Members bnyswonger Posted February 13, 2006 Members Share Posted February 13, 2006 Originally posted by JacieFB I had a guy that was potentially going to do some booking for my band. It was short-notice and we both knew it was a long shot. It quickly became a really really long shot when he asked me what our set list was and explained to me that we'd need 3 sets, about 80+% covers. This blew my mind. Cover bands tour? Back when I started out playiing professionally (mid 70's) there was a circuit & this is what you did - hunker down in some joint in some town and play 4-6 nights, 4 or 5 sets & you'd better play the hits. We'd sneak our own tunes in, but you had to be careful.Then on your day or two off drive to the next town. I had no permanent address for three years. We worked Ohio, Kentucky, North & South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana...you could work indefinitely....but it was ultimately very unsatisfying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members megadan Posted February 13, 2006 Members Share Posted February 13, 2006 No. Cover bands appear to do better in the short term and regional market - they make more money, draw more fans, and have more recognition. But there are only a handful of cover bands on the national and international scene. I could literally count the ones I know on one hand. (1 - Australian Pink Floyd... that's all I can think of) Only original bands have a chance of making to the largest of markets. Of course, the flip side is that that the small time sucks for original bands, and there are very few that "make it"... but it's more than cover bands! So if you want money now... cover band... if you want a million dollars later, original band... though neither will likely go anywhere... just keep playing for the love of it, in that case! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members xdamagexx Posted February 13, 2006 Members Share Posted February 13, 2006 Ever heard of STEEL DRAGON? huh??? hehehehe. it happens, but i still would prefer to be original. although the right covers will get the crowd moving... I saw Throwdown the other night. i know they are not a cover band but they did "A New Level" by Pantera. and everyone went crazy. Amazing... m/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 95thfoot Posted February 13, 2006 Members Share Posted February 13, 2006 Originally posted by bnyswonger Back when I started out playiing professionally (mid 70's) there was a circuit & this is what you did - hunker down in some joint in some town and play 4-6 nights, 4 or 5 sets & you'd better play the hits. We'd sneak our own tunes in, but you had to be careful. Then on your day or two off drive to the next town. I had no permanent address for three years. We worked Ohio, Kentucky, North & South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana...you could work indefinitely....but it was ultimately very unsatisfying. Exactly what I did, same time frame, but worked the Northeast USA. 4 sets a night, 5 nights a week, sometimes six. Lived in motels- yuck. Reproducing all the pomp-rock hits of the 60s and 70s back when they were current. R&B, too. Fun for a while, but eventually I got sick of hanging out with just bar band people all the time, and went to college. And of course, how did I pay the bills in college? By playing in bar bands! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Worf101 Posted February 13, 2006 Members Share Posted February 13, 2006 There's a band called "The Burners U.K." they and other bands like them. They are a "party band" read that as "cover band" they do no original music but very high energy covers. They have the largest local following of any band that ever existed. So large they can open their own club in Feb. and March, they call it "Club Burn" and make all the money. They are so successfull that at least four bands have sprung up to copy their style. Much as I hate their song list, they're the consumate professionals and they make LOTS of money keeping lots of middleaged fat women with big hair happy. They made an album of covers and out sold our album of originals about 10 to 1. I give them a lot of credit. We've even done a couple three gigs with them but I'm too scary for the average suburban audience. Plus Funkadelic, Bobby Byrd, Maceo Parker and Gil Scott Heron are a bit far of their field. Can a cover band make money, hell yeah, can they make art, no... but ask them if they care.... Worf101 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 82Daion Posted February 13, 2006 Members Share Posted February 13, 2006 Look up The Who Show. They seem to be a lot more "authentic" than the typical cover band, and they have a great bass player. Obviously, they do Who covers, but they also play other stuff, and they try to recreate parts of the stage act. It's pretty cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bigby Posted February 13, 2006 Members Share Posted February 13, 2006 Originally posted by Worf101 Can a cover band make money, hell yeah, can they make art, no... but ask them if they care....Worf101 I've personally been in two cover bands and over a dozen original bands. Only one original band that I was in brought in decent crowds (300-600 ppl per gig) and more dough than the cover bands. But then again, I was never much worried about how much I was making or how many ppl showed up. My favorite band of all time was an original band, usually had about 50 ppl per gig (almost all musicians), wasn't very radio friendly, but was musically the most talented with very cool/interesting song arrangements. BTW: My least favorite band was the original band mentioned above..biggest crowd, most money, radio worthy, but felt the songwriting was too poppy for me and required very minimal bass input other than blues runs and vocal harmonies. I'm now in both. I joined another cover band (15 yrs after the first) just because the guys were cool, awesome musicians and we pick what we want to play. Play for decent sized crowds and some extra money. Other band is a original jam band ala Allman Brothers..less fans, more fun. I try to stay away from making general comments that people in cover bands are any less talented or creative than people in original bands. I've been in some fairly pathetic original bands where the main songwriters were great on their instruments but were terrible with arrangments and/or lyrics. On the same note, both cover bands I've been in contained some awesome musicians, that just loved playing music, interpreting songs in their own way and considered music more of an outlet than a career. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lug Posted February 13, 2006 Members Share Posted February 13, 2006 Look at it like choosing to be an actor or an electrician. A top ranked actor can make millions but 999 time out of 1000 will end up as a waiter. The electrician will never make millions for his work, but he can afford to eat in a nice restarant that employs actor/waiters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SoundwaveLove Posted February 13, 2006 Members Share Posted February 13, 2006 Originally posted by Thunderbroom Can Cover Bands Build A Following And Have Fans? Ever hear of Phish? *rim shot* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rowka Posted February 13, 2006 Members Share Posted February 13, 2006 Originally posted by lug Look at it like choosing to be an actor or an electrician. A top ranked actor can make millions but 999 time out of 1000 will end up as a waiter. The electrician will never make millions for his work, but he can afford to eat in a nice restarant that employs actor/waiters. It don't take no ambition to be an electrician. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bud-Man Posted February 14, 2006 Members Share Posted February 14, 2006 It seems to me that cover bands who have been around longer than any other bands always do well. Or it could be that because these bands have done well, they stay around longer. The thing is it is hard to "dethrone" the top cover bands in your area- even if you band is "better", it is hard to move in and take over when there are already 3-4 really big cover bands in a city that pull a crowd. Some of these cover band guys can make a lot of money doing this while working really a part time job. What if you made $1,500 bucks a week playing only 3 nights. Thats 78,000 a year and there are cover bands that make this much. If only 1,000 a week- thats 52K a year for a part time job. But, it is a lot harder make that kind of money- only a handful of bands can do that. I personally know a guitar player that makes between 50 and 70K a year easily playing 2-3 per week, or about 10-12 shows per month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members One Bad Monkey Posted February 14, 2006 Members Share Posted February 14, 2006 Originally posted by Thunderbroom The idea just seemed foreign to me. At rehearsal, we've talked about building a fan base. Unless I had a friend in a cover band, I'd never go seek one out. I guess I just didn't realize that there were/are cover bands that draw people out of their homes to see them. We talked about starting to write some originals which makes me really, really excited!!! That's the beauty of cover bands. Most people I know are more apt to check out a cover band, due to the comfort of knowing that they will play a tune or five that the people WILL know. And most people will go to bars anyways and then say "Hey, I didn't know a band was playing!" which will make them stay and check you out. Besides, bar owners love the cover bands, because you'll go in there, play all night and keep the people dancing/drinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tylytle Posted February 14, 2006 Members Share Posted February 14, 2006 My cover band has a growing fan base. after a year, it is pretty damn good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cerrem Posted February 14, 2006 Members Share Posted February 14, 2006 Everytime I try to put a cover band together..I get a TON of negative attitude from musicians....So far I avoided putting together anything... The argument I get is.... The chicken and the egg thing... We can play at a bunch of clubs, BUT the owner want a minimum number of people to show GUARANTEED....if not then take a hike.. SO getting 40 people to show is not easy when your older....since your friends aren't single anymore....and weeknight gigs are a killer for friends with kids... The bar owner could care less about the "quality", in fact the bar owner couldn't care if you went on stage and played with yourself, just as long as you bring in the NUMBERS..... SO I suggested that a bunch of local bands join forces on the internet to help support each other by sharing thier mailing list and fan base...it could help provided the bands are not competing but playing on thier own turf.....this way you can get larger numbers to show up.... Whats a poor bass player to do Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tylytle Posted February 14, 2006 Members Share Posted February 14, 2006 Originally posted by cerrem Everytime I try to put a cover band together..I get a TON of negative attitude from musicians....So far I avoided putting together anything... The argument I get is.... The chicken and the egg thing... We can play at a bunch of clubs, BUT the owner want a minimum number of people to show GUARANTEED....if not then take a hike.. SO getting 40 people to show is not easy when your older....since your friends aren't single anymore....and weeknight gigs are a killer for friends with kids... The bar owner could care less about the "quality", in fact the bar owner couldn't care if you went on stage and played with yourself, just as long as you bring in the NUMBERS..... SO I suggested that a bunch of local bands join forces on the internet to help support each other by sharing thier mailing list and fan base...it could help provided the bands are not competing but playing on thier own turf.....this way you can get larger numbers to show up.... Whats a poor bass player to do Chris Not a bad idea... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 95thfoot Posted February 14, 2006 Members Share Posted February 14, 2006 Originally posted by cerrem Everytime I try to put a cover band together..I get a TON of negative attitude from musicians....So far I avoided putting together anything... The argument I get is.... The chicken and the egg thing... We can play at a bunch of clubs, BUT the owner want a minimum number of people to show GUARANTEED....if not then take a hike.. SO getting 40 people to show is not easy when your older....since your friends aren't single anymore....and weeknight gigs are a killer for friends with kids... The bar owner could care less about the "quality", in fact the bar owner couldn't care if you went on stage and played with yourself, just as long as you bring in the NUMBERS..... SO I suggested that a bunch of local bands join forces on the internet to help support each other by sharing thier mailing list and fan base...it could help provided the bands are not competing but playing on thier own turf.....this way you can get larger numbers to show up.... Whats a poor bass player to do Chris Look at it from the club owner's POV: He's trying to get people to buy his booze and pay his cover. It's a business, and you should think like you are your own business, too. What do you have to offer other people in a commercial situation? Don't be like the rest of those naysayer clowns- they'll be frustrated wannabes for the rest of their lives. Lose the negative ones quickly. Join another outfit doing exactly what you want to do. Go to all kinds of auditions. You never know what might turn up. Network like mad, stay positive, and keep at it. Listen and learn from everybody you meet, and from every situation. If, after a while, it's still what you want to do, then do it, but check it out first. Again, stay positive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PrestiaRules Posted February 14, 2006 Members Share Posted February 14, 2006 when I was in school in Ottawa in the mid/late 90s a couple cover bands did VERY well. Chickenhead was a Black Sabbath cover band that only played the first four albums. They caught on like wildfire. One month they were playing a smallish club, next month they were playing Barrymores....a decent sized club and (at that time) likely the best place a band could play. People knew what they would get and knew it was going to be done very well. It became hard to get tickets after a while. Strangely I've actually forgotten the other band's name. I can see them in my mind's eye like it was yesterday but anyways....they did the dance-ish/jam band thing in its early inception (Days of You, Soul Live type stuff) in cover form. Think Highway to Hell into Billy Jean. They packed places and were hired regularly to play Frosh Week etc. Both became big fish in a small pond and developed a solid following doing it. Here in Seoul the best gigs for ex-pats are cover bands playing stuff for the soldiers stationed here; Nickleback etc.....but there are some great places to play as well if you want to try your own stuff out. My last band did about 50/50 originals and covers. Our covers were mostly Fugazi and similar so hardly material to 'pack 'em in' but the owner liked us and is a big supporter of 'different music' so we basically had an open invitation to play there. Funny place you could share the bill with a Korean 'Weezer' incarnation and an accordian dance trio on the same night. Decent crowds and he made his $$ but harldly to the extent of the Nickleback cover bands I mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phantasm Posted February 14, 2006 Members Share Posted February 14, 2006 Originally posted by Thunderbroom Just wondering...This seems like a strange concept to me.Discuss. I'm late to the party and I'm sure it's been reiterated a zillion times... YES. In fact, it's a helluva lot easier as a cover band. You're playing songs that people like and it's pretty much color by the numbers. Just watch another successful cover band and there's the playbook for your area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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