Covers: To gig or not to gig!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Wez
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a point not discussed

I think the ante is raised when the band is very talented, and has a keyboard player. It makes the "listening" much more interesting. It sucks to hear cover bands without keyboardists, do cover songs that were recorded with keys. Big disappointment.

But... when they keys are there, and the band is working on some cool exchanges between instruements, and complementing each other in tone colors that you don't usually get with an all guitar band.. that raises the ante.

Keys help, but when they keyboard part is also intricate and/or utilizes a really cool sound that is an ear catcher... that adds to the wow-factor.

I'm a musician... and more or less, could not give a damn about the lyrics. I want to hear instruments with exceptional arrangements. Add trumpet, sax, and trombone, too... to up the ante.... but I definitely dig Rock the most, I think.
 
Toddskins said:
I'm a musician... and more or less, could not give a damn about the lyrics. I want to hear instruments with exceptional arrangements. Add trumpet, sax, and trombone, too... to up the ante.... but I definitely dig Rock the most, I think.
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I have found over the years that a majority of my audiences were not musicians, and only were concerned about singing along with their favorite song ( "Freebird!!!" :mad: ) or something they could dance to. Strictly instrumental masturbation was reserved for a key audience, because most of the time, if you were going off on a tangent on a really cool tune, the audience was tuning out...
 
Lyric point, clarified

Let me clarify....

I meant, that the message content has never been a big deal to me..... not that there were no words in the music.

My point was that between lyrics and music... the music is more important to me.... not that there is not a melody to sing with the music.

While on this point.. .regarding lyrics... i might add that I find words that are deep tend to gain my interest better than shallow. A song talking about "my baby... how sexy she is.. etc. etc... is not as interesting as say... words like Croce's "Cats in the Cradle".
 
Toddskins said:
Let me clarify.... words like Croce's "Cats in the Cradle".
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Yeah,... it's especially "deep" when you realize Harry Chapin wrote "Cats in the Cradle"! :eek:
 
I've been reading this thread and simply had to respond to the people who suggest that playing covers has less artistic value than originals.

By far the musicians I've worked with who were the mpst talented, most musically creative, the best at vamping/jamming, with the most knowledge of musical theory and performance skills (all things that I think most peopel would agree are important factors in determining a "good musician") were musicians who played in cover bands. It takes even more skill to take a cover song and "make it your own". It is a joy and a continuous learning experiance to work with that level of musician.

Many of these people wrote exceptionally good original material which they may have recorded or perfromed in a different venue or even on occasion may have worked into a cover band set list.

It takes significant musical talent to learn and perform a vast array of music from different artists and in different musical genres. Those skills can be extremely valuable when creating original material.

On the other side of the coin - I have seen and heard way too many "musicians' who claim to have too much artistist integrety to "play covers" and in many, many cases those musicians have less overall musical talent or knowledge of music and they tend to be rather "one dimentional" musicians.

If people think playing covers is not musically valid - they have either been in the wrong bands, heard the wrong bands or simple are presenting very uninformed opinions.

If people choose to perform original material, great, if you chose not to perform, great - if you prefer to sit at home and rerod, watch TV or mentally mastubate, great ---- but don't act like that makes you somehow better than talented musicians who choose to play cover material.
 
mikeh said:
If people choose to perform original material, great, if you chose not to perform, great - if you prefer to sit at home and rerod, watch TV or mentally mastubate, great ---- but don't act like that makes you somehow better than talented musicians who choose to play cover material.
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I couldn't agree more (Except for the mental masturbate thing.) with you. Seems like I have a cd of Dave Mathews covering "Wild Horses". Evidently he's not above that. :D :D Dave
 
If I had to do music as a job, I'd not only starve to death, I wouldn't be able to drink beer!! I'd be BROKE!!! I admit, I suck, so anyway anyone can make money playing music, that's way cool. Covers, or not. If you are playing in front of people, and some may have even paid, and you get paid, or free drinks, you did something right. If people enjoy what you do, and you do also, how much better can it get?
 
Being an excellent musician does not necessarily mean that you are an excellent songwriter and visa versa. The whole point of this thread is to discuss ways for songwriters (like myself) to perform and get people to listen to our own material without having to depend on playing covers. Of course there are brilliant musicians out there who have spent years studying music and playing in cover bands who are perfectly happy with that. Its all about having a choice. If you play loads of covers and slip in one or two of your own songs, will it really make a difference or will you still be remembered as someone who plays covers, will your band still be called a cover band? There are architects and there are builders. Very rarily do you find a builder who can do the architects job. They would probably not continue laying bricks if they could! ;)
 
Monte Montgomery

the edzell said:
Just because you play covers doesn't mean you have to play them note for note like the artist. Most bands aren't going to sound like ABC or XYZ (or the Eagles, Zepplin, Beatles etc...) anyway so why try? Why not put your personal stamp on it. Most people aren't going to care unless their a die hard fan of the band, and even then they should just go see the oringal band or at least a "tribute" version.

Medley's seem to be a crowd favorite. Find a bunch of songs in the same key and loop them together. I saw a local band that tied in Pearl Jam's "Even Flow" with John Melencamps "Pink Houses" Pink Floyd's "Brick in the Wall" and President's of the United State's "Lump."

As far as the Free Bird / Stairway thing, well there was a band that did Stairway to Free Bird. (Free Bird Music with Stairway lyrics.)
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Monte montgomery does this one (Stairway to Freebird) and also a 30 second rendition of 'The wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald'. They are both hilarious.
 
Wez,

You do make an very valid point when you indicate that if a builder could be an architech they would not be laying brick - much as a songwriter would not haul gear to a club to play covers if he instead could stay in the studio and write.

I'm sure many of us would love to lose the day job or the cover band gig if given an opportunity to support ourselves writing or performing original material.

Sadly that can be a reality for only a select and fortunate few. Most who have achieved that level of success paid serious dues and lived rather destitute lives to realize that goal.

If you have songs in you and you need them to be heard, then you must decide how much you are willing to sacrifice to achieve that goal. However, I would then suggest you need to be in one of the music Meccas where you can partake in songwriter showcases and other forum that will expose you to industry representitives.

Playing a set of original material in the corner bar (vs. cover material) may provide personal satisfaction, but it will do little (if anyhing) to advance a songwriting career.
 
Get the crowd involved

When I lived in so cal (many moons ago) I was in a band called the 'Purple helmets'. We worked out a thing with a few places we played where we would throw in challenge songs. Like we would play the Dixie Dreggs version of 'Kashmir' and whoever named the song right got a free drink. We also did a country version of 'Master of Puppets'. It was wierd but kept it interesting.
 
honedawg said:
When I lived in so cal (many moons ago) I was in a band called the 'Purple helmets'. We worked out a thing with a few places we played where we would throw in challenge songs. Like we would play the Dixie Dreggs version of 'Kashmir' and whoever named the song right got a free drink. We also did a country version of 'Master of Puppets'. It was wierd but kept it interesting.
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Now this sounds pretty cool. Very good way to keep music interesting. And fun.
 
I wish I could hear a country version of Master of Puppets. No chance of a recording of that? :p
 
Rokket said:
When I was in a band, we did about 90% covers, because we played different venues every night, covering about 4 different genres of music. Most people do want to hear their favorite band's music, and it was only after we established our reputation that we were able to slip in our own material. I know that times have changed, but I think you need to play covers to establish yourself, and slip in an original now and then. And then eventually, the ratio will change to where you are doing more and more of your original stuff....
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i agree with this, I was in a band for about three years and we started off playing covers and by the end of the three years we were able to create a large fan base mostly because at the beginning we were playing songs that people wanted to hear so they stuck around. This is jsut my experience though
 
Possibly??

fierywater said:
I wish I could hear a country version of Master of Puppets. No chance of a recording of that? :p
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I've got a parody project on the back burner and have thought about including that one. The orginal idea for it came from an old dr. Demento show where a guy did a country version of 'Purple Rain'. I'd have to track down my old bandmates to do it justice.
 
honedawg said:
I've got a parody project on the back burner and have thought about including that one. The orginal idea for it came from an old dr. Demento show where a guy did a country version of 'Purple Rain'. I'd have to track down my old bandmates to do it justice.
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DO IT!!!
DO IT!!
DO IT!! :D
 
i play a few choice covers when i play out, songs i like to play, but otherwise i agree with you - play your own music. there are plently of other outlets for poeple to hear the popular radio hits of the day.

of course - you've got captivate the audience with your music, otherwise the venue wont really want to rebook you and you'll have no audience to feed your performance. so thats the trick.

my solution to this problem is to put 1000% percent into playing every song I perform. people seem to really respond if you are entirely present in your performance, ie. really feeling what you are doing. authenticity.

just my 2 cents.
 
Don't forget you have to pay for all those covers you play. You don't want to be a communist, do you?

Seriouly though has anyone ever gotten in trouble for playing cover songs from BMI or that other company ASCAP or somthing? I think the going rate these days is 1.615% of revenues or $250 whichever is greater.

-Bradly
 
bradly said:
Don't forget you have to pay for all those covers you play. You don't want to be a communist, do you?

Seriouly though has anyone ever gotten in trouble for playing cover songs from BMI or that other company ASCAP or somthing? I think the going rate these days is 1.615% of revenues or $250 whichever is greater.

-Bradly
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The band doesn't pay that, the venue is supposed to (as I understand it). They just pay a yearly fee for having live music.

I worked for a club that did not allow you to play covers because they would not pay ASCAP/BMI.
 
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