Battle of the COVER bands?...

[miko]

'sup with dat??


we did a battle of the bands last week. came in second to last, which was a bummer [i think we made some awful mistakes, but the audience didn't seem to hear them, from what i'm told].

the big reason why we lost was coz we didn't have enough friends 'representin.' that's usually how you win a battle.


but what i didn't understand was why this place would host a battle of the cover bands to begin with. we were the only all-original band!


many of these other bands even repeated songs the other bands did. it was real weird, imho.



well, there'll be others, i'm sure. just hope they're with real bands who want to play their own music!

[Joe Nerve]

the cover band scene in NY is made up of aliens i tell ya. they're not from this planet.

i'm curious what club it was and what bands were competing. please do tell.

[Sanctum]

We did a similar gig awhile back, although there were more original bands ... a cover band ended up winning the entire battle (it spanned a few weeks).

Why? who knows....

who cared? not us....

They weren't even a very good cover band, mostly '80s hair metal and stuff, and one night for an "encore" they played a song they had already played in the set.

I blame my drummer for booking the gig, heh.

[Eric Moesle]

Universal truth: "Battle of the Bands" never decide the "best" of the contestants, they are tools used by the club and/or promoter simply to make money. They are almost always a bad idea or a complete waste of time, unless your band never has a place to play. So sayeth me . . .

[Sanctum]

Thou speaketh much wisdom

[jazzbo]

And to add to what Eric says, they're usually nothing more than a popularity contest. I've seen many "Battle of the Bands" end with a very bad, very very bad, (yet very popular), band winning.

[secretdonkey]

Yeah, in my little burg they've turned the BOB format into a marvel of modern marketing science. They've found a scheme to extend the competition through round after round of elimination, giving a local venue a good crowd each week on what would otherwise be a slow night, and giving young bands a chance to play on a nice stage in a venue they wouldn't otherwise get to play. I've never attended any of these proceedings, but I believe that this BOB is expressly for original bands.

A couple of years ago there was a local guy who had moved back home with some major accomplishments under his belt. He was definitely a shoo-in to take the BOB prize, but after publicly making some ill-considered comments about the BOB's organizers, no one was surprised to see the win go to someone else... heh.

[miko]

Originally posted by Joe Nerve
i'm curious what club it was and what bands were competing. please do tell.

it was just a little place in yonkers called morley's. one of those pub/eatery/club type joints.

the main reason we did it was coz K-Rock sponsored it, and they showed up, so we thought we might get on air or meet Howard or something. None of that happened, but we did get free beer.



glug, glug...

m

[miko]

oh, re: the bands -- i can't remember them all, but some were:

My Father Freddy, Callous, Blues something or other and I forgot who else. A Sabbath tribute band with a pretty bad singer.

[Sanctum]

The other thing that's very popular around here with these BOB things is having all the bands pre-sell tickets. So the band has to kick up $100 for 50 tix, and must turn in $3 per ticket (face value $6) - theoretically you make your money back + $50 if you sell them all at face - but nobody ever does, and bands eat that extra money. Pay to Play.

Its mostly the metal scene around here that does that - even for regular, non-battle gigs. Its pretty lame actually. Which is why I"m in a rock band too, because I refuse to buy into this "promotion" scheme, so booking metal gigs around here has turned into a sour game.

(/rant)

well, thats not WHY i'm in the rock band, but it sure is a different scene / relationship with club owners and promoters.

[Joe Nerve]

When i was a teenager, my H.S. (New Utrecht - which is the H.S. they show at the beginning of Welcome Back Kotter ) used to have a yearly battle of the bands. Back then it was a really great thing though. It was held in the auditorium which was a really nice place, there were 4 or 5 bands, and you had to audition to get into it. Kids worked hard all year looking forward to the event, and if you got in, it held a lot of status. If you actually won, you were god. I don't remember how much admission was, but it couldn't have been much cuz i was at every one of them and i was piss poor. There was always a guaranteed full house, and winning was decided by judges - i think students and teachers. The best band usually won. Had nothing to do with how many people each band brought. It was really a highly respected event. I miss it. I tried to get it restarted while I was teaching there a few years back but they wouldn't go for it. Perhaps I'll try again. It gave kids incentive, something to work towards, a reason to stay home at night and play their instruments for 12 hours straight instead of doing homework.

[jive1]

Originally posted by Joe Nerve
When i was a teenager, my H.S. (New Utrecht - which is the H.S. they show at the beginning of Welcome Back Kotter ) used to have a yearly battle of the bands. Back then it was a really great thing though.

My High School in Chicago used to do that too. Stopped the year I put my first kick-a$$ band together. But that was yesteryear.
Those are the only BOBs that I can see doing something good. More schools should do this sort of thing. For some kids it's the best and maybe only way for them to showcase their talents and contribute to the school community. Just because you can't huck a football 50 yards shouldn't exempt you from being a big man on campus.

[fastplant]

I can't remember the last decent battle of the bands in CT