Members HarpNinjaMike Posted April 18, 2011 Members Share Posted April 18, 2011 We had a really weird, but insanely fun gig this past weekend. I was asked what our favorite song to play - signature - song was and I couldn't think of one. We tend to have just as much fun with any of the tunes and a fav was too hard to come up with. That being said, we tend to end the night with Going Down a la Albert King. I know this is a no-no from the start for a cover band, but we are all fans of Eastbound and Down and thought it was humorous enough to throw it at at wall. We all go way over the top on this one and usually the people left at the end of the night really dig it. We do not try to play it as a straight blues tune, but more of in the vein of how Kenny Powers would pull it off, lol. We have pretty crazy versions of I Will Survive, Beat It, and Poker Face too. I'd like those to catch people's attention as signature tunes as they all play to our strengths with how we arranged them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted April 18, 2011 Members Share Posted April 18, 2011 Let's face it: cover bands mostly play all the same crap that every other cover band plays. We're not exactly curing cancer, here. In my experience, what often sets a band apart is the handful of songs that are more or less unique to that band. In many cases, they aren't even huge crowd-pleasers to start with...but for whatever reason, these songs help to establish the band's identity, and help set them apart from the competition. Obviously, staples like Brown Eyed Girl and Sweet Home Alabama are guaranteed to fill the dance floor every time....but nobody's going home and telling their friends, "man, you gotta hear these guys do Brown Eyed Girl!" For example: In the southeastern US, the Velcro Pygmies have been a mainstay of the club/fraternity circuit for almost 20 years now, and they've been extremely successful over that period. Most of their stuff is just the standard 80's party-rock fare....but many of their most successful and enduring crowd-pleasers are songs that you'd never guess: songs like Body Count (by Ice T) and {censored} Whipped (Dash Rip Rock). I'd be willing to bet that many fans have never even heard the original versions of these songs.....but when people go see the Pygs, these are the songs that people remember and come back to hear. With that in mind.....what are some of the more interesting or memorable "signature" songs your bands have done, or that you've heard from cover bands? Since we play so many medleys, the way present songs sets us apart from most other bands. But we do have a few tune which are pretty unique. Not sure if they qualify as signature tunes but I'm pretty sure these are songs that makes us stand out from all of the other generic material. We've been playing Kid Rock's Bawdidaba since our very first gig together. It's rarely left our setlist in almost 9 years together. The reaction is always huge. To date I haven't seen another band cover it, as consistently and get the same sort of reaction. Three differen't lineups... Three differen't tempos. 2006 2009 Kid rock April 2009 Funny how slow we played it then. 2011 Kid Rock March 2011 Funny How Fast we play it now. Alot of songs we 'nuttify'... where we change the arrangement or style. "Single Ladies" is one of those tunes that isn't the biggest song of the night... but no other bands are doing it our way. Single Ladies Halloween 2011 One other tune we do that is signature for us is the entire Grease Mega Mix single. Release back in the mid-90's it's a medley of Grease tunes which was really the first song we took on that really set us apart from the other bands doing BEG, Crazy Bitch, ... etc. Been doing this now, at every show since 2007. Never gets old. Grease 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HarpNinjaMike Posted April 18, 2011 Members Share Posted April 18, 2011 I need to find a way to ripp-off your version of Single Ladies. I've been thinking about that one for some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MartinC Posted April 18, 2011 Members Share Posted April 18, 2011 An orignal band I was in did a very good version of black magic woman. We had two congeros and a timbalero who are from the same district as Carlos-they grew up on his stuff and they had all the parts down cold. The problems with being known for, in part, doing a great version of a cover tune when your an original band are obvious, numerous, and somewhat depressing. We opened for Carlos once, and of course didn't pull out our "signature" ...................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FitchFY Posted April 18, 2011 Members Share Posted April 18, 2011 Great topic, and one I've often thought of. My market for rock cover bands is rather competitive, so I notice that Head First isn't quick to say "here's our set list." We like to catch people off guard with it later in the night where they're blown away, but too drunk to steal our ideas. My old band, Griffon, however... when we did covers, we did a few heavy rock versions of some fun pop tunes that always killed: "Sunglasses at Night" by Corey Hart (on our 2010 EP, The Weight of Water) "Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry We also just did some rippin' tunes that you just don't see at clubs: "Stockholm Syndrome" by Muse "End of Heartache" by Killswitch Engage "One Day Remains" by Alter Bridge "Blackbird" by Alter Bridge A good cover band should have some unique tunes that fit them well - good post topic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MDLMUSIC Posted April 18, 2011 Members Share Posted April 18, 2011 My oldies/classic rock trio is called "Rock This Town". Any guesses as to what our signature song is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted April 18, 2011 Members Share Posted April 18, 2011 My oldies/classic rock trio is called "Rock This Town".Any guesses as to what our signature song is? Stray Cat Strut? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rezrover Posted April 18, 2011 Members Share Posted April 18, 2011 Jailhouse Rock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mstreck Posted April 18, 2011 Members Share Posted April 18, 2011 Small Town? Old Time Rock and Roll? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted April 18, 2011 Members Share Posted April 18, 2011 My oldies/classic rock trio is called "Rock This Town".Any guesses as to what our signature song is?Fill me up, Buttercup? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DrJonesHC Posted April 19, 2011 Members Share Posted April 19, 2011 Though my band is in no way a cover band, we have been known to play a couple cover tunes per show. We used to close out each show with Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name Of," which was done in our style (kind of Tool meets Alice in Chains with a little older Metallica thrown in for good measure). We used to play "Survivor" by Destiny's Child and really chunk it up, that was a lot of fun actually. We also used to play a pretty cool note for note version of Metallica's "One," which isn't something you hear everyday. I would also say (unfortunately) that our signature song is one of our originals that was written as a joke called "The Mom Song." Too bad it's not one of our serious songs, and not the one whose lyrics are "I love my mom, she f**ks my dad..." Sigh... Oh well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted April 19, 2011 Members Share Posted April 19, 2011 "Train, Train" may become our sig song- the band is opening shows with it. Our lead man does a good job with the slide and I toot the train effect at the beginning on harp. Which I'm getting better at- a time or two my train didn't quite leave the station. did it derail? That's a great choice for a sig song! We used to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members theGman Posted April 19, 2011 Members Share Posted April 19, 2011 A few of the good ones we do are "Waitin for the bus/Jesus just left Chicago", I know a Little, Smoke on the Water. People also really like the Breeze, with the cool keyboard part. Last song usually is "No Time" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hegmatronicon Posted April 20, 2011 Members Share Posted April 20, 2011 Miley Cyrus - See You Again maybe..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zeromus-X Posted April 20, 2011 Members Share Posted April 20, 2011 We can't go a single show anymore without someone requesting "Gay Bar" by Electric Six. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members n9ne Posted April 20, 2011 Author Members Share Posted April 20, 2011 We can't go a single show anymore without someone requesting "Gay Bar" by Electric Six. So that goes over pretty well? My band has discussed it, and we'd all love to pick it up, but we're afraid people wouldn't get it. (One of my all-time favorite videos, too. Just ridiculous.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zeromus-X Posted April 20, 2011 Members Share Posted April 20, 2011 I won't say it goes over "well" -- most people haven't ever heard it -- until about the second verse. By then people are paying attention, and you see them saying things to each other, etc. There's always one or two people that come up to us after the set like "Holy crap, I've never heard anyone play that!" that are in love at that point, too. If you do bring it in, there's a lot of songs you can mash it up with, and that's probably a better option in case it bombs the first few times. Dance Commander works better than you'd imagine, too... as long as the right people are there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TrickyBoy Posted April 20, 2011 Members Share Posted April 20, 2011 I don't know if we have any signature songs, per se, but our medleys/mashups have become our "signature" item that differentiates us from the other bands in the area. There's really no one else doing anything like that around here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted April 20, 2011 Members Share Posted April 20, 2011 Medleys and the modern pop stuff we do is our "signature" because no one else in my hometown is doing it... or at least doing it like we do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FitchFY Posted April 20, 2011 Members Share Posted April 20, 2011 Dance Commander works better than you'd imagine, too... as long as the right people are there! I officially want to come see your band, bro! Electric Six absolutely kills me. The lyric "I went to the store to buy some fire... to start the war!" might be the funniest lyric ever recorded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Zeromus-X Posted April 20, 2011 Members Share Posted April 20, 2011 I officially want to come see your band, bro! Electric Six absolutely kills me. The lyric "I went to the store to buy some fire... to start the war!" might be the funniest lyric ever recorded. I'll see if we can get some video of it at the show this weekend, I'm sure we'll do one or both. Aside from those, our "signature move" tends to be No Sleep Til Brooklyn (not in video) into Gold Digger into It's Tricky, which is guaranteed to get the place going: 1H8lqn1Gok0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TrickyBoy Posted April 20, 2011 Members Share Posted April 20, 2011 I need to find a way to ripp-off your version of Single Ladies. I've been thinking about that one for some time. I already did Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WynnD Posted April 21, 2011 Members Share Posted April 21, 2011 The songs that might be considered signature for my band areJust My ImaginationSoul Sacrifice Both songs that we spent some serious time arranging. Learn a song because it's good, not because it's easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarguy19 Posted April 21, 2011 Members Share Posted April 21, 2011 This is an easy one for us: 1. I Believe in a Thing Called Love by the Darkness2. In the Meantime by Spacehog3. All My Life by the Foo Fighters (somewhat more common but we NAIL this one...) These all go over great at generally every show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted April 21, 2011 Members Share Posted April 21, 2011 This is an easy one for us:1. I Believe in a Thing Called Love by the Darkness I used to love singing this one with all the silly falsetto stuff. It still works huh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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