well, not only are the audience thinking a little too much about themselves, they are also very conscientious about their money. who wants to stop in to a $8 show after driving half an hour to see a band that Isn't really that spectacular. I don't blame anyone for skipping out on my own band's show. Our guitarists are not exactly the greatest, or the most confident.
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Classic Rock "dead"?
- Thread starter RoadRanger
- Start date
well, not only are the audience thinking a little too much about themselves, they are also very conscientious about their money. who wants to stop in to a $8 show after driving half an hour to see a band that Isn't really that spectacular. I don't blame anyone for skipping out on my own band's show. Our guitarists are not exactly the greatest, or the most confident.
Not for us. We are completely booked a year in advance. However we continually add "NEW" songs to our list and we don't play a LOT of songs other bands have ran into the ground. The band has been playing at this level since the 80's.
I will be 50 in OCT and I am the baby of the band so you can't blame age. We play music from the 60's through the 2000's. Our fan base is 20' - 60's age group.
OVERPLAYING venues/cities is a GREAT way to KILL your band. We try to avoid playing the same venue more than 3X a year. We also give the SAME amount of energy, PA support, and professionalism despite the size of the gig.
We don't pimp other clubs from the stage. We don't get drunk or try and get 50 people in on the guestlist. We show up on time, take reasonable breaks and quit/tear down on time.
However I will say bands in general are having a harder time these days. I see most of their problems as self inflicted.
If a band had a GREAT following and suddenly they are gone they better look in the mirror.
I will be 50 in OCT and I am the baby of the band so you can't blame age. We play music from the 60's through the 2000's. Our fan base is 20' - 60's age group.
OVERPLAYING venues/cities is a GREAT way to KILL your band. We try to avoid playing the same venue more than 3X a year. We also give the SAME amount of energy, PA support, and professionalism despite the size of the gig.
We don't pimp other clubs from the stage. We don't get drunk or try and get 50 people in on the guestlist. We show up on time, take reasonable breaks and quit/tear down on time.
However I will say bands in general are having a harder time these days. I see most of their problems as self inflicted.
If a band had a GREAT following and suddenly they are gone they better look in the mirror.
Ric5
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- Jan 29, 2008
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I think the number of bands that play classic rock is considerably larger than the fan base that wants to hear it at bars. I saw a classic rock band at a bar a few months back that was decent and no one got off their chair until the set break when the bar played dance music through the PA.
Are you playing classic rock songs culled from corporate radio playlists?
SO SICK of those same forty songs.
For God's sake dig a little deeper into those catalogs.
SO SICK of those same forty songs.
For God's sake dig a little deeper into those catalogs.
Hmm, just the opposite here. People literally dance from our first song till the last, including the line dance and R&B songs played during breaks. They take turns sitting, but rarely is the floor empty. There are a couple of epic guitar spotlights that have a taming effect on the dancers and should probably be shortened. But I'm a believer that those guitar gods have to be let out of their cages once in a while to keep 'em happy, so........
What's thriving in Dallas is freaking tribute bands. We've got tribs around here for Cure, Zeppelin, Queen, Heart, Tom Petty, Beatles, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Doors and Stevie Ray Vaughn just to name a few off the top of my head, and there's a lot more.
Yah, that was hot around here last year (I was in a Journey Tribute) - not sure about this year...
We had someone who was pretty good - but is going in for a back operation and will be moving out-of-state next month
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To be in a cover band and have a good two year run is actually quite a success, imo. Maybe people got sick of hearing the same classic rock covers over time ? Where alot of the songs they started playing still on their setlists after all that time ?
Add me to the growing number of folks who appreciate this as THE relevant TB line of 2012.
For the purpose of this post, I define classic rock as being from 1965-1978 in origin, as per the original classic rock radio format, that emerged in the late 1980's. The output of the rest of the 80's may arguably now be included in that definition. Once grunge came along, it was clear that rock was recycling itself; it had run out of new things to say, musically. Grunge did open new avenues, lyrically, getting away from the typical sex/booze/drugs/cosmic stuff of the classic rock era.
As long as there are delusional groups of middle-aged guys out there who think that they can learn 3 dozen or so old warhorse classic rock songs of the above description, and go out and make money, there will be no shortage of classic rock bands. The trouble is, they are blind to what the audience out there in gig-land is.
My bands have a healthy respect for who and what are in front of us. My main band's core demographic is women over 30, so we play a lot of "cougar music," with heavy emphasis on the 80's, 90's, some country, and non-metallic 60's & 70's. We also sprinkle in some newer stuff, and have vocalists of both genders. We work a lot, mostly as an acoustic duo, or trio. Full band gigs are usually over by 1 am, with this group.
My live karaoke band knows the "rule of 8/23," as I term it. Think about this, for a moment. The folks likely to be in front of this band are 25-40 years old, for the most part. It's no secret that most of us seem to identify with the music that was popular in our final year of high school. In other words, take the 25-40 year-old folks back to 17, by playing songs between 8 and 23 years in age. It's not an absolute rule, but a healthy guideline, when it comes to picking new material. Gigs for this band usually do not end until closing time (2 am).
I get hired gun work for casino and high-end bar bands, and repertoire may vary from gig to gig, depending on a lot of factors. You can get away with skewing older, at casinos, and that is indeed where the money is, but you have to be good, and have more than the aforementioned 3 dozen songs. You also, typically, need to have an in, just to get booked. It is a tough circuit to break into, and even tougher to stay in, over the long haul.
Classic rock won't be going away. In a few more years, it will become THE stuff to play, at retirement communities, where 50's tribute and Beach Boys cover bands are already making a killing, in my local market, and are at home by 10-11pm. With an aging parent of my own in a senior community that offers 1-hour shows 7-8pm, I am confident that my main project's acoustic side can tailor about 50 minutes of music from our current repertoire to be able to exploit this, on a weeknight during the coming high season. We could even make it the first gig of a 2-gig night, since one of the wine bars that we play strives for a late-night "speakeasy" feel, and likes us to start at 10 pm.
Just as Sun Tzu once gave the best advice for warriors (know your enemy), I end with the best advice for coverband musicians: Know your market, and where you fit into it.
scottbass
Bass lines like a big, funky giant
Also this. I was in a classic rock band for a long time. When I joined the band, they already had a playlist of 40 songs. We rehearsed once a week. We tried to add a new song every week. After a year, we had a whole new playlist! (Obviously a few songs were held over. For example, we found that Cheap Trick's "Surrender" worked very well for a set opener, so we always kept that one to open one of the sets.) I played with them for about 8 years...and we stayed busy with gigs that whole time. I attribute a big share of our continued success...well, at least adequacy
...to the fact that we were always adding to our repertoire. By the time I left them we had an active playlist of around 100 songs and 200 more from our past that we could haul out in case of requests.And no Brown Eyed Girl!!! But we had two other Van Morrison songs. Here's the way we handled requests for Brown Eyed Girl:
Drunken Female: PLAY BROWN EYED GIRL!!!!
Us: Sure...what's your name?
Drunken Female: SSSSHHHHEILA (or "Tiffany" or "Brandi" or whatever)
Us: We have another Van Morrison song you'll really like
Us: Here's a special song for SSSSHHHHEILA (or "Tiffany" or "Brandi" or whatever) cause we think she's having a wild night tonight! (And then we launched into "Wild Night".)
Our classic rock band just broke up after about 4 years. I'd say we were lucky. But we were always learning new songs and adjusting our set list. We played stuff from the 60's to the 90's and an occasional 2000's song. We were pretty damn good. But it was still hit and miss on having a decent crowd at shows. Our best crowd was about 70 miles from Dallas in the middle of nowhere. All they had were country bands around. We packed em in.
I bristled a little when I first read this, but I gotta say there is truth here. Depends on where "gig-land" is. In the bar, festival and private party league we're playing in, old guys doing warhorse classics goes over great. But that doesn't work everywhere.
I have been trying like heck to get my cover band to widen their view a little to what could be, if they would just see it. The larger, more well-attended, cleaner and safer rooms in my area are packed tight with a slightly younger crowd that responds better to newer music than what we play. A few bands back I played some of these rooms, and it would be nice to get back in that circuit.
I'm older but I like newer music as well as older music. I don't mind playing the outlying seedy taverns where classic rock, country, blues, and Johnny Cash still rule, but it wouldn't hurt me none to get back in the city limits and play some hipper clubs too... problem is, my boys seem to be more comfy in the honky tonks... hmm...
I bristled a little when I first read this, but I gotta say there is truth here. Depends on where "gig-land" is. In the bar, festival and private party league we're playing in, old guys doing warhorse classics goes over great. But that doesn't work everywhere.
I have been trying like heck to get my cover band to widen their view a little to what could be, if they would just see it. The larger, more well-attended, cleaner and safer rooms in my area are packed tight with a slightly younger crowd that responds better to newer music than what we play. A few bands back I played some of these rooms, and it would be nice to get back in that circuit.
I'm older but I like newer music as well as older music. I don't mind playing the outlying seedy taverns where classic rock, country, blues, and Johnny Cash still rule, but it wouldn't hurt me none to get back in the city limits and play some hipper clubs too... problem is, my boys seem to be more comfy in the honky tonks... hmm...
Here in the PHX, we have what I call the Far East Side Biker Circuit, which is like the apt description in the final paragraph quoted. East Mesa and Apache Junction are fine for folks who do not want to go far from home, or earn more than $50-$100/member/night. If that's success for you, then go for it. Many such bands respond to my listing on Bandmix, or find my business card, and I inevitably ask them if they have a longer-range business plan, a website, or any ambitions to work west of Gilbert Road. So few of them do. They act like I am speaking Greek to them, with my questions. The few that call me to sit in or audition are then blown away by my knowledge of what is working on the scene, and, while they may not take me on as a full member, are often at subsequent full band gigs, and learning what does work, and how it is done.
Remember, being in a band is only 20% practice (at most; many of my projects rarely rehearse as ensembles; you are expected to do your homework), 20% performance, 20% schlep, and the remainder is all marketing and promotion. Social media does help, in that area, but it's more than just getting your friends to like your band page, on Facebook, and creating "events." That gets your people to gigs, but a good website, with live performance media, is what gets the notice and respect from those who do the booking. Those who integrate live performance media into their Facebook efforts will often win new audience, and get the chain reactions to critical mass, quicker. That's still not enough. You have to find more innovative and creative ways to gain exposure. I have enough of a rep, in my area, to get asked to judge karaoke contests. This keeps me aware of other dynamic performers with that "it," and indeed, when my main band's hot singerbabe/violinist suddenly quit, in June, it gave me a built-in audition/screening process that is still not complete, as of this writing.
Whoever said that there is no need for creativity in coverbands is obviously not part of one that has tasted success. Don't even get me started on how to make a song your own, or how mashups can revive even the deadest of old warhorse songs. There are ample threads, in this very TB sub-forum that already address such topics.
