• 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.

I have a problem with cover/tribute bands.

Status
Not open for further replies.
#661
If a movie director wants to make great movie and it turns out great, it is assumed that he just has a love for the cinema, not that he is making movies to feel superior to people. If someone wants to be an athlete, then most of the time people assume he has a love for sports, not that he is getting in great shape so he can go around looking down on people feeling superior to them. If someone tries to be a good fiction writer, I have a feeling it is because he likes literature and loves to express himself through words . I doubt that he is doing that to feel superior to other people. This assumption that musicians who want to do original music are doing it because they want to feel superior to other people is just really bizarre to me.
 
#663
Joe Nerve said:
Ahh yes, the wonderful ways of the argument. Tis true, and this thread will probably go on endlessly...

I know my truth. Why I feel the need to convince anyone else of it is definitely a personal problem. :) I'm going to practice growing up by staying out of this thread now. Let's see how well I do.
Click to expand...

Mr. Nerve - are you implying that those who choose to remain engaged in this discussion are immature? :p

I know your truth too and I don't dispute it one iota. That's the ultimate point - it comes down to the band and the individuals therein. I've worked closely with very naive musicians - one's with very little experience in any world - cover or original and I know first hand how "hard" we had to work to get our goals accomplished.

Usually, if I were involved with a band such as this, I'd seek out a second gig with less naive players (usually a cover band) to re-experience the pleasure of playing with less naive, more experienced and ultimately capable players.

I know my way around a mixing console, audio sequencing programs, midi-interfaces, mic placement, poster/PR Kit creation, marketing, arranging, composing, performing. I play with a few people who share my knowledge - and believe me - when it comes to the "hardness" of the originals world, being teamed up with those guys makes that "hardness" significantly less hard.

But it seems that just about everyone who's choosing to make a point cannot avoid stacking one over the other.
 
#664
baalroo said:
I have a hard time understanding how this thread could possibly get someone "pissed off." At the risk of sounding a bit rude, sounds like a personal problem man.
Click to expand...

Very true.

Of course, there have been threads that pissed me off that other people probably didn't see any problems with (generally in OT) but the solution is just not to read or post in them.
 
#665
tZer said:
I see your point about original bands doing the same things as cover band + .... but I think an equally valid argument can be made based upon the complexity and expected performance outcome of the covers a cover band is covering.

While you may be correct in saying an originals band has to "write" on top of everything - substitute, "learn complicated covers" with the word "write" and you end up right back on the level playing field.

Both worlds have their extremes. There are instances of original groups who were famous for their "walk in, start the tape, play, got it, done" sessions. There are others who wouldn't leave the studio for months hassling over the last note of the second track...
Click to expand...

I see what you're saying, but that particular argument doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. Because for EVERY SINGLE SONG a cover band has ever covered, no matter how difficult it was to learn, some OTHER "original" band had to actually write it.
 
#667
Greyvagabond said:
Hey, a fellow Bostonian! Welcome to the thread that won't die! Just curious, I made a comment a while ago that, in Boston, there are fairly well defined "originals" shows, and "covers" shows (no, I'm not counting the Halloween, dress-up-like-an-influence shows), and that doing the wrong type of music at one or the other would be very odd, if not disrespectful to the booker. So, if you were to go to, say, The Paradise on a Saturday (say, the 25th of April...) and saw a cover band, your reaction might be "***?", and if you went to a bar by the Garden expecting to see a cover band, and saw an all-original band, you'd have the same reaction. Is this your experience too, or am I just talking out of my @$$?
Click to expand...


I think you're pretty much right on the money. There are certain clubs in town (and Cambridge) where you EXPECT to see bands that are playing original music. The places that are "rock clubs" like the Paradise, TT's, The Middle East, Harpers Ferry etc.

Then there are other clubs, that I would consider the music to be more secondary to the atmospher. Places where people go out to have a beer, and there's a band playing for entertainment. Bands that play songs people know, and get them in a good mood, and sing a long. A vital function for selling drinks. :) and I've seen some bands that are quite good in that respect.

The thing is that for the most part, the "band" isn't the reason people go to those joints, where as if you go to the M.E. or the Paradise, it's probably because you were into one or more of the bands on the bill. The band is the draw.

Totally different deals IMO.


The same does hold true outside the city too. It depends on the venue. Yeah, if I walked into Wally's at Hampton Beach and saw a band trying to play original stuff, I'm sure it wouldn't go over too well with the crowd. Nor would I expect to see a cover band playing at the Club Casino, a hundred yards up the street.

EDIT: Just checked your band page. Cool stuff. Good luck at the "Dise" and say hi to Rex up at The Brickhouse for me. :)
 
#668
I've played a bit in the Boston/Worcester area. It seems like a great area for original music.

But, yeah, there are cover band rooms and original rooms all over. In NJ/PA, they are very separate. Very rarely would a club book both cover and original bands.
 
#669
LMAO, I only read the first page of posts but it appears that the majority of players here play in cover bands and are butt hurt cause they are failed musicians and can only play other peoples material

I agree with the original poster, write your own songs.

Enjoy playing living on a prayer for the 40 millionth time!

LOL
 
#671
Over the past several years, I have been listening to a lot of songs from acoustic guitar players who are solo artists. Musicians like Chet Atkins, Doc Watson, Jerry Reed, Tommy Emmanuel and others. Recently, I began creating basslines to fit these songs and I've recorded some of them. This isn't the same thing as original music because the original idea already existed, I'm only adding to it. Yet it's more than covering the music because I'm not merely interpreting bass lines, I'm creating them.

The point of this is: those who have staked out a position in this argument by being on one "side" and being against the "other side" are making the mistake of thinking the two "sides" are separate entities with no relation to each other.
 
#672
I´ve done both of the gigs, i will continue doing them as long as the "originals" gig is enjoyable and the "covers" gig is paying up, the thing for me is to remain active and interact with as many scenarios as i can...but if i had to choose only one, it would be the "originals"

Edit: I have to admit too that i can´t play "Living on a prayer" with a straight face anymore. Even though is a MILF favourite.
 
#673
NickyBass said:
I've played a bit in the Boston/Worcester area. It seems like a great area for original music.

But, yeah, there are cover band rooms and original rooms all over. In NJ/PA, they are very separate. Very rarely would a club book both cover and original bands.
Click to expand...

It does seem that some areas are more open to supporting bands that play their own material than others.

Fortunatly, I've found the Boston area to have a great music scene, and for that I really am greatful, and probably more than just a little bit lucky too.
 
#674
sackvegas said:
LMAO, I only read the first page of posts but it appears that the majority of players here play in cover bands and are butt hurt cause they are failed musicians and can only play other peoples material

I agree with the original poster, write your own songs.

Enjoy playing living on a prayer for the 40 millionth time!

LOL
Click to expand...

Like many others that have posted, I do both.

Personally, I find it is much easier to write and play my own material than it is to learn and memorize 50-60 songs by thirty or forty different bands.

When writing my own material, I play music in my style, with my phrasings etc. When playing covers, I have to play in many different styles, some that feel very odd to me I might add.

I would never consider any person that plays music a failure. If they touch just one person with their music, even if it is only themselves, and even if it is by playing a cover, I would consider that a success.
 
#676
hbarcat said:
I began creating basslines to fit these songs and I've recorded some of them. This isn't the same thing as original music because the original idea already existed, I'm only adding to it. Yet it's more than covering the music because I'm not merely interpreting bass lines, I'm creating them.
Click to expand...

Yeah I do that too. I play covers and a few that one of our guitarists wrote, but I'm coming up with bass lines all the time. So I' just like Greyvagabond, a glorious triumpher.

BTW, cool project, sounds like a lot of fun.

The point of this is: those who have staked out a position in this argument by being on one "side" and being against the "other side" are making the mistake of thinking the two "sides" are separate entities with no relation to each other.
Click to expand...

I'm not on a "side" I'm just sticking up for cover musicians who really got the shaft on this thread by a few windbags, as recently as sackvegas saying they are "failed musicians." I don't recall any of the cover guys getting that nasty. It would be nice if some of the decent original people would denounce that kind of crap instead of making it sound like there's equal fault.
 
#677
sackvegas said:
LMAO, I only read the first page of posts but it appears that the majority of players here play in cover bands and are butt hurt cause they are failed musicians and can only play other peoples material

I agree with the original poster, write your own songs.

Enjoy playing living on a prayer for the 40 millionth time!

LOL
Click to expand...

LOL. As if!!

Keep telling yourself that. Especially 10 years from now when you're working at a Home Depot to make ends meet when your "great original music" doesn't pan out.

I have no interest in being in an original band. I'm having too good of a time, and getting paid way too much money, to do that.
 
#678
How about the guys playing in classical orchestras for a living who never write anything themselves? Are they "failed musicians" too?

Or how about this guy? As far as I know, he never wrote a tune, just played along with with charts written for his band by other people.



Et cetera.... ;)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back