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How competitive is your local cover scene

PopaWoody

PopaWoody

The major rager
May 28, 2009
683
56
Tampa, FL
#1
Just out of curiosity, what's the scene like in your town. Cover bands and gigs around here often have me shaking my head. Bands talking trash about other bands, gigs being yanked due to 'claimed' double bookings. Bands getting pissed that you are covering their songs.....yeah I know covers? really?

That type of ish happens here. Jealousy in addtion, over what gigs you are playing. Band's with very little talent pissed that we are getting better paying, nicer places.

Jesus, it's so effing elementary school sometimes. The competitive stuff is BS. We should be able to get along and help each other out. Most groups around here are that way, but then you have those other wannabees.

What's it like in your town and what town are you in? I imagine its the same in a lot of densely populated areas. What is the worst stunt someone has pulled on your band from a competitor?...so to speak.
 
#2
PopaWoody said:
Just out of curiosity, what's the scene like in your town. Cover bands and gigs around here often have me shaking my head. Bands talking trash about other bands, gigs being yanked due to 'claimed' double bookings. Bands getting pissed that you are covering their songs.....yeah I know covers? really?

That type of ish happens here. Jealousy in addtion, over what gigs you are playing. Band's with very little talent pissed that we are getting better paying, nicer places.

Jesus, it's so effing elementary school sometimes. The competitive stuff is BS. We should be able to get along and help each other out. Most groups around here are that way, but then you have those other wannabees.

What's it like in your town and what town are you in? I imagine its the same in a lot of densely populated areas. What is the worst stunt someone has pulled on your band from a competitor?...so to speak.
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Most of the nicer places and better paying, clubs, bars and festivals gigs are monopolized by 1 or 2 agencies in Milwaukee.

For example, your band wants to play State Fair. If your band is not represented by 1 of the agencies,you won't be playing State Fair.
 
#3
It's mostly every band for themselves here. I try to get the bands to cooperate since I know almost everybody and some of them do to try and keep a level playing field for everybody's benefit. Plus, they all know I book bands for major events.

However, there are a few bands (with older members no less) who are not good and are going around bad mouthing the well established and more talented bands and offering to play cheap and saying untrue things about the good bands and it is hurting the clubs and the other bands but they just don't care. Well, several of the better bands have heard what they are doing and we all talk to each other as well as the club owners and managers I deal with are not happy after they find out what these bands are up to.
 
#4
Richland123 said:
It's mostly every band for themselves here. I try to get the bands to cooperate since I know almost everybody and some of them do to try and keep a level playing field for everybody's benefit. Plus, they all know I book bands for major events.

However, there are a few bands (with older members no less) who are not good and are going around bad mouthing the well established and more talented bands and offering to play cheap and saying untrue things about the good bands and it is hurting the clubs and the other bands but they just don't care. Well, several of the better bands have heard what they are doing and we all talk to each other as well as the club owners and managers I deal with are not happy after they find out what these bands are up to.
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Playing cheap and for you guys that will play for free. That hurts all of us.
 
#6
Around here, getting gigs is pretty tough. Thousands of bands and about 25 places to play. The bar managers won't book you unless they see you and refuse to come see you. Some places tell you up front they're loyal to the same 8 bands they always use. Pay has gone down. Sometimes it seems like the same 8 bands are getting all the work. It;s really tough to get established.

Still, I feel a sense of community. Perhaps it's because we're all in the same boat. if I have a Friday night off, I can pretty much walk into any bar with a band, start chatting them up and 9 times out of 10, they'll invite me up on stage. We all try and help each other out and share contacts, 'Like' each others FB pages, etc. There's a few jerks, but mostly we all seem to be pulling for each other. Probably because it's just SO bad out there.
 
#7
Not much competition around here because most gigs are crappy.
It's pretty easy to get a spot even on a saturday night in a bar, just don't expect to get paid.
Corporate gigs don't exist, weddings and New Year Eve parties are vanishing.
There are a few public funded shows for yearly events, typically the same 5-6 structured cover bands get them. If you can put up a good cover band you will likely get a spot too.
That's about it.
 
#8
Knoxville has a pretty nice music scene. A lot of local bands are competitive in a friendly sort of way, and most are very supportive of one another, they help each other land gigs, they get people 'in' with venue managers, etc... Of course, there is always some trash talking going between certain muso's and musical acts, but that's to be expected to some degree. The pay isn't horrible either (even for an original band like mine), so long as you know how to sell yourself for what you're worth.
 
#10
In DFW, it just depends on the type of gig you want. There are a million pubs and sports bars if that's what you are into. The actual club scene (Deep Ellum, etc) seems to cater mostly to original acts. Only the super polished bands play the A rooms. You can always get a gig somewhere, just tough to get the really good ones (as it should be)
 
#11
jmattbassplaya said:
Knoxville has a pretty nice music scene. A lot of local bands are competitive in a friendly sort of way, and most are very supportive of one another, they help each other land gigs, they get people 'in' with venue managers, etc... Of course, there is always some trash talking going between certain muso's and musical acts, but that's to be expected to some degree. The pay isn't horrible either (even for an original band like mine), so long as you know how to sell yourself for what you're worth.
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That's what it was like for me here in L.A. a number of years ago. I don't know what it's like.

I'm now in Santa Barbara. For cover bands, t's competitive, but healthy and supportive too. I haven't been in a cover band out here.

Pretty recently, I was in Sacramento, and got pretty into the music scene (or lack thereof). The cover bands were friendly and casual, and were like ships passing in the sea. They had no ill will, but didn't cross paths often. When they did, it was generally friendly. The original bands were VERY competitive. There was tons of trash talk, ill will and crap.

I also was in rural Western Colorado for a while about 5-6 years ago. All the decent musicians there were supportive and super friendly out there no matter what genre, covers or not. There were so few of us, that it was pretty incestuous with everyone ending up playing in everyone else's band at one time or another, if only to fill in when someone else was sick. Over there, there was such a dirth of players that the few of us that knew music beyond how to play a G chord on guitar clung to eachother.

There were so few musicians that we, as a moderately good (but not great) band, could charge a minimum of $500 for any gig at all. Most of the festivals and fair-type gigs all paid at least a couple grand, if not more. Unfortunately, the gigs were only a few times a month, so there was no way to quit the day jobs, either...
 
#12
My concern is, and this might be getting off topic, us what's happening to live rock music as a whole. Is it dying? I'll give to examples:

I watched a little bit of The American Music Awards last night. Not many drum sets, guitars and basses where a band was actually playing. Most acts were big productions with pre-recorded music.

A friend of mine was out in LA last at this Rock n Roll Fantasy Camp thing.

He was in a small rehearsal room with Paul Stanley. He said:

"Were all hanging on by a thread, nobody cares about Rock anymore."
 
#13
Define 'rock music'. While production is certainly becoming more popular, there is still an ever abundance of people who want to see actual bands and who prefer actual bands. You just need to be up to date with what kind of music sells.
 
#14
jmattbassplaya said:
Define 'rock music'. While production is certainly becoming more popular, there is still an ever abundance of people who want to see actual bands and who prefer actual bands. You just need to be up to date with what kind of music sells.
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For the purpose of my post, I'll define rock as any group of guys playing popular music based primarily from a combination of African American blues, country,jazz and gospel music playing electric guitars and drums. Which is basically everything.

In Milwaukee the younger kids have no interest in seeing local rock bands for the most part
 
#15
jmattbassplaya said:
Define 'rock music'. While production is certainly becoming more popular, there is still an ever abundance of people who want to see actual bands and who prefer actual bands. You just need to be up to date with what kind of music sells.
Click to expand...

Preproduced music and backing tracks have been around for a long time. Maybe it wasn't a sequenced track, but they may have used the original recording or a band playing in the pit.

Invalid Link Removed
Funny how the Mamas and Papas sound just like the original recording without any of them using microphones, and only an acoustic guitar.

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Once again, the Jackson 5 sounding just like the record with lush harmonies with only 2 of them having a mic and only a bass and guitar.

pusherman - YouTube
Here's my man Curtis Mayfield performing on Soul Train. Now where's his band? I thought he played guitar on this track too.

And DJs are not a new thing at all. They have been around since the 70s when Disco was supposed to dawn the end of Rock and Roll.
 
#17
jive1 said:
Preproduced music and backing tracks have been around for a long time. Maybe it wasn't a sequenced track, but they may have used the original recording or a band playing in the pit.

Invalid Link Removed
Funny how the Mamas and Papas sound just like the original recording without any of them using microphones, and only an acoustic guitar.

Invalid Link Removed
Once again, the Jackson 5 sounding just like the record with lush harmonies with only 2 of them having a mic and only a bass and guitar.

pusherman - YouTube
Here's my man Curtis Mayfield performing on Soul Train. Now where's his band? I thought he played guitar on this track too.

And DJs are not a new thing at all. They have been around since the 70s when Disco was supposed to dawn the end of Rock and Roll.
Click to expand...

+1

There's more to it than that, though. Many modern bands are utilizing synths, laptops, sequencers, etc... when writing their music to give their songs the pre-produced sound in addition to their live instrumentation. Sound Tribe Sector 9 is just one of many modern rock bands that do this:

STS9 - Instantly (New Year's Eve @ The Tabernacle) - YouTube

It's about knowing what sells these days. Typical rock styles from the 70's, 80's, 90's, and early 00's aren't going to appeal to a mass audience like this stuff currently does. You have to evolve into what your audience demands or you will be left behind.
 
#18
The bar band scene isn't too bad back home. If you've got a video of you playing out, they'll pop you in for an off-peak day, and keep booking you if you're good. Schmoozing the bartenders and security guys helps a lot.
Luckily, there aren't too many bands vying for a spot at once. It's actually pretty laid-back.
 
#19
Interesting discussion. I always thought that midsize markets, 100-250K population were the best places to work just because with that many people there are bound to be a variety of venues, and for my 2 cents, that's what it comes down to. The more places to play, the more work there is.

Agree that there are more recorded tracks now than ever before, and that singer/songwriters are often products of "American Idol" and are not really talented....but they have the Barbara Streisand attitude!

In fact I am just preparing for a rehearsal tonight laying down some llop tracks so that we can go out as a duo: guitar and bass; or trio, add congas, cajon; or alt trio, add alto sax.

It's an adjustment to the LA market and the economy that sucks. Hope it works and that I continue to work.
 
#20
Bands can be competitive, but musicians really aren't. While I was exploring my sexuality in D.C. This past weekend, I had a great bassist from one of the areas top bands fill in for me. Things went very well (for my band, I'm still hoping the hair grows back where the duct tape ripped it out) and my fill in is filling in for another band who's bass player quit this weekend.

Every band should be working towards more money and better gigs, but tearing the other bands down is not the way to get there. Always be positive. Negativity is not the key to long term success.
 

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