Cover bands. Oh, woe.

[stewblack]

5 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Its fairly accurate, from on top of a fence you can see all sides equally, but from one side or the other, you can only understand your own side.

It interests me particularly because I used to be so angry all the time, and always with other people refusing to adhere to my point of view. Back then if I accused someone of sitting on the fence it was literally the worst insult I could throw. 

More recently I've been trying to change the way I live and recognise that what other people think is none of my business. To be accused of being a fence sitter myself is wonderful indication that I am succeeding. 

[upside downer]

3 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

Here's something for you to sit on.

 

Nice fence. I'd sit awhile, taking in the views of both sides and then coat it with The Creosote of Personal Opinion.

[Woodinblack]

Not all covers are bad, some bring a lot to the part:

 

[Dad3353]

Shades of 'ISIHAC', with their 'musical' rounds. I like a good (short...) joke. 

[paul_5]

13 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

Shades of 'ISIHAC', with their 'musical' rounds. I like a good (short...) joke. 

Indeed, it got a bit ‘Swanee Kazoo’ in places. Most places in fact.

 

Also, can I also point out that it’s a Soprano Recorder, and not, in fact, a flute?

[Woodinblack]

52 minutes ago, paul_5 said:

Also, can I also point out that it’s a Soprano Recorder, and not, in fact, a flute?

I did find the title a little irritating, but I moved past it

 

[stevie]

This is how it's done. It's the tightest little beat combo I've heard in years.

 

[leftybassman392]

I didn't see the clip but it wouldn't have made any difference to what follows.

I've been retired for some years now, but before that I was involved in the music industry in numerous capacities for the best part of 20 years. In all that time I never did quite manage to get my head around the snobbery that I encountered from time to time, mostly from people who should know better.

When I come across it on Basschat (less frequently than used to be the case to be fair), it kind of reminds me of this

Apologies for the much-shortened clip; best I could find at short notice.

 

 

Edited December 4, 2020 by leftybassman392

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

12 minutes ago, leftybassman392 said:

While I'm here...

Proposition: every piece of classical music ever played by anybody has the status of a cover version. Discuss.

Oh, please don't. Not again 🙄

[leftybassman392]

10 minutes ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Oh, please don't. Not again 🙄

Spoilsport!

 

 

 

[tauzero]

At least refusing to ever play in a covers band means that you're not so far along the Dunning-Kruger spectrum that you're not capable of recognising that you're not a good enough player to be able to manage it.

FTAOD, I'm in one covers band, one originals band, and two bands that play both originals and covers. And I like winding up snobs on both sides.

[NickD]

I'm not up for covers at the moment, writing, refining and recording is where it's at for me in terms of enjoyment.... Plus I don't like crowds, and playing originals tends to discourage people gathering. 🤣

But!

We auditioned loads of guitarists a while ago, and while we saw some blazing players, the only one of them who learned the tunes properly, and had any idea of how to play in a band context had only ever played in cover bands. There's a method and a discipline that comes from it.

[Bobthedog]

On 03/12/2020 at 19:59, stevie said:

This is how it's done. It's the tightest little beat combo I've heard in years.

 

I have been following this band for a while now. Really tight.

[Leonard Smalls]

On 03/12/2020 at 19:59, stevie said:

This is how it's done. It's the tightest little beat combo I've heard in years

Very tight... But they've fallen foul of one of my pet hates; while the women have made an effort to look like they're in the band the blokes are just wearing boring shirts/tshirts and look like they've just walked in off the street. It happens far too much for my liking!

[leftybassman392]

8 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Very tight... But they've fallen foul of one of my pet hates; while the women have made an effort to look like they're in the band the blokes are just wearing boring shirts/tshirts and look like they've just walked in off the street. It happens far too much for my liking!

It’s a fair point, especially if you do a lot of function work, but tbh it’s much less of an issue for a covers band imho. I did have an ‘outfit’ when playing in a blues cover band, but never really bothered about it in any of the other formats I played in.

[dave_bass5]

For weddings and functions we always wore suits, even for social clubs at the start, but then members wouldn’t bother. It always bugged me as image is very important IMO. Not so much as a selling point, but all looking like you are part of the same band, and looking like you take it seriously (as you are getting paid) is how I prefer the band to be. 

I still wear a shirt and suit jacket for pubs and clubs, i felt a full suit was over the top for some places, and ive had many, many comments about how i look true part, and the others look like they didn’t get changed (which they did, just from one tee stinky poo or lumberjack looking shirt to another). It shows that people might not notice if I’m using a compressor (😁), but they do notice the overall look of the band. 

[Woodinblack]

21 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

It shows that people might not notice if I’m using a compressor (😁), but they do notice the overall look of the band. 

Just take a music stand, then people will be so angry they won't even notice.

[Al Krow]

56 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Very tight... But they've fallen foul of one of my pet hates; while the women have made an effort to look like they're in the band the blokes are just wearing boring shirts/tshirts and look like they've just walked in off the street. It happens far too much for my liking!

But what a great sounding bass! I think it's a classic Yamaha BB 5000

[dave_bass5]

Sometimes making just a small effort pays off 😂

 

[BigRedX]

Having played in both covers bands and originals bands here's my take:

I have to say up front that I learnt to play because I wanted to be a songwriter/composer and therefore I am probably biased toward playing music that I have had a part in writing but:

Before I'd actually done it for my self playing in covers bands (so long as you were doing the right kind of music) looked like it could be a lot of fun, so when the chance came to join a covers band one of my good friends was in I jumped at it. For me the whole experience was a big disappointment. They had a set list full of songs I'd enjoyed as a teenager so we should have been great, but I always felt that were simply weren't doing the material justice, without actually being able to put my finger on what exactly wasn't right about our performance. Often when playing gigs I felt that the audience would have been better served with a DJ and a well chosen playlist. In several cases dissecting the songs so I could learn how to play them killed off any enthusiasm I might have to listening to them in a non-band context - there are more than a couple that I liked beforehand that I will be quite happy to never ever hear again.

The other problem was that the originals band that I was also playing in at the same time, was doing much better in just about every aspect of being in a band.

There's a big myth about covers bands making more money than originals, and while I didn't actually "make" any money out of either, the originals band always had cash in the band fund to pay for things like the rehearsal room, fuel for the van, recording, and producing merchandise items. The covers band money seemed to disappear in a never-ending round of repairs and upgrades to the PA and lighting systems and despite having the cheapest rehearsal space ever, each band member was expected to pay their share of the costs each time.

Another thing that never gets taken into account is payment versus time spent and expenditure by the individual band members.

A gig with the covers band would take up a good 6-7 hours of an evening, being at the venue early so we could set up both the band equipment and the PA and lights before most of the audience got there, and often still be there after the last punter had left packing everything away again. With the originals band we could (if we wanted) arrive about 20 minutes before we were due to play. The PA and lights would be supplied by the venue (and have been for every originals gig I have done from the late 80s onwards) so we didn't have worry about them, and often drums and backline would be as well. We would usually stay until the end, because that's when we'd sell the most merch, but we could have left at any time after we had finished playing. 

The originals band would travel together in the band van, or if we knew that there was a decent backline supplied, and the gig was less than a couple of hours away, we'd all cram into a single car with our instruments, keeping the travelling costs down. It also meant that everyone including the singer would be there to help carry and set up the gear. The covers band would turn up each one in their own car, and invariably someone with an important part of the PA or lighting rig in their car would be late.

With the originals band there would almost always be free drinks and, more often that not, food supplied by the venue. I can't ever remember getting fed and/or watered playing covers.

And while the gig fee for the covers bands was usually higher, after merch sales the originals band would almost always come away from the gig with more profit.

I ended up having the quit the covers band because the originals band was playing almost every weekend, and no longer had time to be in two gigging bands no matter how infrequent the other band's gigs might be. And while this particular originals band stopped gigging 5 years ago (we've never officially split up) I still make money from them in the form of PRS royalties, record sales, and streaming/download payments.

[chris_b]

21 hours ago, leftybassman392 said:

. . . . . .  I never did quite manage to get my head around the snobbery that I encountered from time to time, mostly from people who should know better.

I've been in very few bands that didn't play at least one original song. That includes the cover bands. If I get a vote in a band, I'll judge the song not who wrote it.

Labels are a pointless distraction, unfortunately, too many originals bands aren't original at all. The better bands (of any style) play songs that are interesting.

IMO a good covers band beats a bad originals band every time, and vice versa.

[leftybassman392]

3 minutes ago, chris_b said:

I've been in very few bands that didn't play at least one original song. That includes the cover bands. If I get a vote in a band, I'll judge the song not who wrote it.

Labels are a pointless distraction, unfortunately, too many originals bands aren't original at all. The better bands (of any style) play songs that are interesting.

IMO a good covers band beats a bad originals band every time, and vice versa.

Again a fair point.

In truth I was speaking more about the music business as a whole.

IME a professional approach involves seeking to get the best from those around you, not pointing out - much less sneering at - what you see as their failings or inadequacies. Music production and performance operates at a huge range of levels. If you're that good at what you do, it should be a no-brainer to understand that. It's the people who do understand it but choose to be a PITA about it that I get annoyed with.

[BigRedX]

And as an audience member, by the time I started to go to gigs regularly (from 1980 onwards) my taste in music was mostly the sorts of bands that I could hear on John Peel's radio show. Most of those bands only had a single or two available, so the majority of the set would be new to me. And the local bands supporting them might only have a 3-track demo cassette available. Therefore the only way to hear most of the repertoire of these artists was to go to the gigs. 

I did go to gigs by "more established" bands, but again a significant portion of their sets would be new material, and that is a good part of why I went. I think I would have disappointed if the whole set had been "the album" and nothing more. In a lot of cases the live performances of the recorded material were disappointing as they didn't always manage to capture the nuances of the version I knew and loved.

It never occurred to me to go and see a covers band play. At that time most covers bands played "rock" which wasn't what I wanted to hear at all, and if I had, I would have preferred to listen to my favourite recorded version. It's an attitude that has stuck with me. The only covers bands I have seen have been either at events that I happened to go to for some other reason and there happened to be a band playing, or ones that included friends in the line-up.

Edited December 5, 2020 by BigRedX

[inthedoghouse]

This has long been my 'favourite' for the worst cover ever - I can't see how it  could get any worse!

I like at the end, the look that says 'nailed it'. 

Enjoy 🙂
 

 

Edited December 5, 2020 by inthedoghouse

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Having played in both covers bands and originals bands here's my take:

I must admit if my experience had been like your experience, then I would probably feel the same. My experience of cover bands was largely in the 80s and largely devoid of working with people with much talent or drive. 

And they weren't really original either, they just played rock and / or punk, and they were the side of the line that it was original just purely in the sense that no-one had used those exact same words in that exact same order with that exact same chord, but not original in the sense that you would think listening to it it was anything different than all the other bands.

But the covers, which is late in life. Turn up, setup, play the gig, get paid (some have had free drinks, weddings tend to have food), load the car up, home by 12, £80 in the drawer  , minus the cost of 2 cokes if I was paying for them, and that money has paid for all musical equipment I have got in the last 5 years. Get to play some songs I love, some I hate, get good gigs and bad gigs, people dancing, don't have to worry about some prima donna worried you played their precious 2-3-4 intro wrong.

Would love to do originals, but there are a shortage of people doing prog around here, only original bands are rock bands around here, and at least with the covers you get to play something decent.