Members stratotastic Posted March 5, 2012 Members Share Posted March 5, 2012 There Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted March 5, 2012 Members Share Posted March 5, 2012 There Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted March 5, 2012 Members Share Posted March 5, 2012 Squeeze, Elvis Costello, Pet Shop Boys, Joe Jackson, Clash So in other words your saying his target audience is clearly over 40. We've reworked alot of songs over the years. I guess it depends on how accessible the material is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted March 5, 2012 Members Share Posted March 5, 2012 I think the key to re-working songs is: A) play them in the style that fits your audience.B) play familiar songs. Sounds simple enough but I hear a lot of reworks that I'm sure where they came from or who they are intended for. In fact, I think Grant got it backwards by looking at the artists being suggested and assuming a target audience based on that. It should be the other way around. He wants to play rootsy/Americana style? Cool. Then that needs to be the target audience: fans of that music. Which songs to rework? It's gotta be songs that are, for the most part, familiar to the audience. 80's covers are fine, but obscure ones....what's the point of that? That's something an originals band might do, but a cover band? How is anyone gonna know that the song is even being re-worked or what you're doing? It can be really cool to re-work an old song in a new style, but people have to be familiar with both the song and the style for it to work. As far as my band goes--we rework a couple of things...not too much. We recently, thanks to a posting from someone here (tlbonehead, maybe?) worked up a version of Bad Co's "Feel Like Makin' Love" that was done up in a rock/blues style. The version was done by Susannah Hoffs, but I don't know how many people are familiar with that version. I think it was just something she did live a few times back in the 90s. So---yes, we stole the arrangement, but it's probably "original" to virtually everyone who hears us do it. But we've had really good response with that version so far: the arrangement rocks, everyone in the world knows the song and can sing along with it in ANY style, and Amy sells the hell out of it when she sings it. I think this version goes over much better with most of the audiences we play for than would a straight rendition of the Bad Co. version. So yeah, I'm all for reworking stuff when it's the right song/right style. I'd say--stick with familiar material and you're probably on the right track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wardjames Posted March 5, 2012 Members Share Posted March 5, 2012 I think familiarity is going to be the key to reworking a song. If there's no familiarity, you may as well be an originals band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members n9ne Posted March 5, 2012 Members Share Posted March 5, 2012 Re-working two or three songs is kinda cool, and makes the band somewhat memorable. But if it becomes the band's identity, with a set list that is heavily stocked with these re-worked covers, then I suspect the band could be seen as something of a novelty act. It strikes me as the kind of thing that would be a lot of fun for audiences at first....but after seeing the band 2-3 times, I think the novelty would wear off, and the songs would have to stand on their own. It's like bands doing rocked-up pop-punk versions of pop/R&B/club songs; it's kinda cool at first....but before long, they start to sound kind of generic. Not that your approach won't work; I'm sure you'd get favorable responses from day one. You'll just want make sure it has some kind of substance over and above the novelty factor, to keep people coming back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members theAntihero Posted March 5, 2012 Members Share Posted March 5, 2012 As a mostly original band any covers we do is our own take on it. We might change a lyric or 2, make it faster, heavier or both and i usually do my own solo with a bit of the original solo in it so its reconizable but never totally changing the genre of the song. For example here is a live clip of us doing Johnny B Goode: http://tonefinder.com/?section=id&value=1114 Im not sure if twangifying Elvis Costello and such is going to go over too well though but it might be interesting to try it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members New Trail Posted March 5, 2012 Members Share Posted March 5, 2012 Personally I would look at it as a cult of personality thing. In other words if THIS GUY has good looks, charisma, has a lot of girl 'friends' that would follow him, and is awesomly talented then it could work. Otherwise IMO the chances are slim. Old 80's b-side refurbished doesn't sound like a good business plan unless this guy would bring the girls in based on his own personal appeal. We probably all know, or if you're lucky are a member of, that one band in the area who doesn't play by normal band, or cover band, rules and is still really successful. What I see that what happens is that they have a built in crowd that would come see that band no matter WHAT they play. Of course there's room for everything, but that's what you would need for success with this business model IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarguy19 Posted March 5, 2012 Members Share Posted March 5, 2012 There Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rezrover Posted March 5, 2012 Members Share Posted March 5, 2012 I guess this would be my favorite example: [video=youtube;OMZAKaLR-yM] [video=youtube;mA6j_o55sgM] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted March 6, 2012 Members Share Posted March 6, 2012 Austincowbell's band is a mashup band. seems like they have steady work. Grant was in a band that did punk'd up covers too I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pickinatit Posted March 6, 2012 Members Share Posted March 6, 2012 There is a local band here in Metro Detroit that does all eras of country and also "countrifies" songs from everyone from Zeppelin to 80s stuff. They do very well. They're very good and very unique. You mean like THIS?[video=youtube;jP-jKCd22Do]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP-jKCd22Do&feature=related Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pickinatit Posted March 6, 2012 Members Share Posted March 6, 2012 Here's a better one:[video=youtube;HlgSo6X30d4] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted March 6, 2012 Members Share Posted March 6, 2012 We rework almost everything, and pretty much everybody likes it. We go the other way though and turn pop songs into rock songs. I'm not really sure that turning them into rockabilly or whatever would be as effective. The other thing is that 80s isn't as popular as it used to be. We've been doing a lot of it and our agent told us she's getting feedback that we need to diversify more and focus much more heavily on new music - which is something I agree with. So yes, people respond well to bands putting their own spin on things. Turning 80s music into country, especially more obscure songs, probably isn't going to work as well as the other guy hopes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MikeyParent Posted March 6, 2012 Members Share Posted March 6, 2012 I think the key to re-working songs is:A) play them in the style that fits your audience.B) play familiar songs. This, especially #2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted March 6, 2012 Members Share Posted March 6, 2012 The other thing is that 80s isn't as popular as it used to be. not to derail the thread but I had to chime in that I am seeing this BIG TIME. Actually I have seen it happening in the last 2 years but lately I have been dropping more and more out of the set because the response just isn't there anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted March 6, 2012 Members Share Posted March 6, 2012 not to derail the thread but I had to chime in that I am seeing this BIG TIME. Actually I have seen it happening in the last 2 years but lately I have been dropping more and more out of the set because the response just isn't there anymore. That's not really derailing the thread as the OP said they want to focus on the 80s. What I was told was the clubs want to hold people till 2am or whenever they close and the 80s crowd tends to leave around midnight. They want music to appeal to the younger crowd that stays out later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stratotastic Posted March 7, 2012 Author Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 Thanks for the info guys. Looks like it works out more frequently than I was expecting. I'll have to wait and see what kind of a song list these guys come up with though. If it's all a bunch of obscure REM and Joe Jackson tunes (which I think it will be) then it'll be a non-starter for me. He asked me to send a list of suggestions so I offered up stuff like Footloose, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, When Doves Cry, Faith, I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted March 7, 2012 Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 , etc. Awaiting blowback...YIKES!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stratotastic Posted March 7, 2012 Author Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 YIKES!!! Remember now, we're "reworking" these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Surrealistic Posted March 7, 2012 Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 I guess some of this comes down to why you're doing it. I mostly do originals, solo, and when I do covers I always try to do them in my own style. I have much more fun with this approach and, to me, it's much more rewarding. Would I get more gigs with bigger audiences (and hence more money) if I did popular covers with a full band? I'm sure I would (most of the time anyway). If it paid well enough I might even be tempted down that road - but for fun I'd always want to do my own thing too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted March 7, 2012 Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 YIKES!!! I've seen a party band get a huge reaction from Footloose... seriously. If delivered in a "fun" way it kills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted March 7, 2012 Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 I've seen a party band get a huge reaction from Footloose... seriously.If delivered in a "fun" way it kills. We played it a couple of times and got a really good reaction to it. We didn't play it very well, however, so we dumped it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dan88z Posted March 7, 2012 Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 we do Footloose, it always goes over well. I think a country version of it would be fun, slow it down a little, maybe a Texas Boogie/swing groove. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted March 7, 2012 Members Share Posted March 7, 2012 as a follow up to my other post about 80s tunes not working as well there are a few that still do work well with us, like Love Shack and Pour Some Sugar. We don't cover footloose though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.