flathead
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cover bands
i,m becoming increasingly disillusioned with cover bands. i make this statement after watching 4 bands recently at yardbirds rock club in grimsby.
a few weeks ago i went to see a german band called past md. they are a classic 80's type metal band playing original material. they released an album last year which is now one of the best in my very large collection. its called part time rebellion. check it out! there where about 20 people there.they played a mixture of songs from the album plus a ferw new songs which where out of this world. this for only £1.00 entrance fee. on friday i went to see taras secret and dante fox. i thought the place would be packed to the rafters. alas no. there where about 30 people to whitness a blinding set from both bands. dante fox played a large section from their latest album, under the 7 skies which is another superb album packed full of melodic rock classics. sue willets voice is still powerful and can match any of the younger female singers on the circuit today. taras secret where also superb. entry fee £4.50. cant go wrong.
unfortunatley my son wanted to go and see megadeth uk last night. so i said i would take him. after all it would be a long time before he could afford to see the real megadeth. guess what? the place was heaving.
i have to admit they are accomplised muscians, but its all somedody els's material. no wonder some bands cant survive if the regular punter is putting their money into the pockets of cover bands.
what hope do smaller bands have if this is the case. you look at venues such as yardbirds, jb's and the limelight in crew. they are all booking cover bands. and who can blame them if the turn out for said bands is so poor. i suppose on the plus side it means us old rockers can get close to the stage and even sit and have a beer with the band afterwards.
what is live music coming too?
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2/Nov/09, 12:38 am
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Mark Ro
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Re: cover bands
Good thread John. On a personal level, I really don't have an answer to this dilema - well, dilema verging on tragedy actually. I remember when I started off in music, covers band were labelled 'rip-off band'. It was frowned upon. If you played a cover version in a band, you used to hang your head in shame! It was all about original music.
I have no explanation whatsoever as to why that attitude has turned round.
It may be that there needs to be some legislation brought in regarding royalties to the original artist that could be so prohibitive to 'rip-off' bands as to make them redundant. For me personally, that day couldn't come soon enough.
Last edited by Mark Ro, 2/Nov/09, 4:17 pm
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2/Nov/09, 12:43 pm
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Marc Atkinson
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Re: cover bands
I hear everything you are saying. One of the reasons we stopped playing gigs with GABRIEL was because fewer and fewer venues were putting on original music. Tribute/Cover bands were just taking over (this was about 5 or 6 years ago) and it's even worse now!
It's an impossible situation. People go and see tribute/cover bands because they know what they're getting. Unless you know their material, an 'original' band could be anything from thrash to chilled out jazz so people are less likely to take the risk.
It's a knotty one... there's no easy answer...
M 
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2/Nov/09, 4:50 pm
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Kalyr
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Re: cover bands
We've had this thread before, I think.
There always have been bands playing covers in local pubs - it's how a great many 'proper' bands got started, learning their craft playing standards before they moved on to writing their own material.
The nationally-touring tribute bands taking over the club circuit is another issue. Ultimately I have to blame audiences, who are too lazy to listen to anything new. All too many people in my generation seem to think they stopped writing decent music in 1985.
As for royalties, it's my understanding that tribute acts *do* pay royalties to the original artists through the PRS.
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Tim
"Never again will I try to celebrate something I love by belittling the things that other people love" - Will Byers on the Guardian Music Blog
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2/Nov/09, 7:17 pm
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Weety
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Re: cover bands
quote:
Kalyr wrote:
We've had this thread before, I think.
There always have been bands playing covers in local pubs - it's how a great many 'proper' bands got started, learning their craft playing standards before they moved on to writing their own material.
The nationally-touring tribute bands taking over the club circuit is another issue. Ultimately I have to blame audiences, who are too lazy to listen to anything new. All too many people in my generation seem to think they stopped writing decent music in 1985.
As for royalties, it's my understanding that tribute acts *do* pay royalties to the original artists through the PRS.
Beat me to it Tim......Indeed playing covers in pubs is one thing (I do it every weekend with 2 bands I'm in & Marc has his pub gigs too), but tribute bands taking over the club circuit is another matter entirely.
And you are dead on about lazy audiences; a friend + party of people recently went to one of AC/DC's enormo-shows. I told him to check out support band 'The Answer' - I asked him on his return & none of his mates bothered checking them out....pretty sad IMO. I've asked said mate several times to come to gigs featuring bands I've read about - kind of 'well if you like *****, you might like *****' he sadly says he wouldn't ever dream of checking out new bands cos he along with a lot of others, simply can't be arsed. I can't stand this 'well I've never heard of em' attitude.
Ah well at least there's the X Factor eh?
Last night I caught a young teenage band called 'Liberty Lies' - they were supporting Magnum in Southampton. Awesome twin Les Paul hard rock in the vein of Black Stone Cherry. Suffice to say they now have a new fan! Sadly, there's not enough people willing to go out & not only check new bands, but new genres too - I've lost count of the amount of people who think Noel Gallagher is a superb(eh?)'rock' guitarist!
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Weety
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The swear filter again; how come I can't get 'D i c kensian' through, but Weety can get away with 'wanksock'? -
Paul Q
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3/Nov/09, 8:56 pm
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David Meadows
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Re: cover bands
quote:
Weety wrote:
Last night I caught a young teenage band called 'Liberty Lies' - they were supporting Magnum in Southampton. Awesome twin Les Paul hard rock in the vein of Black Stone Cherry. Suffice to say they now have a new fan!
This is another bugbear of mine. Watching a support band is the best way to find a great new band, and if you hate them the worst that can happen is that you've wasted 30 minutes! The support for Magnum in Newcastle was Decadenze and to be honest they weren't my cup of tea... but at least I gave them a chance! (To be fair, it looked like a very big chunk of the Newcastle crowd turned up early to see them, so that was nice to see.)
On the subject of cover bands, Doogie White (ex-singer of Rainbow) once said something like, "I can play my own material to 80 people or play with a covers band to 800. What do you think I'm going to do?" Which you can sympathise with, really. He's got to put food on his table!
Last edited by David Meadows, 4/Nov/09, 12:05 pm
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"A good idea will keep you awake during the morning, but a great idea will keep you awake during the night."
Marilyn vos Savant
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4/Nov/09, 12:03 pm
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Speed King
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Re: cover bands
Last edited by Speed King, 5/Nov/09, 6:30 am
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4/Nov/09, 5:48 pm
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