When the band sounds the same on every song....

[FilterFunk]

I watched a band at a bar last weekend. It was a 90's band.

One thing I noticed was that although the band played covers from a lot of different artists, they basically sounded the same on every song. The same tones, the same blend, the same guitar solo tone, the same vocals. Any thoughts on how to prevent this? A band that sounds the same on every tune is boring in my view. I only stayed for one set.

Thoughts?

I can think of an artist who had a string of '70s hits that pretty much sounded the same, but I loved them all - Al Green. That vibe worked for me every time.

From the way you describe that cover band, they were in a rut. Al Green and his band were in a groove. And there's a big difference between a groove and a rut!

 

[dougjwray]

I think a lot of bands never consider arrangements, especially having people lay out at times.
I can get pretty exhausted listening to a band when everyone is playing at all times, with the same dynamics.
We bassists can come in on the second verse every once in a while (for example).
Maybe people are embarrassed to simply stand there. Maybe they love hearing themselves so much that they don't want to miss anything. (I'm looking at you, guitarists. ) Or maybe they simply lack imagination.

 

[Michedelic]

I thought this would be about original artists and was going to nominate Morrissey who sings the same melody same intervals on every song regardless of JMarr's brilliance. As for cover bands...try different styles and idioms. Play a gangnam style and then some klezmer and then some reggae and then a Souza march. Get audience members singing and use you as a karaoke machine. Imitate the band in the original Star Wars cantina scene. Be a Joni Mitchell Motorhead tribute.

What audience would put up with that?

 

[Michedelic]

This.

The “rock”, at least the popular, ‘please the masses’ style, of every decade sounds the same, that’s the nature of the music business.
While I was around when the Beatles hit, I didn’t have the great generational epiphany, was too young to care. When I did finally start listening to Top 40 radio a couple of years later, and caught “Million Dollar Weekends”, I wasn’t too bothered that I had missed out, because all that Gerry and the Pacemakers/Freddie and the Dreamers/Billy J. Kramer/Wayne Fontana/Searchers(and so on)stuff all sounded the same to me, besides being lame.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Dynamics. Nothing like tak8nh things down to change up the feel. The greatest live bands (Springsteen, James Brown, Stones) were masters at this.

 

[planetdrumz]

Makes me think of what Angus Young said years ago....lol

“I’m sick to death of people saying we’ve made 11 albums that sound exactly the same. In fact, we’ve made 12 albums that sound exactly the same.”
― Angus Young, AC/DC

 

[BassBrass]

What audience would put up with that?

With what? The Joni-Motorhead fusion? maybe, a non stupid one? Some show "producers" are so chicken and unimaginative they don't recognize talent when it's pecking corn at their feet. They read stats and entertainment formula and get escorted out when no one cares.

 

[Michedelic]

With what? The Joni-Motorhead fusion? maybe, a non stupid one? Some show "producers" are so chicken and unimaginative they don't recognize talent when it's pecking corn at their feet. They read stats and entertainment formula and get escorted out when no one cares.

Judas Priest covered Joan Baez, so there’s that.

I’m talking about a generic crowd, going into a generic bar. I’d guess that playing “Ramblin’ Man”, followed by “Pretty Vacant”, followed by Charlie XCX, for example, is not going to go over very well.

 

[Michedelic]

I just remembered, Nazareth did a Joni song, but, did many of their fans even know where that came from?

 

[Dlew919]

I think it's a combination of both.

"Don't Be Cruel" or "Hound Dog" sung and performed by some untalented, uncharismatic goofball wouldn't have had nearly the same impact as "Don't Be Cruel" or "Hound Dog" sung and performed by Elvis Presley. Singers and bands bring a song to life.

Elvis of course could lift mediocre junk to high art (not the ones you mentioned. They are magnificent songs.)

 

[pepj]

Thats entirely on them.
You voted with your feet and others will likely do the same.
I bang this drum but there are plenty of bar bands that have nothing at all about them.
Karaoke bands or playing by numbers but if people keep booking them..and tbf...the no 1 reason they'll do this is because they either attract or retain an audirnce, then this will continue.
It doesn't really matter the bar is not very high....

 

[Substrate]

I watched a band at a bar last weekend. It was a 90's band.

One thing I noticed was that although the band played covers from a lot of different artists, they basically sounded the same on every song. The same tones, the same blend, the same guitar solo tone, the same vocals. Any thoughts on how to prevent this? A band that sounds the same on every tune is boring in my view. I only stayed for one set.

Thoughts?

I watched a band at a bar last weekend.

One thing I noticed was that although the bass player played covers from a lot of different artists, he basically sounded the same on every song. The same P-bass, the same flats, the same tort pickguard. I only stayed for one set.

(Ahh... give me three steps toward the door.)

 

[Substrate]

And there's a big difference between a groove and a rut!

Indeed! I may have to steal that for my sig.

 

[jthisdell]

I watched a band at a bar last weekend.

One thing I noticed was that although the bass player played covers from a lot of different artists, he basically sounded the same on every song. The same P-bass, the same flats, the same tort pickguard. I only stayed for one set.

(Ahh... give me three steps toward the door.)

When I see touring original artists this is the norm, most bass players will play one bass with their always on pedals. It is the nature of the instrument.

 

[Substrate]

When I see touring original artists this is the norm, most bass players will play one bass with their always on pedals. It is the nature of the instrument.

I agree completely. The point I was trying to make in my (apparently not very humorous) post above is that, to some extent, we all sound how we sound. As already mentioned, changing things (tempos, keys, rhythms, styles) from number to number will help avoid monotony. But no bar cover band can pull off all the instrumental and vocal differences to accurately reproduce a dozen different artists in the same set. A certain amount of sameness is going to happen. For myself, I find that live music provides an edge that a DJ playing MP3s does not, so I can live with that.

I have heard a lot of bands that get pretty close to originals, and then the vocalist start singing. Not only do they not sound like the original, they sound bad. To put it more bluntly, more often than not I find the weakest link is the singer.

In defense of singers (please don't make me turn in my TB card!) reproducing a singer's voice is significantly harder than reproducing a bass or guitar part. To re-invoke "Boston," one can get the same guitars, strings, and fuzz boxes, and with enough practice, sound like Tom Scholz. No amount of practice is going to make most of us sound like Brad Delp. My vocal instrument will NOT do that sort of thing. And if your singer can nail one vocalist, he/she probably can't do all the ones you might cover.

Now, please excuse me while I go look for a front man who can sing both La Grange and Roxanne in the original keys convincingly.

 

[Geogio]

90's rock? All sounded the same? Hmmmm.......

Kinda, sorta... maybe it was the vocalusts...

 

[KenSmithFan]

When I see touring original artists this is the norm, most bass players will play one bass with their always on pedals. It is the nature of the instrument.

Only a bass player would notice and 99.9% of them don’t care. Is it a good tone? Can the guy play? To me that’s more important than bringing a dozen basses and a pedal board the size of an air craft carrier.

 

[Wasnex]

In defense of singers (please don't make me turn in my TB card!) reproducing a singer's voice is significantly harder than reproducing a bass or guitar part. To re-invoke "Boston," one can get the same guitars, strings, and fuzz boxes, and with enough practice, sound like Tom Scholz. No amount of practice is going to make most of us sound like Brad Delp. My vocal instrument will NOT do that sort of thing. And if your singer can nail one vocalist, he/she probably can't do all the ones you might cover.

Now, please excuse me while I go look for a front man who can sing both La Grange and Roxanne in the original keys convincingly.

The level of difficulty depends significantly on the singer's natural abilities. Someone with a strong voice and a lot of natural talent can still sound good, even if they don't perfectly mimic every song. The trick is to choose songs that suit their voice, style, and range.

I understand how much work singing can be. I have a weak voice with limited range that tends to vary from day to day. I was successful to some extent singing hillbilly harmony, but there were parts I could not cover because they were out of my range. I wouldn't want to sing lead vocal. It's not about the work, it about the quality of my voice . Also I really don't have that sort of sparking personality necessary to brighten the room .

There are plenty of famous singer song writers we make fun of for the quality of their singing voices. I did a Google search for "vocalist with crappy voices" and AI suggest Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Geddy Lee (I concur). They make their voice work for their own material and we love their songs. However, good chance I would think they suck if I saw one of them fronting a typical cover band. Some people really shouldn't front a cover band. I do accept there are not enough vocalist who can pass my cork sniffing test for every band to have someone who is great. Luckily no one is forcing me to listen.