So, I’ve been following this little argument that’s going on in the comments on the fave band poll, which started off with someone saying, "This town is full of cover bands." Someone else responded with "Unless you're up there on stage, sweating your ass off, taking the time to get out and promote, setting up gear and teraing it down, in the garage learning songs, and generally never knowing if anyone will come out ... then may I suggest you walk a mile in a musician's shoes. See how much time and money we invest in our music, music that is being made, whether it is covers or original, to entertain YOU! To me, anyone who is making that type of commitment to entertain deserves some measure of respect"
etc., etc.
Well, I finally decided to have my say. And, since it’s my blog, I can do it here instead of in the comments :)
Personally, I don’t care if a band plays covers or originals as long as they do a good job of it. As a matter of fact, I prefer a mix of both. I love to hear local bands with good originals and I love to hear a great cover of a good song.
Many famous musicians started off in cover bands. The Beatles started off as The Quarrymen, which was a "skiffle" band, meaning they did heavily rhythmic variants on American folk and country music. Tommy Lee’s first band was a blues cover band. Alice Cooper’s first band played mostly Rolling Stones tunes.
Doing covers is a great way to get a band out there and noticed. It’s a lot easier to get gigs doing covers than it is doing originals. You do a good job, people come to see you and like you. You get a following. Then you start slipping in some originals. The people like them because they like you! Pretty soon they’re singing along. Then you make a CD and sell them at your gigs. The people buy them...you’re on your way.
A lot of famous musicians STILL do covers, to add a new twist to an old song, to pay tribute to a favorite band, or just cuz they like the song. And there are some great covers out there! Marilyn Manson did a great job with "Sweet Dreams" by the Eurhythmics and "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell. I love Korn’s cover of "Word Up". I think Hole did an awesome job of covering Fleetwood Mac’s "Gold Dust Woman". Sanctuary did a great cover of Jefferson Airplane’s "White Rabbit". And on and on...
And, even if all a band ever does is covers, so what? They like to make music and entertain people and people like to be entertained. A lot of people prefer to go see cover bands because they like to hear songs they know. They can sing along, dance along, whatever. Cover bands give them that.
So I say: Play what you want as long as you do it well!
San Antonio's Music Blog - Est 2005
8 comments:
Damn straight! It's a labor of love to be in a band and lug everything around, not just equipment, but business plans, your members' other lives, all that crap. You said exactly what needed to be said. Play whatever you want, just do a good job at it and people will come back to hear whatever else you play.
My band does covers, but that's what we like to do. Maybe there's originals down the road, but right now we have fun making music that has never gone out of style. Thanks for saying what you said.
Brett
www.thedejavuband.com
Here Here Rowan! You ROCK!
I prefer a mix of both as well.
When a band, any band or vocalist, loves a song and wants to play it themselves, it's not only a process of learning and growing, it's also usually very special to them - what's wrong with that?
I've heard The Killing Floor perform "Cochise" by Audioslave, and granted Cornell is one of the hardest vocalists to duplicate, they nailed it pretty damn well and have a blast doing so.
So, I also think of Nirvana performing "The Man Who Sold the World", on their MTV Unplugged cd, originally done by David Bowie.
Say what you will about Kurt Cobain, but that was one man who did NOT want to 'sell out' - he was disgusted with how the band came to be perceived, ie: the Polly incident.
When I hear that acoustic cover song, I still get chills. When I hear Bowie's, ditto.
Local muscians will always be lugging and setting up their own equipment, tearing down, getting home at 5am, eating poorly, don't make a lot of money, sweating/hurting, all of the mentioned in the article - I don't think anyone has the right to criticize musicians for playing covers...
I guess I'm in a very unique pair of shoes here then again maybe not... I play with Double Clutch and there material is nothing but original music and then The Killing Floor which is a mixer of doing cover and originals but doing them our style not all but most them. Last but not least Psychedelic Jukebox which is nothing but cover tunes done just like the records - and all 30 songs too... I must say that it's been a challenge and a task but it has had an impact on my song witting and playing skills... That's the way I see things for me which may or may not agree with you... Nothing is in vain wether you do covers or not... It just depends where you want go and how far you want to take it... I love to hear and do both... Have fun and express yourself... JCM
Well put, well said, Rowan! Whatever the genre, whatever the style ... just feeling like the band is appreciated at all means everything. I've played in cover bands for years, and I've played in original bands ... it's all music, and that is the most important thing of all!
It's all a matter of preference and where you are in your musical life. As a listener, I can listen to either, but the musician part of me biases me. If I'm seeing an originals band, I critique their material. If I see a covers band, I can't help but judge them based on comparisons to the original songs. I really enjoy bands like Deja Vu because they do the covers so well, and yet it's just different enough to keep things interesting and fun.
As a musician, I'm getting up there in age, and I have a bit of the "been there, done that" attitude toward originals. I spent two decades in Chicago writing and recording and trying to play live gigs. The advantage to being here is that you can play for a set amount. In Chicago, you either get the door or a percentage of the door. When no one knows who you are, you get crappy gigs and it's a catch-22. You can't get a good gig if no one knows you, but no one will know you if you don't have good gigs. It's a bit depressing when the band has to split the $12 take at the end of the night. Here it's a little easier on originals bands, but it's hard to get the rest of the country to take SA seriously. If you're not in it for the money that's fine, but it gets a bit tiresome to be the starving artist after a while. When I got back into playing, I decided to stick with covers because it's less exhausting and I wanted to pay tribute to the music that so influenced me at a young age to start playing in the first place. And there's something nice about playing to a full house where people sing along to the songs you're playing. The money isn't important, but even if I'm not expressing my creativity in my own songs, I can take some creative license with what I do play, and get the satisfaction of knowing that people enjoyed themselves.
I have all the respect in the world for those who insist on being completely originals because I've been there. Maybe it's age speaking, but I think there's more merit to playing covers than people realize. You can do covers and still be an artist. I enjoy the hell out of playing the songs we do, and I keep myself interested by improvising much of what I play. It also breathes new life into songs that really are deserving of the continued spotlight. KZEP thrives for a reason.
Not to disagree with Rowan, but I have seen covers bands try to bring originals into their sets. Over time it might work, but I've seen countless times a covers band that goes into an original and that's when people start to realize that it's getting late, they should go home and pay the babysitter and get to bed. And I guarantee those people would have stayed longer if the band had stuck with songs the people knew. Something to think about.
YOu know this day and age to even start to put your name out there you have to get people interested. And to do this you have to start with something people know and are going to WANT to listen to...then switch it up to your originals. Then when you start to get a fan base bust out with all originals and tkae it from there. Thats what my band is doing...we (Killing Me Katy) understand the audiences need to hear something "catchy" or something that on the first night they can sing alot with. This is just my opinion...I could be wrong
http://pub4.bravenet.com/forum/294650367/show/787105
Jeez I'm always in the forum; the above turned out to be really enlightening :-)
Cheers,
Kel
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