Same people, different band..

[bigboy_78]

I'm in a relatively popular local covers band. We do a variety of tunes (including 80s, 90s, classics, Top 40 etc), we play for a set fee and venues don't charge cover. Our singer is also in an 80s Concept Band. They do the full dress-up 80s thing, sell tickets/charge cover and play for the door. They do make some good $$.

When the cover band needed a new drummer, we took on the 80s band's drummer. Then the guitarist from covers started also playing with the 80s band. Now she wants me to play bass in the 80s band as well…..it would have essentially become one band with 2 different shows.

I'm not in love with the idea from an audience perspective. If I pay to see an 80s show and its just the same covers band I saw for free last week, but wearing some 80s costumes, I'd be a bit disappointed.

What do y'all think? I like the people in the band, and it'd be an excuse to buy some cheesy pointy headstock 80s basses I guess.

 

[57pbass]

Sometimes you just have to go where the current takes you.

Let it play out and see what happens.

Definite yes to the new themed instruments

 

[Killing Floor]

Do it. Twice the gigs, not much extra drama.

 

[Micha84]

This is very simple: When the music is different, it doesn't really matter who plays it. Think of it as a theater: You would still go and see MacBeth, even though you had seen Romeo&Juliet before performed by the same group.

If the two bands play a lot of the same tunes, then yeah, kind of weird.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

I'm in a relatively popular local covers band. We do a variety of tunes (including 80s, 90s, classics, Top 40 etc), we play for a set fee and venues don't charge cover. Our singer is also in an 80s Concept Band. They do the full dress-up 80s thing, sell tickets/charge cover and play for the door. They do make some good $$.

When the cover band needed a new drummer, we took on the 80s band's drummer. Then the guitarist from covers started also playing with the 80s band. Now she wants me to play bass in the 80s band as well…..it would have essentially become one band with 2 different shows.

I'm not in love with the idea from an audience perspective. If I pay to see an 80s show and its just the same covers band I saw for free last week, but wearing some 80s costumes, I'd be a bit disappointed.

What do y'all think? I like the people in the band, and it'd be an excuse to buy some cheesy pointy headstock 80s basses I guess.

Why not? Same people different song selection I assume?
Different class of venue?

 

[pepj]

On the one hand I can see a band having 2 sets and charging x in a bar and upto 3 times more for events...sometimes even more... you have to show where you add that value.
Just dressing up is not that, so to make the distinction, I'd cut down the bar work ..

If people know your ball park bar fee and then you hit them with the event fee for the same band almost....hmmmm.

 

[jerry]

Take the gig, let the powers that be worry about the exposure thing.

 

[buldog5151bass]

I doubt that many people go to different bars to hear covers in consecutive weeks. I also doubt they would notice it is all the same people.

If it interests you, do it.

 

[Deleted member 394181]

Idk, would you put a moustache on the Mona Lisa? It would have to be pretty good money to dress up, for me. I like Eighties rock, but thank God for Nirvana.

 

[brianrost]

bigboy_78,

It's only an issue having two very similar bands out there if they play the same circuits on a regular basis.

I worked with a BL who fielded three different bands with the same core personnel in each one. One was an indie rock band doing original material, one was a roots-rock/R&B cover band and the third was a cajun/zydeco band. He also had a New Orleans style brass band that shared horn players with his other bands. It got to the point where when he called me for a gig I had to ask "which band?"

Back in the late 1970s there was a band that played around CT that would book Friday-Saturday-Sunday dates in a venue, appearing as a Creedence tribute ("Willy and the Poor Boys") one night, a Neil Young tribute ("Rust") the next and finally on Sunday as themselves (forgot their name after all these years). They dressed and played appropriate instruments for each tribute. Since all three bands could be loosely though of as country-rock, it wasn't a real stretch from a playing standpoint. At a time when extended bookings had evaporated, I thought this was a great idea.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

Go for it & get a Steinberger or other headless….

 

[HolmeBass]

If your costume is good enough no one will recognize you.

 

[Discount Bassy]

Sounds ideal, minus the costumes.

 

[JRA]

What do y'all think?

i'm sure everyone involved realizes that you can't 'cheat' the public by having two identical acts, playing identical repertoire, with the same staging/"choreography, the same mission, seeking the same audiences at the same venues, etc.

sounds like you may be feeling self-conscious. but others (who are in both bands) seem to be getting along with the idea. you might want to consider trying out the arrangement, as it affects you, and see for yourself how it can work to everyone's benefit...or not.

FWIW, lots of busy players are involved in similar arrangements and have no problem keeping things 'separate'.

good luck!

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I'm in a relatively popular local covers band. We do a variety of tunes (including 80s, 90s, classics, Top 40 etc), we play for a set fee and venues don't charge cover. Our singer is also in an 80s Concept Band. They do the full dress-up 80s thing, sell tickets/charge cover and play for the door. They do make some good $$.

When the cover band needed a new drummer, we took on the 80s band's drummer. Then the guitarist from covers started also playing with the 80s band. Now she wants me to play bass in the 80s band as well…..it would have essentially become one band with 2 different shows.

I'm not in love with the idea from an audience perspective. If I pay to see an 80s show and its just the same covers band I saw for free last week, but wearing some 80s costumes, I'd be a bit disappointed.

What do y'all think? I like the people in the band, and it'd be an excuse to buy some cheesy pointy headstock 80s basses I guess.

IMO, you should not use the same songs. The singers I work with have other bands, so does the drummer, guitarist and Keyboardist. Our horn players are Union guys, and heaven only knows what they are working with. One trumpeter plays in a kazoo band. Our band is more a Niche type and most members are playing in broadly commercial bands.

 

[dune]

I'm not in love with the idea from an audience perspective. If I pay to see an 80s show and its just the same covers band I saw for free last week, but wearing some 80s costumes, I'd be a bit disappointed.

I respect and applaud your concern, but I think you can only make the right decision for yourself. Whether or not members of the audience are disappointed is for them to decide.

 

[H K]

I'm in a relatively popular local covers band. We do a variety of tunes (including 80s, 90s, classics, Top 40 etc), we play for a set fee and venues don't charge cover. Our singer is also in an 80s Concept Band. They do the full dress-up 80s thing, sell tickets/charge cover and play for the door. They do make some good $$.

When the cover band needed a new drummer, we took on the 80s band's drummer. Then the guitarist from covers started also playing with the 80s band. Now she wants me to play bass in the 80s band as well…..it would have essentially become one band with 2 different shows.

I'm not in love with the idea from an audience perspective. If I pay to see an 80s show and its just the same covers band I saw for free last week, but wearing some 80s costumes, I'd be a bit disappointed.

What do y'all think? I like the people in the band, and it'd be an excuse to buy some cheesy pointy headstock 80s basses I guess.

I mean, I get what youre saying. Idk if I'd be UPSET that I'm now paying to see a different show but with the same people. It's a different show.
Kinda like seeing any other type of shows. You go because they're different

You might also build an even more solid following. People who like one of your shows, will likely also check out the other.

Most of my musician friends play in multiple bands. Many of them with atleast 1 person theyre also in a different band with. I dont see this as much different.

Don't worry about the audience thing, is my advice.

 

[sean_on_bass]

I'm not in love with the idea from an audience perspective. If I pay to see an 80s show and its just the same covers band I saw for free last week, but wearing some 80s costumes, I'd be a bit disappointed.

i dont think this will be an issue. the band won't look the same or be playing the same material, and the odds are you will have a different audience.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

I'm in a relatively popular local covers band. We do a variety of tunes (including 80s, 90s, classics, Top 40 etc), we play for a set fee and venues don't charge cover. Our singer is also in an 80s Concept Band. They do the full dress-up 80s thing, sell tickets/charge cover and play for the door. They do make some good $$.

When the cover band needed a new drummer, we took on the 80s band's drummer. Then the guitarist from covers started also playing with the 80s band. Now she wants me to play bass in the 80s band as well…..it would have essentially become one band with 2 different shows.

I'm not in love with the idea from an audience perspective. If I pay to see an 80s show and its just the same covers band I saw for free last week, but wearing some 80s costumes, I'd be a bit disappointed.

What do y'all think? I like the people in the band, and it'd be an excuse to buy some cheesy pointy headstock 80s basses I guess.

I've seen one band with the same people doing a second band... and acting as two different bands on the same night. On iteration opens for the other. Some people that know think it's a bit weird. Some simply don't care.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

I don't see the problem.