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Orignals Bands vs Cover Bands, Open Discussion
- Thread starter bluewine
- Start date
My original group (up until this month - which we're taking off for a few reasons) was averaging four paying bar gigs a month and a handful of house party gigs. Often times we were the only band playing those bar gigs, too. My band isn't huge by any means, but we definitely have the ability to play as often (or as little) as we want.
I will admit that Knoxville has a very nice scene for original music, so that helps us out a lot. But what helps us out the most is our own ability to network and land gigs. We've definitely created our own demand, and I think that's what most other original bands either can't do or don't understand how to do. You have to do the legwork to get the gigs. Just playing good original music isn't enough. You definitely have to hustle some, too.
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
- 23,075
- 46,028
- Disclosures
- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
We all evolve and change. At one time I decided to be a lead player and did a fine job on the road with original bands for four years. The all mighty bass called me back to it's beauty! I am playing with a cover band now and have interest from two different original bands. I will always go where I feel is the right thing for me. It's not wrong for any of us. I know great musicians in both types, original and cover bands.
Never change, always change.. Ha ha.. At least you're being civil and dare I say humble this time around.. Guess we all can learn and grow.. There's hope for you yet Blue..
Why is this in Band Management? This has nothing to do with the forum focus on management.
Moved to Misc.
Moved to Misc.
OK, I'm going to go all out on this one.
Ready?
I am a fabulously gifted artist, and excellent musician. I was trained in classical music at a very young age. I had to take oral theory tests at the a College Conservatory when I was only eight. I could play Beethoven and Mozart, and I could do the nuance. I was trained by an older Russian lady, who was a WWII survivor. I cut my teeth on the giants of music, and then I discovered rock and roll, and immersed myself in the all time greats of that genre, from Little Richard and Chuck Berry, to the Beatles, and Jimi, and the excesses of the seventies stadium bands.
I have written over 350 songs. Many of them are quite good. I have been heard by professionals in the industry, and had good things said about me.
Sounds like I think I'm pretty special, right?
Well, sure; I do have the confidence to think I'm special, but the thing is, we are ALL something special.
I did an all original band, and we did OK, but we had infighting, and even though we were nowhere near famous, we acted like a bunch of selfish idiots.
I "retired" from music, and then I met my wife, who had been out on the road in cover bands for most of her life.
And then I discovered something amazing.
It doesn't matter how much talent you have; how much training you have; none of those things.
If you have the ability to get JOY from music, you have everything you need.
I play covers. I can play bass OK. Probably 90% of you on this forum are better overall bass players than me. I can sing pretty well. I haven't written a song in a very long time.
But when the lights go down, and the crowd starts doing what crowds do, I will rock, and I will love it. I don't care if I'm playing to three drunks, or a crowd of six hundred. I will rock. I will celebrate the music laid down by the bands I'm covering, and the genius of that backbeat that is rock and roll.
Anyone who looks down on ANY musician for not being enough like their own personal standard of what a musician should be is an a.s.s.
Go out and make a joyful noise, and don't worry about what anyone else is doing.
Music is a gift; a treasure.
And if you have it, you're damned lucky.
Ready?
I am a fabulously gifted artist, and excellent musician. I was trained in classical music at a very young age. I had to take oral theory tests at the a College Conservatory when I was only eight. I could play Beethoven and Mozart, and I could do the nuance. I was trained by an older Russian lady, who was a WWII survivor. I cut my teeth on the giants of music, and then I discovered rock and roll, and immersed myself in the all time greats of that genre, from Little Richard and Chuck Berry, to the Beatles, and Jimi, and the excesses of the seventies stadium bands.
I have written over 350 songs. Many of them are quite good. I have been heard by professionals in the industry, and had good things said about me.
Sounds like I think I'm pretty special, right?
Well, sure; I do have the confidence to think I'm special, but the thing is, we are ALL something special.
I did an all original band, and we did OK, but we had infighting, and even though we were nowhere near famous, we acted like a bunch of selfish idiots.
I "retired" from music, and then I met my wife, who had been out on the road in cover bands for most of her life.
And then I discovered something amazing.
It doesn't matter how much talent you have; how much training you have; none of those things.
If you have the ability to get JOY from music, you have everything you need.
I play covers. I can play bass OK. Probably 90% of you on this forum are better overall bass players than me. I can sing pretty well. I haven't written a song in a very long time.
But when the lights go down, and the crowd starts doing what crowds do, I will rock, and I will love it. I don't care if I'm playing to three drunks, or a crowd of six hundred. I will rock. I will celebrate the music laid down by the bands I'm covering, and the genius of that backbeat that is rock and roll.
Anyone who looks down on ANY musician for not being enough like their own personal standard of what a musician should be is an a.s.s.
Go out and make a joyful noise, and don't worry about what anyone else is doing.
Music is a gift; a treasure.
And if you have it, you're damned lucky.
HeadyVan Halen said:
OMG this had me rolling on the floor. I read this and it was like a complete description of EVERY cover band good and bad I have seen in my area. This description is so dead on what I usually see in cover bands arohnd here its scary. Especially the dumb mic stand cup holder, cheesy crowd interactions and f'ing shirts of fav bands.
I play in an original band and yes I load my gear and get back at 3:00 am with very little pay.. Im in a trio and maybe if we are taking the door we get $110 a head which is chump change in the sense that I have friends in cover bands who split at maybe $200 a head. I have never played in a covers band and I don't intend to at the moment. My band is more than enough to satisfy my musical needs and we do get out often Id say on average about 5 gigs a month. When I started to try and learn musical instruments I never imagibed myself on stage playing other peoples stuff.. I always visioned myself on stage playibg original stuff and thats what i strived for and in the end with persistence and patience got. I am happy the way things turned out to.
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
- 23,075
- 46,028
- Disclosures
- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
OK, fine job of copping out. In that case I will leave you with your own words and just move along to something more real:
Best of luck with that...
I was in several origional bands for the first part of my musical journey. It was good untill I came to the realization that I did not particularly enjoy the writing process and the intence work that goes in to get a meager 15 people to attend a show. I found that I did love performing on stage and entertaining people, so I switched to a cover band (which in my area, draws alot more people than an origional act). I went from playing shows with 15 people in the audience who could care less what I was doing, to 150 people all dancing and wanting to have a good time. I got to drink for free and went home with $100 -$150 in my pocket (vs the $25 - $50 most club owners throw an origional band arround here). I found my home.
Very well put! I think this sums it up nicely. Enjoy the MUSIC. Wheather you are covering someone else's music, creating your own, or just making noise for the sake of noise.... enjoy what you do and respect others for enjoying what they do.
logicman69 said:
This is exactly what happened to me, I did my first cover gig in a long time this Saturday. People were dancing ,having a great time, they were appreciative and we sold several copies of our CD. I even had 150.00 in my pocket at the end of the night (it's still in there)
I like good originals bands but after a few hard knocks I learned that originals bands ate going provide what I need as a musicians.
Gigs and lots of them
Playing music that property enjoy (as as oposed to what I like)
Compensation for the hard work I put into this.
blue
logicman69 said:
This is exactly what happened to me, I did my first cover gig in a long time this Saturday. People were dancing ,having a great time, they were appreciative and we sold several copies of our CD. I even had 150.00 in my pocket at the end of the night (it's still in there)
I like good originals bands but after a few hard knocks I learned that originals bands ate going provide what I need as a musicians.
Gigs and lots of them
Playing music that property enjoy (as as oposed to what I like)
Compensation for the hard work I put into this.
blue
I agree but it can be done local and regionally. My band is finishing it's 3rd year and we have never left NE Ohio. We play small clubs,festivals, music rooms and small concert venues. We don't draw big crowds but people do make a point to come out, enjoy our music and buy our CD's. We are starting up again after the holidays and play 2-3 hour sets with flat rate and pay at all show's. We work hard to put out good music and enjoy what we do for being family guys and weekend warriors.
Check us out Link Removed and see for yourself. BTW..I'm the big ugly guy who pretends to play da' bass
***opinion alert***
I play "jazz" standards but as some may know, those become 60% "your own" and you basically end up making nearly "original" music. I could never play in a pop/rock cover band again.
I played in a rock cover band for a while and I tried my best to enjoy it, but at the end of the night, I felt like I was lying to myself and lying to the audience. I tried to smile but behind that crummy fake smile, I didn't like what I was doing, I was generally miserable and I knew I had something else that I wanted/needed to be doing. People would tell me how good I am/we were and I didn't even believe that myself. It was like we were getting some sort of rock star glory that I felt was undeserved -- we were just a 2nd rate cover band. The bigger the show and the more money and fans, the worse I felt.
That's just me. Some people don't have a sense of responsibility to make their own music. That's fine I guess. But if it's there you will know... I guess I'm that rare kind of person who would rather play my own music to 100 dear fans and get paid $50, than play to the whole world and make millions but feel like I'm not being myself.
Nothing wrong with covering other peoples music as a concept. I have a lot of stuff I want to cover once I have my own originals band up and running. Good music is good music. I just dont want to play 4 sets of music I don't particularly like to a bunch of drunk/middle-aged people who are spending way too much money for alcohol and don't even really care much about music (or at the opposite, equally wrong extreme -- think we're some kind of musical gods). Call it pride but I am not an "entertainer."
Btw, a general fact... a good original band* takes more talent and hard work than a good cover band, no doubt about it. Why do you think there are a billion less great pieces of music than there are bands? Cuz making a great song is one of the most difficult things there is.
*(not necessarily to be confused with popular)
I play "jazz" standards but as some may know, those become 60% "your own" and you basically end up making nearly "original" music. I could never play in a pop/rock cover band again.
I played in a rock cover band for a while and I tried my best to enjoy it, but at the end of the night, I felt like I was lying to myself and lying to the audience. I tried to smile but behind that crummy fake smile, I didn't like what I was doing, I was generally miserable and I knew I had something else that I wanted/needed to be doing. People would tell me how good I am/we were and I didn't even believe that myself. It was like we were getting some sort of rock star glory that I felt was undeserved -- we were just a 2nd rate cover band. The bigger the show and the more money and fans, the worse I felt.
That's just me. Some people don't have a sense of responsibility to make their own music. That's fine I guess. But if it's there you will know... I guess I'm that rare kind of person who would rather play my own music to 100 dear fans and get paid $50, than play to the whole world and make millions but feel like I'm not being myself.
Nothing wrong with covering other peoples music as a concept. I have a lot of stuff I want to cover once I have my own originals band up and running. Good music is good music. I just dont want to play 4 sets of music I don't particularly like to a bunch of drunk/middle-aged people who are spending way too much money for alcohol and don't even really care much about music (or at the opposite, equally wrong extreme -- think we're some kind of musical gods). Call it pride but I am not an "entertainer."
Btw, a general fact... a good original band* takes more talent and hard work than a good cover band, no doubt about it. Why do you think there are a billion less great pieces of music than there are bands? Cuz making a great song is one of the most difficult things there is.
*(not necessarily to be confused with popular)
