What music do you play?

[Guest MoJo]

This question stumps me, every time I'm asked. I play in a 3-piece pub covers band and we have a repertoire of over 60 songs to choose from. We play a wide variety of material including rock, pop, soul, northern soul, ska, and reggae, so I never know how to answer the question. Anyone else struggle with this?

[uk_lefty]

Yes! We play a variety of music but it all sounds consistent... From when we do Bob Marley through to Bon Jovi, there's a consistent "sound". But, are we rock, soul or funk? That's what the Facebook says but I don't think we are nailed to one in particular. It's hard to describe without sounding like a twunt. For example I heard the singer from The Darkness (a band I despise) describe their latest effort as a cross between ACDC and Queen only with a straight face and being far more self agrandising. Just made me think "how dare you!!" Then other less savoury things.

[martthebass]

Nope, we play Glam Rock.  Anything as long as it's Glam, and Rock and from the 1970s.  Only band I've ever been in where no one has asked for Sex on Fire!

[fleabag]

We try to keep our tracks in a similar genre . I've been in a band where they tried to be all things to all people and cover many genres but it ends up as a mish mash.

So in this band we stick to jazzy funk groove tracks, and that works well for us

[No lust in Jazz]

Abba to Zappa although right now its more A-Ha to Zeppelin - but visiting many stops on route.

[Conan]

Late seventies-early nineties post-punk/pop/new wave*. Easy 

 

 

* that's just the covers!

[Wylie]

3 hours ago, MoJo said:

This question stumps me, every time I'm asked. I play in a 3-piece pub covers band and we have a repertoire of over 60 songs to choose from. We play a wide variety of material including rock, pop, soul, northern soul, ska, and reggae, so I never know how to answer the question. Anyone else struggle with this?

My trio plays 60s-era jazz, jazz standards, and blues. But we also play several originals, and quirky bits like 'Crazy' and folk-style tunes from a previous incarnation of the band. I would rather stick with jazz, which is three-quarters or more  of the set list, but I am outvoted. The result is that we sound like a plays-anything band. Not a lot I can do about it; we seem to be stuck being a democracy.

[BrunoBass]

‘Modern Alternative Rock and Indie Covers’ is the official line, which for us spans late ‘90s through to present day, although there are a handful of older songs in the set.

Edited June 25, 2018 by BrunoBass

[jazzmanb]

Not as hard as answering What sort of music do you like

i was in a band doing 80s tyep stuff now its Classic rock

 

if you do a heinz 57 set its good to get the furthest extremes and quote those two

"we do everything from Waterloo to Pretty vacant "

 

Edited June 25, 2018 by jazzmanb

[uk_lefty]

Who is your target audience is an easier question to answer... We play stuff we think couples in their early forties will sing along with and dance to. 

[steantval]

Easy one for us - Classic Rock & Blues.

[seashell]

Yes, I find this one tricky as I'm doing all sorts of bits and bobs at the moment.  Paying with 2 bands - one does  50's and 60's covers so that's straightforward enough. But the other one started out as a Country accoustic trio, but now does some originals which are mainly quite light hearted little ditties, plus covers of various things from Eric Clapton to Tom Petty via Nick Cave.  All the more mellow side of the aforementioned artistes though.

In addition, from time to time I get asked to do a bit of background plonking with various solo guitarists of my aquaintance who like to bring me in when they need a bit of ooomph.  So that's usually originals or things like Bob Dylan and Neil Young covers. And then to get a bit more rocky, I've got some dep gigs coming up with a Rolling Stones Covers Band.  So it's all really varied and fun, but difficult to explain in one sentence! :-)

[fretmeister]

At the moment - big band jazz.

Loving every minute of it.

[Marvin]

Currently it's a blues band

...that also does the occasional country, soul, ska, reggae and rock'n'roll number 😎

It depends on the venue, but generally it's blues, if it's a pub we're playing then we'll chuck in some of the above.

[oldbass]

I do a few deps now and again as I'm not interested in being stuck with one band...Last month it was a loose 60's pop/Beatles tribute type thing then in a few weeks it'll be a one 45 min affair with another band doing S Dan, Floyd, early F Mac, Chris Rea etc...I like the variety, keeps me interested.  

[Leonard Smalls]

 

We basically do hard rock with funk bass, so if anyone asks "what sort of music do you play?" we say "Frunk".

 

[Lozz196]

We`re an originals band and have a sound somewhere between punk and Oi, which is Street Punk. What`s Street Punk, well it`s punk played by people that look more like they`re football supporters/drinkers/hooligans rather than out and out punks, Fred Perries, DMs, cammo shorts, that sort of stuff rather than mohicans, bondage trousers and studded leather jackets.

[spongebob]

We play old-skool Rhythm and Blues - covers and originals - in the Dr. Feelgood vein. I quit earlier this year, after 6 years, but I've re-joined!

Recently helped form a semi-acoustic trio - covers and originals again - very much in the laid-back 'West Coast' vein - first gig with this in a couple of weeks' time.

[T-Bay]

We have two relatively distinct sets, the first is a punk/ grunge set the second is a more general rock/ alternative set from the 6ps to the 00s. Guess which we get asked for more? You would think a distinct genre would be an easier sell in some ways as it gets people out but around here it seems either general covers band or tribute band is the way to go.

[Cat Burrito]

I play in 4 bands and have no trouble loosely defining each. I guess we’re focussed on what we do, rather than the covers scenes where you cater for a wide range of taste. If you book one of my bands, you tend to know what you are getting. 

That said my Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute did get a request for Oasis once from a punter who I think it is fair to say missed the point. 😆

[Andy_L]

Both types, country and western

[xgsjx]

Utter crap.

That's what sort of music we play.  It's good fun to play, but it sounds bloody awful.  Still no idea why we're doing a gig, but it'll be good to see folks faces.

[Mykesbass]

Having a real problem with this, having morphed from a blues band into an originals band. I usually say we're influenced by Rival Sons/Temperance Movement but with female vocals. If those bands have a specific genre please let me know 😀

[Maude]

One band is easy, Mod, Northern Soul and Ska. 

The other band I'm at a loss to describe. Double bass, mandolin, acoustic guitars, ukulele and cahon. Reworked covers in our own style. The tagline is "Hard to describe, harder to resist". 

[FinnDave]

One of my bands I describe as 'funky psychedelic blues-rock" (that's what it says in our business card, and people have offered us gigs on the strength of that description.

I also play in a Grateful Dead tribute band, so it's fairly obvious that we play stuff the Dead played, but for people who haven't heard the Dead (barbarians!) the best description I've heard is 'psychedelic country music'. And some blues, ballads, and other stuff.

Looks like psychedelic is a common theme in all the bands I play in!