Tribute bands... What would you do?

[zachoff]

I've wanted a Nirvana cover band for a long damn time but have tried it and failed for lack of a good Kurt. Sounds silly for the people that hate him, but it's a distinctive sound (both guitar and vox) that not many can cop (none that I've found).

I'd also be really into a Replacements tribute band. They're fun and Tommy Stinson is rad.

[Flyingfrets]

Depends what your aspirations for the band are.

Tribute band audiences are a tough market to crack successfully. If you're looking to play out and make some money, you obviously want to choose not just a band that you like, but one that will have some cache with the public. Kinda pointless to cover material no one's interested in if your goal is to work the band.

How extensive is the band's "songbook"? Bands that only released 2 or 3 albums are probably limited in their appeal.

How obscure is the band or their material? Yeah, Nirvana is pretty well known, but how much of their catalog is widely known? Is there enough of an audience that is into the deeper cuts?

If you just wanna do it for the fun of it, or jam the stuff in your garage, it'll matter a lot less.

Just a couple of things to think about...

[pklima]

Shakira. I even have the singer. We could turn our band into a Shakira tribute without too much trouble, the two of us already know over a dozen songs, but we'd need a different guitarist and also keys.

[Bassist4Eris]

I'm thinking AC/DC. Finding the right singer would be tough. Other than that, the songs are easy, meaning you could learn a whole bunch of 'em in a short amount of time, and audiences (around these parts at least) go crazy for anything by them. And they inspire drinking, which is good for bar business.

[SquierJazz72]

My personal choice would be Sabbath, particularly the original Ozzy years and Dio's first run, so circa 70-81.

[DiabolusInMusic]

Originally Posted by Bassist4Eris

I'm thinking AC/DC. Finding the right singer would be tough. Other than that, the songs are easy, meaning you could learn a whole bunch of 'em in a short amount of time, and audiences (around these parts at least) go crazy for anything by them. And they inspire drinking, which is good for bar business.

I know a guy who can cop a great Bon Scott, but around here AC/DC tribute bands are a dime a dozen, at this point you need to have a schtick on top of your AC/DC, we have one group "whole lotta angus" or something like that, the whole band dresses up like angus young.

[iriegnome]

I've seen a couple of really good tributte bands. IMHO, I couldn't do it. It is one thing to play a cover here and there, but a tribute. I really am very happy being myself playing my own way. Props to those who can do the tribute thing..

[Kmonk]

Originally Posted by Bassist4Eris

I'm thinking AC/DC. Finding the right singer would be tough. Other than that, the songs are easy, meaning you could learn a whole bunch of 'em in a short amount of time, and audiences (around these parts at least) go crazy for anything by them. And they inspire drinking, which is good for bar business.

There is a great AC/DC Tribute called Dirty Deeds that plays in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York.

Check them out.

www.dirtydeedstribute.com


There is also a very good Aerosmith Tribute called Draw The Line that is based south of Boston but plays all over the world.

www.drawtheline.net

[Bassist4Eris]

Originally Posted by DiabolusInMusic

we have one group "whole lotta angus" or something like that, the whole band dresses up like angus young.

That's funny right there.
And I just found some videographic evidence:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMEQXDUh20o

[mixtapelove]

Auditioning for a Steely Dan trib in January, on drums.

Curious to see where it takes me. I love the Dan and have my whole life.... but I wonder if playing it to death will make me rethink it later.

I'd only ever do it for two bands - them and Rush.

[smeet]

I'm doing a Pink Floyd thing, we have our first gig in a week or so. I've never really done too many covers in 30+ years of playing, but this should be fun.

[Hobobob]

Boston or the Police. Both very popular, both pretty much not yet done in my neck of the woods. Not to mention, they'd both be really fun to do!

[father of fires]

I'm not their biggest fan and I've never had a cover band but I would totally do a Weezer tribute band in a heartbeat.

Tons of fun and catchy songs and plenty of casual and hardcore bands.

[marmadaddy]

I'd need to do something that wouldn't be too hard to book. First thoughts are

• The Eagles
• Pearl Jam
• Def Leppard

[rickwebb]

Bon Jovi. I wanna make money!

[Mr_Music90]

Well, I wanna make my own music, but if I ever would play in a cover band, I would play in a Adagio cover band!

[LiquidMidnight]

A Nirvana tribute may be successful; although I don't think you'd be real busy with that sort of thing as compared to, say, an AC/DC or KISS tribute.

I'm afraid that a Replacements tribute would, to steal a line from a certain drummer with the last name of the Earth's only satellite, go down like a lead zeppelin.

[DanNowhere]

There's a group of guys around here that do several tributes. They change it up to keep from getting bored with it. In the past they've done:

KISS
Van Halen
The Cars
The Ramones
several others that aren't coming to mind right now

If you have the right group of guys, you can probably pull off whatever you feel like doing. They don't really do it for the money, just to put on a show once in a while for the fun of it, usually holidays like the 4th of July and Halloween. A couple of them put together a live band karaoke thing they do weekly at a couple of places in town too, and that's gotten fairly popular.

I've been a part of a Guided By Voices tribute band for years. It's mainly for fun. Our guitarist is one of their roadies.

[lokikallas]

I could pull off Tom in a slayer tribute, but finding drums would be difficult.
As for obscure, how about a Captain Beefheart tribute?

[totallywink]

I did an Aerosmith tribute band years ago, right before their big come back ( the Done With Mirrors era) . We did somewhat well because Aerosmith was kinda in retirement mode back then, so to speak. It was fun and a great learning experience in trying to figure out grooves from Tom Hamilton.