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Cover Band Rant.
- Thread starter bgressman82
- Start date
This is the most surprising part of this thread. Some woman let him touch her?!?
Lighten up, dude. It's just a crappy band. They didn't rape your mother, just your ears for a couple of hours. Why do you care so much? Why didn't you and your 'friends' (another surprising part of this thread is that you seem to have some) just leave? Who cares?
I don't know why you would -- although some folks disagree with you, you have a right to state your opinion. And some agree with you.
A search I did on the site shows no substantial thread (that I can find) dedicated to the topic of "Originals Band Rant," although there are several cover band rant threads. Why is that, do you think?
My stand is that I currently play in one of each. Neither one would play in the same kind of venue that the other would, so I'm not sure there's any overlapping area of competition. (You've noted a couple times that some clubs in your area said they were "tired of putting up with bands" and hired DJs. You didn't say they turned to hiring only free bands.)
My beefs with the bands are what the members are willing to put up with. I often feel compelled to rein in the members of the originals band, reminding them that it isn't always practical to travel an hour and a half one-way to play our 45 minutes set. What good is e"exposure" so far from our base? But we still play out a few times a month, always using the house PA and usually another band's backline. I'm strictly plug-and-play. Very little pay, but we get back what we invest in it.
The cover band is just taking so long to get together. We were two weeks away from our first gig when our drummer achieved critical mass and left a big hole in the ground. A replacement hung around for a couple weeks until she decided the commute wasn't worth it. The third guy is working out well, and what with lead times on booking, we hope to be gigging by August. We've purchased substantial PA and lighting equipment, not to mention our own individual equipment. We certainly plan to get out of this project what we've put in, and that would be in the form of decent pay from the venues.
Is there any real sin in any of this?
Um.....sorry. I should have been more specific? THAT biker bar (the one the OP was refering to) is a METAL/biker bar. Should I go back and edit that in so that I don't hurt any more biker's feelings? Plus, I am PRETTY SURE that there isn't a BIKER BAR in AMERICA that would LOVE to see a BEATLES TRIBUTE BAND dressed up in stupid SUITS! Say what you want about bikers (and I guess I just so happen to BE one), that statement still holds true. Yes, I did generalise. But in THIS case, the bar owner is NO LESS of an IDIOT for booking THAT band in THAT bar.
However...I DO agree totally with the second part of your statement. If you don't like the band, leave. Cheers.
Yes, that is exactly why they suck. Venues that hire bands their audience will hate suck.
The only real sin you may have committed is if you cancelled booked gigs because of the drummer. This is going to be controversial to some, but I swear to God that it's the truth. The Cover Band Iron Law Of Gigging:The cover band is just taking so long to get together. We were two weeks away from our first gig when our drummer achieved critical mass and left a big hole in the ground. A replacement hung around for a couple weeks until she decided the commute wasn't worth it. The third guy is working out well, and what with lead times on booking, we hope to be gigging by August. We've purchased substantial PA and lighting equipment, not to mention our own individual equipment. We certainly plan to get out of this project what we've put in, and that would be in the form of decent pay from the venues.
Is there any real sin in any of this?
The amount of gigs a cover band gets is inversely proportional to the amount of time the band rehearses.
Sounds like it should be the opposite, right? Wrong. I have spent months trying to rehearse bands that never once played out because I thought it was the way to go. OTOH, my main band rehearsed twice for 90 minutes before I played my first gig with them, and we work as much as we want. Played many gigs where none of us even knew each other before downbeat and kicked it. Just give me a list of songs you're doing, cue the endings, and don't try to make it brain surgery by doing a lot of difficult songs nobody wants to hear anyway, and everything's great.
Holy crap! I never realized that. It's the absolute truth though.
You either know the songs or you don't. Stay home if you don't.
I have never heard of this theory before. But you know what?? It's absolutely true! At least IME.
Jimmy its taken me quite a while to learn this but now I am convinced you are right.
i think most people missed the point of the orignal post, this was a beatles cover band in what sounds like a metal type bar. then the guy was bitchin about not makin much money.
I dont think he was really bashin on cover bands (even though i would personally)
The owner books any band no matter the style, that doesnt mean the crowd will enjoy it.
The Band was most likely out of their element and they didnt know it, the guy shouldnt have been bitchin about not makin money seein as the songs arent really his songs to begin with.
I dont think he was really bashin on cover bands (even though i would personally)
The owner books any band no matter the style, that doesnt mean the crowd will enjoy it.
The Band was most likely out of their element and they didnt know it, the guy shouldnt have been bitchin about not makin money seein as the songs arent really his songs to begin with.
butchblack
Life is short. Do good. Find and do what you love.
As I'm reading this it sounds like the Beatles tribute band was either just starting out or works under the philosophy of take any gig. Rule #1 for any band doing covers, play at venues that book the type of music you're playing. It doesn't sound like they did their homework in booking the gig.
There is no optimal proportion. You have to do whatever you think you have to do to get ready for gigging. All I can say through my own experiences is the less I rehearse, the more I gig with a project.
Jimmy your experience is much extensive than mine but it seems to me that both of us play (for lack of a better word) the rock equivalent of 'jazz standards'. Its a repretoire that's so well ingrained (sp?) into the ears of guys of my generation that its not that difficult to pull these tunes fairly well on the fly.
True. But that's what cover bands should do. There's no reason to go and play some obscure song by the Moving Sidewalks or the 13th Floor Elevators when people would rather hear ZZ Top and AC/DC.
LOL!! Well both ZZ Top and A/C are a bit young for me but yea I get the drift. Both bands I play in are essentially oldies band. One band even has the format of letting the audience pick the tunes either out of a hat or they can simply request it. If its from the 60 and/or early 70's and we think we got a reasonable shot at pulling it off we give it a go. IME, the audience is way more generous about the performance when they see that you are there trying to entertain them. As we often tell them when we begin 'This is about you not about us.' And if they want to come up and sing along so much the better.
Absolutely brilliant way to run a band, bro! You guys sound like you'll work as much as you want with that attitude!
Thanks Jimmy. Our guitarist quit recently and we've been looking for a replacement. So far we haven't found one. As you can imagine it takes someone pretty familiar with the music of the era and willing to play it era correct. In other words, we aren't looking for SRV's interpretation of 'Day Tripper'.
