Choosing Songs In A Covers Band

[BassAdder60]

1 minute ago, SuperSeagull said:

Setlist from our last gig. We've a desire to get more contemporary and well known stuff into the set - the band started as a blues outfit so it is a bit of a journey.

Call Me The Breeze

Wishing Well

All Along Watchtower

Sharp Dressed Man / Tush

Rockin In Free World

Above It All (Original)

Help Me

Knocking Heavens Door

Dakota

Downstream (The Rainmakers)

Satisfaction

Another Brick

Creep

Stray Cat Strut

All Summertime (Original)

Roadhouse Blues

Keep Your Hands

Mollys Chambers

Cherry Wine (Original)

Take Me To The River

Walking By Myself

No Tomorrow (Original)

Ship to Wreck

Shadow Play

Californication

You Really Got Me

Taking Care of Business

Learn To Fly

Face Card Blues (Original)

Johnny B Good / Medley

Jean Genie

Don’t You Forget

Rio

Loaded On Gin (Original)

Great songs but definitely not my kind of setlist as I prefer more rock, punk, pop. I’ve done several of those songs and they are plodders in my opinion and you could do with a few more recent stuff I think. We all like different things but your best on that list are 

Simple Minds

Duran Duran 

Creep 

 

Again that’s my opinion and you will get others who will love that set which is the wonderful world of musical choice 

 

[Muzz]

48 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

Hard disagree on this point!  That's maybe how your band works, but it's not universal.  Everyone gets an equal say in our band, and everyone has a veto, they're just not d!cks about using it.  We're an open minded four piece and are happy to give anything within our collective technical capabilities a go, and let the audience reaction be our ultimate arbiter.

That level of sensibly-deployed democracy is as welcome as it's rare, but I've always considered singists as First Among Equals; not only do they have to be able to technically sing the notes (in this they're on a par with the musicians being able to play it), but they're the focus of the audience's attention, and a good band needs a good singist/frontperson, and they are much better when they're comfortable singing the song, too, and selling it to the audience - I've been in bands where an otherwise completely reasonable singer wouldn't cover a female-sung song. Not particularly helpful or open-minded of him, it was just how he was (he did try a few, but he was so uncomfortable that everyone else was, too), and we either lived with it or changed the band. An extreme example, obviously, because there are many degrees of this, but singing in front of strangers is a far more exposed and personal thing than playing an instrument.  Some personalities take to it, some don't, and that bit is not an arbiter of actual singing talent. Quite the reverse sometimes when drunk girls in the audience want to sing a song...

[Lozz196]

Quite agree, it doesn’t matter how good a song is, if the singer either doesn’t have the range for it, or simply doesn’t feel comfortable with it for whatever reason then that has to be the leader on not doing it. No matter good us musicians are we have to acknowledge that in the majority it’s the singer that sells the band. 

[neepheid]

7 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

Quite agree, it doesn’t matter how good a song is, if the singer either doesn’t have the range for it, or simply doesn’t feel comfortable with it for whatever reason then that has to be the leader on not doing it. No matter good us musicians are we have to acknowledge that in the majority it’s the singer that sells the band. 

 

Hence why I said "anything within our collective technical capabilities"...

[gjones]

You can't make a singer sing a song they don't want to sing.

 

All the successful bands that I ever joined weren't democracies. It was the singers band and we played what the singer wanted to play. That was the 'unwritten' contract we signed up to.

 

The democratic bands I have been in were all complete failures, because band members would suggest songs and would get cheesed off when they were ignored.

[neepheid]

Sounds like I'm in the minority in finding agreeable people to play music with

 

[rumble_on]

The number of spotify plays is a good 'objective' reference point as to how popular a song is amongst the general public, there are some great songs I've wanted to add to our setlist but when you look at the number of plays, you quickly realise that they might not be as popular as you think they are

[Leonard Smalls]

1 hour ago, gjones said:

It was the singers band and we played what the singer wanted to play

I could never sign up to that!

As far as I'm concerned, I don't just want to be the singer's backing band, and no musician should be forced to play what they don't want to...

Not only that, but I'm an awkward beggar who tends to hate most popular songs. Perhaps that's why I've only ever played in originals bands, or perhaps it's because I've never found one who wanted to play songs by Parliament, Primus and Praxis!

[diskwave]

What sounds good at home on ur boom box or on the radio wont always sound good live. Just noticed ..'Call Me' above. Thats the type of thing that works live, well written, danceable and drives hard. Its a very tricky thing putting together a really good set which keeps people entertained... been there a million times and it never got any easier with the years. Its that thing when u look out and the crowd are totally ignoring you then that tune has to go. You gotta be ruthless which can be painful when ur fav gets the chop.

[gjones]

32 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

I could never sign up to that!

As far as I'm concerned, I don't just want to be the singer's backing band, and no musician should be forced to play what they don't want to...

Not only that, but I'm an awkward beggar who tends to hate most popular songs. Perhaps that's why I've only ever played in originals bands, or perhaps it's because I've never found one who wanted to play songs by Parliament, Primus and Praxis!

You're not the only one but I've found that if I want to play bass in a long term band then those are usually the rules.

 

Of course I could start my own band as the singer......

 

[BigRedX]

9 minutes ago, gjones said:

Of course I could start my own band as the singer......

 

 

Or you could write your own songs. I've found the only sure route to musical happiness for me to to have had a hand in writing the songs that I play.

 

Getting the thread back on track, if you are going to do covers, then also make sure that they are songs that suit the line-up of your band as well as the abilities of the various band members. When I was doing covers there were numerous songs that we thought we'd try only find that as a band they simply didn't gel. Also there was a band in the practice room next to mine earlier this week absolutely murdering some of the covers they were rehearsing. I wouldn't fancy having to catch them in a pub any time soon.

[asingardenof]

If it's something our singist can sing, isn't too difficult for the rest of us to play, and which we can all play on, it stands a good chance.

 

Not being Oasis or Fleetwood Mac seems to be a theme with singists as ours hates them as well, despite the rest of us being well up for doing Go Your Own Way. He's all for us doing Mr Brightside though, and it'll probably be in our set later in the year.

[SuperSeagull]

2 hours ago, asingardenof said:

If it's something our singist can sing, isn't too difficult for the rest of us to play, and which we can all play on, it stands a good chance.

 

Not being Oasis or Fleetwood Mac seems to be a theme with singists as ours hates them as well, despite the rest of us being well up for doing Go Your Own Way. He's all for us doing Mr Brightside though, and it'll probably be in our set later in the year.

If the singer were saying I can't do that stuff I'd be more sympathetic but this is the guitarist saying I don't want to do anything by Fleetwood Mac or Oasis but I would like to do some Joanne Shaw Taylor 🤔

[WalMan]

12 hours ago, Greg Edwards69 said:

My band fell into that trap years ago. We'd build up momentum and then lose the audience with a lesser-known, albeit great song, that we put in because we like it. We realised in time our job was to entertain the audience, not educate them. Songs like Sex on Fire and Mr Brightside are seen as something of a cliche amongst the cover band community, but, they always, always work, so we suck it up and play them!

 

Another piece of advice we were given by an agent, from feedback they had received for all of their artists from a number of venues was skip the slow songs. Whilst the singer may love to belt out a power ballad, or the guitarist to get lost in a lengthy pink floyd solo, the audience will get bored.  Get them up dancing and keep the energy level up.

Slightly sad but true, and there's only so many venues that I know of where the punters are for whatever you throw at them  

 

We still operate to a one man veto that can frustrate at times, but have managed a set of covers that seem to work, particularly the second set now.

 

To think that 15 years ago we used to end sets with "White Punks on Dope" that used to go a storm (once punters were educated in the joys of The Tubes  ) and 30 years ago we were doing many of the same venues with only a cover in the encore and otherwise originals throughout.

[tauzero]

I was in one band where the guitarist decided on the songs to be done by the simple expedient of never learning anything that he didn't want to do, and just telling everyone what we were going to do next. He was also an idle shit who never helped carrying anyone else's gear in or out.

 

However, more positively, one band did a few of the hoary old ones, plus some that rather fewer covers bands did but that audiences would be familiar with (Back on the Chain Gang, Brass in Pocket, Because the Night), and, yes, Go your own way and Don't Stop by Fleetwood Mac. The system with that band was that we had a spreadsheet where we listed suggestions and there was a column for each member to vote in, ranging from "definitely yes", through "OK", "not keen", and finally "over my dead body". That seemed to work quite well.

 

The last band before the current one had songs mainly selected by the singer/guitarist that fitted vaguely in a genre - generally 80s, with a bit of early UB40, punk, and David Bowie thrown in, that he could play guitar to (he isn't a great guitarist, as he is the first to admit, but he's a good singist). He'd come to a rehearsal with several suggestions for songs and we'd agree on some of them and take others into consideration. I did put down two vetoes - one preemptive one on "Red Red F*cking Whine" and one after a little consideration on "Dreadlock Holiday".

 

The current band is tending slightly towards the overexposed section of pub covers, with suggestions from everyone and some of those being adopted without fear or favour, though we try to do the better-known ones. "Mr Brightside" got discarded because the singer/guitarist couldn't manage the vocals and guitar, and the second guitarist who does some singing couldn't sing it (and I couldn't either). We'll decide on something to give a try and see if it warrants bringing into the set, and then whether it should be kept in ("Get Lucky" managed one outing and has been permanently dropped, "Don't you forget about me" has had one outing and we decided we needed to do some work on it). One of the two slower numbers has been temporarily withdrawn ("Weather with you"), the other ("Tennessee Whiskey") is the first set closer.

[Mykesbass]

7 hours ago, SuperSeagull said:

If the singer were saying I can't do that stuff I'd be more sympathetic but this is the guitarist saying I don't want to do anything by Fleetwood Mac or Oasis but I would like to do some Joanne Shaw Taylor 🤔

From the look of your set list and this post it seems like there are two separate acts within one band - the pub covers and a blues band. No harm in being both, just not at the same time.

[SteveXFR]

I watched a covers band at a local event recently and three songs in, me and my mate managed to successfully predict ten songs that were in the rest of their set.

So many covers bands all play the same songs. Be less predictable, choose something different. I must have heard dozens of bands play Hey Jude, Freebird, Purple Haze (badly) and God Save The Queen by the Sex Pistols. 

[Newfoundfreedom]

This was a constant bone of contention in my old covers band. We were all from very different musical backgrounds and liked different things. Rhythm guitarist was a punk. Lead guitarist into old school rock n roll. I come from a rock / metal background. Drummer was into jazz, and we had a female singer so certain male lead songs just didn't work. We weren't a professional band (as in doing it for the money) so there were certain songs I just wouldn't play. Anything by Oasis or The Shadows for example (both were suggested). It might sound selfish or stubborn. But it depends why you're doing it. If you're getting paid then yeah sure. You have to give the audience what they want. If it's a hobby then you should be playing things you enjoy, otherwise what's the point? 

[Leonard Smalls]

5 minutes ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

If it's a hobby then you should be playing things you enjoy, otherwise what's the point? 

Indeed!

I play in a band mainly for my own pleasure... If some poor unfortunate enjoys it as well that's a bonus!

 

[Greg Edwards69]

1 hour ago, SteveXFR said:

I watched a covers band at a local event recently and three songs in, me and my mate managed to successfully predict ten songs that were in the rest of their set.

So many covers bands all play the same songs. Be less predictable, choose something different. I must have heard dozens of bands play Hey Jude, Freebird, Purple Haze (badly) and God Save The Queen by the Sex Pistols. 

I’ve seen the same thing many times but on the other hand, I’m in one of those type of bands as well. 
 

I recognise that us cover band musicians a hard audience to please, but l also realise that’s not who I’m playing for. If those “cover band bingo” songs continue to get good reactions and keep the dance floor filled, then I’ll continue to play them. 

[uncle psychosis]

I'd respectfully suggest that if the collective view is that covers bands should avoid "songs that bore the shit out of the audience" then your guitarist is 100% bang on in their veto on anything to do with Fleetwood Mac. 😇

[Jack]

19 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

Also there was a band in the practice room next to mine earlier this week absolutely murdering some of the covers they were rehearsing. I wouldn't fancy having to catch them in a pub any time soon.

We played Anti Hero about 15 times about 10 different ways this week. Couldn't make it fit. I worry what the band next to us thought, but we've learnt and won't be playing it live.

[Woodinblack]

The drummer is in another group, and their group is going to have to not do a venue that he really likes doing, because his singer doesn't feel like it. So he wanted us to do it, but our singer is on holiday then, so we have asked the singer that was in another group if she can do it, she knows most of our set and currently is bandless. We are trying to get a 3 hour set together, so we sent her ours, she sent her last set. I was surprised to see then do 'So What' on her set list, and then a little dissapointed to hear that P!nk also did a version, so it probably wasn't the Anti-Nowhere leagues version!

[Woodinblack]

We are also playing at a Euro Screening pub on sunday, before some game that is apparently happening (I am not someone know knows or cares about football*) so the keyboard player decided on wednesday to suggest we played that three lions song. I do detest it, but he is probably right that it would go down a storm, but somewhat annoyed about playing a song with no rehursal live, because it will be a car crash, we are not the sort of group that can do that sort of thing

 

 

* actually not true, I care in a very negative way.

[diskwave]

8 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

We are also playing at a Euro Screening pub on sunday, before some game that is apparently happening (I am not someone know knows or cares about football*) so the keyboard player decided on wednesday to suggest we played that three lions song. I do detest it, but he is probably right that it would go down a storm, but somewhat annoyed about playing a song with no rehursal live, because it will be a car crash, we are not the sort of group that can do that sort of thing

 

 

* actually not true, I care in a very negative way.

Goodness your brave. If the game starts going the wrong way get yourselves and the gear outta there asap.