If you were a club owner, would you know these songs?

[TheAtomicJeff]

Heart: Bebe Le Strange, Heartless

Aerosmith: Season of Wither, Uncle Salty

Bad Company: Good Lovin' Gone Bad, Running with the Pack

AC/DC: Girls got rhythm, Touch too much

Cheap Trick: That 70's song.

Wings: Band on the Run, Let Me Roll It, Junior's Farm

Van Halen: On Fire

KISS: Strutter

Tom Petty: I need to know, Listen to her heart

 

There's others but that's just a few examples.....

 

The reason I'm asking is because I want to be in a 70's-type cover band that plays songs by good classic hard rock bands that haven't been overplayed/burned out by everyone else. I feel most of the above songs are recognizable, despite not being in every other cover band's set list and being spun every day on classic rock radio.

 

I had a discussion with someone else who told me most club owners would insist on popular and safe "classic staple" songs like "Mustang Sally", "Simple Man","Cocaine", "Shooting Star", "Sweet Emotion", "Born to be wild".....you get the idea.

 

If I took a great demo of the above songs to a club owner who has a good rep and loyal weekend clientele, would he balk at that set list and tell me to get real?

 

Thanks in advance....Jeff

[Tedster]

GOD BLESS YOU!!!

 

Tell your 'friend' that the last thing the world needs is another cover band playing "Cocaine" and "Mustang Sally"...

 

YES. BE ORIGINAL.

 

If you can't get anyone on the dance floor by playing "The Girl's Got Rhythm" by AC/DC, you need to not book yourself at any more nursing homes or orthopedic clinics for people with broken legs.

 

And remember, the best way to impress a bar owner is by impressing the CROWD.

 

Oh, and by the way, next time you see your "buddy"...deck him for me, wouldja?

[TheAtomicJeff]

Thank you, Ted! I wanted at least one person to tell me that I wasn't completely out of my mind with the concept.

[GCDEF]

I recognize most of them. FWIW, I've never had a club owner specify what songs we should play. All they care about is their bottom line. You could play nursery rhymes all night and they'd be happy if they had good receipts. Get the people in, get them drinking and staying and spending money and it really doesn't matter what you play.

[fastplant]

Around here you wouldn't get a call back. Unfortunately the clubs around here ONLY want to hear songs that are overplayed/burned out.

[Badside]

I'm not a club owner and I don't know them

[Craig Vecchione]

This very topic was brought up a few weeks ago over in Live Sound. Audiopile made a great point....would you prefer to play great but relatively unknown songs to an empty dancefloor and patrons looking at you "with the look my cat would give me if I put cabbage in his bowl" (paraphrased, but Mark's excellent quote!), or would you rather have happy chicks shaking their booty and buying lots of drinks from a pleased bar owner???

 

If you're playing music for money, your job is to please your boss, and you usually please your boss by making him more money than he's paying you. If this requires playing the same old song and dance (literally!) every night, then you have to decide if being a professional band is for you. There's plenty of venue space where you can play your originals or obscure covers; and you usually have to pay for the "privilege" of doing so.

 

If you're going to present that set list, perhaps provide two...that list plus another with more recognizable worn-out songs, and let the owner decide if he's got a preference. He might even appreciate having a choice, if he's not too busy to look.

[noisewave]

grrr

 

"Cheap Trick: That 70's song"

 

That song is "In The Street" by Big Star!

 

Cheap Trick (even though I love them) butchered it and mixed it with the end of "Surrender".

[JBJ]

couldn't tell you any of them so I'm assuming people who are even less into music than me ie the punters will be in the same boat and not likely to get into it at all so you wouldn't be getting a cal back if you didn't make me money behind the bar.

 

of course this would have to be subsidised from the bands own pocket if i don't meet the overheads

[smorrell]

Do your homework and find clubs to play where those songs will be appreciated. It's all about finding the right crowd or bringing the right crowd with you. Not that there's anything wrong with playing Mustang Sally... after all some people do enjoy doing that sort of thing, but it is by no means a requirement if you do your homework.

[Badside]

As I mentionned in another similaire thread:

 

- There is no place for artistic integrity when you're in a paid cover band, so suck it up and play Freebird

 

- You may be have been hearing the same song 3 times a week for the last 5 years, the people in the audience didn't. They just happen to be going out tonight (maybe it's their birthday, bachelor party, etc)

 

That said, build some freaking medleys so you don't have to play the full-lenght version of the "standard" songs.

[TheAtomicJeff]

Originally posted by noisewave grrr "Cheap Trick: That 70's song" That song is "In The Street" by Big Star! Cheap Trick (even though I love them) butchered it and mixed it with the end of "Surrender".

 

True but if I had said, "In the street" by Big Star, fewer people would have known it. Disagree with the "butchered" description.

 

Thanks everyone - all opinions are valid. I just happen to agree with Ted's statement that the last thing the world needs is another band covering "Cocaine" and "Mustang Sally". I just feel that covering those doesn't make us much different than anyone else.

[TheAtomicJeff]

Originally posted by Hardtailed As I mentionned in another similaire thread: - You may be have been hearing the same song 3 times a week for the last 5 years, the people in the audience didn't. They just happen to be going out tonight (maybe it's their birthday, bachelor party, etc)

 

They must be listening to radio from a different planet than I am. j/k

[TheAtomicJeff]

 

Originally posted by JBJ couldn't tell you any of them so I'm assuming people who are even less into music than me ie the punters will be in the same boat and not likely to get into it at all so you wouldn't be getting a cal back if you didn't make me money behind the bar.

 

 

Not trying to troll/flame but you seriously don't know a single one of those songs? A guy from Scotland doesn't recognize McCartney and Wings, "Band on the run" or the AC/DC tunes? Just wondering if you listen to classic rock music? I'm also wondering your age? We're not trying to draw in the teens and early 20-something crowd. I'm 42 years old. Around here there are plenty people in their 30's-40's who frequent the classic rock bar scene. That's my target audience.

[Hollow body]

Our recipe is like a third warhorses, a third familiar-but-not-worn-out, and a third obsure and original. That seems to keep the audience happy, and we get to do a little artistry to keep us interested.

[Tedster]

Oh, come the {censored} on , you guys have never heard "Heartless", "Good Loving Gone Bad", "The Girl's Got Rhythm", "Let Me Roll It", "I Need to Know", or "Strutter"?

 

You'd recognize them instantly if you did. I'll admit...I don't know if I'd do "Seasons of Wither". It's a great song, but...I'd probably do a more familiar Aerosmith slow song if I were shooting for a bar gig. "Junior's Farm" is a great song...very danceable...and one of those tunes that a lot of people would find themselves liking even if they'd never heard it before.

 

But, you CAN be familiar without being redundant. And that means picking from more than the same 40 songs everyone else does.

[TheAtomicJeff]

Ted, if you lived in Dallas I think you and I could hang out together...

[Tedster]

 

Let me say, I'm on a "Mission From God"

 

 

...to reduce the amount of overplayed songs bar bands perform...

 

Ah, mah fella brethren, preach the GOSPEL of CREATIVE SUBSTITUTION!

 

 

That is-UH...whah play sumthing that's WONE OUT, when we can PLAY-UH sumthing that shall REJUVENATE our soulsUH!

 

Simply put, rather than playing

 

"Old Time Rock and Roll" ...play "Her Strut"

"Gimme Three Steps"... play "Saturday Night Special" or something else...something else popular, but not beat down like a dead possum.

 

And so on, and so forth...on down the line. You get the drift. :D

 

So, yep, I'm behind you 100 percent!

[TheMan]

Lotta great tunes, but you'd probably be best off sprinklin' 'em in with some radio hits.

 

As for "Seasons of Wither," which is far and away my favorite Aerosmith song, I've played it in bars before - crickets chirpin' and tumbleweeds blowin', baby. The best you can hope for with that tune is for one teary-eyed drunk to tell you how cool it was after the set.

 

Chances are that person will be me.

[TheAtomicJeff]

Originally posted by TheMan Lotta great tunes, but you'd probably be best off sprinklin' 'em in with some radio hits. As for "Seasons of Wither," which is far and away my favorite Aerosmith song, I've played it in bars before - crickets chirpin' and tumbleweeds blowin', baby. The best you can hope for with that tune is for one teary-eyed drunk to tell you how cool it was after the set. Chances are that person will be me.

 

Yeah, you're probably right about the crickets for that one.

Too bad - it's probably their best slow song that most people have yet to discover. Better dust off my Mustang Sally tab.

 

Thanks, TheMan. I'd be proud to have you as my drunkest patron.

[Terry Allan Hall]

Originally posted by Hollow body Our recipe is like a third warhorses, a third familiar-but-not-worn-out, and a third obsure and original. That seems to keep the audience happy, and we get to do a little artistry to keep us interested.

 

This mixture has always done right by me, athough we expand way beyond classic rock!

 

If everyone gets to hear something they like at least a few X each night, everyone (including management) is happy!

[Dr. Jimmy]

 

Originally posted by Craigv This very topic was brought up a few weeks ago over in Live Sound. Audiopile made a great point....would you prefer to play great but relatively unknown songs to an empty dancefloor and patrons looking at you "with the look my cat would give me if I put cabbage in his bowl" (paraphrased, but Mark's excellent quote!), or would you rather have happy chicks shaking their booty and buying lots of drinks from a pleased bar owner??? If you're playing music for money, your job is to please your boss, and you usually please your boss by making him more money than he's paying you. If this requires playing the same old song and dance (literally!) every night, then you have to decide if being a professional band is for you. There's plenty of venue space where you can play your originals or obscure covers; and you usually have to pay for the "privilege" of doing so. If you're going to present that set list, perhaps provide two...that list plus another with more recognizable worn-out songs, and let the owner decide if he's got a preference. He might even appreciate having a choice, if he's not too busy to look.

 

 

+1,000,000

[Tedster]

Why does ANY band have to play "recognizable worn-out songs?"

 

Why not just recognizable, good danceable songs? Is every recognizable, danceable song worn out?

 

The answer is an emphatic NO.