Getting Clipped

[Dancebass]

I'm going to keep this kind of broad so it can apply to both covers and originals. Do you guys ever get ripped off by other bands?

 

Recently two bands that have been around for a while (and popular with the local press) decided to change their sound. "Modernize" were their own words. Well, they seemed to have modernized right into biting off half our {censored}ing style! Not just our style, but our friend's that we work with also. To be honest, the stuff they were doing was getting dusty and the scene that we had created was putting it on'em pretty hard with the numbers of people we were pulling. Now the local press always slips there name next to everything written about us or our friends?? WTF?

 

Obviously, everyone has the right to do whatever the hell they want, I don't own anything, and sometimes these things do happen naturally. The thing is, this time man, it's so f*cking blatant I'm really getting pissed about it! It's not even a case were I can dismiss it as having similar influences. These bands have literally made a right angle turn directly into clipping our {censored}!

[Flogger59]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. You're influential.

[Vito Corleone]

 

Do you guys ever get ripped off by other bands?

 

 

Yes. No more so than I've ripped off other bands though.

 

As Flogger said: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

[Dancebass]

 

You're influential.

 

 

Hey, that's not a fancy word for "gay" is it?

[RupertB]

We've noticed a couple of bands who play the same venues as us adding tunes they've seen us do. Not a big deal IMO. Most of these guys are friends. If they can pull them off and it gets their audience moving, I'm all for it.

 

We play 'em better anyway.

 

While we're on the subject of "clipping" I won't deny having visited the websites of those other bands and checking out their "upcoming gigs" list in order to make a list of venues to call on. If you don't, you're not really trying.

[Dancebass]

 

Not a big deal IMO. Most of these guys are friends.

 

 

Hmmm....maybe that's what has me so bent. I would not describe these folks that way at all, not in the least.

[ContractPilot]

Reminds of a vid of Jim Hendrix holding up a tape recorder at a Buddy Guy show...EVH turning his back while tapping...worried that other guitarists would cop his 'secret' before the album came out..

 

In my own experience, it's alway nice when you get a compliment from another player...but when it's followed up by..'what scale, what tubes, what strings, what amp, what pedals'....

 

Do you guys get a 'competitive' feeling about all this?

[Vito Corleone]

 

Reminds of a vid of Jim Hendrix holding up a tape recorder at a Buddy Guy show...EVH turning his back while tapping...worried that other guitarists would cop his 'secret' before the album came out.. In my own experience, it's alway nice when you get a compliment from another player...but when it's followed up by..'what scale, what tubes, what strings, what amp, what pedals'.... Do you guys get a 'competitive' feeling about all this?

 

 

I think being competitive is just human nature. How does anyone succeed at ANYTHING without a certain sense of competitiveness and I think most compliments are delivered with at least some degree of jealousy. Why would you think something was worth complimenting without some bit of "gee, I wish I had that too" tucked in there somewhere?

 

Having said that, I don't take all this band stuff NEARLY as competitively as a lot of cats I know. I try to be supportive of every musician and band in my area. If any of us are working, that's ultimately better for all of us. If any band is sounding great, that ups the bar for everybody. More GOOD bands getting GOOD gigs is a GOOD thing. I get no pleasure out of thinking any other band sucks. But I DO know a lot of cats who are that way it seems.

 

But competition is healthy. Speaking of my day job: would it be nice if I was the only guy in my town doing the work the do? Yeah, that might make things easier on most days. But I'm BETTER at what I do because I know if I'm not constantly striving to do my best work, somebody else is going to take my business. That applies to being in a band as well.

[Kramerguy]

with covers, how original can you be, musically? The show, certainly.. if you are all wearing stage outfits and do a specific type of show or soemthing..

 

As for originals.. If someone is good enough to copycat your music/style, well then, they are probably good enough to make it anyways and probably wouldn't need to copy anything. Even though we are all copycats to some degree - it's the mix of copying with our own flair added that makes our own "sound"

 

I dunno- never felt ripped off though.

[TrickyBoy]

 

I'm going to keep this kind of broad so it can apply to both covers and originals. Do you guys ever get ripped off by other bands? Recently two bands that have been around for a while (and popular with the local press) decided to change their sound. "Modernize" were their own words. Well, they seemed to have modernized right into biting off half our {censored}ing style! Not just our style, but our friend's that we work with also. To be honest, the stuff they were doing was getting dusty and the scene that we had created was putting it on'em pretty hard with the numbers of people we were pulling. Now the local press always slips there name next to everything written about us or our friends?? WTF? Obviously, everyone has the right to do whatever the hell they want, I don't own anything, and sometimes these things do happen naturally. The thing is, this time man, it's so f*cking blatant I'm really getting pissed about it! It's not even a case were I can dismiss it as having similar influences. These bands have literally made a right angle turn directly into clipping our {censored}!

 

 

First off, what is this "local press" of which you speak???

 

Secondly, ignore them. I find that with original bands especially, trying to be something you're not is a surefire recipe for disaster. Remember when Poison tried to go "heavy". People will figure these other bands out as phonies soon enough.

[Rezrover]

 

Remember when Poison tried to go "heavy".

 

 

I don't. When was that?

[Vito Corleone]

I don't. When was that?

 

Maybe he means "heavy makeup"

 

Must have been some desperate trying-to-stay-relevant-in-the-90s album that I've long forgotten ever existed now.

[ContractPilot]

I remember hearing a guy yell out 'Nobody plays this stuff...yeah, yeah!!!'...

 

Got me thinking about certain bands that cover the the tougher 80s stuff...Journey...ect...still never seen anyone good enough to cover Boston.

 

Maybe that's a way of setting yourself apart..play stuff, the other guys can't.

[Dancebass]

First off, what is this "local press" of which you speak??? Secondly, ignore them. I find that with original bands especially, trying to be something you're not is a surefire recipe for disaster. Remember when Poison tried to go "heavy". People will figure these other bands out as phonies soon enough.

 

I don't remember that either actually. Ha!

 

I DO remember MC Hammer gettin all gangsta though!! That was AWESOME!!

 

We're actually blessed to have a very heavy amount of press here in town that covers the local music scene. We have 1 pretty well read weekly alt paper, two monthly mags, and about 11 or so very active blogs. Some of the blogs have a healthy readership.

[Vito Corleone]

I don't remember that either actually. Ha!

 

Must have been THIS one:

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Tongue_(album)

[Rezrover]

Thought that was Poison's country album.

[Dancebass]

 

Must have been THIS one:

 

 

Speaking of Poison, has the entire world failed to notice that for the past five years, what's his name has been doing "reality" shows where he bangs every dumb slut they can dig up. Then the guy almost dies yadda yadda and now all the sudden he has a new reality show where the most important thing in the world is his wife and daughters?????

 

WTF? Am I the only one that noticed the age of his "girls"? HELLO?

[Vito Corleone]

He's definately marketed himself well, that's for sure. As far as the wife and daughters go, his wife and him have been off-and-on for years. How "on" they were during his dating shows, I dunno. But if she were backstage during all of them and the whole thing was faked, would anyone really be surprised?

 

Similarly, at the end of Flavor Flav's three dating shows, he announced he was going back to his ex-wife.

 

FWIW though, his new show with the wife and kids is boring as hell. He needs to go back to {censored}ing dumb sluts.

[Rezrover]

You mean you actually watch the shows?

[Vito Corleone]

You mean you actually watch the shows?

 

Oh yeah. Bad reality TV is one of my few guilty pleasures. I can only talk about there here where nobody really knows me though.

 

And, for whatever reason, my wife loved those "Rock of Love" shows, so she dragged me into them. :facepalm:

[Dancebass]

 

You mean you actually watch the shows?

 

 

No. I really like Classic Albums on VH1 Classics Channel, and I see the ads for his reality shows during the commercial breaks.

[Flogger59]

 

Hey, that's not a fancy word for "gay" is it?

 

 

That's "influential", not "in you end, Sal".

[soul-x]

I don't mean this in any sort of offensive way, because you guys are obviously a great band with a solid following, but are you really sure they're biting your style?

 

What I guess I'm getting at is simply that your guys' style of Electro-rock is stylistically similar to the better half of the original bands in my town. And I know a ton of more tired rock bands who are adding those sequenced elements to their sound as a quick (sometimes lazy) way to change things up. I doubt any of them here on the West coast have heard you.

 

Basically, these other bands might not be following specifically you guys, but just the general prevailing trends in live club music.

[Dancebass]

 

I don't mean this in any sort of offensive way, because you guys are obviously a great band with a solid following, but are you really sure they're biting your style? What I guess I'm getting at is simply that your guys style of Electro-rock is stylistically similar to the better half of the original bands in my town. These other bands might not be following specifically you guys, but just general prevailing trends in club music.

 

 

I can not be 100% certain about it, no. I'm sure you're absolutely correct about "why" they may be making these changes. There is little to suggest that we had anything to do with there overall direction. However, there are a few very specific things that have been lifted from our live show. Things that we feel pretty confident that we had to ourselves there for a while. I wouldn't want to go into to much detail about it because my gripe isn't worth it. It's real subtle.

 

I think it's just that it's coming from people that have been really hard on my band and similar bands in town for a couple years.

[Alex_SF]

 

Remember when Poison tried to go "heavy".

 

 

I don't, but I do remember looking up what had become of Faster Pussycat lately and finding they'd recast themselves, at least visual-image-wise, in the Marilyn Manson mold. Don't think it's been working out too well for them.