easy to digest pub grub

[BaggyMan]

Not sure if I am making a point out just meandering through thoughts from the weekend...who knows.  

I have been playing live since 1986 and across the years I have played songs like 'mustang sally' 'black magic woman' ...'sweet home Chicago etc more time than I suspect I even can remember/count.

In the latter years there is definitely a dialogue amongst fellow musicians along the lines 'I aint playing that old *&^%", and whatever you play someone in the crowd requests one or more of the above.   Now this of course is the covers band circuit gigs, if you are presenting original material request like this are even more annoying...'play something we know...".  Normally to indifferent crowds in half full pubs.

So, this Saturday I played in a covers RnB /soul band and played every 'classic' under the sun.  The pub was packed, everybody had a great time.  Probably one of the liveliest and fun gigs I have had in a while.  Sure its bread and butter pub stuff, but hey why not it was fun.

So I guess my thought is, do we do we kind of shut ourselves off just because it easy to play and well know, and forget just to have fun with it sometimes..?

[odysseus]

I guess it depends on what you want out of it.  If it's money then you need to appeal to as many people as possible and thus play the cheese.

If you want an element of enjoyment for yourself that is unrelated to bums on seats/feet on dancefloors, then I guess you'd play more stuff that you enjoy or maybe aim for a specific target audience or whatever.

[BaggyMan]

@odysseus   Succinctly put. I guess its the attitude I was commenting on, its a horses/courses deal. I am doing the covers band things and a separate originals/rock stretch to play project as well. So covering the bases (basses...).

Was nice to play to a packed pub.

 

[MacDaddy]

At Friday's gig, my band played 'Sex on Fire' and 'Wonderwall' among others. It seemed the entire pub was dancing and singing along.

 

[grandad]

After a few years of gigging with a covers band it can get repetitive and boredom can set in with some band members content with the attitude, "they wont know that one, you've got to play stuff they know".

I got bored with it and now play with a jazz quartet which is much more interesting musically and I never get bored. For the most part I'm playing stuff I like, and as an amateur, that's what a hobby is about, doing something you enjoy.

Of course if the money is important then you've got to give the audience what they want.

[redbandit599]

It's a tricky balance - I see plenty of covers bands that play the proven 'trigger' songs and little else. Most average punters do always react in a Pavlov's Dogs kind of way.

My band recognize the need for a few of these in the armoury and they are very handy to drop in - but equally we try and put other good stuff in (still popular tunes) to avoid the "Same songs, different faces" tag that a local landlord coined. Definitely more interesting for us too.

We frequently get people say they enjoy our different mix of tunes - but this is mainly in the 'proper' music pubs. In the local, with less of a music record, you could probably play SOF, Brightside and Chelsea Dagger all night on repeat..

Edited November 4, 2019 by redbandit599

[T-Bay]

21 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

At Friday's gig, my band played 'Sex on Fire' and 'Wonderwall' among others. It seemed the entire pub was dancing and singing along.

 

We don’t do those but do similar and it’s amazing how some bland songs just hit a nerve. Personally I am happy to play them as long as some better stuff is mixed in and it’s always a good way to end a set.

[grandad]

16 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

At Friday's gig, my band played 'Sex on Fire' and 'Wonderwall' among others. It seemed the entire pub was dancing and singing along.

 

Without meaning to cause offensive, I just can't ever see myself playing such as these.

But, we do play an instrumental version of Moondance which may be an anathema to others.

How tastes vary?

[odysseus]

56 minutes ago, BaggyMan said:

@odysseus   Succinctly put. I guess its the attitude I was commenting on, its a horses/courses deal. I am doing the covers band things and a separate originals/rock stretch to play project as well. So covering the bases (basses...).

Was nice to play to a packed pub.

 

Looks like you've got a good balance there. 

I used to play in cover bands years ago, some run of the mill, some more grungey.  I got bored.  For me it's the jamming and writing which makes me happy.  Yes, it's enjoyable to get people up and dancing but I could run a disco and get even more up. I'm not sure I could get back into doing covers... maybe if there really was nothing else happening. Never say never.

 There's nowt wrong with any of it.  As long as people are doing their thang and enjoying it, then all is good IMO.

[grandad]

We play a great version of this with sax & trumpet rhythm and bass.

I love to look at the expressions on the victims faces. The applause is muted and people look around at others to gauge the enthusiasm of the clapping and match it, them not wanting to appear musically lacking in taste.

When we launch into Moondance afterwards the relief is evident and smiles abound, people tap their feet, tap the table, and have been known to take to the dance floor.

 

[Monkey Steve]

There is something to be said for giving the people what they want, and when they are going to see a covers band, it's usually to hear songs that they know.  They#re not often there to be musically challenged

I think it's easier if you're in a more niche area of music - i was once in a metal covers band where we deliberately played stuff that most metal fans would know and (hopefully) like, but wasn't usually played by pub covers bands - the No Paranoid rule.  So we wouldn't play Whole Lotta Rosie, but we would include Touch Too Much, Welcome Home (Sanitarium) rather than Enter Sandman, that sort of thing. And had we not had a massive falling out with the lead guitarist I'm sure we'd have been a roaring success 🤣

But in another band, playing old school punk covers, it was noticeable that the crowd wanted to hear the Best Of Punk compilation, and anything they could remember from Top Of The Pops back in the day (or better still, a TV advert from the last decade)  went down far better than anything that we regarded as a better song

[Lozz196]

8 minutes ago, Monkey Steve said:

But in another band, playing old school punk covers, it was noticeable that the crowd wanted to hear the Best Of Punk compilation, and anything they could remember from Top Of The Pops back in the day (or better still, a TV advert from the last decade)  went down far better than anything that we regarded as a better song

Pretty much the same for my old punk covers band too (which was great fun btw)

[mcnach]

My main band plays originals. 

We often play in a couple of live music bars in town where some people may come to see a specific band, but mostly they just come because they like the place and they know there will be some decent live music, of all sorts.

We do get sometimes the "Wonderwall!!!!!" thing, and after we introduce our next original as Wonderwall for 2-3 times, they get it and stop  What we get is a good crowd dancing whether they know the songs or not. I'm not sure if it's just a different crowd here from a typical pub where you just set up in a corner, which may be a factor. Maybe what we get here is people who come to see live music and drink. Whereas in a typical pub, people go to drink and have live music in the background... Does that affect the kind of music they want? I don't know. Maybe it's a choice of songs? Being a covers band opens the door to playing... ANYTHING UNDER THE SUN! Maybe one can avoid the tired cliches if you find other suitable songs that are less well known but have the right elements in it to keep people entertained?

Having said that, I was also in a ska/reggae band playing a mix of originals and covers... and sometimes it was hard work because in certain places it seemed that only the superpopular songs got people out dancing like crazy and the minute you played something not in the top40 of ska, you'd lose them. I despise "Monkey Man" with passion... Nobody in the band wanted to play it. Yet... it always worked in small pubs. However, in festivals our own material worked just as well. So maybe it is to do more with the type of venue and the kind of people that go to that venue. Maybe we are stuck with the tired cliches is we want to play those places!

[DrBike]

I'm fortunate enough that I can have my cake and eat it.  I play in 2 covers bands, one is very much "we play covers that you know but aren't what everyone else plays" (to a certain extent) and the other one plays much more of the cliche stuff.  I prefer the stuff we play in the first band, but the cliche songs certainly get the crowd going.  

[Dan Dare]

I've never understood the claimed great divide between 'covers' and 'originals' (many of which are heavily derivative, anyway - there's nothing, or little at any rate, new under the sun). It's simple enough to do both. Just play in a covers band and an originals band. I've done it for years. Make a bit of lolly in one and satisfy your craving to play stuff nobody likes in the other. Job done.

[Woodinblack]

My last band was a half covers half originals band. The guitarists heart was obviously in his originals but the crowds, and in fact ours was in the covers because they were simply better songs. The thing about covers is they don't have to be sex on fire, there is a whole lifetime of stuff that is good and different out there

[Stub Mandrel]

I'd like to play in a Hawkwind tribute...

[Maude]

The Mod covers band I'm in also have an albums worth of original music, we usually throw in a handful at each gig and they go down well. If we're supporting a name band then it'll be all originals with maybe a cover thrown in. The best of both worlds. 

I'm happy to play the simple ones if they go down well. Can't Explain by The Who is painfully simple but always goes down well, I don't mind playing ones like that because then I get to have fun with stuff like The Real Me, Substitute, Nite Club, Tin Soldier, There's a Ghost in my House, etc. 

As long as everyone's having fun I'm happy. 

[Ricky 4000]

Who was it once said "Give the people what they want. Not what they think they want"?

 

 

I'm pretty sure it wasn't Hitler...

Edited November 4, 2019 by Ricky 4000

[Maude]

9 minutes ago, Ricky 4000 said:

Who was it once said "Give the people what they want. Not what they think they want"? 

That was you, just now! 😆

[skankdelvar]

4 hours ago, Ricky 4000 said:

Who was it once said "Give the people what they want. Not what they think they want"?

Steve Jobs paraphrasing Henry Ford

4 hours ago, Ricky 4000 said:

I'm pretty sure it wasn't Hitler...

True, but Ford held deeply antisemitic views which met with Hitler's approval. In 1938 Ford was awarded the Grand Cross of the German Eagle on the occasion of his 75th birthday. Hitler cited Ford's book The International Jew as inspirational while Heinrich Himmler described Ford as 'one of our most valuable, important, and witty fighters'.

Ford formally repudiated his antisemitic writings in 1942, a month after Pearl Harbour and 27 days after Hitler declared war on the USA, two events which had no influence on his thinking, obvs.

German consul Fritz Hailer pins Nazi medal on Ford

Edited November 5, 2019 by skankdelvar

[uk_lefty]

You can do cheese covers that (probably) nobody else plays... We bloody love playing kc and the sunshine band 'give it up' the roof comes off any venue. It's a boring bass line but it's enjoyable getting everyone singing along with a song they can remember fondly. We have to do Sex on Fire, it's pretty much the law isn't it??! I was dead against it but it's never failed to go down well, excuse the terminology. 

I do feel I need a more musical and creative outlet though. Playing three or four chord basic riffs is OK but within the covers it's not always possible to play the way I want to. I  trying to set up a separate band in the new year to do something more challenging, less successful and lower paid. I just need more hours in a day, more days in a week, my kids to sleep more, and I will have the time to do more than daydream about it! 

[geoham]

My current band try to play songs folk love, but aren’t covered by too many bands on the loca scene. As an example, we play KoL’s Use Somebody rather than Sex on Fire. Also things like One Vision, Go Your Own Way and Won’t Get Fooled Again. 

However, you never know what will go down well. We reluctantly added Pink Floyd’s Brain Damage & Eclipse in (for our guitarist), and were surprised at how good a reception we got. It’s now always in the set and is always popular. Most of our gigs are in city centre bars filled with youngsters too!

My advice - if in doubt, give it whirl!

George

[mcnach]

1 hour ago, geoham said:

My current band try to play songs folk love, but aren’t covered by too many bands on the loca scene. As an example, we play KoL’s Use Somebody rather than Sex on Fire. Also things like One Vision, Go Your Own Way and Won’t Get Fooled Again. 

However, you never know what will go down well. We reluctantly added Pink Floyd’s Brain Damage & Eclipse in (for our guitarist), and were surprised at how good a reception we got. It’s now always in the set and is always popular. Most of our gigs are in city centre bars filled with youngsters too!

My advice - if in doubt, give it whirl!

George

 

Exactly, try something different and see how it goes. Sometimes you'll find jewels. 

[Muzz]

In the covers/function band, we have played SOF and Chelsea Dagger and lots of those pub classics, we don't play them any more unless we get a request from the person who's paying, mostly because there are lots of other bands who do play them. As we gig a lot, we keep the setlist freshened up more for our own sanity, there are literally hundreds and hundreds of songs out there which will get a pub up and dancing/singing as long as you play them well.

I have to say I've never heard a fellow musician say they wouldn't play a particular properly requested (see 'by the person who's paying' above) song on a paying gig. If it was as a one-off, I'd think less of anyone who did.

Oh, and Don't Look Back In Anger takes the roof off every time. If having a pub full of people singing it back to you doesn't give you a thrill, you're at the wrong end of the business.