• 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.

old guys playing originals?

Status
Not open for further replies.
#61
Good music is good music.

Some originals really aren't any good; some "covers" (a term I dislike) weren't that good to start with.

Conversely, some originals are excellent, and there's a tremendous amount of great music out there which can be performed again and again.

I'm 62 and the rest of the band varies from 40 to late 50's. We occasionally come up with an original, but most of what we play is great stuff from years past.

Consider - back in the 40's and 50's, everyone did his/her version of the big band classics. No one called them covers - it was accepted that everyone would take on hits that people liked. Did anyone criticize Sinatra for singing a Glenn Miller tune? Did Duke Ellington worry about playing a Count Basie tune?

Everyone needs to back off this originals/covers stereotyping and just play great music...whether it's new or well-established.
 
#62
Crazyeelboy said:
If you want to live witin that limitation, that's your choice, but does not sum it up for me.
Click to expand...
People that think small get very uncomfortable with people that don't. For some reason they need to try to put limits on everyone else. I guess they feel if they can crush everyone else's dreams, they don't have to feel so bad about not having any themselves. :rollno:
 
#64
OK - here goes - I'm an "old guy" (60 yrs old & I'm the baby in the group)- I work in an all original band - the reason is simple, we like to write, so we do.- we are average musicians who have been playing the better part of 40+ years- we went through the club scene - we have all done session work/recording studio - we did the covers trying to make it in the music business. Now we play for ourselves. The writing experience, building a song- the nuts & bolts of it appeals to us- personally it's a great satidfaction when I see the guys working out one of my songs- I also love working out the other writers songs- what the emotion is ,how does the music follow the lyrics, what can i do to embellish what the others are doing. we joke around calling it 'therapy' but it really is- Some guys work on cars, some guys have a workshop - my music room and the place where we reherse is our "shop" - I can't speak for other groups but we do it because we like to, so we do.
 
#65
We are all in our 50's.....................Still write and still rock. This tune won't set the world on fire but it has brought us a measure of regional success. Our live show consists of 70's-90's Rock with our originals sprinkled in. This tune is by far our most commercial, it started life as "Peach Jelly". The Rochester Red Wings picked it as their victory song for 2012, we beat out a bunch of 20 something bands.:smug: Invalid Link Removed
 
#66
My band is all originals age range mid 30's to 60. We all love writing and playing original music and play like out a cover band as well as paid flat rates. If you care about what you are doing and work hard at it it show's and people like what we do for the most part.

We are not out to get famous and we have all played in other bands, covers, whatever, it's just that we enjoy the music we play and creating it ourselves.
 
#67
I play in one band that only does covers, one that does mostly covers, and one that's mostly originals but still does a lot of covers. In that last band, the originals are the songs that blow people away for the most part. We play enough that we can't rely on just friends and family either, we have to take our chances with the normal drinking public of 20 and 30-somethings. No dreams of "making it", but it is fun to play songs we like- and ONLY songs we like.
 
#68
After doing a bunch of cover gigs for many years, I joined an original project last fall. I got a chance to work with a great musician, and interesting songwriter, so I went for it. It was a chance for me to learn and develop as a musician, and it's a nice change of pace from playing 3 chord Rock tunes.

Although it's great to make some cash and play for people, it's also great to create and develop as a musician. After playing for 24 years, I'd like to think my musical abilities would be beyond playing 3 chord Rock tunes.
 
#69
lfmn16 said:
People that think small get very uncomfortable with people that don't. For some reason they need to try to put limits on everyone else. I guess they feel if they can crush everyone else's dreams, they don't have to feel so bad about not having any themselves. :rollno:
Click to expand...

+1

It's much easier to try and bring others down than it is to try and lift yourself up.
 
#73
I think "old guys playing originals" is only out of place in certain genres
- genres that try to to be the voice of youth , glamour and rebellion.
It's also the biggest market, so that's where we tend to think of 'making it'

It all depends on how you see 'making it' I suppose...
 
#74
prd004 said:
+1

It's much easier to try and bring others down than it is to try and lift yourself up.
Click to expand...

Why try something I have no interest in.

I can't write songs, most of us can't.

And for me, playing in a local level originals band that gigs once a month for free is a waste of time and effort.

Blue
 
#76
bluewine said:
Why try something I have no interest in.

I can't write songs, most of us can't.

And for me, playing in a local level originals band that gigs once a month for free is a waste of time and effort.

Blue
Click to expand...
I missed the bit where anyone suggested you do that.

My little "jazz fusion" band plays mostly original material. It's a blast. We play mid week for good money. Band member ages are 25 to 50.
 
#77
godofthunder59 said:
We are all in our 50's.....................Still write and still rock. This tune won't set the world on fire but it has brought us a measure of regional success. Our live show consists of 70's-90's Rock with our originals sprinkled in. This tune is by far our most commercial, it started life as "Peach Jelly". The Rochester Red Wings picked it as their victory song for 2012, we beat out a bunch of 20 something bands.:smug: Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...

"...any kind of pizza that you like..." Excellent! Congrats on getting the song selected, that's great - nice work.
 
#78
I'm 45, and I'm out there doing originals with a group of guys, the youngest of which is 38 (I'm the eldest). Sure, we catch hell from some of the kids in town. That just means we're getting to them. The smart ones know where we're coming from.

We're playing a big local festival at the end of the month (our region's version of SXSW), so we're doing something right, I guess. We hold no delusions of "OMFGMAEKING IT", but we're gonna put out a record on our own dime in limited release just for fun and to see what happens.
 
#80
This Thursday we're in Indy at the Slippery Noodle then Saturday at the House of Blues in Chicago. We're on Blue Skunk Records. We're had a song used on "NASCAR Today" for their theme song. We opened for Lynyrd Skynrd earlier this year and Z.Z. Top last year. We're old and we write songs and we ain't stopping.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back