Most obscure covers your band plays

[kartiste]

Why would a cover band play songs that no one really knows? Kind of defeats the purpose, does it not?

Depends on "purpose" - some places we play have people that come specifically to couple-dance, not just hear familiar hits.

 

[s0c9]

Showboat song.. Freedom's Finally Mine - Keith Urban's early days..
fun bass line..

 

[Flashback Bass]

I cannot possibly express how not obscure "Shipping Up To Boston" is if you live in Boston. That song comes up out of grates in the sidewalk as you walk around here.

I can believe that. Since we're in Central Jersey and not all that far from New York City, anything to do with Boston is totally ignored, (if not hated.)

(No offense intended!)

 

[Flashback Bass]

My brain just exploded. How do I get a gig ON THE LANES of a bowling alley??????

It's a awesome gig! We play there quarterly. The best part is they give out Bowling Coupons to the band prior to the gig. For every coupon redeemed, the band gets additional bonus money on top of the standard pay!

Some nights we get every lane filled and there's a waiting list. They use the two lanes on either side of the stage last. It's a little freaky having bowling balls whizzing past you!

 

[Holdsg]

is this obscure? I'm not sure

I'm Not Your Stepping Stone (Monkees)

 

[jthisdell]

The Sheik of Arabay 1921 Tin Pan Alley hit, covered by many but largely unknown today

 

[gustobassman]

The only obscure cover we do is this Mickey Gilley tune - except we play it punk rock and much faster, lol...

 

[Josh Kneisel]

My jazz trio does: 46 and 2 -Tool
Time - Pink Floyd
Rachmaninoff : Piano Concerto no.2 ( we sort of use a page of it and improve around the theme)

 

[MoonChild2112]

not my regular band (everything we do is obscure to the hillbillies around here), but I filled in with a friends band for a few gigs while his Bass player was out of town and we did...

157 Riverside Avenue, by REO Speedwagon

never liked them much myself, but it's a really fun tune with a nice relaxed groove...

 

[Xandrell]

Xandrell said: ↑
We play mostly obscure songs;
Johnny Angel : Shelley Fabares
In My Room : Beach Boys
Bus Stop : The Hollies
Incense and Peppermints : Strawberry Alarm Clock
Summer in the City : Lovin Spoonful
etc...

All those songs were huge hits in their day!

Exactly, but mostly obscure today. I guess I was using the verb form of obscure (hidden, concealed) and not the adjective (uncertain, unknown).

 

[fourstringgirl]

I Got A Line On You - Spirit

Used to do Alice Cooper's version of this back in the late 80s.

 

[fourstringgirl]

"Amsterdam" - Imagine Dragons

 

[313]

Burning Heart - Vandenberg
Hey There - Rhino Bucket
Long Stick Goes Boom - Krokus
The Itch - Kix
When the Lights Go Down - Triumph
Rain - Cult

 

[fourstringgirl]

Material Issue - Valerie Loves Me
Flaming Lips - She Don't Use Jelly
The Cult - Wildflower

I have done Wildflower in two different bands in the past 3 years. Just dropped it in the latest band and added She Sells Sanctuary. Pretty much nap time for bassists...

 

[fourstringgirl]

We play several non-canonical songs:

Fire on the moon - Bell Rays
Man in a box - Alice In Chains
Maybe I'm a Leo - Deep Purple
Sail away - Deep Purple
This is love – PJ Harvey

or at least I don't hear other cover bands playing them too often.

There's a "Man In A Box" backlash going on in my region. We all got sick of it and everybody dropped it.

 

[eriky4003]

Most obscure but rarely played live is a Kim Mitchell song called Kids in Action. According to Billy Sheehan, was actually covered by DLR for Eat'em and Smile but didn't make it to the album/cd.

 

[fourstringgirl]

Golden Earring - Twilight Zone

I love it. Most people we play it for heard of the song but don't know the name of the band.

Did that one a couple years ago. I sang and played bass on it. My current band doesn't want to do it though.

 

[LCAirPasta]

Stranger in my house- Ronnie Millsap
Popular song but to see a four piece rock band play it with guitars I think is pretty rare

 

[fourstringgirl]

We also do Man in the Box

Other ones we do no one else tries around here...

Hey Man Nice Shot-Filter
Breed-Nirvana
Say Hello to Heaven- Temple of The Dog
You-Candlebox
Tribute-Tenacious D

Used to do "You" in a fill-in band. I have recently brought it up as one of the bands I'm in is doing "Far Behind" and it's totally in the singer's wheelhouse.

 

[Marc valero]

In my previous band we had a number of lead guitar players, including one who went on to play with Eric Church.
Anyway, the youngest lead player we had brought in a bunch of alt. rock and country tunes I never heard of but they were great tunes.
I stumbled upon BEER by Real Big Fish and we performed that for a while.