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Cover acts - whats in demand?

#101
Current set list... I am trying to convince the rest of the guys that we need to keep learning songs, but life seems to be getting in the way of our plans!

My band's goal is to cycle 4 or 5 songs out of the show every 4 to 6 weeks and replace them with new ones. It doesn't always work out that way but we usually get pretty close.
 
#102
90's Alt does well around here too. We play about half of what was on Jive's a-list. It can be hit or miss though depending on the crowd. We need more than 60 songs we have now. Keep on learing 4-6 new ones per month. We never retire a song...just put it on b-list duty/requests you know.
 
#103
Depends on the area. Some areas are just overrun with the same types of bands! There's literally 100's of Rock and rock related bands here! A good handful of Top40 bands (they get most of the money gigs). A few R&B/Funk types (all poor to mediocre at best). This area could use a really good, tight R&B/Funk horn band but most of the cats I've come across just don't have it in them to do the work that's needed to be an A list band!
 
#104
DWBass said:
This area could use a really good, tight R&B/Funk horn band but most of the cats I've come across just don't have it in them to do the work that's needed to be an A list band!
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That may have a lot to do with how many venues / gigs are available to support a band of that type.

A few years ago I was asked to join a band like you describe. I took a pass because I knew those guys would be practicing their tails off in exchange for playing maybe 3 or 4 gigs a year that would be lucky to net them $100 a guy. The work-to-reward delta just wasn't there and I suspect the same may be the case in your market.
 
#105
jaywa said:
That may have a lot to do with how many venues / gigs are available to support a band of that type.

A few years ago I was asked to join a band like you describe. I took a pass because I knew those guys would be practicing their tails off in exchange for playing maybe 3 or 4 gigs a year that would be lucky to net them $100 a guy. The work-to-reward delta just wasn't there and I suspect the same may be the case in your market.
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Oh no my brother, I'm talking about an agent booked band! I know an agency who's looking for this very type of band to book!
 
#106
MNAirHead said:
Howdy

To you cover and warriors- what's in demand
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Refreshing question. What's in demand versus "what I want to play." You must want to play regularly and make some money.

In my neck of the woods, party bands that play party music (read: dance floor tunes) are very in-demand and still relatively rare. Yes, I know "Brick House" and "Give It To Me Baby" are not musical nirvana for many players, but for the average club patron who wants to dance and have fun, that's where it's at.
 
#110
jaywa said:
Interesting. I never found amazing musicianship (Paisley, Urban), good songwriting and excellent production (with the bass high in the mix) to be "nasty" but to each his own I guess. I don't choose to listen to a steady diet of new country and I will admit some of it is painfully derivative and formulaic, but compared to a lot of the music out there these days I don't find it half bad. And as far as the cover band scene, it is definitely a genre that's paying the bills around these parts these days.
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I am glad somebody else has noticed that the new country has a lot more demanding musicanship than even the stuff coming out 10 years ago. I have noticed this past year when I was auditioning different bands where 95% of the material was no newer than 8 years ago. I joined one band that was playing 85% brand new country, and we couldn't find a lead guitarist who could keep up with the material. It seems like a lot of lead guitarists around here who were good at chickin pickin can't play the new material.

I still find it ironic that somme bass players still complain that the old country is too boring to play, but the new country is "not really country", so they won't listen to it.
 
#112
Id argue that most folks have an opinion about country and haven't really heard a ton of it

What is being called "new" is actually moving back to the roots

There's a ton of very old time on guys like brad paisley - much of his material is mandolin inspired lines on a tele



I'm sure glad the pop rock with a steel is fading
 
#113
southgabass said:
This is one of our lists that goes over well... =D... we also had a guest come up and do "wagon wheel" with us this past show and it went over splendidly.... took the ol... G, D, Em, C (verse) G, D, C (chorus) route....

SET 1
... 16. Ain’t No Sunshine - Bill Withers

...
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Heyya SouthGaBass, just wanted to know how ending set one works for your band. Great song, :cool: I played it in one of my former bands, but I would've thought it too somber to end a set with? :confused:


:ninja: As for Brad Paisley, I'm unfamiliar with his stuff due to my narrow-minded view based on "Mud On the Tires". This song was transcribed in a guitar magazine and I wanted to see what the hype was with this guy, so I read through the transcription. However great a guitarist he is, he sucks as a lyricist. :spit:

Mind, I'm basing my opinion on but one of his songs, so I guess that's my problem, certainly not his. He's a star, I'm not. :p

Great thread, btw.
 
#114
I must be a lucky guy. We do nothing but covers - too damn old and lazy to be writing. We would rather do our own arrangements of all the classic rock we do. Interesting this is there is still a call for us cover guys here in Oregon. Maybe we're behind the curve a bit outside the Portland area (where cover bars have reduced in numbers quite a bit, but still do exist), but it's good business for us. Even the corporate parties and local golf club shticks are calling us back for more. We have found people who dig classic rock love the dance tunes of the era. When we toss out a song that is a tweener, the floor empties. We get back into "Play that Funky Music" and holy crap, the floor is packed once again! We're old fart, family guys with day jobs who double as weekend warriors who just have fun. And that formula rubs off onto the crowd. They have fun, too.

And new Country? Good stuff, Maynard. It reminds me a lot of the late 70s - early 80's pop rock, but with an edge. It's growing here, when you can find bands to play it well.
 
#115
We played a 1-nighter Saturday night at a decent sized, pool & sports bar type place 4 hours from here. First time we'd played up there and they really didn't promote us at all. Played our usual show (70% new and classic country with the rest being 80s pop/rock with some modern pop and oldies thrown in for variety), managed to fill the place about half-up and at the end of the night the manager was already talking to our BL about bringing us back again for a full weekend with promotion. His words were, "we don't get much country up here and you guys do it really well." Our BL sold 6 of his CDs (new country originals) which is the most he's ever sold in one venue anywhere.
 

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