Members wro Posted August 15, 2011 Members Share Posted August 15, 2011 we are in the mid 30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted August 15, 2011 Members Share Posted August 15, 2011 Depends what you're trying to do. I'd skip Comfortably Numb. Too slow and too long. Great song, but not for a bar band. Closer to the Heart. Women will start dragging their dates out the door. Little Wing, same comments as the previous songs. Played to death, slow, no appeal to women. Limited appeal to anybody but guitar players really. One Way Out seems worn out to me. I guess if you have a lot of southern rock fans it may work, but I wouldn't do it. On the fence with Strange Brew. You need to keep it uptemo, fun, somewhat contemporary and female friendly if you want regular, better paying gigs. Some people have luck with it, but around here at least, bars are turning away from classic rock. Who knows, it may work in Brazil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mineame Posted August 15, 2011 Members Share Posted August 15, 2011 I am going to be brutally honest here... because well, it's better coming from a guy on an internet forum then a bar whose current clientele is related to the band... Over all, I really don't care for it. Not much of it is danceable. The bulk of today's club goers want to party. Some of the songs are down right depressing. To put it bluntly, some of these songs may be the song someone is hearing before they put a bullet through their head. I said I was gonna be harsh, but that is just to help you out. Better me, then a bar owner asking you to leave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted August 15, 2011 Members Share Posted August 15, 2011 In San Paulo- Maybe In NY- Not really... some of the setlist could be entertaining but it's not going to draw a bar audience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wro Posted August 16, 2011 Author Members Share Posted August 16, 2011 thanks guys, we'll take that into consideration. just let me clarify that we aim smaller bars where people do not have much space to dance. bars where people go to have some drinks and listen to good music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members n9ne Posted August 16, 2011 Members Share Posted August 16, 2011 A couple general observations: Virtually every cover band starts out wanting to do "something different"....something other than the same old crap that every other band plays. They always start out with the best of intentions....but in the end, everyone ends up playing the same old crap that every other cover band plays. Why? Because that's what people want to hear, that's what gets people in the door, and that's what sells the most drinks. Generally speaking, people aren't going to clubs to be educated on quality music, or to hear B-sides and obscure songs. They're looking to go out and have a good time with their friends with music that's familiar to everyone. They want music they can sing along to, and maybe some anthem-oriented rock. In most cases, you can probably get away with one or two "band selections" per set....original songs, or lesser known covers. Any more than that, and people will start tuning out. Rather than aspiring to "taking the road less traveled", I would focus more on presentation....stage presence, crowd interaction, upbeat banter between songs, etc. Like it or not, club crowds respond more favorably to a "fun" band than a phenomenally talented band.....which makes them more likely to come back next time. Of course, this is all assuming that you're hoping to turn your cover band into a financially lucrative proposition by working your way into the higher-paying venues. If you're not concerned about money, and you're content just to get out and play music strictly for the enjoyment of it, then by all means....go for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WynnD Posted August 16, 2011 Members Share Posted August 16, 2011 Is it just me, or are any of you others out there finding Petty's Won't Back Down a poor song? Good for sentiment, but really, it could use a decent melody. (And a lot of Petty's stuff is better.) Agreed on One Way Out. There are so many good and rarely played Allman Brothers songs out there. Same for Steppenwolf. Nobody plays "Power Play" and I really enjoy that song. It's always Born to Wild, The Pusher or Magic Carpet Ride from that band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted August 16, 2011 Members Share Posted August 16, 2011 I am going to be brutally honest here... because well, it's better coming from a guy on an internet forum then a bar whose current clientele is related to the band...Over all, I really don't care for it. Not much of it is danceable. The bulk of today's club goers want to party. Some of the songs are down right depressing. To put it bluntly, some of these songs may be the song someone is hearing before they put a bullet through their head.I said I was gonna be harsh, but that is just to help you out. Better me, then a bar owner asking you to leave.based on the band's intended direction, your post makes little sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mineame Posted August 16, 2011 Members Share Posted August 16, 2011 based on the band's intended direction, your post makes little sense. Intended direction aside. I gave him my opinion of the set list. Like I said The bulk of today's club goers want to party. Some of the songs are down right depressing. Besides, their intended direction is more or less a shotgun pattern... As in it's all over the place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted August 16, 2011 Members Share Posted August 16, 2011 Intended direction aside. I gave him my opinion of the set list. Like I said Besides, their intended direction is more or less a shotgun pattern... As in it's all over the place.did the OP say his desire was to play "clubs", as in "get wasted and hook up" types of venues? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mineame Posted August 16, 2011 Members Share Posted August 16, 2011 did the OP say his desire was to play "clubs", as in "get wasted and hook up" types of venues? And your point is? Sure he said he wants to play small, hardly any room to dance clubs (After I made my opinion on his list known, mind you). I don't see where that means I can't give my opinion of his set list.. Even with this knowledge, I stand behind my opinion and go one step further. This set list bi-polar, guitar wankery, approaching b-side musician snobbery. I tell you what though... To make you happy, I will lie to him... Dude in Brazil, I am sure your set list is a guaranteed hit in your target environment in Sao Paulo. There Tlbonehead, you happy now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted August 16, 2011 Members Share Posted August 16, 2011 we are in the mid 30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members urca Posted August 16, 2011 Members Share Posted August 16, 2011 Most of those tunes are tired warhorses that need to be retired soon. I'd walk out if I was at a club and the band was playing that stuff. Sorry. Maybe those tunes aren't as overplayed in Brazil? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rodclement Posted August 16, 2011 Members Share Posted August 16, 2011 we are in the mid 30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pickinatit Posted August 16, 2011 Members Share Posted August 16, 2011 When I go out to hear live music in a sitting and listening kind of situation, I could appreciate your set-list and I don't mind B-Side songs as long as I recognize them (and I recognize a lot of B-Side songs from vinyl days mainly).But that's just me. There are two things that the fellows here have posted that I would have to agree with wholeheartedly. 1) Bear in mind that I am a 57 yr. old geezer. I think that they are probably right about much of the list not appealing to the under 45 crowd. 2) More "up-tempo" songs. Not that I mind slower songs with some guitar wankery (if the wankery isn't too overdone)but a little more mix-it-up I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted August 16, 2011 Members Share Posted August 16, 2011 thanks guys, we'll take that into consideration. just let me clarify that we aim smaller bars where people do not have much space to dance. bars where people go to have some drinks and listen to good music. There are several common complaints bar owners have about bands. One of the top ones I hear from them is they hate, and I mean hate, when bands come in and play slow, depressing music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GCDEF Posted August 16, 2011 Members Share Posted August 16, 2011 did the OP say his desire was to play "clubs", as in "get wasted and hook up" types of venues? OP didn't state his intentions in his first post. I think the reply was fine given that best guess was he was forming a typical bar cover band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Agitator Posted August 16, 2011 Members Share Posted August 16, 2011 Is it just me, or are any of you others out there finding Petty's Won't Back Down a poor song? Good for sentiment, but really, it could use a decent melody. (And a lot of Petty's stuff is better.) Tom Petty burned out the part of his brain responsible for creating melodies sometime in the mid-80s, by my reckoning. On the setlist, I'm in agreement re: songs like "Little Wing" or "Comfortably Numb". Better to find Classic Rock[tm] songs that are danceable, if you want to include that sort of music in your set. But as more than one person pointed out when I posted my band's setlist a couple of months ago, the number of people who are into 60s and 70s rock and who also go out to bars and dance until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning is dropping steadily. Which isn't to say that you shouldn't play it at all, but you shouldn't count on getting the "yeah, cool song" reaction for one of those songs. You're better off just giving people a good groove. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Agitator Posted August 16, 2011 Members Share Posted August 16, 2011 even though we played everything from blues to classic rock to R&B to new wave to country rock to southern rock, we didn't play enough of any one thing to make anyone happy. Today, my band has a fairly narrow focus, and I'm very cognizant of rhythms, keys of songs, pacing of sets, keeping songs shorter and so on. That is how you keep people's attention- not playing self-indulgent material that gets the band off with 8 minute solos. Just my take. YMMV. I had the exact same experience, playing in a reggae/ska band. That sounds like a fairly narrowly-focused genre of music, but we were all over the map, playing ska covers from the 60s alongside dancehall songs from the 80s and 90s. People usually had a good time when we played, but we never really developed a "following", and I think our lack of focus helped contribute to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.