Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Cool Stuff To Do On Stage?
- Thread starter MatWoods
- Start date
Watching a band "faithfully play great music while remaining expressionless and motionless" is EXACTLY why so many (cover) musicians have trouble filling venues week after week, with some exceptions.
As noted, it's a show, and you're catering to the general public. The general (bar going) public does not care how faithfully you pulled off that neat little trill in the 87th measure of whatever song you're playing - they want to be entertained, no more no less.
Go nuts - the more outlandish the better. The more people who see you in public and say to you "Hey, aren't you that guy who set his head on fire while playing in that band last weekend?" the better. This is the stuff that people remember and talk about - they could care less about virtuosos. Unless they are musicians. In which case they're probably going to criticize you no matter what you do. Unless they are your friends.
Go for it, have fun, and burn a memory into the crowd!!
Oh - and not to state the obvious, but play the song well while being an entertainer.
As noted, it's a show, and you're catering to the general public. The general (bar going) public does not care how faithfully you pulled off that neat little trill in the 87th measure of whatever song you're playing - they want to be entertained, no more no less.
Go nuts - the more outlandish the better. The more people who see you in public and say to you "Hey, aren't you that guy who set his head on fire while playing in that band last weekend?" the better. This is the stuff that people remember and talk about - they could care less about virtuosos. Unless they are musicians. In which case they're probably going to criticize you no matter what you do. Unless they are your friends.
Go for it, have fun, and burn a memory into the crowd!!
Oh - and not to state the obvious, but play the song well while being an entertainer.
OhOh, I know!
Hang 2 drummers and a spinning drum kit from a ceiling while the rest of your band wears spandex, masks and genre-inappropriate instruments while your lead singer barks out lyrics in the most annoying shrill voice while wearing a thrashed blonde Chewbacca costume.
Oh wait, it's been done...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dllo85ZSUk
Hang 2 drummers and a spinning drum kit from a ceiling while the rest of your band wears spandex, masks and genre-inappropriate instruments while your lead singer barks out lyrics in the most annoying shrill voice while wearing a thrashed blonde Chewbacca costume.
Oh wait, it's been done...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dllo85ZSUk
Not to take the fun out of the thread, but I would like to disagree a little here.
You're right, cover bands need to entertain, but the music isn't as unimportant as you imply.
If we take your reasoning on out, we should just ditch the music and go all-clown. But we're not (well, I'm not) clowns. We play music and that will always be first.
And pa-LENTY of non-musicians will appreciate a virtuoso. I play with a guy who stands pretty still but who wows the crowd every time. And they're not laughing at him or embarrassed for him... they're pretty amazed and definitely entertained.
I for one would much rather be forgotten for playing well than remembered for setting my hair on fire...
This one usually goes over well.....
Link Removed
But seriously...maybe you and your drummer can work in some variation of this.....
Recently saw a cool video of a drummer hitting the bass strings with his sticks while the bassist's left hand fretted the notes.
Link Removed
But seriously...maybe you and your drummer can work in some variation of this.....
Recently saw a cool video of a drummer hitting the bass strings with his sticks while the bassist's left hand fretted the notes.
I've almost given up responding to such comments. I'm glad somebody (i.e. scatbass) gets it.
I'll add: Consider that bane of cover bands everywhere, the DJ. How are they able to "steal" your gigs? They play everything absolutely dead-bang accurate to the original, because that's exactly what they're playing! How can you compete with that? Even the original artists can't play those songs exactly the way they were recorded! No cover band can touch them in that area, so what are you going to do? I'll tell you what the DJs do: Not only do they play the songs with 100% accuracy that you'll never achieve, even if you live to be 1000, but they make their show entertaining on top of it! You're screwed both ways!
If people really wanted to hear music played exactly like it was originally recorded they can (1) stay home & play their own CDs, iTunes, records, tapes, etc., (2) go out & take in a DJ show. Why on earth would anybody go to the trouble to see a live band when there are alternatives that are cheaper & more accurate?
You've got to do something to add value to the experience, so that it's worth people's while to see you play the songs instead of a DJ playing the same songs somewhere else. The same goes double for original bands, where you don't have the advantage of playing songs that everybody already knows.
I have spent just as many years as a consumer as I have an entertainer. I could care less about a DJ. There is no entertainment value in a DJ. NONE.
A good band that can play the songs faithfully SHOULD be entertaining, YES. They should dress the part, and put some energy and quality into the performance, YES.
But they should NOT be a clown.
The show should not be MORE IMPORTANT than the music.
Thanks to the internet, every conversation is always one extreme or the other. A good band has to cover all the bases. Play the music well. Entertain the audience. Have good gear, so it sounds good. Pick a set list that plays to the audience they are aiming for, and the audience they can find.
The problem has been for a long time that there are so many bands, and people have heard far too many mediocre to bad bands. But that is not an insurmountable problem.
Certainly not enough to get me to wear elaborate costumes; spin things on my head; do my set jumping on a pogo stick, or wearing nipple clamps.
The bottom line is, do something that moves you, and perform it in such a way that it moves others, HOWEVER YOU CAN DO THAT.
If you do that, and persist in doing it, odds are, you will at least have some kind of success. But you don't do it for success. The task is an end all in itself.
I'm with you, but you & I are not typical music consumers. Plenty of people do find entertainment value in a DJ.
My point was that, DJs have an inherent advantage over bands in that they can play songs 100% accurately, 100% of the time. Even if a band could do that, they still have a few more mouths to feed & need more space to operate. You've got to be able to do more than just play the songs accurately.
Eh, don't get me wrong. I completely understand the value of a good stage show and I believe it is something all gigging bands should address, but people sometimes go over board and I am not sure how to properly execute my bass lines while balancing my $2000 bass upside down in the palm of my hand.
Synchronized jumping is an attention grabber and a stage breaker. It's exciting to see someone playing metal suddenly fall through a stage, effectively cutting his height in half.
