What if there was only original band

[JRA]

re: original bands:
write "hits!"

at the very least: write great tunes! compete with stars!

it's a pretty simple concept. and just because that's difficult to do = it doesn't mean that you "don't do it!"

 

[nnnnnn]

Orchestra are different since the composer can’t play he can conduct

Why can't the composer play?

 

[Helix]

I would be miserable. I love my favorite hits. People who go to bars live their favorite hits. People like to celebrate to music. It reminds them of good times. It tugs at their emotions in ways few other things can. I'm not opposed to originals. But I can't imagine a music scene with ONLY originals.

Call me crazy. But I LOVE playing a smash hit in a bar when the crowd is singing so loud I could stop singing and they wouldn't know it.

Its interesting how polar opposite I am and a lot of the SoCal music scene is with what you said

Cover bands do not get a lot of interest from the music scene down here

Personally I would never go see a cover band on my time off, let alone spend any hard earned money

FWIW, a lot (not all) of the venues wont even book you if your doing covers

Weird how your neck of the woods and ours are so different

 

[Justinian]

i think he meant that the same toons have been played for hundreds of years in some cases

Or, in the case of Bach's St Matthew Passion, not until 100 years after his death

 

[jbhaugh]

About 15 years ago I lived in a college town in Ohio where there was a bar that pretty much only booked original bands. There were a lot of bad ones that no one cared about, but there were a few that could consistently pack the house. I guess it just depends on the audience you're trying to reach and whether you have access to it at the venues you play.

There were other bars in the same town where your original band would get drowned out by calls for Skynyrd and AC/DC, then booed off the stage.

 

[fhm555]

i'm trying to imagine a cover band called kombucha budget, and i can't imagine what kind of covers it would play...

I don’t know. I’m kinda partial to names that give no clue.
Free Beer and Chicken played mostly bar staples and some decent originals. I missed Butt Trumpet but someone who saw the show described it as “irreverent, really really outside jazz cut with teenybop poppunk”.
I’m not sure if i glad or disappointed i missed it.

 

[two fingers]

Its interesting how polar opposite I am and a lot of the SoCal music scene is with what you said

Cover bands do not get a lot of interest from the music scene down here

Personally I would never go see a cover band on my time off, let alone spend any hard earned money

FWIW, a lot (not all) of the venues wont even book you if your doing covers

Weird how your neck of the woods and ours are so different

It stands to reason, I suppose. Your area it the fountain from which a lot of original music springs. Even those who don't make a living in music are likely "involved" somehow.

Around here, it's lawyers, farmers and factory workers. It's Joe the plumber and Cindy the bank teller for the most part. They don't want to think about music. Sometimes they just wanna scream out Don't Stop Believing or Strawberry Wine. I'm happy to help them out with that.

Neither area is "wrong". Just different needs.

 

[40Hz]

Did the all originals thing for 9 years and couldn't get many club gigs other than open mikes.

Apparently originals bands still can’t.

As my guitarist SO put it: Having five or six bands in a row at a club is just an open mike night no matter what you want to call it.

 

[40Hz]

It stands to reason, I suppose. Your area it the fountain from which a lot of original music springs. Even those who don't make a living in music are likely "involved" somehow.

Around here, it's lawyers, farmers and factory workers. It's Joe the plumber and Cindy the bank teller for the most part. They don't want to think about music. Sometimes they just wanna scream out Don't Stop Believing or Strawberry Wine. I'm happy to help them out with that.

Neither area is "wrong". Jisr different needs.

Kinda like the difference between doing art and art therapy I suppose.

There’s a market for each.

 

[Killing Floor]

I have only ever been "highly motivated" by original music. Write, publish, record, perform, etc. Even made a decent living at it for some years. But I have been paid and had fun in cover bands also. I have enjoyed cover situations, playing is fun, people can be a bonus (attitudes are more manageable) and pay can be steady, audience is more predictable, you know what they want based on the venue/event.
I don't knock covers at all, it can be a very positive experience. But I would take a lot more beating and driving and personal abuse to perform music that I write or help write, I'd endure greater hardships for originals and the "promise" that I would not tolerate in a cover situation. But I've also played covers for money. I kinda see them as 2 different things. I'd play originals for exposure and/or limited compensation but covers are for cash. I've never tried to make a full-time living playing covers but have used it to supplement and been happy with the results. Some of the money I made/saved funded my education which I am really proud of.

I suppose originals is a hobby that I grew into a living but over several years arced and fell, financially speaking. Even though I never replaced John Entwistle (haha, I only wish) I have no regrets trying and consider myself fortunate to have had a handful of full-time years as an original artist. (should be air quotes haha, more like original a-hole)
If I had an original gig that was less than ideal in terms of attendance, esoteric value I would be still glad for the opportunity. If I had a cover gig that didn't pay as well I it should or there was some other hassle that would bother me more because it's not as valuable to me even if it paid more.

I guess what I'm saying is I wouldn't have stuck out a couple lean years in a van to play covers. No regrets at all. But I'd play covers for money with people who aren't a-holes any day.
Rock on, whatever you play, whoever you play for, just play!

Also...
Donate to HAAM HAAM Day — My HAAM
It's one of the easiest ways to be cool.

 

[GretschWretch]

The last few bands I've been in straddled the divide. We played covers, but we did them so badly they sounded like originals.

 

[Helix]

Neither area is "wrong". Jisr different needs.

^^ 100% this ^^
Its just different cultures that make the scene what it is

 

[40Hz]

I've never played in a pure cover band, and wouldn't want to.

In my experience you’ll seldom be in an originals band that doesn’t do at least an interpretation of at least one cover until you’re well established in your scene and have a decent catalog of your own music.

Covers are needed to help fill out a set until you have enough music of your own. And even if you do, having a cover song or two available is often helpful to have as an icebreaker with a new crowd. Once people hear something familiar they’re usually much more receptive to hearing something new.

Smart (IMO) originals bands don’t hesitate to use covers to their advantage.

 

[LBS-bass]

Backing out the whole pandemic thing, I would have to 100% love and believe in the music, and when it stopped being fun I'd be out.
All the same I wouldn't give up my day job (such as it is), because that originals band won't even cover my kombucha budget.

This.

 

[Gustopher]

I would LOVE to play original music! The market for it here is close to nonexistent, but if it suddenly called for it, I would be ecstatic... would make me want to play and write more. Now if I have an idea, it typically just gets filed away and never used.

 

[LBS-bass]

I understand that for you your Time equal money. For me I prefer to feel happy and fulfilled

It's not an either/or choice.

 

[LeFunk Machine]

That'd put just about every symphony orchestra out of business...

Or they might become creative from it.

 

[LBS-bass]

i'm trying to imagine a cover band called kombucha budget, and i can't imagine what kind of covers it would play...

I think that's going to be the name of my solo project

 

[40Hz]

It all depends on whether the music is any good. Too many people can't write good songs but play them anyway.

And also too many people who can’t play a good song somebody else wrote either. But that never seems to stop them from playing it.

There’s a certain “fearful symmetry” to all this, as William Blake would put it.

 

[39-Bassist]

Yep, that's all I play anyway.