Members tlbonehead Posted January 27, 2011 Members Share Posted January 27, 2011 I think that those are two different lists, and always will be. If you begin a band with a crowd pleasing list, and gradually work towards one that's cool, you'll probably eventually be happy and keep your crowd/following/revenue stream too. If you start from day one insisting that it's your taste or no go, I don't see how the people are ever going to get you. It's almost a fact of life.depends on what your tastes are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted January 27, 2011 Members Share Posted January 27, 2011 depends on what your tastes are. Good point. If your all-time favorite song is "Mustang Sally", you'll probably be able to do both without the two goals ever conflicting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TIMKEYS Posted January 27, 2011 Members Share Posted January 27, 2011 exactly. Musicians spend 20 seconds with this sort of crap between every song and then wonder why DJs are getting all the good gigs. Drives me nuts. Then there are some songs that take a little introduction. http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/bobby-bare-marie-laveau-live-from-rotterdam-1980/fc9fdd9f72c9b860151dfc9fdd9f72c9b860151d-464177464502?q=Marie+Laveau+youtube&FORM=VIRE5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted January 27, 2011 Members Share Posted January 27, 2011 Good point. If your all-time favorite song is "Mustang Sally", you'll probably be able to do both without the two goals ever conflicting!well, that's your point, not mine. Your head was too low for mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tim_7string Posted January 27, 2011 Members Share Posted January 27, 2011 Drives me nuts when a band stands up on stage and feels the need to give a condensed "wiki" of every song/artist. Me too. That's why I went ballistic a week and a half ago onstage when the drummer kept doing that for the beginning of every f***ing song! I even paused with my playing a bit at the beginning, so he would stop, but then he went into "Here's a song by..." again, like he was on the damn radio! I stopped playing the song (about 10 seconds in), gave the drummer the hand gesture for "stop" ("cutting" my neck with my hand) and told the drummer onstage (off mic) to cut it out because he was really irritating me. He got pretty pissed off at me and said, "Well, play a f***in' song then, play the f***in' song!!!" But when we started doing it "my" way (that is, playing songs one right after the other without any interruptions), lo and behold, people LOVED it and went out of their way to tell us so. Imagine that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted January 27, 2011 Members Share Posted January 27, 2011 well, that's your point, not mine. Your head was too low for mine. Not really. Pick you OWN favorite audience-pleasing song if you like, the point is still the same: if your taste is the same as the audience, then you can do both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tlbonehead Posted January 27, 2011 Members Share Posted January 27, 2011 Not really. Pick you OWN favorite audience-pleasing song if you like, the point is still the same: if your taste is the same as the audience, then you can do both.my point was, do the songs you want and then let the listeners who like what you play make up your crowd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twostone Posted January 27, 2011 Members Share Posted January 27, 2011 Is there market for your cool music? I know my polka music dosen't go over to good in most mainstream clubs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members New Trail Posted January 27, 2011 Author Members Share Posted January 27, 2011 my point was, do the songs you want and then let the listeners who like what you play make up your crowd. That's probably a good plan if you live in a large enough market... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted January 27, 2011 Members Share Posted January 27, 2011 Me too. That's why I went ballistic a week and a half ago onstage when the drummer kept doing that for the beginning of every f***ing song! I even paused with my playing a bit at the beginning, so he would stop, but then he went into "Here's a song by..." again, like he was on the damn radio!Going right into the next song or *GASP* doing medleys was totally strange to most of the guys in my band when we 1st started. Especially our 1st guitar player and female vocalist. They couldn't wrap their heads around why we would do this. Let's just say things started to flow better with us when we started running songs back to back/ medleys... and of course after they were gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted January 27, 2011 Members Share Posted January 27, 2011 my point was, do the songs you want and then let the listeners who like what you play make up your crowd. A band I was in back in 1991 did this. We played metal and we loved it. We didn't get gigs though. Still great players in the band. I gave up publicly carrying the flag of true metal years ago. I figured it was time to make a few bucks playing in a pop cover bands, so i played in a few. I still love me some old school metal though. I just don't feel the need to play it for the masses anymore. I do think a show filled with "true metal/classic metal" would work once in awhile if promoted as a "SHOW" not just a band in the back room. I talked about putting something together with some old school metal guys I know but soon I noticed I would be doing 99% of the work and right now I just don't have the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted January 27, 2011 Members Share Posted January 27, 2011 my point was, do the songs you want and then let the listeners who like what you play make up your crowd. Then I agree more with TimRocker that you have to get the people to you first. By saying "depends on your taste", I thought you were implying that if the musician has commericial tastes then all we be good. Baring that, I'm not sure what "depends on your taste" means. No matter. Not a big deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Agitator Posted January 27, 2011 Members Share Posted January 27, 2011 Then I agree more with TimRocker that you have to get the people to you first.By saying "depends on your taste", I thought you were implying that if the musician has commericial tastes then all we be good. Baring that, I'm not sure what "depends on your taste" means.I think that was the point. There was a crack at some point about "If 'Mustang Sally' is your favorite song, you're all set." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted January 27, 2011 Members Share Posted January 27, 2011 I think that was the point. There was a crack at some point about "If 'Mustang Sally' is your favorite song, you're all set." If that's the case I'd have to say listen to more music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wardjames Posted January 27, 2011 Members Share Posted January 27, 2011 Forever, I was in the camp that we needed to play songs that were cool to us, and the crowd would eventually see it our way. Now I've come to the conclusion that it's an uphill battle trying to play obscure songs that happen to be my favorite. That being said, there's thousands of "cool" songs. Since we've been playing sing-a-longs like "Friends in Low Places", "All My Ex's Live in Texas", "Family Tradition" etc. (obviously we're a country band), we're slowly but surely getting bigger crowds that stay much longer into the night. Plus we can still mix in a few songs that only a few people would know. I still like all the stuff we do, and they're still "cool", but now we're making sure they're both cool AND accessible to the audience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted January 28, 2011 Members Share Posted January 28, 2011 Forever, I was in the camp that we needed to play songs that were cool to us, and the crowd would eventually see it our way. Now I've come to the conclusion that it's an uphill battle trying to play obscure songs that happen to be my favorite. That being said, there's thousands of "cool" songs. Since we've been playing sing-a-longs like "Friends in Low Places", "All My Ex's Live in Texas", "Family Tradition" etc. (obviously we're a country band), we're slowly but surely getting bigger crowds that stay much longer into the night. Plus we can still mix in a few songs that only a few people would know. I still like all the stuff we do, and they're still "cool", but now we're making sure they're both cool AND accessible to the audience. Think how much learned trying to sell the unsellable. You probably wouldn't be where you are without that experience. If you can sell an obscure tune, think how easy it is to sell the popular ones. I think it was you that was talkin' bout sandwiching them in between popular tunes. I agree with that. You gotta have SOMETHING in there familiar or you lose the room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wardjames Posted January 28, 2011 Members Share Posted January 28, 2011 Think how much learned trying to sell the unsellable. You probably wouldn't be where you are without that experience.QUOTE]Ain't that the truth. We tried forever to rework this song "Playboy" by Wynn Stewart, to "modernize" it to be palatable to a bar crowd. Turns out the way to make it palatable is to sandwich it between Luckenbach and Don't Rock the Jukebox. Who knew? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted January 28, 2011 Members Share Posted January 28, 2011 Ain't that the truth. We tried forever to rework this song "Playboy" by Wynn Stewart, to "modernize" it to be palatable to a bar crowd. Turns out the way to make it palatable is to sandwich it between Luckenbach and Don't Rock the Jukebox. Who knew? Great point. We've had a couple of tunes that almost went to the scrap heap, but once we moved em around, all of a sudden they're working. One of em is "Stay With Me". That's not a "can't miss" tune by any stretch, but damn we've gotten some solid reactions on that one when it's in the right spot. If people are up and a little rowdy, that one really rocks. {censored}, we get good reactions from "The Lemon Song" - but like you said, it's gotta be in the right spot or it's just a big "WTF was that?" kinda look you wind up getting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted January 28, 2011 Members Share Posted January 28, 2011 Like you said, there are 1,000's of good songs that don't have to be the "same old, same old". We get really good reactions from the Beatles tunes we play, and some of em are obscure older ones:Bad BoyBirthdayDay TripperSaw Her Standing ThereLong Tall Sally Of those, "Bad Boy" is the newest and we haven't quite found a "home" for it yet. We're still in the "I don't quite get that" phase....but we'll get it in the right spot, or it'll just have to go to the "C" list. I guess that's the beauty of learning new songs - you've got the flexibility to pick different songs for each gig, and we do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted January 28, 2011 Members Share Posted January 28, 2011 I think that was the point. There was a crack at some point about "If 'Mustang Sally' is your favorite song, you're all set."It wasn't a 'crack'. Simply a reference to one of the most commercial songs of all time to make the point. I thought that'd be pretty easy to get. I guess not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted January 28, 2011 Members Share Posted January 28, 2011 Like you said, there are 1,000's of good songs that don't have to be the "same old, same old". We get really good reactions from the Beatles tunes we play, and some of em are obscure older ones: Bad Boy Birthday Day Tripper Saw Her Standing There Long Tall Sally Of those, "Bad Boy" is the newest and we haven't quite found a "home" for it yet. We're still in the "I don't quite get that" phase....but we'll get it in the right spot, or it'll just have to go to the "C" list. I guess that's the beauty of learning new songs - you've got the flexibility to pick different songs for each gig, and we do that. LOVE "Bad Boy"! Good luck with that one! But that's probably the only one on your list I wouldn't put in the "same ol" catagory. Well, LTS doesn't get played much these days, but that's not really a Beatles tune, either.But anytime you can do some Beatles in your set list, it's all good by me We learned "All You Need Is Love" for a wedding a while back. Certainly not a "keeper" as it's so down tempo and being in 3/4 (except when it isn't) doesn't really make it a dance floor favorite. But it was fun to learn and play! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wades_keys Posted January 28, 2011 Members Share Posted January 28, 2011 Then again, you're in a resort area with a big market for variety bands. Around here, those aren't "same ole" by any stretch. What's "same ole" for bands here is the "classic rock" - as defined by the setlist of the one and only radio station that plays it around here.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tim_7string Posted January 28, 2011 Members Share Posted January 28, 2011 Like you said, there are 1,000's of good songs that don't have to be the "same old, same old".We get really good reactions from the Beatles tunes we play, and some of em are obscure older ones:Bad BoyBirthdayDay TripperSaw Her Standing ThereLong Tall SallyOf those, "Bad Boy" is the newest and we haven't quite found a "home" for it yet. We're still in the "I don't quite get that" phase....but we'll get it in the right spot, or it'll just have to go to the "C" list. I guess that's the beauty of learning new songs - you've got the flexibility to pick different songs for each gig, and we do that. "Slow Down" was one I used to play in my band that played casinos. It usually went over pretty well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jeff42 Posted January 28, 2011 Members Share Posted January 28, 2011 What's "same ole" for bands here is the "classic rock" - as defined by the setlist of the one and only radio station that plays it around here.... there are still about a billion bands in my area doing this formula. Most of them are guys in their 40s that decided to get back into the "band thing." They are playing for door money and playing to about 10 people. There is one band that does it very well and that's where the crowd goes. The billion other guys just wont budge on the material so they play dive bars to 10 people...which is fine by me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted January 28, 2011 Members Share Posted January 28, 2011 there are still about a billion bands in my area doing this formula. Most of them are guys in their 40s that decided to get back into the "band thing." They are playing for door money and playing to about 10 people.. Maybe that's why there's no real audience for this stuff---all the people who would go out to see it are playing in bands! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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