My band flipped on me.....????

[Raw N Low]

There's a very thin line between cover bands and originals, and we call that line venues.

Like the aforementioned stated, people are into it for different reasons. Paying the bills usually tops the totem but, players need to get their rocks off too. There are lot of venues that only support oringals or specific genres of music. Perhaps an agreement could be reached by seeking those venues to let the other guys get their jollies?

Playing music is a big commitment and investment. Some players don't thrive off playing the same old thing day in day out. It's even more frustrating when other bands in the are covering the same stuff in a given period.

You can get away with alot of B sides of the musicianship is high. Variety is the spice of life.

 

[60bass]

Put your own band together and take the gigs.

 

[Bass Viking]

+1000000000

Not sure why, but this is such a difficult lesson for a lot of cover bands. (its also the reason a lot of bands play the same songs - because the people want to hear them.) But, it is what it is.

It's one reason. Another is musicians who can't or won't learn new material. There are lots of hits that you don't usually hear bands cover.

 

[wyleeboxer]

I'd have to see the new set list and how obscure are they really are? I play in 2 main cover bands that play Motown, 70's funk, Disco, 60's rock, etc.. I pick most of the songs and we vote as a band. I try to find the songs that aren't overplayed but not so obscure that people have NO idea which song it is, that's a big No No in the cover band scene. But some of the obscure are funky and fun enough that it works well within the set list of more standard tunes. There's always common ground to find with other members and the bottom line is which songs are keeping the dance floor and applause going, or at the very least people love to just listen too.

 

[gumtown]

last thing you want is at a gig, peeved off punters coming up to the band and saying "Bro !! play us something we all know !!!"

 

[MichelD]

There's a very thin line between cover bands and originals, and we call that line venues.

Like the aforementioned stated, people are into it for different reasons. Paying the bills usually tops the totem but, players need to get their rocks off too. There are lot of venues that only support oringals or specific genres of music. Perhaps an agreement could be reached by seeking those venues to let the other guys get their jollies?

Playing music is a big commitment and investment. Some players don't thrive off playing the same old thing day in day out. It's even more frustrating when other bands in the are covering the same stuff in a given period.

You can get away with alot of B sides of the musicianship is high. Variety is the spice of life.

Where I live there are a handful of bars that cater to the style of music (old classic country/contemporary authentic sounding new classic country ) my friends play. I quit doing it because with only three places that feature that kind of music you can spend a lot of time rehearsing a band that only gets to play out once every two months.

Most everybody doing it here have other jobs or are retired anyway, so it is not a bread&butter situation for them.

One of the best bands in the genre, who key in on obscure country b-sides from the 1950s and 60s has a lawyer, a retired dentist and an animator who has a famous syndicated cartoon series to his credit in the group. I don;t know about the drummer. So they are not playing obscure 1950s country b-sides for the $.

And there is a faithful audience that comes out for these bands too.

 

[Droopy_TX]

i feel your pain....

Now, that, my friend, was a rant!
jmon must feel like a piker at this point.

 

[bassbully]

I play in a couple cover-bands. There are songs we all know that the people want to hear. It's our job to entertain, fill seats and keep folks eating and or drinking.
I don't want to play in a band with asshats who are selling themselves as a cover band playing music that's obscure, b -sides or off the beatin path. I don't want to play it and people don't want to gear it.

 

[brianrost]

This coronavirus situation has made a lot of people reevaluate what's really important to them. Sounds to me they want to play music closer to their own tastes.

There's nothing to be bitter about here.

It's OK to be disappointed, but that's all.

 

[uwrossl]

If you're a jukebox band obscure covers are not your friend. It's not what people go out to see bands like that for. If you're an original band like we are obscure covers are your best friend. Bridge gaps between originals and most people don't know if you just played an original or a cover!

 

[Ric5]

Warning. Semi-Long Post and a bit of a rant....

So I've been in a successful cover band here in North Florida for about 4 years. 3 weekends a month. Best venues in town. Played private cooperate gigs. Weddings ect. Not our primary job but we made some decent extra money doing it. We regularly had to turn down gigs.

We played a mixture of Rock, Pop, Older Rock (Petty ect), some Sublime. A good mix but definitely Top 40 stuff. Great party band stuff that ladies can dance to and have fun. And we were good at it.

Enter the Corona Shut Down of 2020. My singer and guitarist tell me that they have decided to re-tool the entire setlist while we have this down time. They want to play more obscure music. Stuff they like. (Our drummer is neutral and will play whatever) They want heavier or more alternative stuff. Basically stuff that will clear a dance floor and and a bar in most places. And at the end of the night that one guy will come up and say "I loved your version of (insert some weird B side). Never heard anyone play that before!"

Now I get it. And they have hinted at this before. But I never thought they would actually want to go through with it. So I gracefully left/got fired for telling them it was a bad idea and they will end up losing all the gigs we worked so hard to get and keep.

Once again so called "artistic integrity" creeps up and ruins a great band on a great run. If you want to be "different" and original, then write some songs. Have the courage to put yourself out there and play them for the world. Don't expect everyone to like them. Play for you. But in my option playing obscure covers is still playing covers. It just different ones that most will not want to hear.

So clearly I'm a little bitter over this. And I am a solid player and I sing pretty well. Lead and harmonies. So I can find another band to join once things return to normal. But wow. Way to bulldoze me out guys. Enjoy empty bars and confused faces when they return to playing.

Am I wrong here??? Geez.

Rant over!

Your great run may be over even if you keep the same set list … live music is dead and who knows how it will come back ...

I am looking for a good jam situation right now

 

[rockdoc11]

In the meantime, it's probably best to develop yourself as a solo act, and also form a duet ; because those are the only acts that are going to get indoor gigs, once bars & venues reopen their doors to scaled down audiences, observing social distancing.

This is EXACTLY what my dance band heard from one of our favorite venues earlier today. We've been a great draw for them, and everyone was happy and making money.

The venue owner/manager was good enough to pencil out all the new seating distance figures for our BL. Basically with the distance requirements he'll only be able to seat about 30 people, instead of the usual 200 or so. So he hopes to take his usual (and cheap) mid-week solo and duo acts, and put them in on the weekends.

I gotta keep reminding myself, "This is now normal."

 

[rockdoc11]

I play in a couple cover-bands. There are songs we all know that the people want to hear. It's our job to entertain, fill seats and keep folks eating and or drinking.

I had an older musician once share with me one of the most insightful thoughts on picking cover tunes:

"People don't know what they like. They like what they know." That's been my experience.

 

[bassbully]

I had an older musician once share with me one of the most insightful thoughts on picking cover tunes:

"People don't know what they like. They like what they know." That's been my experience.

Very true. Yes it suks to rehash the same ol' tunes but every time we play them people get up and dance like they did when they first heard the song...amazes me.
I really love original music and making it. I was in Originals bands for years but it's a selfless lesson on giving the people what they want...to hear that is.

 

[John j]

Yeah... because their projections and models have proven oh so accurate to date.

......which depends on who's doing the counting.

 

[John j]

...collecting diamonds on a desert island, in the hope that a passing ship will someday come to the rescue.

There are NO gigs.

I remember being told a joke, whilst working in Ghana, where two best friends were on their way to buy a lottery ticket together.
Walking to the shop, they got into a disagreement about whether to buy a sports car, or a speedboat, if their lottery ticket won.
Eventually it escalated into a fatal brawl, without them ever buying a lottery ticket (yeah, humour works a little differently over there).

There are NO gigs.

Bands, and gigs, and audiences are all hypothetical now.

Might as well humour those guys. That way you are at least still in a band, when gigs and audiences become a reality.

When the picture becomes clearer, might be worth putting together a separate band, in the mould of your pre-Covid-19 band.

In the meantime, it's probably best to develop yourself as a solo act, and also form a duet ; because those are the only acts that are going to get indoor gigs, once bars & venues reopen their doors to scaled down audiences, observing social distancing.

In YOUR opinion.

 

[John j]

Our clear the dance floor songs used to be the "songs we wanted to play" an example, do you feel like you do By frampton. great tune that sound good, was tough to dance to, and long enough that tables could get orders in, and get theier drinks... we actually told the bartenders when in our sets they'd be getting slammed. We weren't a great band, but before we changed our setlist we not only had a following, but bar owners let us know that when we played they typically had record liquor sales. It didn't matter if we were the best band in town, or that the bar owner liked or disliked hearing sweet Caroline, or Wagon wheel yet again... as long as the cash register was ringing.... I thought we played a good mix of stuff that we liked, and stuff the crowd liked. Then we changed... biggest mistake we ever made... we lost our fanbase by the second gig and people still tell me that they wish we'd go back to the kind of music we used to play.

Great management
1. You please the crowd with dance numbers
2. The owners with liquor sales
3. The bartenders with letting them
know when they'll get slammed.

 

[Shalto]

Yeah I don't think you are wrong, it's odd to do obscure covers. Not as much satisfaction as originals, not as much audience as covers. Seems odd. Suspect you are better off out.

 

[NullPorch]

It sounds like you were there odd one out in the disagreement. Out of however many members (sounded like 4) you had two of the other three against you with the third ambivalent. It sucks, but I wouldn't say you were "bulldozed" or that they were being dumb and unfair. There was majority agreement (excluding the drummer who essentially abstained from voting) at the moment of decision, and it sounds like you did have prior knowledge that these guys felt this way for some time. If anything, the reverse with you holding them on the previous track, however much you felt that way better or fiscally smarter, would have been the more unfair outcome. Like you said, you're competent enough to find a new group so just find one with a mindset more like your own.

 

[turf3]

It's not WRONG to have a band doing obscure covers. The problem is when a band that's been doing the standard "bar band doing popular covers" transitions to doing weird stuff that no one in the audience likes. Unless everyone is on board with that size of a shift in mission, you're going to lose some members over it, which is what just happened. Or the whole band will auger in, as I've witnessed on more than one occasion.

It's almost as if it would be better to start a whole different band with some of the same members.