Tribute bands... What would you do?

[Jim Nazium]

Just thinking about the music, and not the business aspect, I would love to be in a Steely Dan tribute. I'd play their stuff all night, every night if I could.

Or Rufus / Chaka Khan ... OMG I would love that. I would wear bell bottoms and an afro wig if I could do that.

[Mike N]

I would love to form a Goo Goo Dolls tribute band.

[bassybill]

Blues Brothers
Motown's Funk Brothers - with male and female lead vox
Chic Corporation (including Sister Sledge etc)
Steely Dan (there's already a good SD trib in my area, would love to land the bass gig with them)
Level 42 - earlier stuff is way better, but the later stuff would get the bookings
Weather Report

There are other more bookable propositions than some of these - my suggestions are more for the musicians' and especially the bassist's enjoyment.

[dfinnegan71]

i played in a Grateful Dead Tribute back in the early 90's called The Heart of Gold Band. Our Jerry sounded spot on. But we was real skinny. I totally loved playing the Phil Lesh parts. I would sometimes just wonder off into my own jam space during the show and noodle for hours, just like Phil. That was great and a ton of gigs, people used to eat that right up.

[Hotblack]

Duran Duran

[Primakurtz]

Originally Posted by Bert Slide

I want to do a bluegrass tribute to P Funk with me on upright and call it "Atomic Doghouse".

Great idea! Ever heard Hayseed Dixie? Country versions of AC/DC.
Hell's Belles are terrific, too.

I had a great time playing bass in Flipper Jr., probably still the world's only Flipper tribute band.

[ShoeManiac]

Originally Posted by 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.

I used to play softball with a couple of guys who were in a Pink Floyd tribute band. They actually made quite a name for themselves, and wound up doing some fairly heavy international touring with that act. But as of now, both the drummer and guitar player I knew from that band have left it now. The guitar player just recently.

The band definitely seemed to take on a life of it's own, and it's a full-on business. They got to the point where they were playing major venues: top clubs in some cities and 1,000+ seat theaters in other markets.

Musically, they're really locked into the fine details of the performances. They tailor their gear very much to suit the Floyd sound. And they have a pretty amazing light show. But that attention to detail is probably why they've been so successful with the band.

But if you're looking for an outlet that gives you room for personal expression? This probably isn't for you.

[Not yet]

Was in the one of the larger Stone tribute acts on East Coast in late 70s trying to get discovered

Ended up hating it so much quit playing for 17 years

[Chef FourString]

I would do a Me First and The Gimme Gimmes tribute band and call it After You and The Go Aheads.

[zachoff]

Originally Posted by Chef FourString

I would do a Me First and The Gimme Gimmes tribute band and call it After You and The Go Aheads.

You'd do like a soft rock version of a punk rock version of John Denver... Hmmm.

[ksandvik]

Prince cover band but there's a 0.00001% chance you could find someone who could do the Prince front-man thingie.

[Chef FourString]

Originally Posted by zachoff

You'd do like a soft rock version of a punk rock version of John Denver... Hmmm.

I'm more of a James Taylor man, myself. But you might be on to something there.

[Daniel L]

Bowie, but just The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, in full, beginning to end, every night.

[MarkMgibson]

Originally Posted by ShoeManiac

I used to play softball with a couple of guys who were in a Pink Floyd tribute band. They actually made quite a name for themselves, and wound up doing some fairly heavy international touring with that act. But as of now, both the drummer and guitar player I knew from that band have left it now. The guitar player just recently.

The band definitely seemed to take on a life of it's own, and it's a full-on business. They got to the point where they were playing major venues: top clubs in some cities and 1,000+ seat theaters in other markets.

Musically, they're really locked into the fine details of the performances. They tailor their gear very much to suit the Floyd sound. And they have a pretty amazing light show. But that attention to detail is probably why they've been so successful with the band.

But if you're looking for an outlet that gives you room for personal expression? This probably isn't for you.

That's precisely why I think tribute bands should be done over a relatively short time period. It''s fun at first, but it gets old pretty quickly.

[morgansterne]

Well I'd do the police . . . I can sing Sting all day long and his basslines are not too difficult. I love so many of their songs.
But the really fun one would be John Mayer -- bring the young ladies out and make some money!
I doubt there's a single person in the entire city of cleveland, ohio who could pull off both his guitar playing and his vocals though.

[justinmikehunt]

Originally Posted by Kmonk

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

I was the bass player of DTL from 2005-2009, and have been filling in with them the last six months or so

[rust_preacher]

http://www.theironmaidens.com/

[SteveHeissner]

Playing for a really really good Elvis impersonator who can actually sing. Play in Vegas. Make some money and have some fun.

[Freddels]

A Debbie Boone tribute band. Open with "You Light Up My Life" and then maybe an extended version of "You Light Up My Life" and an encore performance of "You Light Up My Life".

[jgroh]

Like someone else said here, you would have to pick a band like Led Zep or The Beatles with wide appeal for it to work IMHO. Sure it would be fun to pick your favorite artist and do a tribute but the chances of it succeeding are slim. Im in a cover band and when we stray into the "lets do this song from this relatively obscure artist cuz i really love it" zone, it usually fails miserably.