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Another pop cover thread...


mstreck

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We do a medley/mashup of whistle and Save Tonight- Works well in our 1st set. "Locked Out of Heaven is going to get medley/mashed-up with some police tunes (message/every little thing/ Roxanne... what ever will fit I guess) as soon as we can get a practice in. Every week for the last 3 weeks something has come up!

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Quote Originally Posted by mstreck View Post
Bruno Mars' "Locked Out of Heaven" seems to be pure gold right now.
We learned this song and it was pretty damn tight too. Really fun to play. One of the worst crowd responses we've gotten with a new song. Total dud.

We did have to drop the key a whole step to pull it off...something we also did with We Are Young with great success. Maybe it just didn't fly with this one.
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Quote Originally Posted by jeff42 View Post
a problem we have seen with really new tunes is that if we jump on them TOO quickly they bomb cuz they are not familiar enough yet. But after a month or two the same drunken ladies ask for the same song they HATED the month before. icon_lol.gif
Kinda funny how peeps influence is changed by the radio or repeating of music with new releases. I have to admit I use this place as a source of cool new music thanks to you guys BTW!

Curious as to other newer songs yall are being asked to play?
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Quote Originally Posted by jeff42

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a problem we have seen with really new tunes is that if we jump on them TOO quickly they bomb cuz they are not familiar enough yet. But after a month or two the same drunken ladies ask for the same song they HATED the month before. icon_lol.gif

 

Yep. We're gonna add a slew of pop now and see what sticks in a few months. Can't really go by the three chances rule on stuff when you're ahead of the curve.
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Quote Originally Posted by guitarguy19 View Post
How's this one doing? This is a pretty cool tune...I've thought about doing it. But I haven't heard it on the radio here all that much for whatever reason...
The big top 40 Radio station in my neck of the woods plays it a few times a day. The reaction is decent and we keep it in the 1st set.
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Quote Originally Posted by jeff42

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a problem we have seen with really new tunes is that if we jump on them TOO quickly they bomb cuz they are not familiar enough yet. But after a month or two the same drunken ladies ask for the same song they HATED the month before. icon_lol.gif

 

So true. I'd say it rarely pays to be ahead of the curve when it comes to playing pop songs. Unless it's a media darling like Sexy and I Know It or 'Gangnam Style' it's hard for new, charting pop tunes to catch on with the crowd. If a song is just starting to break on the charts the immediate desire is to run out and cover it. However club DJ's left and right are spinning it it 1-3 times a night. I find it easier and more productive to draft off of radio and club DJ's a little bit. After all it is a novelty watching a cover band attempt a modern pop song. For that novelty to connect most of the crowd really needs to listen to the radio and many don't... at least in the way people listened to Top 40 radio 10-20 years ago. We usually wait until the song has been completely saturated... (showing up in commercials, TV shows etc) and then add it. Whenever we've gotten ahead on a song (this could be big) we just wind up trashing the song 5-6 shows later. No sense in trying to make it work if half the crowd hasn't fallen in love with it already, on the radio.
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Quote Originally Posted by wheresgrant3 View Post
Whenever we've gotten ahead on a song (this could be big) we just wind up trashing the song 5-6 shows later. No sense in trying to make it work if half the crowd hasn't fallen in love with it already, on the radio.
We're in a phase where we're getting rid of the classic rock filler and transitioning to a lot more modern pop, so even if these songs don't take off, the worst that happens is we have modern pop filler - which is better for our purposes (short term).

One thing we're finding with the modern pop is that sometimes the *mix* can define the song - and some of that is hard to recreate in the practice room.
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Quote Originally Posted by New Trail View Post
"Locked out of Heaven" is a totally infectious song. We tried it but our singer (who's REALLY good) just couldn't sing it. We considered dropping the key but he doesn't like to do that.

"Whistle" by Flo Rida, although not exactly new, is working well for us.
I've known a lot of singer unwilling to shift keys. Doesn't make sense to me. It's a rare song that doesn't sound good in a key that the singer can handle.
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Quote Originally Posted by wheresgrant3 View Post
For that novelty to connect most of the crowd really needs to listen to the radio and many don't... at least in the way people listened to Top 40 radio 10-20 years ago.
This is a really good point. A lot of people listen to Sirius/XM, or Pandora. I'm not sure how Billboard determines its Hot 100 list, but looking at that top 10 vs. iTunes top 10 digital downloads shows a lot of overlap.

That being said, depending on your market, it's definitely a good idea to wait until a song is saturating the market. For us, I look at the two regional Top 40 stations' websites to see what songs they're playing most often to help decide which songs we might want to pick up. Locked out of heaven is definitely one of them.

BTW...am I the only one who thinks that song (at least the beginning) sounds like an old Police tune?
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Anybody doing "Hump De Bump" by RHCP? How's that one go over? I'm almost willing to keep that one around even if it's a slow starter, for a kind of "vanity bass" type of deal. Guess I'm from the school that thinks everyone in the band should have their moment to shine. It's definitely fun as hell to play on bass, and was a lot easier to learn than I thought it would be.

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Quote Originally Posted by wades_keys

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Guess I'm from the school that thinks everyone in the band should have their moment to shine.

 

Right on - with most shows averaging four hours, it's okay to play one song that may not be gold if it means making XYZ band member very happy!
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Quote Originally Posted by WynnD View Post
I've known a lot of singer unwilling to shift keys. Doesn't make sense to me. It's a rare song that doesn't sound good in a key that the singer can handle.
That's true. We did drop the key a half step on "Dynamite" and was okay with that.

So true. I'd say it rarely pays to be ahead of the curve when it comes to playing pop songs......

Except that if you play songs when they're on the way up you can become known as the band that stays current. People will say "The first time I heard that song was when XYZ band played it." The downside is that the band is already tired of the song when it peaks.

Quote Originally Posted by wades_keys View Post
Anybody doing "Hump De Bump" by RHCP? How's that one go over? I'm almost willing to keep that one around even if it's a slow starter, for a kind of "vanity bass" type of deal. Guess I'm from the school that thinks everyone in the band should have their moment to shine. It's definitely fun as hell to play on bass, and was a lot easier to learn than I thought it would be.
Quote Originally Posted by FitchFY View Post
Right on - with most shows averaging four hours, it's okay to play one song that may not be gold if it means making XYZ band member very happy!
I agree. You gotta do SOME songs just for you.
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Quote Originally Posted by wheresgrant3 View Post
So true. I'd say it rarely pays to be ahead of the curve when it comes to playing pop songs......

Except that if you play songs when they're on the way up you can become known as the band that stays current. People will say "The first time I heard that song was when XYZ band played it." The downside is that the band is already tired of the song when it peaks.
I get what your saying... but I'll caution you as well.... rushing to add every new radio hit before they become hits doesn't make you 'more current' than the next. I'd imagine that most bands who are striving for the A-clubs in their markets are playing some form of modern top 40 (note: if your most recent song is still "My Own Worst Enemy" or even Crazy B*tch then you are not part of this group. wink.gif )I'd much rather be known as a band that hits every show out of the park. Again, I've said this frequently here. Song choices are an important part of every band presentation, but it's only part of the equation. I know of a few bands that rush out material because it's popular or attempt to play songs they can't deliver and believe me... no one is rushing out to see them because of the other things on the list they are neglecting.

We've strived for having the reputation of having an entertaining live show. If I asked people why they keep coming to shows I can gaurantee almost all would first say because they have 'fun'. None would mention the songs that we play. I can't imagine anyone even mention the fact that we covered the latest Flo'Rida, Rhi'anna or even 'Gangnam Style'. In fact people never talk to me about the material or songs that we play. They always talk about what we do with them (rapid fire, up tempo delivery). Maybe because we've worked on other aspects of the show to the point where song list is less relative to the shows success. Years ago we got concerned because there were a few bands outright copying our setlists, song choices, even the order they were played in. But what they didn't copy was the style. And you can guess how successful they were.


I'd say that 30% of our setlist is and will always be current. 70% has largely remained unchanged in 5 years. The 'current' part makes us relative to younger audiences but it's what we do with all of the songs we perform that keeps people coming back. It's why a song 20 years old can garner as big a reaction as the latest Grammy hit from today. People in my experience, with the venues we play with this band, want to be entertained, they don't want to hear a jukebox or a live radio station. That's really what the 'other' bands offer.
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Being entertained is a BIG part of all of this and that is what my trio is trying to do. We actually have more freedom than my "full Band" does (or did). There are only 3 of us and very like mindsets. We are willing to try anything. By limiting our instrumentation we have to find interesting ways of pulling off this modern pop stuff... and most of the time IMO we do and it has been showing. Its a novelty... sure but its fun! Its great to see the looks on people faces when they hear us play stuff no other trio in my area would dream of attempting.

many times I have heard people say they love how we do certain songs most bands don't touch. Its entertaining whether it's Flo Rida, Pit Bull or Tupac! If its not the ordinary Bar Songs we do it! thumb.gif

The newest stuff we do IMO is still "too new" and not familiar enough with the crowd- but it is getting a better reaction in the last few gigs so we will see...

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Quote Originally Posted by mstreck View Post
Bruno Mars' "Locked Out of Heaven" seems to be pure gold right now. We have Maroon 5's "One More Night" on deck for rehearsal this week.

Any other current pop that we should be paying close attention to?
As a DJ so far "Locked Out Of Heaven" has totally bombed - emptying the dance floor every time I've put it in. The tempo (142 BPM) is a little too fast for a DJ dance track and the feel is off. You guys in bands might have better luck with it. I'm waiting for a good remix, which so far hasn't surfaced.

It's getting a little old now but "Feels So Close" still reliably packs the dance floor and is a track practically any band could pull off. Lurk in waiting during the start of the song, then hit it really hard at the guitar riff and watch the room jump up and down in time with the beat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEh3zEMYKzA

"One More Night" is the biggest download of the fall so far and always works as a dance track. I'm using an uptempo remix that also straightens the beat out, so don't be afraid to re-arrange it. Clubgoers are used to hearing it in all kinds of ways - even in dub mixes.
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Quote Originally Posted by mrcpro

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"One More Night" is the biggest download of the fall so far and always works as a dance track. I'm using an uptempo remix that also straightens the beat out, so don't be afraid to re-arrange it.

 

Anywhere I can hear that remix?
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