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Orignals Bands vs Cover Bands, Open Discussion
- Thread starter bluewine
- Start date
I did check it out. Sounding good man. I much rather hear something like that than Mustang Sally again. Our original band pretty much does the same types of gigs. Earlier this year, our CD went to #49 on the Roots Music Report blues charts, and one of the singles off it went to #27 on the Cashbox Music charts. Felt good to see our band on the same charts as Eric Clapton, Gregg Allman, Joe Bonamassa, etc...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
It can be done. I decided that I've been doing this music thing for long enough, and now I am going to play what I want to play. Luckily, I fell in with like-minded musicians. We offer something different from most every band in town that play the same old tired songs. We have some die-hard fans. I'm enjoying myself more than ever.
There's a link in my sig with some of our songs if anyone would like to check it out.
Now I've been in both for a long time and I don't agree with the opinion of "a good original band takes more talent than a good cover band"type of views. Now it does take a special talent to write your own music there is no doubt about it plus a bit of moxy to say this is me and what I'm about and put it out there for the world to hear. That definitely makes original bands great but to ask a singer in a cover band to sound as close as possible to 20 or 30 different singers for three hours, two to four nights a week takes an equally great amount of talent. I respect my pals in both kinds of bands because in the end I'd like to think no matter the gig, the venue or the crowd we all walk out on that stage and put it all out there for everyone to see and hear.
- Sep 9, 2007
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My thought has always been that unless YOU are the one writing the music yourself, you're always playing a cover.
I like playing, period. If the people I'm playing with are passionate about the music they are making and are serious about entertaining people, I don't care if it's jazz, blues, funk, dixieland, polka, classical, top 40, ska, originals or covers, I will play it with you and be excited to do so.
Given that I'm booked until June and tentatively booked until November, I'd say that this mindset has worked out for me.
I like playing, period. If the people I'm playing with are passionate about the music they are making and are serious about entertaining people, I don't care if it's jazz, blues, funk, dixieland, polka, classical, top 40, ska, originals or covers, I will play it with you and be excited to do so.
Given that I'm booked until June and tentatively booked until November, I'd say that this mindset has worked out for me.
Very cool..thanks. I enjoyed your stuff too..love them blues. Good luck on the album and kudos for doing your thing and helping original music survive.
I completely see your point, a cover band singer or instrumentalist may be very skilled technically, sometimes moreso than a member in a "good" original band.
I still believe that overall it takes more hard work, time, energy, and musicianship to create good original music.
Once you are at a certain point technique-wise, doing the cover band thing is easy. Just memorize your part, more or less. If you do a decent job, people will listen to your band and have fun, mission accomplished. Creating music that doesn't suck (and that you like, and that people like) is way more of a challenge -- and for cover bands that don't believe me, I challenge them to create good music and be just as well-received as they currently are, by only playing music they wrote.
I can at least speak for myself and say cover bands are 10x easier for me. If we're talkin about bass, I can go learn 3 hours of music in a week if I work hard. I still haven't written original music that enthralls people (though that's going to change sooner or later), much less 3 hours of good music. In my whole lifetime, much less a week.
I'm even willing to bet that most people in cover bands will agree that starting up a good cover band is easier than starting a good originals band. Not just starting up, but then continuing as well. And in fact, that's why a lot of people chose it. Nothing really wrong with that. But it IS overall easier, with more immediate benefit.
Oh yeah and one more final point that I think most people will agree on. What's more rare, a good originals band or a good cover band?
Definitely the good originals band, right? Why?
The reason why is the quality of the songs not the players. All covers were somebody's originals. It's all about the writing. Like somebody said before, if you didn't write the song, you're playing a cover. I'm not talking about coming up with a cool bass line for the writer's chord progression either. I do that on sub gigs all the time and wouldn't dream of considering it writing. I've worked for several songwriters in the past and currently work for one of the "Texas" acts. I didn't write any of the songs so I'm playing covers. Pays good though...........
Gee...I've played in cover bands since the early 70s. Probably 2 to 1 more than originals. I enjoy playing live, always have and will continue to play covers. That being said, I am now in a completely Originals band. Everyone in the band enjoys writing, recording and playing so it was almost a natural progression. We play (at least) once a month and sometimes several times a month.
Is there a right or wrong way to look at it? Shoot, I don't know. What I do know is that after 35-40 years playing covers it is refreshing to walk on stage, play and have the audience applaud your effort with original music.
Honestly, I can recall (and this is no joke), over the years playing gigs and toward the end of the job actually waking up...pretty much played each song with my eyes closed and daydreaming.....Hey!!! Once you've played "Mustang Sally" 500 times, it's easy to lose focus!!!
Is there a right or wrong way to look at it? Shoot, I don't know. What I do know is that after 35-40 years playing covers it is refreshing to walk on stage, play and have the audience applaud your effort with original music.
Honestly, I can recall (and this is no joke), over the years playing gigs and toward the end of the job actually waking up...pretty much played each song with my eyes closed and daydreaming.....Hey!!! Once you've played "Mustang Sally" 500 times, it's easy to lose focus!!!
Hey I agree, that's one of the huge reasons.
I tend to believe that writing a great song takes more talent and hard work than playing someone elses'. 5 musicians writing something together that they all are happy with, that's even more rare and difficult.
Again -- generally, not always.
I played in an original band...
Funky Five: Disco Daydream (2005) - YouTube
... and I play in a tribute band these days...
Jamirolike - Rock Dust Light Star (RDLS Session) - YouTube
I like both and see no need to decide which one is better - as long as the resulting music is of similar quality.
Funky Five: Disco Daydream (2005) - YouTube
... and I play in a tribute band these days...
Jamirolike - Rock Dust Light Star (RDLS Session) - YouTube
I like both and see no need to decide which one is better - as long as the resulting music is of similar quality.
So if you're playing a song that you didn't write, but nobody's ever heard of it, it's NOT a cover?
I think a good band makes origionals and covers some music, not only to make a connection with the audiance, but to help in writing and influence of the origionals, its like studying the music before writing your own. If you just do origonals +1 to u for doing something some of us won't do. If you just play covers +1 to you for keeping up on your "studying". If you do both another +1.
