first note.

[Stumbo]

Originally Posted by jaywa

We finally are breaking into the rotation at the biggest live music spot in town but are not sure the current show we're playing is exactly what will go over with their crowd.

Since you're breaking into the rotation with the songs you know and are popular with them, wouldn't changing the set lists by adding songs of the type you don't normally play turn you into a different band?

Before your band meeting you may want to speak with the club manager/owner and ask them what their advice would be. Their advice may be different than what any of the band members have expressed.

For the guy who can't make it, put him on a speaker phone so he can join in.

[jaywa]

Hey guys just an update. The meeting went really well. The guy who didn't want to learn new material came off his position so we were able to have a good discussion. Interestingly, one of the other venues that had us booked for some summer gigs just cancelled all their bands going forward so I think he realizes we need to step it on the gigs we still have cause it's not like we have a lot of options for venues around here.

Anyway, we decided to work up 7 "new" (for us) tunes and you can pretty much see our "variety band" nature by what was chosen:

Lie to Me - Jonny Lang
Gravity - John Mayer
Workin For A Living - Huey Lewis
Copperhead Road - Steve Earle
Same Thing Happened to Me - John Prine
Cigarettes & Alcohol - Rod Stewart / Faces
Fins - Jimmy Buffett

Not a lot of real meaty stuff from a bass perspective but I'm really a lot more about groovin the band and filling the dance floor than showing off my bass stuff so I'm totally fine with the picks.

Hopefully we can get these worked up reasonably well and they go over. The next discussion will be which songs on our current list get the axe to make room for these...

Thanks again for your insights and support.

[scootron]

Just an idea....

Sometimes the bass player plays "second fiddle" when it comes to song selection, especially when you don't sing. The problem in our band is that I'm the one, IMO, who has the best idea of what our audience will respond to, having had the most gigging experience.

Last night was band rehearsal when we were supposed to pick some dance songs for an upcoming gig, a big dance following a large golf tournament.

What I did was pick a dozen songs that I thought would be perfect for the gig. I made each member of the band a copy of the chords and lyrics, put into a report folder. And I burned a cdr for each member with each song on it, in the same order as they appeared in the printed materials I handed out.

The result? It was so easy to just look at my stuff, which had the music for the guitarists and the lyrics for the singers, plus the cd to listen to as we went, that 10 of the 12 songs were picked for the upcoming gig.

These weren't necessarily my favorite songs, mind you, but they were the ones I thought the band would be best served by playing, instead of some of the really lame suggestions that were being tossed out there by one of our singers, who just gets weird ideas in the shower or while driving to practice, without really thinking about whether it fits our instruments or personnel or anything like that.

Anyway, just my two cents, but this has worked for me more than once. People love it when the work is already mostly done for them, and are apt to follow the path that is already partly cleared of obstructions.

[wazzel]

When I was in a working cover band we always had a new song or two being worked up. It gets old to play the same songs over and over. Also once you have more than what is needed to fill up a regular gig set list you have extras to swap out it some are not working on a given night.

[lojo]

my 2 pence worth is that after considering the type of crowd you play to and putting that first you have then to make sure that every members also gets a few of his/her personal wants in too as everyones take on the ideal set will never be the same and more so as you get older and play with people who come from different backgrounds

as someone else said, email brain storming is best, everyone chucks out a list, and a few days of considering and comments cuts is down to a practical list

beware though, we wanted to add just one beatles song as we didnt do any, after about 1000 emails we settled on taxman

[Kindofblue]

start a real band imo

[ThunderLizard]

jaywa-
Are you checking out your local 'mentor' cover bands or going to places that you want to play? You can see/hear what's going over first hand.
+1 on CD's and lyric sheets at rehearsals. Our cover band can get a good handle on 8 songs at a 2 hour rehearsal just by being prepared.
But then everyone in the band is a teacher, expcept me, so it's second nature for them to have a lesson sheet. They can't help themselves.

[two fingers]

Glad it went well for you! "Lie To Me"...Awsome song!!!

[alembicguy]

We always let the people who come to see us pick songs for us to learn as they are why we are there. We have a really large following and we will usually add a song or 2 between gigs. The band has stopped deciding what songs we want to do because as musicians we usually pick songs that will either clear the dance floor or make us think were cool for playing them and we all know how that turns out.