Why are you in a covers band?

[Big_Stu]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1363958265' post='2020125']It's only been Oceana since 2004, and these days bears little resemblance to the original Palais other than the entrance façade which I assume is a listed structure.[/quote]

Shame - in a roundabout way - that scene reminds me of my first gigging forays in night-clubs, the smell of spilt beer, stale smoke & your feet sticking to the carpets.
Not something to miss but every so often I still find a pub that's like that.


About 10 years ago I was in Nottingham I was surprised to see a small Hard Rock Cafe! Assuming it was a genuine one & not a copy. It had closed next time I was there.

Edited March 22, 2013 by Big_Stu

[peteb]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1363946682' post='2019856']
I keep on reading here about there being less venues available for bands to play, but in reality I'm simply not seeing it. Maybe it's a covers band thing?
[/quote]
IME the problem seems to be that established pub gigs close down as the landlord is struggling to make live music pay. In their place there are many other pubs starting putting bands on, generally because they are struggling and desperate for anything that will get people in. Often they are totally unsuitable as a venue and the landlord is clueless about how to promote live music or what is required to put on bands on.

The offshoot of this can be the emergence of music pubs that can't attract a crowd, expect to pay bands peanuts (thereby getting bands who can't get gigs elsewhere) and the punters who do go to these places being put of going to see live music in pubs...

Edited March 22, 2013 by peteb

[KevB]

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1363960225' post='2020164']
About 10 years ago I was in Nottingham I was surprised to see a small Hard Rock Cafe! Assuming it was a genuine one & not a copy. It had closed next time I was there.
[/quote]

Forgotten about that, somewhere around King Street/Queen Sreet. I think they used to occasionally have live bands on too. Didn't last long. I think I went in once out of curiosity but not really into that sort of fast food so not a regular.

[BigRedX]

That's not at all what I'm seeing here in Nottingham.

Thinking back to when I started gigging in the 80s, nearly all the venues were otherwise unused rooms, either above pubs or below the main room in a nightclub. Many of them didn't have a bar in the room, and none had an in-house PA system which meant either bringing your own if your were lucky/rich enough to own one, or hiring in one of the two local systems which basically took most of your gig fee and also meant that the local circuit couldn't support more than two gigs on any given evening, as the third gig would find itself without a PA! Few had proper stages, and any raised area to play was most likely surrounded by railings. Gigs at the weekend for local bands was almost unheard of - the best most of us could hope for was a Friday night slot supporting experimental Jazz band Pinski Zoo at The Hearty Goodfellow and which was booked up months in advance.

Contrast with the current range of venues putting on bands, where nearly every single one has it's own PA system and engineer to run it - the only time I've had to hire a PA recently was when we did our single launch in a venue that doesn't normally put on bands. On any given evening from Thursday to Sunday there's between 5 and 10 venues with bands and several of those put on gigs almost every night of the week. Most of the time you get to play in the main part of the pub, or at least a room with a working bar. The scene is way more vibrant an energetic these days than any time I can remember in the past.

[KevB]

Mike, do you have a list of the Nottingham venues which are receptive to covers bands and have their own PA? The PA belonging to the band I've joined is primitive in the extreme and I'd like to push them toward venues providing in house PA, preferably with an engineer. I know The Greyhound in Beeston has an excellent system and I guess The Approach in the city centre will too but not played it. Others that are mainly covers venues?

[Dingus]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1363777903' post='2017335']
I'm interested in why so many players on here seem to be in covers bands. Is it because you enjoy it more than originals? Can find a good enough originals band? Doing it for the money? The challenge of having to be so versatile? You are in both originals and covers - why? The crowds are better than originals?

Not meant in any way to be inflammatory, but I can't ever imagine wanting to be in a covers band. We do a few covers in a couple of bands, but they are vastly different to the originals, apart from Walking on the Moon which we did for fun once, and it wasn't that much fun anyway

Another thing I find hard to understand is covers bands who chuck in a few originals into the set. What does that achieve?
[/quote]

Getting back to the o.p , I really , really enjoy playing covers and find myself enjoying it more and more as I do it . Like most people , I started out playing with the sole intention of playing original material but now that I am getting to an age where it is increasingly unlikely that any of the originals projects I am / was involved in will become a full - time gig then playing covers is a great way to still be involved in playing music in a professional or semi - professional way and to use my existing skills , develop new ones and just generally stay involved with music . Playing covers has lots of challenges - basically just to make the songs sound as good as I can in whatever way - and all playing experience is good experience .

[Len_derby]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1363965819' post='2020276']
That's not at all what I'm seeing here in Nottingham.

The scene is way more vibrant an energetic these days than any time I can remember in the past.
[/quote]

Agreed. I think we have to remind ourselves about how bad it used to be.
It does seem, in my experience, to be a very localised. Of the places I know well(ish).
Nottingham - BRX is correct. Very vibrant.
Derby - pretty active for a small city so close to Nottingahm.
Chester - patchy and very conservative in what's on offer.
Winchester - apart from The Railway and the Irish themed pub (Rosie O'Grady's?), as dead as a Dodo.

All in experience, opinion etc.

[JTUK]

If you wanted to put on a show and sell from 150-350 tickets, each town has a venue... most have more than the one option, for sure.
The cost of these venues to hire is from about £170 to £2000 plus. and they are in towns who has 3-4 pubs acts per night over the weekend...
which is typically fri-sat. At least 2 of those towns have music on a sunday from 1pm-10.30pm...and you wcould rack up seeing 4 bands/acts in that time...should you want to, from a choice of about 7-8

[icastle]

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1363944951' post='2019803']
Bedroom players forming bedroom bands and playing bedroom gigs to millions of bedroom fans. All a bit weird but it could happen one day.
[/quote]

Let's just hope that they only stream audio...

[BigRedX]

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1363966934' post='2020296']
Mike, do you have a list of the Nottingham venues which are receptive to covers bands and have their own PA? The PA belonging to the band I've joined is primitive in the extreme and I'd like to push them toward venues providing in house PA, preferably with an engineer. I know The Greyhound in Beeston has an excellent system and I guess The Approach in the city centre will too but not played it. Others that are mainly covers venues?
[/quote]

Unfortunately not. My covers band has its own PA and these days we mostly play gigs that we completely organise ourselves or parties.

[bassintheface]

Is the Rescue Rooms (???) still going in Notts? Played there a couple of times.
I played a number of gigs at The Victoria Inn in Derby opposite the train station (think there was / is some sort of 'Gentleman's spa' type establishment around the corner)........

There's a great venue in Chester, being Telford's Warehouse - I've played there regularly since the late 90's.
The owner, Jez is a great guy and his brother Damon has a couple of venues in Winsford - about 30 mins away - De Bees and a pub (can't recall the name).

[Dr.Dave]

There's plenty of pub work for bands like mine in this area - maybe we do better than many because we're no trouble , ultra reliable and know what we're doing.

The Hop in Wakefield is my fave at the mo. and I think would please almost everyone who's chipped in on this thread.

It's a real ale pub - good stuff too - with plenty of bottled beers none overpriced. Downstairs - along with a 'snug' and a whacky bar - is the main bar with a covers band playing. Upstairs is for originals bands. House PA and lights for both. Folk wander up and down as they wish. The covers bands go watch the original bands when they're on half time and vice versa.

It's what a music pub should be.... rather CAN be.

And I commend it to the house.

[Pete Academy]

Without wading through all the pages, whatever floats your boat, just get out there and play.

[redstriper]

[quote name='bassintheface' timestamp='1363974255' post='2020442']
There's a great venue in Chester, being Telford's Warehouse - I've played there regularly since the late 90's.
The owner, Jez is a great guy and his brother Damon has a couple of venues in Winsford - about 30 mins away - De Bees and a pub (can't recall the name).
[/quote]

How do you get a gig in those places?
I've emailed Telfords a few times and never had a reply.

[lou24d53]

[quote name='Pete Academy' timestamp='1363981806' post='2020620']
Without wading through all the pages, whatever floats your boat, just get out there and play.
[/quote]

Indeed. And that'll be that.

[bassintheface]

[quote name='redstriper' timestamp='1363989035' post='2020750']


How do you get a gig in those places?
I've emailed Telfords a few times and never had a reply.
[/quote]

Just ring and ask to speak to the promoter or get his email addy....
Send in a demo and promo stuff etc, if he likes it (or thinks you'll pull in punters) then you'll be fine.....

[thepurpleblob]

It never occurred to me to do anything else. As a half-decent covers band it's relatively easy to get gigs in local pubs and you get immediate feedback from the audience.

I don't have the aspiration to create my own music nor do I have the skills (or time to acquire those skills) to do so.

[basexperience]

Because it can get you a season in Andorra ;-) actually that was a long time ago, but I'm still kicking around with the same band occasionally. Cover bands are lucrative and the audience is always appreciative if the band can match the sound well enough.

As an example, the band was lucking enough to pick up a guitarist named Ryan who had the authentic talk box for "living on a prayer". Normally I wouldn't have been seen dead playing a bon jovi cover and it caught be off guard, but as soon as he started with the talk box guitar I lost every ounce of cynicism as the pub went mental. Truly mental. I even sang backing vox.

That's why I do it - because musicians love feedback, and you get feedback faster from a covers band. That's why as a creative musician you always feel slightly dirty afterwards. It's the addiction to validation of your shedding time ;-)

[RandomBass]

[quote name='thunderbird13' timestamp='1363779803' post='2017388']
I had one " artist" stop playing halfway through an audition becaue I had the audacity to play a note beyond the 12th fret.
[/quote]

I've often wondered what those frets were for...

[EssentialTension]

I've been having a think about when I've ever been asked if I was in a 'covers' band or an 'originals' band.

I cannot ever recall ever being asked this question by a non-musician.

I'm not even sure I've ever been asked it by another musician except on Basschat.

What ordinary people actually ask is something like 'What sort of stuff do you play?'

[krysh]

a great topic and discussion so far (just read up to page 5)!

when I started playing music in 1982 for me it was all about being original and finding and developing my own voice. so this became an essential part of me and my life.
I was never interested in copying other artists or playing their music in exactly the same way that I listened to on the records. I enjoyed listening to music but found it absolutely boring playing stuff that I didn't "invent" myself - which one probably never really does, but always loved and still do love improvising probably most. I pretty much taught myself by ear playing to my records or the radio and never had a regular teacher, only some workshops or some few hours to learn things I didn't understand. also finding my sound always was an essential part of my development as an artist and musician. If I look back this maybe was the harder way, but if I may believe what other people tell me about my style now, well, then I did it right and after more than 30 years and definitely more musical downs than ups I recently started to feel a rich fulfillnes about what I do when I play, perform, record or write something much more often.

but back to the topic. Even before I was able to do A/D/E I joined a band as a bassplayer that did originals and some covers to fill the set. and after 1 year I had my 1st gig with some of my originals. I rehearsed about 3-5 hours every day after school and joined a function band in 1985. After 2 months I had to quit, because I noticed that covering songs had a bad influence to my original stuff and to my style of playing and I decided that the money was not worth leaving "my" path. so 20 years passed - obviously without success - playing in and starting a lot of bands and projects that mostly never made it to stage level. most of the time because of personal differences - as you know musicians are a strange folk, especially me . but my love for music still was strong.
meanwhile I do a lot of open jamsessions or open mikes where we usually improvise originals, sometimes improvise covers or even improvise freely and if there is one of these rare moments when the right bunch is on stage we even "compose on the fly" songs in front an audience. I'm playin also in a original jazz trio, and accompany new singers doing different covers every 2-4 weeks and when I find time I still work on my own stuff.

to sum this up, covers for me usually are more work than fun, so if somebody wants me to do it I have to be paid.
with the right people you can always have fun on stage and of course it is more easy to get on stage doing covers.
but touching the audiences hearts with originals or original improvisation, feeling the energy between listener and the co-artists building up during a concert playing original material is the most fulfilling thing that can happen on stage that no cover-band could even slightly reach. and even after more than 30 years I'm always on the search for these moments.

maybe this question about why being in a cover band is much more about being an artist or being a performer.
well, I still try to become a regularly performing artist.

[lojo]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1364039605' post='2021146']

I'm not even sure I've ever been asked it by another musician except on Basschat.

[/quote]

Thats my experience also, I have played in both, but never experienced a negative attitude towards covers (or tab ) by anyone outside of Basschat

[Telebass]

[quote name='Dr.Dave' timestamp='1363778858' post='2017361']
Because a singer / guitarist I have a lot of time for asked me to be and I enjoyed it - still do.

And because by the time I joned - 12 years ago - I'd pretty much come to the conclusion that I'm a craftsman moe than an artist.
[/quote]

^^^ This, without the asking bit. I like to gig, not just noodle around. We do have an original album in the works, but it's been covers all the way, throwing in the odd original to see what happens along the way. Best of both worlds.
Plus, as it's almost my sole source of income bar pensions, for the money.

Edited March 23, 2013 by Telebass

[itsmedunc]

[size=4]I would play originals but I keep on meeting guitarists who are control freaks, want to 'rule' and spit their dummy out on a regular basis. I now play Clash songs with a group of mates (one of which now lives in Belgium) and we have a right good laugh. No strained rehearsals or prima donna singers and guitarists. We have a drummer who drives, can play, isn't a grumpy b*****d, moves and sets his own kit up( which he bought it himself!!!). To top it all our drummer even pays his own rehearsal money!!!! Beat that. Why would I want to play originals?[/size]

[BassTractor]

In my old days, the thought of a covers band was an impossible one. In my testosterone driven reality, of course one composed, played and won.
Then I realised I'd done covers all the time when playing classical music.
Then I'd often listen to a song and notice my desire to play that song.
Then I got in a covers band.
Then I had fun.
Then End


best,
bert