What Do You Think Of This ?

[Stub Mandrel]

I took part in a Battle of the Bands. The winning band werd death metal.  Their music didn't win, although theycwerr very able  it was the way their frontman treated a couple of hundred students like 25,000 people in a stadium and gave 100%

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, gareth said:

I agree with all your points @Bluewineexcept this one 

 

“4. If you play covers, spice them up a bit. Obviously, I'm not asking you to fundamentally change the song. However, adding some kind of twist to make it your own and the listening experience unique for the audience will make you more memorable.”

 

I played in one of Essex, UK’s most successful/popular rock covers band doing over 100 gigs a year with each gig packed 

 

But that band had a golden rule - play the song exactly as the original recording.

 

And that’s what made us successful/popular 

 

As a bass player you can watch cover bands and you can hear when the bass player has simplified a line 

 

For instance

 

1. Killers Brightside does he get all the chords in the quiet section

 

2. Muse Hysteria does he get all the notes

 

And other players would do the same so a drummer would as on Zeppelin Rock n roll does the drummer get all the fills 

People appreciated hearing our covers exactly like the record without any changes and definitely no extended guitar solos 😂😂

 

 

Disagree. My brother's band is very successful,  and their defining character (which is always brought up by punters) is that dvery song they do sounds like them.

 

Equally the band I am in will be doing House of the Rising Sun and Summertime tomorrow. The former will bear some resemblance to Frijiid Pink  but I don't think Nina Simone would be expecting our verdion of the latter...

[ubit]

Where I live people would like you more if you sounded more like the original. People used to rave about a band when I was too young to go into pubs. They said they are so much like the originals and they are great. We aspired to be like that and it worked.

 

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, ubit said:

Where I live people would like you more if you sounded more like the original. People used to rave about a band when I was too young to go into pubs. They said they are so much like the originals and they are great. We aspired to be like that and it worked.

 

 

I suspect many South Wales audiences have different preferences.

 

The real answer is 'know your audience'.

[BassTractor]

On 16/09/2021 at 09:05, Bluewine said:

6. Move around and get animated when you play/sing.

 

Great post, Blue!
Jut as a funny aside, the moving even goes for classical orchestras:
Someone I know applied for the job as second flautist in the Concertgebouw Orchestra. Everything went well during all the auditions where candidates were playing behind a screen. The very last, visible, round made her fall through because of her being like a plank.

It was explained to her: if something happens and the solo flautist can't play, the first flautist takes over. Then if something happens and the first flautist can't play either ...

 

 

Edited September 19, 2021 by BassTractor

[Bluewine]

13 hours ago, gareth said:

I agree with all your points @Bluewineexcept this one 

 

“4. If you play covers, spice them up a bit. Obviously, I'm not asking you to fundamentally change the song. However, adding some kind of twist to make it your own and the listening experience unique for the audience will make you more memorable.”

 

I played in one of Essex, UK’s most successful/popular rock covers band doing over 100 gigs a year with each gig packed 

 

But that band had a golden rule - play the song exactly as the original recording.

 

And that’s what made us successful/popular 

 

As a bass player you can watch cover bands and you can hear when the bass player has simplified a line 

 

For instance

 

1. Killers Brightside does he get all the chords in the quiet section

 

2. Muse Hysteria does he get all the notes

 

And other players would do the same so a drummer would as on Zeppelin Rock n roll does the drummer get all the fills 

People appreciated hearing our covers exactly like the record without any changes and definitely no extended guitar solos 😂😂

 

 

If a band can really nail a cover that's great. I've seen some stuff on YouTube with bands thay can recreate an original recording. However, some bands don't have the resources or the production values to do that.

 

I think if a band has their own version and it kills, well that's great too.

 

Blue

Edited September 18, 2021 by Bluewine

[gareth]

1 hour ago, Bluewine said:

 

 

If a band can really nail a cover that's great. I've seen some stuff on YouTube with bands thay can recreate an original recording. However, some bands don't have the resources or the production values to do that.

 

I think if a band has their own version and it kills, well that's great too.

 

Blue

It depends on the kind of music the band is playing

 

We were playing many rock anthems and stuff that was charting at a time when guitar bands were popular

 

So the audience often knew the songs well and any deviation made from the original would have been unacceptable 

 

I can see if you’re playing old blues covers or less well known country songs there is more room for a personal interpretation of material

[Downunderwonder]

One of the best cover bands I ever heard played anything and everything as a funk band. You would think that impossible yet it was done perfectly.

[Maude]

On 17/09/2021 at 18:59, Stub Mandrel said:

I took part in a Battle of the Bands. The winning band werd death metal.  Their music didn't win, although theycwerr very able  it was the way their frontman treated a couple of hundred students like 25,000 people in a stadium and gave 100%

 

I remember Flea saying something along the lines of always giving the best possible show you can, even if only one person is at a show, that one person has come to see you and deserves the best you can give. 

 

Whilst energy at a gig between audience and band is definitely a reciprocated thing, and it's sometimes difficult to give your all when there's a poor turnout, I always try to remember Fleas words. 

[Maude]

On 16/09/2021 at 08:05, Bluewine said:

 

6. Move around and get animated when you play/sing. 

 

 

Can I add that you need to move far more than you'd think. I used to think I was getting into the music and moving around, but when I looked back at video recordings I barely looked like I was moving. 

If you want the audience to see you movin' and a groovin' you need to over emphasise your movements. 

[peteb]

On 16/09/2021 at 08:05, Bluewine said:

As a  bass player for over 50 years now I feel compelled to present some advice to anyone in a local band to ensure you're capitalizing on the opportunity live shows give you and to make sure your connecting with you audience. 

 

 

Hey Daryl, great to see you back on the forum posting again.

 

Everything you say in the OP is spot on. As regards to point 2, a trick I was told as a kid was to make eye contact with someone about ten or fifteen rows back in the audience. Everybody in the vicinity then thinks that you are playing to them. Another thing is when you are not moving around is to have a stance where you look comfortable and in control. Just stand with your feet planted a bit apart and relax. You don’t have to go the “full Slash”, although that can work if you are prepared to commit to it, but it does make you look more like you belong on the stage. Be careful not to do it when you’re offstage, or you risk looking like a tory MP who has been on a course and is adopting a Blackadder 3 power stance! 

 

I have just been to see a band that a couple of friends play in. the BL / guitarist / singer / frontman is an excellent musician and engaging enough. The rest of the band can play OK, but there is no show – the gaps between each song are too long, everyone on stage is static and there is no real communication with the audience. People enjoyed listening to them, but won’t remember them tomorrow and won’t go out of their way to see them again. Putting on some sort of a show (and we are not talking being OTT, just communicating with the audience) is important!

 

[Stub Mandrel]

On 18/09/2021 at 07:16, gareth said:

It depends on the kind of music the band is playing

 

We were playing many rock anthems and stuff that was charting at a time when guitar bands were popular

 

So the audience often knew the songs well and any deviation made from the original would have been unacceptable 

 

I can see if you’re playing old blues covers or less well known country songs there is more room for a personal interpretation of material

 

Well last night virtually nothing we played was like the original... the other band I'm in are happy to spend 20 minutes deciding which live performance of a song we are going to cover, and the singer spends hours studying how the original artists phrase each song.

[TimR]

Usually the original artists don't play it the same live as they do on the recording. 

[ubit]

9 hours ago, Maude said:

 

I remember Flea saying something along the lines of always giving the best possible show you can, even if only one person is at a show, that one person has come to see you and deserves the best you can give. 

 

Whilst energy at a gig between audience and band is definitely a reciprocated thing, and it's sometimes difficult to give your all when there's a poor turnout, I always try to remember Fleas words. 

 

 

Incredibly hard to do if you have no one getting up and silence after every number. You start to question is there something wrong? I remember playing at a party once and it was far too bright. No one wants to get up and make a tit of themselves when everyone can see. Towards the end of the night a guy spoke to me and I moaned about the lack of effort on the party goers.  "Oh, you were fine, once you started playing more dancey stuff people got up"

We started the night off playing our best numbers. Numbers that we knew would normally get people up.

I was cheesed off with the venue for having the dance in full light.

 

Many years before we played at a wedding out of town. We arrived and there was a boy and a girl on fiddle and accordion. The poor souls were trying but no one was up on the floor. I went straight up and set up our lights and turned the house lights off. Immediately people got off their seats. The couple were quite grateful.

[gareth]

Tribute bands should play songs exactly the same as the original band played them - no deviation - unless the original bands deviated when playing live and these deviant live versions are well known and liked amongst the original bands fans in which case it is appropriate for the tribute band to play these deviant versions 

[Trueno]

I’m all for spicing up covers and playing it your own way… we’ve made a definite decision to do that.

I also believe you can’t dress too outrageously… and you can’t move around too much on stage, although it was easier when I played sax… at one gig me and the trumpet player jumped off the stage and started jigging with the audience. I believe you should put on a show.

[Trueno]

9 minutes ago, gareth said:

Tribute bands should play songs exactly the same as the original band played them - no deviation - unless the original bands deviated when playing live and these deviant live versions are well known and liked amongst the original bands fans in which case it is appropriate for the tribute band to play these deviant versions 

Totally agree for tribute bands. The Springsteen tribute I was once in would spend ages discussing which particular bootleg recording they were going to stick to for each song. But it wasn’t for me.

[Lozz196]

The eye contact thing does work but it can backfire, as many people have come up to me and mentioned that I looked like I was going to jump into the audience and kill them. I wasn’t, I was just looking to see if the audience  were enjoying the bands set, so I make sure I now smile a bit more on stage. Better to look simple than like an axe murderer.

[Nail Soup]

11 hours ago, peteb said:

As regards to point 2, a trick I was told as a kid was to make eye contact with someone about ten or fifteen rows back in the audience.

I hope one day to play a gig which has actual rows of people, and as many as 10 or 15!

[gareth]

1 hour ago, Trueno said:

Totally agree for tribute bands. The Springsteen tribute I was once in would spend ages discussing which particular bootleg recording they were going to stick to for each song. But it wasn’t for me.

Was it successful 

 

A Springsteen tribute band seems so obvious but I’ve yet to see one

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

23 minutes ago, gareth said:

Was it successful 

 

A Springsteen tribute band seems so obvious but I’ve yet to see one

 

I saw one at the Palace Theatre. They were really good.

[Trueno]

1 hour ago, gareth said:

Was it successful 

 

A Springsteen tribute band seems so obvious but I’ve yet to see one

I don’t know… I was long gone. Part of the problem was a huge amount of travel for me… and my dad was in hospital and very ill. They were good musicians and real enthusiasts. My heart wasn’t in it… I’m a soul and funk guy… that’s why I’m currently in a classic rock band (???)

[gareth]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

The eye contact thing does work but it can backfire, as many people have come up to me and mentioned that I looked like I was going to jump into the audience and kill them. I wasn’t, I was just looking to see if the audience  were enjoying the bands set, so I make sure I now smile a bit more on stage. Better to look simple than like an axe murderer.

Sunglasses could be the answer - alla  Jeff Beck 

[TimR]

Just smile and nod at random points on the back wall if you can't do the eye contact thing. No one will know. 

[TimR]

4 hours ago, gareth said:

Tribute bands should play songs exactly the same as the original band played them - no deviation - unless the original bands deviated when playing live and these deviant live versions are well known and liked amongst the original bands fans in which case it is appropriate for the tribute band to play these deviant versions 

If you're in a tribute band there's a fair chance you have the same instrumentation. 

 

If the song you're covering has a 9 piece with keyboards, brass, backing singers etc, and you have guitar, bass and drums, you're going to really struggle playing the tune exactly as per the original. 

 

Just get the structure, chords, melody and feel right.