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What do you think for my First 50 Bar Band Tunes?


sventvkg

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Wanted to do some different stuff but still stuff that works in the bars around here while we work on our Corporate list. I think we're close to signing off on these as our first 50 tracks..Most of em will have click, Bass and some percussion, FX etc. I have Mark on Keys and Vocals, Marietta on BG Vox and a Few lead songs and Me on Lead Vocals and guitar along with the drummer...Again should we have 4 piece gig pay we can add the live bass player but right now the plan is 3 piece with a female vocalist. 

Are any of them real dogs?

9/05/13 EDIT: Changed it up. Hopefully for the better. :)

 

  1. Man in the Box C S
  2. Dancing In The Dark
  3. Sweet home Alabama
  4. Summer of 69
  5. Life In The Fast Lane
  6. Wanted Dead or Alive
  7. Hurts So Good
  8. Jack And Diane
  9. Too Much Time
  10. Carry On Wayward Son C
  11. You Shook Me All Night Long S M
  12. Another Brick In The Wall
  13. Plush C
  14. Jenny Jenny
  15. One
  16. Cheap Sunglasses
  17. Chicken Fried
  18. American Girl
  19. Livin On A Prayer
  20. Superstition
  21. Play That Funky Music
  22. Wonderful Tonight
  23. Long Train Runnin
  24. Walk This Way
  25. AnyWay U Want It
  26. She
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sventvkg wrote:

 

Wanted to do some different stuff but still stuff that works in the bars around here while we work on our Corporate list. I think we're close to signing off on these as our first 50 tracks..Most of em will have click, Bass and some percussion, FX etc. I have Mark on Keys and Vocals, Marietta on BG Vox and a Few lead songs and Me on Lead Vocals and guitar along with the drummer...Again should we have 4 piece gig pay we can add the live bass player but right now the plan is 3 piece with a female vocalist. 

Are any of them real dogs?
  1. She

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IMO a pretty good list (though I'd cut Mary Jane's Last Dance).  It does depend on your target audience, though.  I'm thinking the 30-40 something crowd would eat that up. 

I'm interested to see how the VH songs go over.  I expect Jump to do OK, but I'll be shocked if I'll Wait works (which sucks, because I'm a huge VH fan)

 

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These kinds of questions are always tough because there are so many variables in terms of who you're playing for and under what circumstances. 

What's the intended age group?  Is it more of a dancing crowd or a listening crowd?  

And then there's the big question of what best suits the band.    The first things I think about when putting together a songlist is:  A) what's the recognition/response of the crowd going to be if the song were to come on an iPod?   B) can the singer knock it out of the park?    If I can answer both of those questions with a big thumbs-up, then I know the song is likely to be a winner.

Assuming you're looking at a 30-40 age group and you expect there to be at least some dancing, I see a few songs there I'd at least take a 2nd look at:

I wouldn't expect too many people under 40 to know, or care much about songs like:

She's A Beauty

And She Was

Takin' It To The Streets

Just The Same Way

Girl Can't Help It

Come Sail Away

I'll Wait

Say You Love Me

Abacab

And some of the more "musician-y" songs---Carry On Wayward Son, Abacab, Come Sail Away---not sure what the point of doing those with tracks would be.   Again, who is the intended audience?

But again, it largely comes down to the vocals.   If you have a singer who is just going to floor people with "Wayward Son", then it's probably going to work regardless.

In the end, you really have to just play 'em and see if they work.  And what works one week in one venue might bomb the next week somewhere else.  So even THAT is somewhat subjective.

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sventvkg wrote:

 

Wanted to do some different stuff but still stuff that works in the bars around here while we work on our Corporate list. I think we're close to signing off on these as our first 50 tracks..Most of em will have click, Bass and some percussion, FX etc. I have Mark on Keys and Vocals, Marietta on BG Vox and a Few lead songs and Me on Lead Vocals and guitar along with the drummer...Again should we have 4 piece gig pay we can add the live bass player but right now the plan is 3 piece with a female vocalist. 

Are any of them real dogs?
  1. She

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benzem wrote:

 

like if I was there, ironically these would be my favs to hear. But I am a musician and don't dance much so, ya.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep.  My list of "clunkers" were the ones I'd personally most like to hear a band play as well.

Unfortunately, I doubt he's going to playing for a roomful of 50-something keyboard players.

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TrickyBoy wrote:

 

 

IMO a pretty good list (though I'd cut Mary Jane's Last Dance).  It does depend on your target audience, though.  I'm thinking the 30-40 something crowd would eat that up. 

 

I'm interested to see how the VH songs go over.  I expect Jump to do OK, but I'll be shocked if I'll Wait works (which sucks, because I'm a huge VH fan)

 

 

What is the best Tom Petty tune to do? 

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My thinking is you need some tunes to give the dancers a rest for sure and you can throw in a concert or epic tune for that. You also need a couple slow dance tunes. In the bar scene I believe you need to be able to be a dance band all night IF the gig calls for it. Some do not. It's best to have the list that will allow you to be able to handle the gig at hand. 

And yes, a basic requirement for a band leader is to be able to read a crowd. Most with the years and experience can do so.

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sventvkg wrote:

 

 

My thinking is you need some tunes to give the dancers a rest for sure and you can throw in a concert or epic tune for that. You also need a couple slow dance tunes.

 

That sort of thing depends, of course, upon the venue and the gig and the crowd and you'll figure that out as you start playing.   And like you said, the important thing is to be prepared and be able to read the crowd.

But if you haven't been doing the dance-band scene for awhile you might be surprised to find out how little you need slow-dance tunes and rest periods.   For younger generations raised on the on the non-stop momentum of club DJs and the hyper-kenetic nature of modern TV, movies and editing, any sort of pause can be a potential momentum killer.  

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Here's the thing. It's very rock centric with new country thrown in around Middle TN. Yes, we're doing mostly upbeat songs and a lot of them you can dance to but no one is playing Dance/top40 stuff in the bars at least. We're starting in bars just to tighten up, work on the originals (paid rehearsal) and work the show up, while we finish the rest of the list and tracks.

We're not looking to be a wedding band. I'm building a very fun, upbeat party brand with a real show..Moves, skits, comedy, etc etc...Watch the Spazmatics to see what i'm talking about. Although it's not going to be even remotely their show, it will be a VERY worked out SHOW nonetheless. I want it to be an experience...a Show...Crowd interaction is very high on my list. So, the type of stuff TSPM do and other brand bands is what we're after. It's going to be killer!

I've done all the other stuff...Every iteration of bar, wedding, society, solo, duo, dance, rock, hair band, tropical, and everything in between...The only way I was ever going to do this is to take it to a high level financially speaking and build a brand which we have a good concept for. Than once it's going, replicate and hire players to replace us:) Concentrate on our own stuff which is ramping up and could include Europe tours, regional touring etc....

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guido61 wrote:

 

Yep. But somehow I doubt the 20 something's listening to some 50 year old dude playing Pearl Jam and then thinking a request for The Doors makes sense are really drawing that fine a distinction, ya know?

 

well, actually there isn't that much difference.

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Give me some more fast song ideas. I'm going off corporate/variety bands song lists as a reference when working on my own but these first few tunes are also tailored toward bar work. I'm not a pop band but I'd love to add more fast stuff in the range you're talking about.

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sventvkg wrote:

 

Give me some more fast song ideas. I'm going off corporate/variety bands song lists as a reference when working on my own but these first few tunes are also tailored toward bar work. I'm not a pop band but I'd love to add more fast stuff in the range you're talking about.

 

Walking On Sunshine is always sure-fire for us. 

I think a lot of bands still get good results with "Rock This Town".

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sventvkg wrote:

Give me some more fast song ideas. I'm going off corporate/variety bands song lists as a reference when working on my own but these first few tunes are also tailored toward bar work. I'm not a pop band but I'd love to add more fast stuff in the range you're talking about.

First I should stress that IMHO the medium tempo songs are often easier to dance to than the fast ones, it's just that I've found the energy starts to sag if everything is close to the same medium tempo. So you don't want too many fast ones, just enough.

One band I was in did The Heat Is On, and that worked well for us. Walking On Sunshine, as stated, can be another one that breaks things up, even though it's actually not all that easy to dance to - but the gals usually like it.  Plenty of the faster tunes around, I was just mentioning the up-tempo ones because I always forget about them.

Don't forget about the tunes we used to call "hunk a poop" (or similar). These are around that magical tempo of 120 bpm (like All I Wanna do Is Have Some Fun). You can easily recite "hunk a poop, a hunk a poop".., to the beat :)  Billie Jean, which is on your list, basically qualifies at 117 or so, especially if you do it faster.

Anyway, pick tunes you enjoy doing, and don't worry too much about tempo - just keep it in mind on the back burner.

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