oggiesnr Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Ok, so the simple is answer would be "When they're an originals band" but... Does there come a time when the band's arrangement lifts them out of the covers category. At the extreme edge you have Hayseed Dixie, OK it's AC/DC etc but played bluegrass, or the Bad Shepherds (punk played folk) but then I've heard a lot of bands playing material where all they owe to the original is the tune and lyrics. It seems strange to lump them all together as covers bands. Then there's the whole folk, folk/rock scene, were Fairport Convention a covers band when the recorded Liege and Lief? Maybe, but they were a lot more original than many originals bands. So is there another genre out there of "original covers" for want of a better description? Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Depends whether or not they're degrading ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 There's nothing I'd like more than to be in a covers band that completely re-arranged the originals. My favoured format would be: EUB (? Electric) Cello Acoustic guitar Drums/ percussion Vocals (multi) I reckon you could take on almost anything and make it work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomE Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 [quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1346867110' post='1794282'] Depends whether or not they're degrading ... [/quote] ^ makes me want the "Like" button to come back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacqueslemac Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 I think we need a new term. Some members of this forum think that a covers band should try to reproduce note-for-note the original song. But isn't that what tribute bands are all about? Or can that term only be used for bands who only play music by one other band? In my band we try to do stick close to the original in some songs, such as Jet's Are You Gonna Be My Girl? On the other hand, we also do covers of covers. We play Boys of Summer, but we don't do Don Henley's version but the cover by the Ataris. We play Hard to Handle, but the Black Crowes cover, not the one by Otis Redding. We also play Adele's Rolling in the Deep, but we play the Black Stone Cherry version. Then we do our own versions of Britney Spear's Toxic and Christine Aguilera's Genie in a Bottle. Our versions sound nothing at all like the originals and far more like the bands whose covers I've mentioned above. So what does that mean we should really call ourselves? Re-interpreters of rock songs, perhaps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Does a cover have to be a slavish copy of the original - i.e. are Joe Cocker's "With A Little Help From My Friends or EWF's Got to Get You Into My Life or The Byrds Mr Tambourine Man, Manfred Mann's Mighty Quinn covers? In my book they are, and what my band does with mainly Bob Dylan repertoire are covers, but like Dylan himself, we never play them the same way twice!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blademan_98 Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Covers are just that, playing an existing song. If it's in a different key or with a change of bass/guitar riff, it's still a cover. The Rolling Stones started as a covers band and slowly made the change. ..... gets coat and moves to door Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oggiesnr Posted September 5, 2012 Author Share Posted September 5, 2012 [quote name='Blademan_98' timestamp='1346870058' post='1794328'] The Rolling Stones started as a covers band and slowly made the change. [/quote] ... into a tribute band to their glory days . Name (from memory) five songs that the Stones have recorded since 1980. Steve (wh's also got his coat) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 I dont get it, if its a cover its a cover even if its a cover of someone elses cover. If your trying to get more recognition than being in a covers band then you need to write your own songs or have someone write them just for you. I have done both with varying degrees of success Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 (edited) [quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1346871500' post='1794353'] ... If your trying to get more recognition ... [/quote] I'm totally not interested in recognition. I just like music and I like playing it and I like audiences enjoying it. I really couldn't give a sh*t who wrote the song, I'm only interested in whether the song is any good and whether audiences like it. However, in my experience, much so-called 'original' material is neither very 'original' nor very good, and sometimes it's dreadful. Indeed, it's often less 'original' than a new arrangements of an old song. Edited September 5, 2012 by EssentialTension Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil.i.stein Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Me first and the Gimme Gimmes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 (edited) Jimi Hendrix played mainly covers IIRC. Does it matter? Loads of 80s tunes were covers of 50s tunes and loads of 10s tunes are covers of 80s tunes. My dad said my grandad used to complain that 50s tunes were versions of tunes from the 20s. If I hear that line "We take a tune done by someone else and make it our own." I'll scream! I think if you make a statement that you write all your own material then that's one thing. Even if you do rearrange a song written by someone else. Plenty of bands do it, some don't even change the original arrangement and you wonder why they bothered to release it. If you're a covers band, it just means you don't write your own material. I think it's still a covers band if all you do is rearrange the tunes. The Worzels, Hayseed Dixie etc make no secret of it. Edited September 5, 2012 by TimR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 (edited) [quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1346872216' post='1794366'] I'm totally not interested in recognition. I just like music and I like playing it and I like audiences enjoying it. I really couldn't give a sh*t who wrote the song, I'm only interested in whether the song is any good and whether audiences like it. [/quote] Nor me thats why I play in more than one covers band, the thing I often find is anyone trying to come up with a new name for it is trying to take credit for something someone else largely did even if they "made it their own". Unless your name or at least one member of the bands name is on the writing credits for the majority (75%?) of the set your a covers band and if you do one bands material either in your own way or as the original your a tribute band, dress up like em your a tribute act, end of. Edited September 5, 2012 by stingrayPete1977 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 (edited) [quote name='phil.i.stein' timestamp='1346872761' post='1794372'] Me first and the Gimme Gimmes [/quote] My band are a very similar idea. We play sort of blink 182/green day style versions of pop classics from the 80's to today. Many only recognisable from the melody and basic chord progression. I play guitar and sing, I can do neither, just basic power chords is really it. We have a basic vocal pa only. The bass player is very basic and has to borrow my amp, he plays a beaten up old five string with the B taken off. Booked every weekend into 2013. Folks love it. Edited September 5, 2012 by gafbass02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil.i.stein Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 [quote name='gafbass02' timestamp='1346876065' post='1794453'] My band are a very similar idea. We play sort of blink 182/green day style versions of pop classics from the 80's to today. Many only recognisable from the melody and basic chord progression. I play guitar and sing, I can do neither, just basic power chords is really it. We have a basic vocal pa only. The bass player is very basic and has to borrow my amp, he plays a beaten up on five string with the B taken off. Booked every weekend into 2013. Folks love it. [/quote] ultimate respect. especially for your bass player ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Thanks, he's a new guy doing a great job learning almost three hours worth of stuff while we gig every weekend. Proper deep end stuff, not to mention learning his craft at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booooooom Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 As with any categorisation, its never simply black and white Some original bands write songs that you think are covers... Many covers bands play the odd original or do covers in an original way... Sometimes the only original thing about a band is their name or image or how they describe themselves regardless of what they play... Some would argue that it doesn't matter if a band are comfortable with whether they are seen a covers or an originals band as long as they're doing something that attracts an audience... Some bands never play to an audience... Some bands play rubbish covers originally, some bands are rubbish until they do a cover... etc etc - plenty of contradictions and shades of grey. and to complicate things further, many covers and originals bands aren't bands at all - they're solo guitarists or vocalists with a few backing musicians! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spinynorman Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 So, if a band write their own songs, but still sound like Coldplay, are they an originals band, or a bunch of self-obsessed irritating tosspots? Similarly girls with acoustic guitars whining on about their awful boyfriends and the endless procession of battle of the bands entrants who think it's still cool to sound like Slipknot. And the equally endless stream of guitarists straining to prove that Stevie Ray Vaughan and Gary Moore didn't die in vain (and some of those have even got famous). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sté Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 And we have to add sub-categories in cover bands: - Those who play tunes note for note - Those who twist tunes in their ways. For the first case, they could be a tribute "multi-bands".. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 What a waste of time. I'm looking for original posts and all I get are covers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 [quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1346924893' post='1794814'] What a waste of time. I'm looking for original posts and all I get are covers. [/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTractor Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 (edited) [quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1346924893' post='1794814'] What a waste of time. I'm looking for original posts and all I get are covers. [/quote] Nah. The good ones are tributes to yours. best, bert Edited September 7, 2012 by BassTractor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Arse - elbow. You just know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Bassy Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 Covers? Original? Does it matter? I really don't care as long as I like to play them and someone else likes to hear them. (or , indeed, if someone else is playing them and I like to hear them). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mep Posted September 6, 2012 Share Posted September 6, 2012 We have done a few of our own arrangements of songs. Mama Mia is on example. We quiet often do covers of covers, so what does that make us? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.gif.9ad672bb8b84505709f76b39c8c256ec.gif)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.