you aren't mainstream enough

[superbassman2000]

so i was talking to the guitar player in the band today and he was talking to our agent about our last gig that he took credit for getting. Anyways, he said that the bar said that the songs we played weren't "mainstream enough"
here is the deal--we are a cover band, covering bands like CCR, Cream, Lynrd Skynrd, Beatles, Pearl Jam, Doors, and we even play freebird, even when nobody requests it!

Mainstream? I'll admit. we don't play mustang sally, which might be our downfall, and none of us are fans of the 80s, so we don't do much of that either. The bars we play at are mostly populated by people between 40-60, and while i wasn't around when they were my age, I was under the impression that the Beatles and Lynrd Skynrd were mainstream at that time.

maybe we are just playing them so horribly that people can't tell what song we are playing? maybe tuning down a halfstep completely changes the way someone hears us? Maybe they are just busting our chops because we are half their age playing songs twice as old as us well?
btw, I should add that at other bars we have gotten some good words for our song selection, as they were songs that they remember as kids and teens...

anybody have any advice?

 

[bassbully43]

I think by mainstream they are saying todays music or of the last 5 years or so. I was in a classic rock band like you and we didnt touch the 80's stopped at the 70's. Most (some) bars liked us but we also were thought of as an oldie band for the younger crowds that wanted...Soundgarden,Bush, STP, Green day etc. I sure could use it now (classics) since i posted here about my new band doing a biker bar gig this week and we have mostly mod/rock material LOL.

 

[superbassman2000]

strange thing--thats what we were thinking as well, but there is hardly anybody under 40 at these bars...

 

[HomeBrewTJ]

oh well, move on.

 

[Joe Nerve]

Bar owners will tell you just about anything they can come up with if they don't want you playing their bar anymore. And they can NOT want you playing their bars for lots of reasons. Here's some:

They simply don't like you.
You didn't bring any people.
The people in the bar didn't like you.
They have 12 other bands wanting to play that the bar likes better.
You don't have the amount of people in your band they like to see. Some bars only hire 4 piece bands, some want lead singer... strange but true stuff.

The main reason a bar won't ask you back though is if they made less money than they usually make. If they made more than average they'd ask you back, regardless of whether you played the songs they wanted to hear, sucked badly, or whatever.

If they said they didn't like you - move on. If you don't, there's a good chance you'll get screwed next time around playing there.

 

[superbassman2000]

thanks

I wasn't horribly worried about it--just kind of a W-T-F moment for me I thought we were world-class cover band material playing world-class songs in a world-class manner

 

[GillesUnchained]

It's not important to be mainstream nowadays. It's more important to play to the right crowd. Even the most "mainstream" band will have a bad night in front of a crowd that doesn't like their style.

 

[anderbass]

anybody have any advice?

I think we could give you much better advice,
if you posted your complete set list.

 

[billjr]

My two cents: Just because people listened to Skynrd when they were young, it doesn't mean that's the only covers they want to hear. I'm 44, and I love those classics. But hey, I didn't go deaf after the 80s. There have been a lot of good songs written since then that you could cover too, and probably be more appreciated.

 

[superbassman2000]

My two cents: Just because people listened to Skynrd when they were young, it doesn't mean that's the only covers they want to hear. I'm 44, and I love those classics. But hey, I didn't go deaf after the 80s. There have been a lot of good songs written since then that you could cover too, and probably be more appreciated.

this is true, however not the point.
I am saying that we are playing the tried-and-true bar bar standards and were told that we weren't playing mainstream songs...

in my mind thats like a jazz band playing "girl from ipanema" or "wonderful world" and then being asked not to play such obscure songs! lol

in all honesty, its not a huge deal, we will move on as we are a bunch of guys in our 20s who are convinced we are awesome D) so it's not a big deal, it just kinda caught me by surprise that we were told that.

 

[QORC]

agents can be a pain. Agents can be dead wrong.

but, agents often have a lot of experience knowing what works.

so you got two choices. Take the agent's suggestion or get a new agent