Covers you are doing that get the best reaction

[worthyjoe]

right now I have to say our hottest song is Mr. Brightside by the Killers. It's probably on the tail end of it's popularity but people freaking LOVE the song and I also love playing/singing it.

 

We also start and end a medley with 500 Miles by the Proclaimers and that seems to get peoples' attention (in a good way).

 

 

What are some others? Can be new songs or old.

[sydfan]

Sadly, it's songs like:

Keep Your Hands To Yourself

Brown Eyed Girl

What I Like About You

 

 

 

.......you get the drift.

 

[Badside]

There's something about AC/DC that always gets the crowd going...

 

In the places where I play, play just one bar of a Metallica riff and they go nuts!

[Thunderbroom]

My female-fronted rock band added "Fight For Your Right To Party" by the Beastie Boys several months ago. When we ripped into that song with a female lead and female backup, heads were turning at the bar. The reaction on their faces was priceless.

[Savage Jack]

covers? bah! ptuiiii! *spits*

 

covers are so overrated... we do all originals, never ever played any covers, have no problem getting gigs, never have any problems with crowd control either... as long as you keep kicking ass and your beat is awesome, your sound is thick and thumping you are good to go. i figure i played enough covers when i was a kid i dont need to be doing it now.

 

plus there's something that every working musician needs to cultivate... it's called integrity to one's self... never compromise and stick to your guns. !if you dont believe in what you are playing, your audience will sence it and you'll never hold the crowd.

 

...just a thought there

 

btw... once in a while when some drunk redneck yells out "free bird" my response is to flick him the bird and say.... no charge bro! ....of course, my drummer was a navy seal and my frontman was airborne so... i can get away with more than most can lol

[Lee Flier]

Well most of the time cover bands and original bands are at odds with each other. Cover bands are looking to make money, and will usually do what the crowd and the folks who hired them want them to do. Original bands of course, are focused on making their own art. It's two different things.

 

My band is a bit on the fence in that we're an original band but we happen to know a LOT of covers, mainly 60's stuff, so we occasionally get hired to do a paying gig doing covers. We would never make that our primary focus, but it's fun to do once in awhile for variety and profit. We enjoy playing covers, and we don't do "Freebird" or any of the usual expected stuff.

 

I think playing anything helps you play better as a band, and I don't like being in bands that refuse to play anything but their own stuff. But I definitely agree that you have to enjoy what you're playing, no matter what it is. There are some covers that we really enjoy doing, so we do them. Otherwise, we stick to our own stuff.

[Thunderbroom]

 

Originally posted by Savage Jack btw... once in a while when some drunk redneck yells out "free bird" my response is to flick him the bird and say.... no charge bro! ....of course, my drummer was a navy seal and my frontman was airborne so... i can get away with more than most can lol

 

 

I've got a suggestion for even a better response...when "some drunk redneck" yells "Freebird"...stop your current song immediately and start playing "Freebird". It's the easiest way to shut them up without the macho bullsh!t. Both of my bands are adding a shortened version of the song for this very reason.

[Micky Z]

Originally posted by Thunderbroom ...when "some drunk redneck" yells "Freebird"...stop your current song immediately and start playing "Freebird".

If you're in a band that actually has a slide guitarist, is it a requirement to play "Freebird" at every gig? How many times a night?

[worthyjoe]

Originally posted by Savage Jack covers? bah! ptuiiii! *spits* covers are so overrated... we do all originals, never ever played any covers, have no problem getting gigs, never have any problems with crowd control either... as long as you keep kicking ass and your beat is awesome, your sound is thick and thumping you are good to go. i figure i played enough covers when i was a kid i dont need to be doing it now. plus there's something that every working musician needs to cultivate... it's called integrity to one's self... never compromise and stick to your guns. ! if you dont believe in what you are playing, your audience will sence it and you'll never hold the crowd. ...just a thought there btw... once in a while when some drunk redneck yells out "free bird" my response is to flick him the bird and say.... no charge bro! ....of course, my drummer was a navy seal and my frontman was airborne so... i can get away with more than most can lol

 

Why bring this into the discussion? Honestly?

 

Oh, and I think you should consider a longer signature section.

[GWS5987]

I asked about covers some time back. Received some good responses, as follows:

 

Hello fellow guitar players,

 

So, you've got a pretty good crowd, but it's one of those nights where they'll dance .... and then they won't dance. Kind of hard to figure out what they want, and you've got 2 1/2 more sets to go.

 

Now, based on your song list, what seems to be the top five songs that usually gets them off their ass and on the dance floor?

 

(Yes, I'm looking to steal a few ideas here!)

 

Thanks for any input.

 

George

 

NEXT:

 

You Shook Me All Night Long

 

NEXT:

 

Its not songs your looking for, its a band.

 

Sly and The Family Stone

 

NEXT:

 

Brown eyed girl

All right now

Takin care of business

Old time rock and roll

Play that funky music

 

OR

 

any disco song (KC, Outkast, Kool, etc).

 

People dancing = bigger crowds = people drinking more = happy club owners = call backs and bigger paychecks for the band.

 

That's just the way it is. And it took me a LONG time to realize this. And even longer to embrace it.

 

NEXT:

 

Wonderful Tonight

Play that funky music

Born to be wild

Mustang Sally

 

Pretty much anything by ZZ Top.

 

NEXT:

 

I'm not saying I enjoy playing these songs, but....

 

Mustang Sally

Play that Funky Music

Thank You For Letting Me Be Myself

Keep Your Hands to Yourself

Brown Eyed Girl

Sweet Home Alabama

 

Basically, any song that has been played to death and that even in their drunkest state they know. Dream Theater would probably clear the bar out, even if the real band walked in and played it. Sad but true..

 

NEXT:

 

CCR - Fortunate Son

Ween - Voodoo Lady

Jet - Are You Gonna Be My Girl

Jimi - Crosstown Traffic

Everlast - Who Got The Hooch

 

NEXT:

 

Old Time Rock and Roll

La Bamba/Good Lovin'

Johnny B. Goode

Smooth

Start Me Up

 

NEXT:

 

Play That Funky Music -- even the lyrics will tell you that you need to play this song!!

 

NEXT:

 

Higher by Sly & The Family Stone.

It's got the groove and it's open ended so you

could do a jam version that would go on for

quite a while, even sneak a guitar solo in.

 

NEXT:

 

Shout! for the wild dance crowd

The Lass Kiss for the slow-dance crowd

 

NEXT:

 

GQ - Disco Nights

Phish - Weekapaug Groove

any Akimbo

lots of Stevie Wonder

Grateful dead - Shakedown Street

Marvin Gaye - Got to give it up

Rick James - Give it to me baby

Rick James - Mary Jane

Michael Jackson - Dont stop till you get enough

 

NEXT:

 

Bill Withers - Use Me

Stevie Wonder - Superstition

Stevie Wonder - Higher Ground

James Brown - The Payback

Rare Earth - I Just Want To Celebrate

 

NEXT:

 

(She's A) Brick House

Brown Sugar

Proud Mary

Mustang Sally

anything by Kool and The Gang

honestky, I spend time i nclubs checking bands, and even the young bands can't find 'modern' dance material that is not hip-hop oriented...stick with the classics...

 

NEXT:

 

This is how it is- nobody wants to hear your crappy originals- they want to dance.

 

Here's our third set, the killer- timed perfectly for the drunk girls in the audience- It's non-stop booty shakin'.

Set Three

Sweet home Alabama

Hard to handle

What I like about you

Brick House

Cold hard bitch

Harder to breathe

White Wedding

What I got

She talks to angels

What was I thinking?

Faith

Sin City

Play that funky music

 

NEXT:

 

few more:

 

"Super Bad"- James Brown

"It's Your Thing"- Sly And The Family Stone

"Who's That Lady"- The Isley Brothers

"And The Beat Goes On"- The Whispers

"Stomp"- Brothers Johnson

The aforementioned Rick James covers

 

At bar gigs, if you want people to dance, you've gotta funk.

 

Some *very* early rap like "The Breaks" by Kurtis Blow or "Rappers Delight" also works well in rock bars, because they're still basically funk tunes.

 

An added feature of funk is that you can throw a couple of those covers into your originals set and get people to dance while avoiding the dreaded bull{censored} schlock covers that people think you have to play to get paid.

 

Of course, you can play clubs that only do original music and avoid the

 

NEXT:

 

What I Like About You

The House Is A Rockin'

Twist and Shout

Brown Sugar

Rock and Roll (Zep)

[JBJ]

people who think playign covers is tantamount to blasphemy usually have really {censored}ty attitudes with regards to band work.

 

i know a handful of people who play for a living. some doing covers, some doing originals with labels.

 

the guys doing the covers make money constantly, have good gear, always have a crowd, can change the set lists to their liking or the venue and crowd, always get appreciated, don't have any of the bull{censored} attitudes that come with playign with other original bands and most of all, they enjoy doing it.

 

guys i know signed to labels on the other hand: the only bit they tend to like is the actual playing. the rest of the time they're being {censored}ed about by the label or record stores, always have to play the same sets pretty much every night, alwaysat each others throats because they need to spend so much time together, constantly having to write not because they want to but cause they need to... amongst other things...

 

My band does originals and covers so it's really like 2 projects but a coupla years ago when we were just doing originals it started getting like the people I just described, playing out several times a week, always at each others throats, too much pressure and to be honest, it stopped being fun to the point where I'm glad to do things at our own pace now and i can never see the covers thing get to the point where we're ready to just walk away from it all.

[worthyjoe]

thank you

 

the bottom line is: not everyone wants to become a rockstar. And once you pass a certain age the chances go from slim to none. There is something to be said for having a career and playing for fun and cash on the side.

 

That said, my objection was that this thread was clearly about cover bands and people feel the need to bash.

[rim]

I'm in a cover band and I like it. As an audience member, I'd prefer to hear a decent cover band live than an original band with sucky songs. But it is pretty special to hear an original band with good songs. Unfortunately, in my experience, I've ran across more decent cover bands than decent original bands.

 

Anyway, here's what seem to get people on the dance floor for us:

 

Killing in the Name Of - RATM

 

Hey Ya! - Outkast

 

Just a Girl - No Doubt

 

Ready to Go - Republica

[Savage Jack]

 

Originally posted by GWS5987 This is how it is- nobody wants to hear your crappy originals- they want to dance.

 

...lol!! lesson there is dont play your crappy originals, only play your great ones... the trick is to write 40 great ones and build a 4 hour show around them.

 

.....always remember that the covers you play were once someone else's originals (club owners usually fall for that one when we say we dont do covers and dont want to book you for that reason...so remember to say that!), and someone (actually a whole lot of someones) wanted to hear them enough to make them popular enough for other bands to cover them.

 

....as for dancing, it dont matter what you play, covers or originals, if your band is tight, well rehearsed, PREPARED, professional and otherwise has their {censored} together, ...if you play it well, they will dance, if you play it well... they will buy up the bartender's swill they're slinging... simple formula eh?

 

and otherwise simply put... if you consistantly kick ass and take names your band will play gigs and make money no matter what you're playing.

[worthyjoe]

 

Originally posted by Savage Jack ...lol!! lesson there is dont play your crappy originals, only play your great ones... the trick is to write 40 great ones and build a 4 hour show around them.

 

 

is that the trick? haha

[worthyjoe]

But seriously. I'm all for original music, but the fact is that 99% of local original bands suck. This is not to say they are not talented musicians, but their songs are not likable.

 

but that is all beside the point. There's no reason to bring the argument in this thread.

[Savage Jack]

 

Originally posted by worthyjoe But seriously. I'm all for original music, but the fact is that 99% of local original bands suck. This is not to say they are not talented musicians, but their songs are not likable. but that is all beside the point. There's no reason to bring the argument in this thread.

 

 

true that for sure! but not only do most original bands suck but most cover bands do too.... why? lack of practice, lack of commitment, lack of focus, in a big rush to get out of the garage or basement... and it all reflects in their performance. that is a topic for another string though... the question originally was, if my swiss-cheese memory of mine serves me, what covers to play at gigs? i simply stated in so many words, why covers? why not originals?

 

also, someone mentioned that (and i cant remember who in this string and dont feel like looking for it to quote it) bands who do covers have better equiptment? i strongly disagree... 5 years of playing in the same band doing originals only (and i gave up my day job last year) and look at my equipement list... and that's not mentioning ANYTHING of my PA system and my bass rig

[FINNS]

We played mostly harder rock and Metal-ish covers and without a doubt the two biggest crowd pleasers were when we ended our show with "Bodies" by Drowning Pool, going right into "Killing In The Name Of" by RATM. Even if people had ignored our whole set, by the time we hit those songs we had almost 100% crowd participation, and even a bit of moshing!

 

I agree with the guy who stated just about any Metallica song. "Enter Sandman" always got a reaction from the first few notes and a big crowd favorite was " Fade To Black"...especially on the nights that I really nailed the solos.

 

"Self Esteem" by The Offspring and "In The End" by Linkin Park usually got the girls dancing and singing along.

 

Also, the punk version of "Tainted Love" off of the X-Games soundtrack always seemed to impress people.

 

But, alas, I recently quit the band rather than endure ever having to play "Creep" by Radiohead again! EVER!!!

[worthyjoe]

 

Originally posted by Savage Jack true that for sure! but not only do most original bands suck but most cover bands do too.... why? lack of practice, lack of commitment, lack of focus, in a big rush to get out of the garage or basement... and it all reflects in their performance. that is a topic for another string though... the question originally was, if my swiss-cheese memory of mine serves me, what covers to play at gigs? i simply stated in so many words, why covers? why not originals? also, someone mentioned that (and i cant remember who in this string and dont feel like looking for it to quote it) bands who do covers have better equiptment? i strongly disagree... 5 years of playing in the same band doing originals only (and i gave up my day job last year) and look at my equipement list... and that's not mentioning ANYTHING of my PA system and my bass rig

 

 

Generally speaking, local cover bands make more money than local original bands. I think that is what they meant.

[Ryan Turner]

A few of the covers that we play that go over well are:

 

Killing in the Name - Rage Against The Machine

 

I Alone - Live

 

Say It Ain't So - Weezer

 

our old school punk version of Last Kiss

 

Hey Man Nice Shot - Filter

 

Plush - STP

 

Would? - AIC

 

Roadhouse Blues - The Doors

[machinegun78_2]

the covers band I play with once in a while is called The Dave Winans Project...

 

 

the crowd goes NUTS when we do Superstition, and Voodoo Child back to back....and Man In The Box does it too....

 

 

[Tedster]

Lee, you know where I stand on the issue of the "worn out bar tunes". I don't feel like going through it right now...I'd be typing all night.

 

Covers are great, but, you have to decide how to use covers, and the purpose of your band. If you're going to be a party/bar band, covers will probably make up 90% or more of your repertoire. Even if you're an original band doing shows, I think throwing in a couple well-placed covers can enhance the crowd's familiarity. If you're in the latter type band, you don't need to do covers verbatim, but, experiment with style. Case in point...the Foo Fighters cover of Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street". Some band (could have been Blink 182 but I'm not sure) did a cover of Britney Spears "Baby Baby"...that was never put on a CD, but it was great. For those that automatically negate all covers, keep in mind that one of the first bands to record their own original material, The Beatles, basically started as a cover band, and played a lot of covers during their early gigs. They even had hits on a few covers ("Twist and Shout" for example). Whatever works for the audience.

 

The bottom line...be imaginative.

[Savage Jack]

worthyjoe,

 

how much money a band makes has little to do with what it plays and everything to do with how they play it, how they control an audience, their show, their musicianship, level of professionalism (ruthlessness of their manager *evil grin*) and so on. i've been in a few cover bands (lol, just a few) and this is my first original only band... and i can add up all the money i made in 9 cover bands in 20 years and it dont add up to what i made in the last 2 years with this all original UNSIGNED and independent band.

 

ok, a little luck, a whole lot of drive, an attitude, presence, a collective charisma (that one is a whole topic on itself!), focus and devotion is required too... not to mention good management: but that applies equally to cover bands as well.

 

...did i mention a little luck? lol! yeah that too

 

on another note... i cant believe how many times i see bands playing covers that absolutely do not suit or serve themselves... for instance... a band with a female lead singer playing stinkfist... her range didn't permit it, or a band with an baritone frontman playing ac/dc, ...he blew his throat out too and wasn't worth spit the rest of the night ... songs that require back vocals and no one in the band besides the frontman knows how to sing... that's an off key mess that happens all the time... or another band who just lost their lead player and their frontman, who played rhythem filled in for him... he was fine on the greenday songs but any band they covered that wasn't a 3 piece or had a badass solo in it... well, it was a noble effort *grin* (these all true stories happening in the last month and a half too).

 

choose your songs carefully... they have to serve the band well, choose songs that fit the abilities of all the musicians in the band... (this is especially important if you write originals too... write to the abilities of your musicians, not everyone can play like satriani) ...the weakest musician in your band usually determines the songs your band will pull off well ...or not.

 

tell me if this one sounds familiar... the band gets together for their first practice and the singer says... well i know this list of songs... the lead player has his list, the bassist his list and so on... then they just choose the songs that most of the band already knows and it's instant set list... no thought, no planning, they havent got a chance!

 

or this one... hey man, i want to do this song, someone else says well, if you want to do that one, then i want to do this one, the singer says, i cant do that one, it's out of my range, the lead player says, that's ok, i'll transpose it in a lower key...geezus!!... talk about a 3 humped camel! set list design by commitee is a disaster in the making. to quote my drummer "....man, that's all cracked out"

 

if you determine that your band is say for instance ...an 80's metal band... dont play freakin brown eyed girl! if your a classic rock band... dont be playing any death metal... set lists should be consistant with the bands agenda, billing and abilities all at once.

i read that huge post with the so called "set list to make you rich and famous" and my god! ...that's a show i'd definitely want to miss, ...i think i have a root canal scheduled for the day that band plays at my favorite watering hole! lol!! (to the author of that post, i dont mean disrespect... but that set list is definitely cracked out, quilted patchworks are fine for country venues i suppose but mixing classic rock, old pop & top 40's music, funk, disco and newer sounds is just confusing to an audience... and you cant build your band's identity or even a show around it... )

 

always remember first and foremost... the audience sees our job as one thing and one thing only.... we are to ENTERTAIN them, we are the backdrop to their evening of swill drinking, pool shooting and vain attempts to get laid...and we're not to bore them, confuse them, amuse them or even steal their girlfriends from them (well... forget that last one hehe!) add to that what your band's job really should be.... develop your following... consistancy in what you play will help... choose your songs wisely.

[gravfed]

A couple songs that we get a big reaction to are Shine-Collective Soul, Paint it Black-Stones, and a hard rock version of Seven Nation Army, I swear people love that bass line. Yeah and one Metallica riff and people are goin nuts.

[BillyWa]

We groove to the standard Sweet Home Alabama, What I Like About You and a Louis Louis/Wild Thing/Hang on Sloopy medley.

 

A few things that we get great response that I don't believe I have seen mentioned here are Twilight Zone - Golden Earing and Never Been Any Reason - Head East.