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Original Bands and Musicians: Are You Out There?


David Himes

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I have done, and still do, both covers and originals. I am currently recording a 3rd full-length with Vestiges of Ecstasy; though we are no longer an active band so this is a slow process. I also joined a band called WHOA!TIGER about a year ago that is an original rock band.

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Original music around here for me has been a dead scene. Not many places to go to see it. At least not that I'm aware. Most of the original music bands I knew gave it up. There were these guys:

 

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/duresse

 

who I really really liked. Eventually gave up a while back. And then there were these guys:

 

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/papermoonsounds

 

Love the song "Build It Up". Also eventually gave it up. Then there's this guy who is still out there doing his thing but doesn't perform - he records and releases but isn't a live act:

 

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/spaceportcarnival

 

The one original guy I have seen who is a new up and comer (though he's in his 50s) is this guy:

 

http://www.tommyrainesmusic.com/Tommy_Raines_Music/Home.html

 

Who I think is a terrific songwriter. He did a private gig for friends to debut his new album of songs. But he's not out gigging a circuit so to speak. He tries to arrange little get-togethers.

 

 

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I have done' date=' and still do, both covers and originals. I am currently recording a 3rd full-length with Vestiges of Ecstasy; though we are no longer an active band so this is a slow process. I also joined a band called WHOA!TIGER about a year ago that is an original rock band.[/quote']

 

Love the name! WHOA!TIGER Links to music?

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My group plays mostly music we wrote almost exclusively at privates/corporates. We spent a decade doing clubs may be twice a week on average, but once agents started offering gigs paying five times as much, we pretty much ended the public gigging. One guy moved an hour away and that made doing club gigs difficult and unprofitable. We have no website, no facebook, no email blasts, no promo, no press, no business cards, and no banner :-)

We do have a full length cd, and the agent plays it for the prospects, or just talks us up, and offers a gig and asks how much we want. Then it either happens or it doesn't. Just unknown old guys who like to play music and get paid for doing it. After 22 years, it looks like we are still not done.

 

http://www.ourstage.com/profile/guitarrasycongas

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Yes, "I'm still here". I do write originals but I play covers, originals just don't pay....covers do. That's just how it is on Long Island(NY)in 2014. If someone knows different. PLEASE SHARE. I did play nothing but originals 3 sets a night for about 6 years (1990-1996) in CODE BLUE. (we learned at one point 2 other bands also used the same name...despite our trademark on it...but back on topic). Now after a hiatus from the CODE BLUE years..I am playing nothing but covers. I am a little older, but I think thats helped to understand the whole situation. I know alot more now..and I am itching to release originals in 2015. If so,having the audience from all the cover gigs will help. I am interested in anyone talking/posting on this topic. To me: the whole backbone to music is creativity!

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I have an original band called Boom Stick that's slowly getting our wheels turning. I'm trying to steer it more into a sincere band direction, but it's definitely a laid back kind of thing. We've been working on our demo for quite some time.

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I'm in both an original band and a cover band. The original band has one album and working on another. We play a few gigs now and then and we never make any money. There are usually two or three other bands on the bill when we gig and the majority of the crowd is made up of band members and their wives/girl-friends. The cover band makes money and plays for big crowds. There are pro's and con's for each.

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Good stuff. I'm a cover guy, I can't write a song to save my life. As a sound guy , I provide for a couple venues. It's almost all original stuff. 2 - 3 bands per gig. The odd time we get a band that plays the whole night. They do a mic of covers and originals. 0CF93129-51CE-43A7-8EF6-FE3D631752EF.jpg I'm just about to leave to load in for tonight's gig, 3 original acts. Then tomorrow night I'm providing sound in the next town for 4 original bands. Should be a good time. It will be a busy weekend, but I'll get to hear some great original music! I'll grab a CD from each band. 90 % of what I listen to is original music from bands I've done sound for.

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Many of the bands I've had the pleasure of being in during the last 15 years have done some originals. I particularly enjoyed the song BADGE that was written by a blue grass flat picker. (Named that for the same reason that Cream's BADBE was named. Not the same song.) Also a song about the Roswell incident from the alien's point of view. (Broke Down Starship Blues. Very cute.) I think it should be easy to have a money making band that was a majority covers with good originals tossed in.

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Glad to see original musicians are out there! My column, 'The Gig Kahuna,' is aimed mostly at original artists, although cover musicians can pick up a few tidbits as well.

 

Sorry to see many of you have been less than successful over the years. Enter my column (and my book). I at least like to think it adds a whole new dimension to Harmony Central. I want to see more of you get something happening.

 

Of course, there are no guarantees, but I can promise reading my column (and my book) will at least maximize your chances of success in the pursuit of your dream.

 

The music scene seems to be in a shambles these days, and it's not going to fix itself. But help is on the way, so please tell your friends about the new column in Harmony Central.

 

I welcome your feedback and comments.

 

Cheers!

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I DO think its cool people are still pushing originals..but I cannot forget all the hard work We did for years straight only to find out that there are/were some major monopolies in place, and that One would need alot of capital just to pierce that ceiling. Hard work and good music was not nearly enough. We tried from 1989-1996.

The music? Good enough for Cheap Trick to discuss covering one of our songs. Hard Work? Every day pretty much for about 10 years. And sadly, people were disapointed once were were gone..but local radio wouldnt play Us (all the local radio shows were closing down..I guess advertisers weren't drawn to supporting local bands)..and local stores wouldnt carry Us (but for a handful of independant operators that are now long gone). I think now,more than ever..in 2014..it takes funds from somewhere else to do a proper launch in a major market..and the funds to study what worked,,,what didn't and ,,,,rinse and repeat. I'm not happy to say that, but that is how it seems.

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This Friday I'm providing sound for an open mic at a local lounge. We do it the second Friday of the month. Then I'm providing sound at a different venue on Sunday. Busy busy, I'll have Saturday off to get stuff done around the house. I provide a drum kit at my open mic so that sets it apart from the other open mics that happen around town. We all are in contact with each other, and we all chose different weekends so we aren't competing on those nights. 0CF93129-51CE-43A7-8EF6-FE3D631752EF.jpg Pretty light setup. 2 tops, 2 monitors, 3 mics, drum kit, couple guitar amps, DI for bass. Remote mic via iPad. A good time, and a place for the kids to have an open mic of their own. The others are frequented by a bit older crowd. 4EB3BDC6-E777-44A0-B324-923582451C2F.jpg

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I had an original side project going until recently. I hadn't done much in the way of originals since the 80's. One of my best friends and I were writing a bunch of songs. We decided to put out a CD. We got the drummer from our cover band and would do a few gigs a year. It was a lot of fun, but there just aren't that many venues locally that support original music. We would drive to San Francisco to do gigs and the scene seemed kind of dead there, too. Unfortunately, my friend moved 4 hours from here, making it almost impossible to keep it going. We still write and send each other files to work on, but even that has slowed to a snails pace.

I will say that we had a blast writing, recording, and gigging these tunes. But, I always new it would be short lived. Too bad there isn't more support for original music. You would think in the San Francisco Bay Area there would be a hotbed of original music. If it's there, they certainly aren't doing much gigging.

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You would think in the San Francisco Bay Area there would be a hotbed of original music. If it's there' date=' they certainly aren't doing much gigging.[/quote']

 

I just don't think many originals bands gig much anymore. They put out CDs and occasionally have a little private gathering. Unless I'm completely missing the scene around here.

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I've lived in SF my whole life, and have done tons of gigs playing originals. I spent ten years in a Latin rock band and we played dive bars in the city, the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, and everything in between. Played the street fairs, the festivals, and plenty of clubs. Jazz gigs, salsa gigs, flamenco gigs, rumba gigs, rock gigs, all with some originals, some with just about all originals. In fact, I'd say there are more original gigs in town than cover gigs. I've played in a few full time cover bands, and all those gigs were out of town, or full time road gigs. In the last month I've done two original music gigs at great venues-one public, one private. I think that although it is way tougher to make money doing clubs playing anything, there are still plenty of paying gigs for original music. But, if you are in a rock band doing three band a night bills, you are likely going home without any cash unless you have a really solid following.

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Up in Canada' date=' this was in a small tourist town called Jasper. I was really looking forward to the gig, it was a lot of fun. The band loved the setup, impressed with the stage sound. It was a good time!! Here's a quick clip...[/quote']

Nice! Looks like you guys are on the right track.

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