Members Kramerguy Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 Are you happy with the style of music you are playing? Elaborate! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 You forgot the option "I hate the music but love the crowd". Oh and the pay is good too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpaceNorman Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 I went the "some I love, some I don't" option - however, I don't view that as meaning I'm somehow dissatisfied with the music my bands play. I truly like our setlists even though they contain a smattering of tunes I'm not particularly jonesed about playing. Those tunes that I'm not jonesed about are those tunes in which I (keys) don't have much to do - it ain't that I don't like the tune, or that they're not effective for us - it's simply that they're not all that personally satisfying for me. That said - I wouldn't change a thing. A healthy, well balanced diet virtually always includes some stuff that there simply because it's good for you - and not necessarily because it's a real taste bud tittilator! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 3shiftgtr Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 The music I love is music with a small audience. Ever since I was kid I have hated most popular music. When everybody in my HS. in the 70's was listening to Journey and REO, I was listening to The Dregs and Mahavishnu....so I have been seperated from pop music culture my whole life. Until I made it my business. Now I will gladly drop trau for a good paying gig, and I will play the {censored} out of what ever I am paid to, and I will have a great time doing it. But the drive home after my fusion and jazz gigs is more like aftersex afterglow, whereas the drive home after the commercial gigs is more like driving home from a good day at work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kmart Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 Absolutely.When I made the switch from originals to cover band, I specifically targeted the project a former bandmate had put together (Or rather, finally agreed to follow him up on the offer he'd originally made to me) which was specificly playing one genre of music from a very particular era of that music, that I was and am a big fan of, and nothing more. You won't catch us playing SHA, MS or any other of the 'standards' many of you play 'because you have to', nor going after the latest hits in pop music (Gaga, BEP, etc.) because the crowds demand/expect you to. Yes, that cuts us out of a large number of gig opportunities to be sure, but we're consciously going after a small niche so that we can play music we actually REALLY like, and ONLY that music. None of us want to play every weekend, and none of us want to have to force ourselves to smile playing something we really don't like.Not saying there's anything wrong with doing so in principle, but it's just not what I need to do now, either. My side project...well that's even more niche: that's a tribute band dedicated to my end-all/be-all favorite band of all time bar none.I LOVE playing that music on my own; getting to do it with friends who like that band as much as I do is sweet as hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 3shiftgtr Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 getting to do it with friends who like that band as much as I do is sweet as hell. PLaying good music with good people is what it is all about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rezrover Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 I've been surprised by some choices be it my own or others and I've been disappointed too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members boomboomdrums Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 My band plays all Sousa marches or marches from others in that same genre/time period. And the crowd eats it up too. It's a blast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badhabit Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 My cuz played for the Blue Devils, but that was a long time ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members troyguitar Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 Considering I write everything for my band, I'd better be happy with the music style! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 I do try to find fun in everything we play. Even some of the classic rock dinosaurs we pull out once in awhile. If the crowd is digging it, no matter what it is... I am digging it too! Some of the stuff we play though when I hear it on the radio... it gets turned off or ignored. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cherri Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 I better like the style of music we are playing. I manage the band and have picked every song we do except for one. And I really like that one, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members klrbee03 Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 I do try to find fun in everything we play. Some of the stuff we play though when I hear it on the radio... it gets turned off or ignored. +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TrickyBoy Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 It's funny, because most of the songs we play, I'd turn off if I were driving in my car and they came on the radio. But if it's 1AM and I have a few drinks in me, I love the stuff we play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members riversitter Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 I'm mostly happy with my cover band's song selection. We play a lot of danceable blues and old R&B which comes naturally to me since I grew up listening to that stuff. But the guys like adding some old country tunes into the sets. I love listening to Hank Williams Sr. and all but it just doesn't come naturally to me. I feel that some authenticity is missing when I play it simply because I didn't listen much to that genre when my musical personality was forming. It feels a little like going through the motions rather than "emoting" (is that a word?). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 But if it's 1AM and I have a few drinks in me, I love the stuff we play. This is the attitude I have also. It isn't an attitude everyone shares but that's OK. The stuff we play is fun. It's usually not in my mp3 player (unless I have to learn something) but if I am in a club on a Friday or Saturday at 1am... I need a song like Dynamite, not a song like Seasons In The Abyss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members klrbee03 Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 It's funny, because most of the songs we play, I'd turn off if I were driving in my car and they came on the radio. But if it's 1AM and I have a few drinks in me, I love the stuff we play. For me, I have a long commute which gives me a great opportunity to listen to the songs we cover to get timings, vocals and guitar nuances. As a result I listen to these songs over and over and over again. Save for a few of my absolute favorites, I generally don't want to hear them again unless I'm working on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bnelly428 Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 You forgot the option "I hate the music but love the crowd". Oh and the pay is good too. +5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators BATCAT Posted March 17, 2011 Moderators Share Posted March 17, 2011 Not entirely, but then I write it all, so I shut up about it because I have only myself to blame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chip Stewart Posted March 18, 2011 Members Share Posted March 18, 2011 Since I write the originals and pick the covers, I better like the music style. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wheresgrant3 Posted March 18, 2011 Members Share Posted March 18, 2011 I wouldn't say I love or hate the material we play. It certainly doesn't resemble anything close to my personal tastes (a few years back with played FNM's "Epic" for a while and I was in my glory) but these days I'd say our play lists range from the pretty terrible to the pretty creative. So while I don't like very much what we play I do like what we do with the material... which is slice, dice and blend that material into non-stop extended medleys and mini sets. It was a style we adapted and alot of local bands have tried (most failed) to emulate... but I do think that we excel doing it. So I may hate playing a song or two in our setlist yet my time performing them is short and sweet. I can count in a 25 song-60 minute set we may play 3 stand along songs. The rest are part of flowing medley's. And they do 'flow'. The trickiest part are the tranisitions from one song to the next and that's usually where I see bands fail in this regard. Many just don't know how to 'blend' from one song into the next (beat/key matching) so instead each song transition is either loose and awkward or like hitting a brick wall with a bus. If you can master the transition process you can transform some previously undancable tunes into some pretty high energy moments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jimiv Posted March 18, 2011 Members Share Posted March 18, 2011 For our band, the setlist is determined by what has worked for the dancefloor over the almost 4 years we have been together (with some line-up changes). I would say 50% - 60% of it I really don't care for. I would certainly not play it on my ipod for kickin around music. But I do try to find some fun in each song we do, no matter how tired or bored of it I may be. Sometimes I will find my mind wandering during a particularly pedestrian tune where, for a fleeting moment, I catch myself admiring some recently acquired hardware or I may pick up on something happening over at the bar or in the audience. Then, when we begin a song I look forward to playing, it seems to fly by and afterwards find myself thinking, "Man, that sounded pretty cool." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tim_7string Posted March 19, 2011 Members Share Posted March 19, 2011 Picked the middle option. Playing in bands has always been about compromise for me. I've never been lucky enough to be in a situation where I could just play whatever the heck I wanted, got paid good money to do it, and the crowd just ate it all up. It's always been more about playing songs the crowd loves (and I usually don't, stuff like "Keep Your Hands To Yourself"), playing songs we both like (AC/DC's "TNT" fits here) and playing stuff I love, but the crowd could care less about ("Cars" by Gary Numan). I'm glad I have enough of a pop sensibility to at least enjoy most of what I play! With my new band, it will continue on that path of compromising on songs that we all like to do and ones that we know works for the crowd. With the band named after me, it will be more of what *I* like and presenting that to people in a quality format, an entirely different approach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted March 19, 2011 Members Share Posted March 19, 2011 The music isn't really my thing, country/classic rock, I don't listen to either, but that's the crowds we play to. I enjoy playing and have fun playing the songs, even if they aren't my thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted March 19, 2011 Members Share Posted March 19, 2011 I wouldn't say I love or hate the material we play. It certainly doesn't resemble anything close to my personal tastes (a few years back with played FNM's "Epic" for a while and I was in my glory) but these days I'd say our play lists range from the pretty terrible to the pretty creative. So while I don't like very much what we play I do like what we do with the material... which is slice, dice and blend that material into non-stop extended medleys and mini sets. It was a style we adapted and alot of local bands have tried (most failed) to emulate... but I do think that we excel doing it. So I may hate playing a song or two in our setlist yet my time performing them is short and sweet. I can count in a 25 song-60 minute set we may play 3 stand along songs. The rest are part of flowing medley's. And they do 'flow'. The trickiest part are the tranisitions from one song to the next and that's usually where I see bands fail in this regard. Many just don't know how to 'blend' from one song into the next (beat/key matching) so instead each song transition is either loose and awkward or like hitting a brick wall with a bus. If you can master the transition process you can transform some previously undancable tunes into some pretty high energy moments. I guess that's why you get paid the "big bucks" as they say, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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