Members ZigZagWanderer Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 I'm curious if anyone out there has tried to get the best of both worlds as far as covers vs. originals go, and whether or not it works. I'm thinking of a band who is focused on writing and recording original music, but that knows enough covers to get regular paying cover gigs...has anyone been able to make something like this work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members THB Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 Yep, we sure do. We've got three original CDs out and play about half and half at most gigs. There are times when we open for another act or play a venue that is focused more on originals that we play all or mostly original stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nighthawkdude Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 It works fine. In fact, it's a great way of keeping some real money coming into the band, since original gigs don't usually pay worth a damn, if they pay at all. Of course, you'll hear a lot of "purists" here say that if you're doing covers, you're a sellout. As long as you keep in mind that many, if not most, bands that are "making it" started out as cover bands (Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, etc), there's no conflict. Using the money from the cover gigs to finance recording and original gigs is a great way to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JacieFB Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 Yeah, I guess I'm a purist. But I've done shows (parties) where we had to learn a bunch of covers. We made bank. And we don't usually make much for original shows. There is a band in town that does what you guys are talking about...make CD's of their own, but have a few standing cover gigs. Personally, I feel like that really influences the orginals part of the deal adversely. But confirmed rumor has it that they made about $110,000 as a band a couple of years ago. So who am I to argue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vanlatte Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 Originally posted by THB Yep, we sure do. We've got three original CDs out and play about half and half at most gigs. There are times when we open for another act or play a venue that is focused more on originals that we play all or mostly original stuff. Do you guys go by the same band name or have two separate entities? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fastplant Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 This is kinda how my cover band got started. We were in an all original band and decided to make some money on the side playing covers. We eventually morphed into an all cover band and made a fortune compared to the original gigs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fastplant Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 Originally posted by vanlatte Do you guys go by the same band name or have two separate entities? We changed the name for our cover version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted October 21, 2005 Moderators Share Posted October 21, 2005 We have one original CD out, and one live CD which is mainly covers (one original of mine is on it). We mix our stuff into the show which is now about 70% covers, 30% originals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tucktronix Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 I play with an original progressive rock band(Mind Sky) and we just released a all-original CD(which has been doing quite well in the prog circles). We've been pondering the idea of doing some classic rock covers by bands like Rush, Genesis and Yes with the intent of getting more work locally. We actually play a couple of obscure covers by UK and The Flower Kings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BillyCorgan Posted October 21, 2005 Members Share Posted October 21, 2005 We play 1 cover. We were thinking about doing the cover/original thing but with the crowds growing there's no point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Badside Posted October 22, 2005 Members Share Posted October 22, 2005 We started by doing 50/50, then learned more covers to get into more venues, then started forgetting about originals until we became a cover only band... which doesn't seem to bother the other guys in the band, but it does bother me! So much that now I need to start a side project to play my originals and it's PITA. Oh well! Maybe they just weren't into the original thing anyway, it takes a lot of dedication to do your own thing (this is not a cover band bashing post BTW) because you don't get much money out of it unless you're one of the lucky fews who "makes it". Anyway, I see a lot of original bands who do cover gigs and slip a few originals in there and use the occasion to promote themselves and sell a few CDs. It's damn fine idea if you ask me.Just make sure everyone in your band is on the same page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members one4rich Posted October 22, 2005 Members Share Posted October 22, 2005 In '94 I joined a cover band, and there had never been any attempt by them to write music. During my stint in the band, we started writing songs, and playing them during our cover gigs. That allowed the songs to mature, and seeing how they went over with the audience helped a lot. After we'd written enough songs, we started thinking about recording. That whole time we were a travelling road band, so we actually recorded our CD while we were still pretty tight from playing every night. Once we had our CDs in hand, we started selling them at gigs. We would still play covers, but we managed to sprinkle all of our originals in every night. When we had dancers during our songs, we felt pretty good. When they sang along, we felt great! We didn't sell all of them, but we did sell quite a few. It's hard to sell a CD to a bar patron that only brought drinking money, but we did the best we could. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LateGreats Posted October 22, 2005 Members Share Posted October 22, 2005 This is a tough line to straddle. I've been in a few bands that started out all original, but then had to add covers to get full nights, then morphed into all cover bands. I think bands have a chance if they establish some kind of name first, then introduce their originals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sideswipedv Posted October 22, 2005 Members Share Posted October 22, 2005 we are an all cover band , but recently we have been try our hand at some writing.....ill have to let you know but it seems to be working out fine. I dont forsee any addition of our originals in the imediate future but who knows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members THB Posted October 22, 2005 Members Share Posted October 22, 2005 Originally posted by vanlatte Do you guys go by the same band name or have two separate entities? Same band name. Some of our originals are our most popular songs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JacieFB Posted October 22, 2005 Members Share Posted October 22, 2005 Originally posted by THB Same band name. Some of our originals are our most popular songs. That's awesome...often times, nothing kills a cover band crowd faster than the 'O' word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members THB Posted October 22, 2005 Members Share Posted October 22, 2005 Originally posted by JacieFB That's awesome...often times, nothing kills a cover band crowd faster than the 'O' word. True. I've been turned away cold by some bars because I say we play originals. I figure it's their loss - we work plenty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JacieFB Posted October 22, 2005 Members Share Posted October 22, 2005 Originally posted by THB True. I've been turned away cold by some bars because I say we play originals. I figure it's their loss - we work plenty. Oh, man...it is sooo important to get that bit of info out of the way immediately! We played at a club that we had played before under previous management. The new "pro" soundguy went ape{censored} on us when he found out that there were 4 bands playing. Umm...that's what you do in original music. "Well, I've never done that! This is gonna cost you extra!" That guy gave us hell all night. He did a terrible job with the sound. He cut our sets short. Then the club lied to the last band about the money. We told them to give it to the last band (since they had the biggest crowd). The club told the last band that we took it all. That almost started some crap. Luckily, we cleared it up with that band or we would have been ostracised quickly in that music scene. Clubs have so much power to screw you at ever turn...and it basically means nothing to them as long as they get people buying drinks at their bar. Sorry about the rant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Lee Flier Posted October 22, 2005 Members Share Posted October 22, 2005 We consider ourselves an original band, but we do know a lot of covers and enjoy playing them, so we will do cover gigs sometimes for extra bucks. Usually we will sneak a few originals into our cover gigs and a few obscure covers into our original gigs. But mostly we treat them as separate entities. It works well for the most part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SpacedCowboy Posted October 22, 2005 Members Share Posted October 22, 2005 You know, as far as covers go, we have incorporated a lot more "home run hitters" into our set list. In the beginning if we did any covers at all, they were ones we personally got off on. Now we've learned to balance it out a little. We don't have any hammered-in-stone boundaries as far as the covers we choose to do, but one rule still stands: "The originals stay. End of story." The day we stop playing our own songs live is the day we quit this gig and I just become a hired gun. It's funny though, on a side note, we HAVE considered doing a strictly covers thing on the side and naming it something else. And since our band name is a semi-obscure Star Wars reference, (TK-421)we thought about calling our cover band Blue Harvest. Which is ALSO Star Wars related, but only the hardcore Lucas-ophiles will get it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GOSG Posted October 23, 2005 Members Share Posted October 23, 2005 Originally posted by JacieFB Oh, man...it is sooo important to get that bit of info out of the way immediately! We played at a club that we had played before under previous management. The new "pro" soundguy went ape{censored} on us when he found out that there were 4 bands playing. Umm...that's what you do in original music. "Well, I've never done that! This is gonna cost you extra!" That guy gave us hell all night. He did a terrible job with the sound. He cut our sets short. Then the club lied to the last band about the money. We told them to give it to the last band (since they had the biggest crowd). The club told the last band that we took it all. That almost started some crap. Luckily, we cleared it up with that band or we would have been ostracised quickly in that music scene. Clubs have so much power to screw you at ever turn...and it basically means nothing to them as long as they get people buying drinks at their bar.Sorry about the rant. To clarify your post could you answer a couple of questions for me? 1. When was the new "pro" soundguy told that it would be a multiple act show? 2. Did any of the bands share gear? 3. Did the club know about the multiple acts and was the"Original Music" format a departure from their regular schedule? 4. Did all of the bands agree to a method of distributing the show's proceeds? 5. Who hired and was responsible for paying the "Pro" soundguy? I just would like to know a little more before commenting. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wit Posted October 24, 2005 Members Share Posted October 24, 2005 ND's an original band, but we do play quite a few covers, regularly chopping old ones and introducing new ones. Keeps a nice variety, and I reckon it helps first-time listeners get sucked in... It gives us the ability to get into venues where one is paid to entertain (more of a cover bias) rather than our usual ticket'ed gigs (more people coming to hear our original material). As it stands, we never play more than 50% covers. Its good fun, and people enjoy it. We're having enough success with our own material not to have to concentrate too much on covers. ps - I find sometimes, some covers stretch the bands ability, with new melodies, progressions, styles of play, vocals, etc. All good when it comes to writing original stuff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BndGrl Posted October 24, 2005 Members Share Posted October 24, 2005 Originally posted by SpacedCowboy "The originals stay. End of story." +1,000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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