Why are you in a covers band?

[musophilr]

I was in one until last weekend. I was only doing it because I believed I was going to get paid for it. I have other expensive (musical) 'hobbies' that are never per-se going to generate a great deal of profit, and I don't need playing pop covers to be another one. The only reason for me playing pop covers is to get paid for it. That band turned out ot be not interested in gigging and they only wanted to do it "just for fun". Pop covers isn't my idea of "fun" so I quit.

[marcblum]

did and do both

each approach has pros and cons

what really counts: the musicians are having fun, and the listeners are having fun

whether it's a band of 16 year old punks writing originals based on the same old three chords, but played KICK ASS

or a string quartett doing that tasty Beethoven thing

Does it make any difference???

[Count Bassy]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1364545761' post='2027870']
These sorts of statements really disappoint me. Song writing is something you have to work just like playing the bass. I bet you were as crap as everyone else the very first time you picked up the bass guitar, but you've stuck at it and practiced until you were at least competent enough to join a band. Song writing is the same. You start off writing derivative rubbish but eventually you find your voice.

I can guarantee you that all your favourite song writers wrote some truly rubbish stuff when they first started out, and IMO no one has the consistency to produce classic song after classic song with no filler no matter how good they are.
[/quote]
[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1364548923' post='2027920']
I don't understand this statement either. Even if I don't play the original bass line to a cover I will spend as much time crafting a new line for that cover as I would for one of my other bands original songs. The amount of time I spend on playing, learning and crafting lines in both settings is the same.

If you're not slavishly adhering to the original how do you have the talent to come up with something different?

Writing is writing.
[/quote]

You may both be right, perhaps I do have that talent buried somewhere, but it's certainly not near the surface at the moment, and given lack of time its unlikely that it will ever emerge, at least until I retire.
Every one in our band is working full time, and we have enough trouble getting together to practice the covers, let alone writing our own. Both the guitarist and drummer have both played in original bands and contributed to songs in the past, but in the first case he a was a full time pro, and in in both cases they were young, unmarried and childless.

We are all now working in other jobs full time, and all have families and commitments, so being realistic its a case of playing covers or not playing at all, and I know which I'd rather do.

[JTUK]

[quote name='peteb' timestamp='1364498920' post='2027414']
Because you can learn a lot by learning exactly how a great song (or bassline) is put together!

Also, it can be great fun...
[/quote]

Or not...you might like the tune, but think the playings on the track doesn't work... and you can do a better version.

You have to know the difference as watching 3 out of 4 guys trying to nail a track with the 4th one way adrift can be quite funny,..not to mention a train-wreck

[lojo]

This thread should be retitled "justify why you are in a covers band"

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1364548923' post='2027920']
I don't understand this statement either. Even if I don't play the original bass line to a cover I will spend as much time crafting a new line for that cover as I would for one of my other bands original songs. The amount of time I spend on playing, learning and crafting lines in both settings is the same.

If you're not slavishly adhering to the original how do you have the talent to come up with something different?

Writing is writing.
[/quote]

I find it takes me a lot longer to sit down and learn someone else's line than it does to dream up one of my own and play it along to a song what I have wrote. Or even someone else's song that i am playing bass on. That's particularly easy as the artist will pretty much tell me what they want played, and then i play it. Beats all that rewinding and trying to make out the indistinct thumpy thumpy thump of a recorded bass line.

[karlfer]

I am in stroppy git mode today so please forgive (33rd wedding anniversary has nothing to do with it .
I am sure it has been mooted in the last 17 pages but why do members of the Royal Philharmonic want to be in a covers band?

Edited March 29, 2013 by karlfer

[peteb]

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1364582499' post='2028544']
This thread should be retitled "justify why you are in a covers band"
[/quote]
That's exactly what this thread is about, but why??

I'm mot in a covers band at the moment. I'm playing in a band doing originals and standards to a niche market up and down the country. It's great but we only play about 20 gigs a year and I'm lucky if we break even! I'm in be process of putting a local covers band together with some mates just to have some fun and make a bit of beer / holiday money...!

[steve-soar]

<p>[quote name='peteb' timestamp='1364591987' post='2028709']
That's exactly what this thread is about, but why??

I'm mot in a covers band at the moment. I'm playing in a band doing originals and standards to a niche market up and down the country. It's great but we only play about 20 gigs a year and I'm lucky if we break even! I'm in be process of putting a local covers band together with some mates just to have some fun and make a bit of beer / holiday money...!
[/quote]

Edited March 29, 2013 by steve-soar

[lurksalot]

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1364588565' post='2028661']
I find it takes me a lot longer to sit down and learn someone else's line than it does to dream up one of my own and play it along to a song what I have wrote. Or even someone else's song that i am playing bass on. That's particularly easy as the artist will pretty much tell me what they want played, and then i play it. Beats all that rewinding and trying to make out the indistinct thumpy thumpy thump of a recorded bass line.

[/quote]

Ah yes Dave , but it can easily fall down when all the band have to learn it , remember it , and reproduce it consistently to empty rooms while trying to enjoy it , to ensure building a following . sometimes it works , sometimes folks just don't have the energy, desire or need to do it .

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1364582499' post='2028544']
This thread should be retitled "justify why you are in a covers band"
[/quote]
I don't seek justification for what I do from anyone, but I suppose the landlords and party organisers will pass judgement on whether what we do provides suitable entertainment for their guests, and that is all that matters .

[JTUK]

I'd rather do Covers than a tribute band...
Some of the recent ones I've seen, trade so HEAVILY on trying to be so close to the original... you'd get the impression they almost
actually think they are them....

has to be seen to be believed
It wouldn't be half so bad if they were half decent musically

[xilddx]

[quote name='lojo' timestamp='1364582499' post='2028544']
This thread should be retitled "justify why you are in a covers band"
[/quote]

No. I was interested in WHY people are in cover bands. There was no subtext.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1364588776' post='2028664']
I am in stroppy git mode today so please forgive (33rd wedding anniversary has nothing to do with it .
I am sure it has been mooted in the last 17 pages but why do members of the Royal Philharmonic want to be in a covers band?
[/quote]

Orchestral music and jazz/rock/pop music are two very different things in regard to the division between those who create and those who reproduce the music. Jazz and rock music was originally all about breaking down the barriers between the composer and the performer, and because the "ensembles" are generally much smaller compared with an orchestra - could you imagine any orchestral piece ever getting written if every member of the orchestra had their own say as to what they played?

TBH I simply don't get the attraction of a covers band from an audience PoV. As a musician I can take selfish enjoyment in playing some great songs that I love, but IMO and from my own experience of seeing and playing in covers bands, the majority audience would be much better served with a well stocked video juke-box connected to a big screen and a decent sound system.

[SpaceChick]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1364655399' post='2029286']

TBH I simply don't get the attraction of a covers band from an audience PoV.
[/quote]

I disagree, people like hearing live music, and they also like hearing songs they know.

I enjoy seeing covers bands..... And I enjoy being in covers bands.

I think covers bands appeal to a wider audience.

On the other hand, the people that go to originals bands tend to be more musically minded to want to go out and hear something new.

That's my view of punters anyhow.

[sprocketflup]

wow, ive learned im not in acovers band after all, but in a 'Tribute' band

thanks basschatters......I think?

[lojo]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1364655346' post='2029285']


No. I was interested in WHY people are in cover bands. There was no subtext.
[/quote]

I know that's how you started it

[whynot]

With me it's probably an age this as to why I do party bands at this time.
Did the originals, record company thing in my early 20's then drifted into doing covers a few years later. Come to realise that what I enjoy most is playing in front of good crowds with good musos and getting paid for it.
The past 10 years or so I have had the pleasure to play with some of the best musicians you could ever hope to find, and not one original song.
On the other hand, I've done a few bands that could be tagged with the term 'soul destroying', so can appreciate some people may have a bad experience doing cover bands which may put them off for life.

[Marvin]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1364238490' post='2023701']
I've found that too. I had a guitarist guy who wanted me to go do some cover sets with him (on double bass) and it turned out a lot of what he was playing was 'good enough' approximations of what he thought the songs sounded like. From the cover bands I've seen I think a lot of them operate on that basis.
[/quote]

The guitarist/singer in a band, who'd clearly not bothered to even listen to the song we supposed to be covering, couldn't for the life him work out why the words he'd printed out wouldn't fit what he was playing.

I purposely turned up at a practice last week, with a band that now wants to do covers, having not learnt any of the songs they wanted to do. This was a first for me, however, it wasn't for them. They'd clearly taken the I can't be arsed approach regularly.

What's frustrating, is that it's seems perfectly ok for everyone else in a covers band to have a sh*te attitude to learning the material, but not the bass player. It's very much frowned upon, in my experience, for a bass player not to know the songs inside out.