Your experiences of playing in a tribute band.

[sprocketflup]

7 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

WOW that's like listening to Kate Bush and visually not far off either. Would love to see this band somewhere.

Make sure you come and say hi if you do mate

We up and over the border in early feb

[jezzaboy]

4 hours ago, magee said:

Thanks Dave. I'm not mad keen to get into the tickets-on-the-door / actually promoting a paid-for night ourselves (which I think would be the Ivory Black's/Audio type set up) as that's really more admin and promoting work than I have time for. And I think that's likely to be profitable for the kinds of bands you mention, the ones that go the whole hog and put on a stage show and dress like the band and do it really seriously. That's a good market and I'm sure is profitable, and I admire the commitment of people doing it, but I'm looking at something smaller scale and more local than that. 

Interesting about Classic Grand and Hard Rock Cafe, though. But I imagine they'll be looking more for the full package to bring in the punters, but you never know. The Shed, oddly enough, puts on a lot of full-scale tribute band shows too. 

It may be that there just isn't much of a market for the more scaled-down approach we're taking. If all it ends up being is a dozen rehearsals with people who really know how to play Led Zep that's fine with me. 

Hey mate. I play in an acdc covers band and just played the Hard rock last Friday through Shock city productions. They have bands on there almost every Friday night. They looked after us well. Maybe give them a shout when you are up and running?

We don`t really look like the band: I gotta wear glasses as I can`t see my hand in front of my face without them and we have a female singer that doesn`t look a bit like Bon! We do have an Angus with a school uniform though! We concentrate more on creating the songs as the band played them. We used to do pubs where we sometimes died on our derrière but now do about 1 gig a month but they are more tailored to a target audience. We are supporting Brian Downeys Live and dangerous next month in Prestwick then playing Bonfest later on in the year up in Kirremuir.

 

[dmccombe7]

2 hours ago, sprocketflup said:

Make sure you come and say hi if you do mate

We up and over the border in early feb

Not gonna manage the gigs this time around as other commitments but will be keeping an eye out for you next time around. You should try the Motherwell Concert or Theatre hall next time up in Scotland. Large venues and many tribute bands playing their these days. Also Lanark Memorial Hall, Rutherglen Town Hall and Hamilton Town Hall are all good sized venues looking for good quality tribute bands 

[Bassman Sam]

I played in a Status Quo tribute band for 6 years. We had a blast and got to gig with John Coghlan's as Coghlan's Quo.  Biggest gig we did was a corporate gig in Dartford at a Pharma Company's 100th anniversary party. 5000 people giving it "Quo oh a ho ah."   Also played in a Wishbone Ash covers band back in the '70's. Didn't make the money back that I spent on gear,  did have a blast though.

Edited January 24, 2019 by Bassman Sam

[steantval]

18 minutes ago, Bassman Sam said:

I played in a Status Quo tribute band for 6 years. We had a blast and got to gig with John Coghlan's as Coghlan's Quo.  Biggest gig we did was a corporate gig in Dartford at a Pharma Company's 100th anniversary party. 5000 people giving it "Quo oh a ho ah."   Also played in a Wishbone Ash covers band back in the '70's. Didn't make the money back that I spent on gear, have a blast though.

We had ex Status Quo drummer Jeff Rich in our Free tribute band and we also played support to a Wishbone Ash gig, snap, in a strange sort of way.

[Bassman Sam]

2 minutes ago, steantval said:

We had ex Status Quo drummer Jeff Rich in our Free tribute band and we also played support to a Wishbone Ash gig, snap, in a strange sort of way.

I remember Jeff, cracking drummer. Small world.

[peteb]

10 hours ago, artisan said:

I absolutely love Magnum

Would love to see you guys sometime 

That's great - there seems to be plenty of Magnum fans out there (more than I imagined anyway). We be out gigging with a full set from June, with the first support gig on 30 March in Rotherham. I think that we will (hopefully) get around a bit, but mainly playing in the north of England and the midlands. 

If you want to keep track of us, the band is called 'A Storyteller's Night' and the website can be found at on https://www.storytellers-night.co.uk/ and of course you can find us on Facebook as well. There are a few clips from the (very) early rehearsals on the Facebook page.  

[el borracho]

On 23/01/2019 at 16:27, troubadour said:

First band I was in just played Jam songs.

Unfortunately that was the early 80s before tribute bands had been invented.

In those days you were just copying and it was frowned upon!

First one I remember was a local Beatles tribute who seemed to attract quite a following & made it onto local TV - they weren't good though!

I googled them & found this - which sparked a long forgotten memory. The singer was sold his jacket by the late guitarist in my first band, who wore at my first ever gig in 1984 😂

 

[peteb]

6 hours ago, magee said:

@steantval getting jealous about  your Free tribute band. I've love to do that, I'm surprised (and pleased at humanity's good taste) that there was enough of an audience for it. I'd do one of them in a shot. 

A mate of mine in the North East deps a lot for a Free / Bad Company tribute up there. I keep telling him that could possibly be my ideal gig...! 

[peteb]

14 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

I'll come as long as you're gonna play Back to Earth 😀

It's in the set...! 

[steantval]

7 minutes ago, peteb said:

A mate of mine in the North East deps a lot for a Free / Bad Company tribute up there. I keep telling him that could possibly be my ideal gig...! 

The North East is a very good area for Free or Bad Company tribute bands, very strong following of both bands, they hold a Free Convention around the Newcastle area every year.

[BreadBin]

22 hours ago, MacDaddy said:

Have you heard of The Australian Pink Floyd Show? They are playing the Albert Hall during their next UK tour.

Bjorn Again, play Hammersmith Odeon, and Sheppard's Bush Empire, size gigs where they tour. 

I once lent Bjorn Again a bass - it came back covered in makeup! 

[steantval]

1 hour ago, BreadBin said:

I once lent Bjorn Again a bass - it came back covered in makeup! 

Could have been worse, if you lent it to Sid Vicious, would have been covered in gob 😀

[Mickeyboro]

1 hour ago, BreadBin said:

I once lent Bjorn Again a bass - it came back covered in makeup! 

The winner cakes it all?😞

[artisan]

11 hours ago, peteb said:

That's great - there seems to be plenty of Magnum fans out there (more than I imagined anyway). We be out gigging with a full set from June, with the first support gig on 30 March in Rotherham. I think that we will (hopefully) get around a bit, but mainly playing in the north of England and the midlands. 

If you want to keep track of us, the band is called 'A Storyteller's Night' and the website can be found at on https://www.storytellers-night.co.uk/ and of course you can find us on Facebook as well. There are a few clips from the (very) early rehearsals on the Facebook page.  

Excellent hopefully I'll get to see you later in the year or who knows we may even meet at a festival or some such as I play in a black Sabbath covers band ( www.jacksabbath.co.uk )

[police squad]

18 hours ago, steantval said:

A few years ago, we had the opportunity to play at Rhodes Rock in Lindos with our Free tribute band, unfortunately we had to turn it down, as our guitarist was a teacher and he couldn’t get the time off in term time ☹️

what a shame,

[mcnach]

On 24/01/2019 at 11:06, stewblack said:

Did many years in a Specials tribute which was absolutely brilliant. Love the music, great musicians around me. Only downside was the drink and drugs. Lots of debauched tales I could tell but I shall respect the anonymity of the other guys in the group.

 

it's always "the other guys"

[mcnach]

On 24/01/2019 at 15:37, dmccombe7 said:

Hug & Pint 

Nice & Sleazy

McSorleys

Maggie Mays (live bands but not sure what type of music altho i think its classed as a rock bar)

13th Note (again not sure what type of bands play there)

Stereo

The Glad Cafe

Bloc+

Blackfriars

The Howlin Wolf

The Scotia

The Admiral

Hope some of these help. These are all smaller venues that put on live bands but i'm not 100% sure what style they are putting on. You might be better googling each venue to get an idea or checkout their own FB pages for VID clips or pics. Failing that a wee band pub crawl on a Sat night might be fun.

All the best mate and hope it all works out.

Dave

 

Add Broadcast to the list. I was there recently at a tribute band night, with 3 bands. Next door to Nice & Sleazy.

[steantval]

My old pal Paul Henderson doing a bit of Bowie at the Hansa Studios.

 

[ricksterphil]

I play in a Bowie Tribute with a female on lead vocals. We got to play at the Supersonic Club in Paris at the end of Jan! I love it and there's such a wealth of material to go at, with many of the songs having really good bass lines, it will be a long time before we get bored. We're playing a David Bowie Convention on 11th May in Derby, with the Maggie Ronson band and Jean Genie as the headliners

 

Edited February 16, 2019 by ricksterphil

[DarkHeart]

On 22/01/2019 at 21:37, peteb said:

I’ve just joined a Magnum tribute band, which hasn’t done a gig yet but still getting a load of interest. Great players with an excellent singer and a keys player who has a bit of history with the original band (played / wrote on the singer’s first solo album), so all pretty exciting and can’t wait to start gigging. The main issue we’ve had so far seems to be to ensure that we avoid copyright issues with the merch / website, etc. We have had a few messages of support passed on from the main band (as well as advice on copyright), which is really good of them. It is a bit of a strange one for me as it was never a band that I really listened to and a bit of a bizarre thing to get a text message out of the blue asking me to join.

I have a couple of friends who were in a Foo Fighters tribute that did make decent money and years ago I was asked to join a U2 band that did really well, but I doubt that Magnum is a tribute that will make big money – it is probably a bit too much of a niche band for that – but still seems to have enough fans out there to be viable. Hopefully it will help to raise my profile again as well as get to play decent size gigs, so who knows where it might lead to? So far, it’s all good…

If you join the Magnum F/B group Al Barrow is a very active contributor and I`ve had quite a few interactions with him on there, seems a really decent bloke, if you ever played the north east I`d come watch you, I`m a fan!!

As an aside, i`ve just joined the UFO/Schenker tribute band Obsession and we are also in the rehearsal stage of things but we`ve several gigs lined up including the Rockers Reunited fest in Southport in November and we`ve our first gig coming up at Fibbers in York on the 27th April with Van Hailen.

Edited February 16, 2019 by DarkHeart

[peteb]

10 hours ago, DarkHeart said:

If you join the Magnum F/B group Al Barrow is a very active contributor and I`ve had quite a few interactions with him on there, seems a really decent bloke, if you ever played the north east I`d come watch you, I`m a fan!!

As an aside, i`ve just joined the UFO/Schenker tribute band Obsession and we are also in the rehearsal stage of things but we`ve several gigs lined up including the Rockers Reunited fest in Southport in November and we`ve our first gig coming up at Fibbers in York on the 27th April with Van Hailen.

We have had a bit of contact with Al, who has helped us with a few copyright issues on merch, websites, etc. He does seem like a nice guy. We've also had some positive feedback from other members of Magnum, which is cool. 

No gigs booked in the north east yet, but I would imagine that we will get up there sooner or later. If you are interested, hit up the Facebook page, which will keep you notified of any gigs we have coming up. Who knows, we may end up on the same bill at some point?? 

[DarkHeart]

I have indeed already liked your F/B page, yeah Magnum and UFO on the same bill would be cool.

[Kebabkid]

I came to my Madness Tribute gig as guitarist depping on bass for my good mate, Gary (Cetera on here) as musically, he was a busy lad and in demand

Five years on, it's my main gig and luckily for me, the band have been mates for over 25 years and it's a lovely fit. However, whilst more a rock, pop and funk player, and as I've said, a guitarist, I've enjoyed this immensely. The songs are clever and fun and those Madness bass lines are a joy to play, as are ones by The Specials, The Beat, Selector etc

The punters like us and it might just be a genre of music that brings together people of different musical tastes. We've also played a festival,  down Denmark St, The Jazz Cafe, The 100 Club and The Dublin Castle with a member of Madness present (Lee Thompson, the sax player) and got the thumbs up rather than the finger!

http://cairoeast.co.uk/TrimmedCairoGig.mp4

I've also played in a Squeeze and Crowded House/Jellyfish tribute and that, too, was great fun and presented musical challenges.

I think the tribute scene is a healthy one and personally, that's where I think it's at, at the moment. Given some of the bands we're paying homage to are either disbanded or 'past their best', they work well. I've enjoyed a KISS tribute, Thin Lizzy ones and more recently, Cetera's rock anthems band, Leather and Lace, the fabulous Kate Bush tribute, Cloudbusting featuring one of our own (what a gig that was last week) and great Steely Dan tribute band called Stanley Dee. Particularly with the latter, I've seen Steely Dan the last few times and sadly, whilst a bit of a nostalgia trip, they didn't deliver for me. Stanley Dee and the long-running Nearly Dan, do.

I note there's some new boys on the block, a Police and Crowded House one doing the rounds and I look forward to seeing them.

Good luck with your outfits (in every sense)

 

Edited February 19, 2019 by Kebabkid

[Kebabkid]

On 23/01/2019 at 19:30, sprocketflup said:

Still with them yes, six years now, longest I've been with any band. All over the country, really enjoying it. In fact we've just released the dates for the first half of 2019 then over the water in the second half of the year. Bring 'em on! Thanks for the mention

 

Cloudbusting are great and we caught them last week at The Half Moon, Putney where they were in fine form. We also spoke to you after the gig, Dave and lovely to meet you @sprocketflup.

C'mon, how many people in a tribute band can say that their dep is the Real McCoy, in this case, Del Palmer!!

Edited February 20, 2019 by Rich