writing originals vs. playing covers

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mr. C
  • Start date Start date
we had a club owner who loved to bust our balls over paying some kind of ascap fee. always made me feel like crap. punk ass bich. noe i feel bettr.
 
w00t! I have a gig tomorrow night, almost all originals but we're doing a crappy T-Rex cover (not my choice).
 
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I know this is contrary to 99% of the majority, but...

When we go out on the weekends to listen to music and dance, we want to hear something that's familiar and that we can tap our feet to. That's what seems to get the crowd up and dancin' and havin' a good time... It's cool if they throw in a few originals (if they are up-beat and of the same genre as the rest of their tunes) but not the other way 'round, with mostly originals. If we walk in and it's some guy on an acoustic droning on with some rhyme that he's made up, we turn right around. When we see a billboard announcing 'the Somebody's, playing a ton of tunes you've never heard', we look elsewhere.

As far as putting together a group, the closest I'd come to an original would be some 'b-side' tunes that most people have never heard of but that were done by a band that we dig. That kind of thing can be very interesting. And the covers don't need to be note-for-note identical, a bands interpretation is cool! A cover will always be a 'cover' not the original.

There's an unpopular opinion, but just to say not everyone is of the same mind...

r
 
I am in a similar situation where my band lost the guitar player and we had a mix of 50-60% covers to originals and found a replacement with 20 new originals. We had lost 1 set of originals but gained 2 sets and 1/2 the band wanted to keep a 3:1 cover/original mix and new guitar player envisioned this being an originals band with the few covers mixed in. My take on our gigs is the crowd reacts and gets up when they hear a cover and leave the floor when it's an unfamiliar tune and we don't do enough to get a following so how do we keep the floor energy up with the originals?
 
People react to familiarity. You can have the best song in the world, but if the audience isn't familiar with it, then they won't react well to it.
 
Seafroggys said:
People react to familiarity. You can have the best song in the world, but if the audience isn't familiar with it, then they won't react well to it.
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That's why I always stressed, radio time.

Do interviews, anything else, to get into the public eye.

If you do not have it, there's a good chance your gigs, and dance floors; will be empty.

Music, is just like prostitution; you have to sell yourself.

With class.
 
You must be clear about what you want to do and where you want to go. You need to find like minded people who want to take the same path. Of course you will need compromises. But if your goal is to create originals, start there, and works towards that.
 
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