Sean Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 (edited) Most bands that I've been in over the years have had some sort of theme, gimmick or genre that has made communicating or marketing that band as a product fairly straightforward. For example I've been in a Blues Brothers tribute band (very defined), a pop, disco and soul function band (less specific but easy to sell or describe to anyone including potential punters), a 1980s Classic/Arena Rock Cover band (GNR, Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Starship, ACDC). All of these are dead easy to describe when someone asks, "what kind of stuff do you play, mate?". I've always believed that as a busy successful covers band you're there to provide entertainment for the punters of your customer i.e. please the landlord by giving his punters entertainment they enjoy drinking to or pleasing the bride and groom by playing music the majority of guests know or can dance to. There are many variations on this theme but the basics are the same, keep the punters happy. I'm currently putting a female-fronted rock/pop covers band together and our current song suggestion list appears so random that I cannot get my head round what kind of band this is going to be or how to approach venues with an elevator pitch. For me there needs to be a thread that runs through the all material and at the moment we have Highway Star, What's the Frequency Kenneth?, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Video Killed the Radio Star, Who Knew and Jesus He Knows Me on the rehearsal list. These were ideas put forward by the guys in the band to see how we gelled initially. A few questions really from all this: For those of you that are in non-tribute or non-specific covers bands, how do you describe what you do to potential paying customers/venues? Or to random people asking, "what kind of stuff do you play, mate?"? On what criteria do you choose songs that get added to the set lists? Does it matter to you? I'd appreciate any advice as I'm struggling with this one... Edited December 30, 2017 by Sean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepurpleblob Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 It's a good question. I was going to say "never had one". But you're right... you get asked all the time "what sort of music do you play". I normally real off some example artists but maybe it is a good idea to have a basic "theme". More thought needed! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthurhenry Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 "Biggest and best hits of the last 50 years, with a few surprises." "Tribute to the history of rock and pop." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 The function band I'm in has a very very eclectic mix of songs on the setlist (Daft Punk, Johnny Cash, Bon Jovi, The Smiths, RHCP, The Police, Modjo, Stevie Wonder, Nirvana, Erasure, anyone? ) , so we encourage potential customers to visit the website and browse the setlist to see what they'd like us to play. We also have a variation on the setlist depending on whether we go out as a trio (most common these days) or a four piece, which can bring in keyboards. We get a lot of bookings from recommendations and people who've seen us, we get people who are interested coming down to see us when we do pubs, and we get 'blind' bookings straight from the website, so we don't really agonise about it, to be honest. I think an online presence of some sort that you can direct people to is essential these days. You don't exist if you aren't online to some extent. Songs choices are based on what we like, what punters want to hear, and what works for whatever venue/occasion we're playing. Not necessarily in that order, and not all three are mutually inclusive Oh, and if anyone asks? "Allsorts...wait and see." With a smile. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 Big band is easy. It is a Bon Jovi tribute so we generally don't get asked what type of music we play. Small band is difficult to categorise. It is more about what we don't play so answer to q1 is 'we don't play Sex on Fire or other popular Brit Pop/Indie stuff that a lot of bands play. But what we do play always has a element of musicality' Q2 once in a while we look at refreshing the set. Everyone will choose a couple of songs they fancy playing and we discuss it. Seems to work. Q3 - Very much matters to all of us that we play stuff we enjoy and avoid playing stuff we don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 Just now, Paul S said: ...so answer to q1 is '... what we do play always has a element of musicality' ... Good luck getting that sentence over to a good proportion of our punters: "You play an elephant with what?" 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 well, one has to make an effort, doesn't one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBP Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 In my covers/function band we tend to tag most our advertising as '5 Decades of Rock' and we play Rock from the 60's through to the 00's, not very original but seems to get the point across. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 You're putting together a female fronted band, yet from the list of songs you mention, out of six songs there are two I've never heard of (that's just me though), three were originally sung by male singers, and only one by a female. I can see your problem . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 Our remit is simple; the 80s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Bay Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 We have two angles, one is a punk/ alternative set from late 70s to early 90s and the more generic ‘pub band’ mix which we usually punt as the best of rock and alternative music from the 60s to the naughties. But to be honest all the gigs we have got so far have either been by reputation, word of mouth or by actually talking to the landlord (we have a couple of example set lists we can show which helps). We haven’t done the wide spread approach yet as we aren’t playing that many gigs. If we do then a Facebook page will probably be the way forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthurhenry Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 5 minutes ago, ezbass said: Our remit is simple; the 80s. Saxon, Rush, King's X, Motorhead, Pink Floyd, Styx, Thin Lizzy, Steeleye Span, King Crimson. Great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 (edited) 4 minutes ago, arthurhenry said: Saxon, Rush, King's X, Motorhead, Pink Floyd, Styx, Thin Lizzy, Steeleye Span, King Crimson. Great! I’m trying to get some Rush in . We have Yes, Marillion, Toto and Journey tunes alongside Madonna, Blondie, Level 42, etc. If we like it and feel it would go down well, we’ll give it a go. Edited December 30, 2017 by ezbass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arthurhenry Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 2 minutes ago, ezbass said: I’m trying to get some Rush in . We have Yes, Marillion, Toto and Journey tunes alongside Madonna, Blondie, Level 42, etc. If we like it and feel it would go down well, we’ll give it a go. Excellent. Shame the "80s" radio stations don't think along the same lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurksalot Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 Simple strap line when anyone asks "radio 2 rock" Pretty much a middle ground running from Abba to AC/DC with a little bit of punk thrown in , just about everything we do would be on the Radio 2 playlist and generally people get the picture quite quickly without me trying to remember the set list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mep Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 12 minutes ago, lurksalot said: Simple strap line when anyone asks "radio 2 rock" Pretty much a middle ground running from Abba to AC/DC with a little bit of punk thrown in Much the same for us - We have also used the ABBA to AC/DC thing too . Bit of punk, pop & blues thrown in for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodinblack Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 Always had a problem with that, we do rock, pop, blues and ska from 60s to the current decade so it is often hard to describe. I wouldn't however know what a radio 2 playlist sounded like so that wouldln't help me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleabag Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 4 hours ago, Sean said: . For me there needs to be a thread that runs through the all material and at the moment we have Highway Star, What's the Frequency Kenneth?, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Video Killed the Radio Star, Who Knew and Jesus He Knows Me on the rehearsal list. I couldn't agree more. I was in a band like this , and the guy in the band that kept putting forward totally unrelated tracks, was the sort of bloke that thought ' lets please everyone by playing loads of tracks from different genres ' What you end up doing is pleasing very few people. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted December 30, 2017 Author Share Posted December 30, 2017 (edited) 29 minutes ago, fleabag said: I couldn't agree more. I was in a band like this , and the guy in the band that kept putting forward totally unrelated tracks, was the sort of bloke that thought ' lets please everyone by playing loads of tracks from different genres ' What you end up doing is pleasing very few people. Exactly. I like a bit of a concept but reasonably loose. There’s a Gloucestershire band called Masterplan, it plays Britpop; Oasis, Blur, Pulp, The Who, The Kinks, The Jam, Supergrass, Ocean Colour Scene. Definitely a strong thread there. It gives a framework that would mean no AC/DC, no ABBA and makes getting a setlist sorted a bit easier. It’s miles away from Tribute but very focused and gives customers a real sense of what they’re getting. I’d be more likely to get off my backside and go and see a covers band if I knew what I was getting. Does anyone here have a similar themed band! Edited December 30, 2017 by Sean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleabag Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 (edited) A consistent thread through the set list just makes more sense. Loosely speaking, if a pub is a rock pub, you get those sort of clientele, and jumping all over the place with unrelated tracks wont endear you to that audience. Edited December 30, 2017 by fleabag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delberthot Posted December 30, 2017 Share Posted December 30, 2017 (edited) The most recent incarnation of my wedding/function band has been going for the past 3 years now and the main theme running through our set is disco/funk but not just 70s We do Blame it on the Boogie but we also do Uptown Funk, Get Lucky and so on Also, if we are given plenty of time we will not only learn a first dance but a couple of others that we don't have on our set list. the most off the wall ones we have had this year compared to what we normally do are: The Kaleo one took us a couple of rehearsals to get it right as there are so many changes and timing changes but we absolutely nailed it on the night The Biffy one was the only song in 30 years of playing that I had to tune down a semitone to play and just prior to going into the chorus had to drop the E which was tuned to Eb down to C# then back up going back into the verse. That one stands out as being a lot of fun to play as myself and the guitarist have both played in rock bands for years Edited December 30, 2017 by Delberthot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 23 hours ago, Sean said: How do you describe what you do to ... random people asking, "what kind of stuff do you play, mate?"? I usually describe it as "a mixture of soul, Motown, pop, and stupidity". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
upside downer Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 Our posters usually have 'rock and pop classics' prominently on them. That should be clear enough. However, due to some fun and games this year from the singer, thinking of changing it to 'rock and pop classics sung by a moody bugger with a face like a smacked derrière who always shows up late and frequently forgets his harmonica' 😖 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted December 31, 2017 Author Share Posted December 31, 2017 10 minutes ago, upside downer said: Our posters usually have 'rock and pop classics' prominently on them. That should be clear enough. However, due to some fun and games this year from the singer, thinking of changing it to 'rock and pop classics sung by a moody bugger with a face like a smacked derrière who always shows up late and frequently forgets his harmonica' 😖 That's a crackin' elevator pitch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted December 31, 2017 Share Posted December 31, 2017 1 hour ago, upside downer said: Our posters usually have 'rock and pop classics' prominently on them. That should be clear enough. However, due to some fun and games this year from the singer, thinking of changing it to 'rock and pop classics sung by a moody bugger with a face like a smacked derrière who always shows up late and frequently forgets his harmonica' 😖 Dare..! No; double dare..! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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