Just another classic rock covers band...

[xilddx]

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1383729252' post='2268152']
But there are lots of members of originals bands that are not involved in the music writing of the band.
[/quote]

However the goal is usually to put your own personality into the parts, not someone else's.

[Muzz]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1383764010' post='2268827']
However the goal is usually to put your own personality into the parts, not someone else's.
[/quote]

You've clearly never heard me trying to play Rush's YYZ - I get so much personality in there there's no room for most of the notes...

[xilddx]

[quote name='Muzz' timestamp='1383764393' post='2268837']
You've clearly never heard me trying to play Rush's YYZ - I get so much personality in there there's no room for most of the notes...
[/quote]

[Mog]

Jesus . Thank feck 99% of the playing I do is for fun, always though it was the point of playing with other musicians. A lot of people here need to chill out.

[seashell]

[quote name='Muzz' timestamp='1383764393' post='2268837']


You've clearly never heard me trying to play Rush's YYZ - I get so much personality in there there's no room for most of the notes...
[/quote]

Brilliant! I'll remember this whenever I'm struggling to play an extremely simplified version of some classic!

[Heathy]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1383764010' post='2268827']
However the goal is usually to put your own personality into the parts, not someone else's.
[/quote]

Which it is possible to do (or not do) regardless of whether the song was written by the bloke standing next to you, or (say) Deep Purple. This is why I think that the ongoing covers vs originals debate is pointless.

[xilddx]

[quote name='Heathy' timestamp='1383774032' post='2269066']
Which it is possible to do (or not do) regardless of whether the song was written by the bloke standing next to you, or (say) Deep Purple. This is why I think that the ongoing covers vs originals debate is pointless.
[/quote]But it isn't pointless. There are some important (to us musicians, but not relatively) philosophical questions we can ask about the rise of the cover band and tribute bands. Are we really participating in nostalgia at the moment because it makes us feel good in a harsh world? And other fluff like that ..

[bertbass]

How would you classify this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQVTtpE9J7s

Deep Purple became famous with Hush, originally written and recorded by Billy Joe Royal. Hendrix found fame and fortune on the back of Hey Joe, a traditional song originally written by no one really knows but recorded earlier by the Byrds and Love. The Animals also came into the public gaze with House Of The Rising Sun, also a traditional, no one knows who originally wrote it, American ballad. Cream were mostly a covers band. The list is endless of bands who many think are original but have been covering songs by others.

Edited March 24, 2014 by icastle
Link fixed.

[Count Bassy]

[size=4][quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1383229482' post='2261849'][/size]
And people in covers bands get fed up of people in originals bands looking down their noses at them for being unoriginal, selling out, making more money for perceived less effort/artistic value or whatever the damn beef is. At the risk of sounding like a total sap - we're all performing music here, can't we all just get along?
[/quote]


This!


Hendrix's 'Hey Joe' & 'All Along the Watchtower', Pino Palladinos bass on "Wherever I lay My Hat", Johnny Cash's version of 'Hurt', Cream's 'Crossroads' etc etc etc obviously all crap.

PS: I see that BertBass beat me to it with examples of crap covers songs.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Count Bassy

[flyfisher]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1383774520' post='2269080']
Are we really participating in nostalgia at the moment because it makes us feel good in a harsh world?
[/quote]

Nah, it's because all modern music is crap and nothing will ever be as good as the 60s and 70s

[Count Bassy]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1383221538' post='2261676']
It's not the same as classical orchestras and jazz bands playing others' compositions because they are keeping the music alive and bringing it to new audiences, it's more often out of love and duty I think. Cover bands are often doing it for kicks and money from what I can tell, more taking than giving, an easy way to play at being the rock star without the creativity, effort and uncertainty of going out there with original music. [/quote]

And I thought talking bollocks was my speciality! [size=4] [/size]

[xilddx]

[quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1383783716' post='2269219']
And I thought talking bollocks was my speciality!
[/quote]

Like I said, I have no issue with cover bands. I certainly could not be in one, I couldn't learn 150 songs of other bands, partly ability, partly motivation. There are specific skills and motivations required for either type of band.

But I am disappointed in the attitude from some quarters towards original bands. Those who have not been in an original band may not appreciate how much work is involved, and how hard it is to build an audience and keep reinventing the band to keep it fresh.

[BigRedX]

Having played in a covers band and knowing a fair amount of other musicians who play in them, what I would say is that a lot of the musicians involved simply don't have the time or energy or know-how (both musical and non-musical) to be in an originals band. That's not a criticism, simply an observation. For them music isn't important enough compared with all the other things in their life for them to put in what is required to make playing originals, and that's fair enough, I completely realise that most people aren't as obsessive about the music they play as I am.

Playing originals does require a lot of extra work beyond having mastered your instrument to the required standard and being able to turn up for rehearsals and gigs. The potential end rewards are so much greater - and I'm not talking about mythical rock stardom - if you get a good feeling when you see the whole room up and dancing to some well-known classic song, just think how much better that feeling would be if it was a song that you had written?

I'm also not entirely convinced about the economics of playing covers vs originals. Sure the gig fee is higher but IME the overheads of a covers band with the amount of extra gear (PA lights etc.) that has to be bought and transported and set up at every gig, eats into that fee and especially if you divide your cut by the hours spent. Also I've never had any kind of rider playing covers, yet every originals gig comes with free beers and most now also include food for the band. The covers band unless they want to step up their game to become a functions band (see my original point though) are pretty much always going to be stuck at the same fee level playing pubs, whereas as my originals band become better known we can command more money - but maybe all of that is a topic fro a separate thread?

[Count Bassy]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1383814034' post='2269336']
Like I said, I have no issue with cover bands. I certainly could not be in one, I couldn't learn 150 songs of other bands, partly ability, partly motivation. There are specific skills and motivations required for either type of band.

But I am disappointed in the attitude from some quarters towards original bands. Those who have not been in an original band may not appreciate how much work is involved, and how hard it is to build an audience and keep reinventing the band to keep it fresh.
[/quote]

Just to make it clear that I have absolutely no problem with originals bands, after all without original bands there would be no covers.

What I can have a problem with is the attitude of original band members who regard cover bands as being musically worthless.However I don't know any cover band members who regard original bands with the same disdain.

To my mind there are two questions:
- is it a good band?
- is it a good song?

To quote John Kirkpatrick (Button accordion and concertina Maestro): " A good tune is a good tune, no matter where it comes from".

[PaulWarning]

of course you can do both, the band I play in do 2 covers and 1 of our own, roughly, most people want to hear something they know, but will put up with the odd one they don't,(and eventually get to know them) we also occasionally do support slots where we do all our own stuff, but mostly it's pub gigs.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1383817179' post='2269387']
To quote John Kirkpatrick (Button accordion and concertina Maestro): " A good tune is a good tune, no matter where it comes from".
[/quote]

Actually I have to disagree with that. Whether or not something is a good tune is entirely subjective.

If it was true, then we'd all like the same music which we most patently don't.

[Adrenochrome]

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1383774520' post='2269080']
But it isn't pointless. There are some important (to us musicians, but not relatively) philosophical questions we can ask about the rise of the cover band and tribute bands.
[/quote]

In my experience, covers bands have always been big [in the ~35 years I've been actively listening to music]. Most bands used to cut their teeth playing covers and gradually introduced more and more originals. I've always done both and for a while played gigs on the covers circuit playing 50/50 original and covers.

It's the tribute bands that are on the increase in my opinion, and that's largely down to economic realities for the audience [who can't afford to see their fave band but can see an accurate tribute], and the players who need their expenses covered. I think the 'art' behind it may be less of an influence than many people imagine.

[Count Bassy]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1383818132' post='2269404']
Actually I have to disagree with that. Whether or not something is a good tune is entirely subjective.

If it was true, then we'd all like the same music which we most patently don't.
[/quote]

Well, I think there was the implicit assumption that "good" was in the opinion of the listener. He was simply saying (my interpretation) that we shouldn't rule out doing a tune because of where its come from, who's written it, or some misplaced dogma. IIRC he was referring to the inclusion of some none English tunes on an album (him being essentially (at the time) an English folk musician)
In the point I was making I was extending this to include tunes that had been written by someone else.

Edited November 7, 2013 by Count Bassy