Tribute bands

[ChunkyMunky]

So, how many of you play in a tribute band? Tell us all about it.

How far do you go into replicating the original? Do you replicate the live or studio versions of the songs more closely? Any funny stories? I currently play in a Kaiser Chiefs tribute band called 'Kaiser Cheats' myself! Cheers, y'all.

[lojo]

I saw a great tribute band "The illegal eagles" the other week

I play in an 80s tribute band and we ty to replicate as best as we can the feel and effects of the songs . I love hearing re inventions but that's not what we've chosen to do with our project 

[BreadBin]

I don't currently, but have a strong desire to start an Ian Dury tribute - as the vocalist 

[lojo]

Do it !

[T-Bay]

Our vocalist/ lead guitarist was George Harrison in a Beatles tribute until recently. He wore a wig, used contact lenses and they even spoke with Liverpool (ish) accents when speaking between songs or to each other.

[walshy]

Aye was in the UK Chili Peppers for 3-4 years and great fun playing Flea, skeleton suit the lot. Left just after Xmas and working in a grunge/90’s type band and also about to join a Foo Fighters tribute too! Good harmless fun! 

[Graham]

2 hours ago, lojo said:

I saw a great tribute band "The illegal eagles" the other week

I play in an 80s tribute band and we ty to replicate as best as we can the feel and effects of the songs . I love hearing re inventions but that's not what we've chosen to do with our project 

I might have played with a their drummer at Christmas last year, he was in an Eagles tribute and that name sounds familiar, good player though.

[jezzaboy]

I play in Her way to hell, the only female fronted Bon Scott tribute in Scotland, mabye in the UK. We just played Bonfest for the second year running, up in Bon`s birthplace of Kirremuir last week and went down well. 

The tunes are exactly as the band played them either on record or live versions that the band did, except of course we have a girl singer. This comes in quite handy as we can play all the songs in their original key and even ac/dc don`t do that!

 We don`t add in any fancy widdiling that wasn`t there originally unlike some of the other dc tributes, just straight ahead rock n roll.

[FinnDave]

I play in a Grateful Dead tribute, and as the Dead played long gigs for 30 years and rarely played a song the same twice, we try to base our material on a blend of various interpretations the original band played. Makes for plenty of variety, and plenty of work learning it. No danger of getting bored with it, though!

[jezzaboy]

2 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

I play in a Grateful Dead tribute, and as the Dead played long gigs for 30 years and rarely played a song the same twice, we try to base our material on a blend of various interpretations the original band played. Makes for plenty of variety, and plenty of work learning it. No danger of getting bored with it, though!

Cool Dave. The dead live from 1972-1974 are my favourite. As you say, they rarely played the song the same way. I hope your singer fluffs the lyrics just to keep things authentic 

[FinnDave]

2 minutes ago, jezzaboy said:

Cool Dave. The dead live from 1972-1974 are my favourite. As you say, they rarely played the song the same way. I hope your singer fluffs the lyrics just to keep things authentic 

He does, there are so many variations to choose from it's hard to know which were intended to be the 'original'! 72-74, some great shows in that period.

Cool avatar!

Edited May 13, 2018 by FinnDave

[steantval]

Played in a Free tribute band for a few years, absolutely loved it.

We ended up with Jeff Rich ex Status Quo on the drums.

Used my by big Markbass rig and even bought an EB3 bass, bloody awful thing to play, headstock dive, but looked and sounded the part, I would have preferred to use my MM Stingray, but not authentic enough.

We were fairly unusual that we were a 5 piece which included a keyboard player, about 80% of the Free recorded tracks actually contain keyboards, that gave us a live sound that was so close to the original.

Would still be doing it now, but the vocalist decided to leave to form his own band with original material, the most difficult person in the band to replace, couldn’t find anyone else good enough and the band eventually folded.

Edited May 13, 2018 by steantval

[stewblack]

Best one I ever played in was The More Specials. We used a mix of BBC sessions, singles and album tracks. Some amazing musicians and only band I've been in where the audience was on their feet and dancing from the very first tune to the last, guaranteed, every gig. Not much money in it with so many members to split the fee with but some unforgettable nights and even got a few of the original Specials up on stage with us at various gigs.

[borntohang]

I do. It's weird, incredibly hot, and a lot of fun. We don't make much money - it's mostly just a laugh and a chance to play some nice venues for other fans who appreciate the music too. Got quite good at changing costumes in less than thirty seconds too.

[Hobbayne]

I dont know if could do that night after night. I saw one of the Beatles tributes up in Liverpool at the cavern recently and they were nowhere near the premier league status of the Bootleg Beatles.

But playing someone elses stuff note perfect every night doesnt appeal to me.

Having said that, Bjorn Again and the Australian Floyd and the Bootlegs have made some of the tribute bands almost as famous as the originals.

[12stringbassist]

I did a one off, standing in on bass for Flamin' Slade some years ago at The Robin2 in Bilston at the Sladefest. Great fun.

My favourite tribute bands are T.Rextasy, State Of Quo and Roger's Floyd.

Apart from Cheap Trick and The Beatles, I can't think of any band that I could maintain the interest in, to repeatedly play a whole show of their music.

[Mike]

Great thread! I tour with 'ELO Again'. It's a lot of fun. I transcribed the originals from the records, but we do a couple of tracks with live arrangements, so for those the basslines sometimes differ. For a few of the more uptempo rock and roll ones, I don't play them note for note - keeps it a bit more fresh and exciting.

Here's a video I recently made showing my bass rig set up for that gig! 

 

[Mike]

20 hours ago, lojo said:

I saw a great tribute band "The illegal eagles" the other week

I play in an 80s tribute band and we ty to replicate as best as we can the feel and effects of the songs . I love hearing re inventions but that's not what we've chosen to do with our project 

The great Trevor Newnham on bass. Top player, singer and guy!

[police squad]

I'm in a Police tribute.

We take the whole thing seriously. 

I look quite a bit like Sting, I try and copy how he moves on stage and play replicas of his basses, matched with the outfit he mainly wore with whatever bass I'm using.

Guitarist has a Telecaster that has been 'Andy Summers' by 'The Painted Player' guitar company

Drummer has old Tama kit, in one of the colours that Stewart used, octobans too.

Live, we play the studio versions but sometimes make them longer, depending on the length of the show.

One of our first gigs was at a festival in Crete. Matala. We played to thousands of people with a back drop of caves.

I've included a few pics, it was THE most amazing gig of my life. We went on at 1.30am just after some big Greek star.

Obviously the guitarist is playing the Red Strat (like Andy's) but not the Tele.

 

Edited May 14, 2018 by police squad

[Mike]

20 minutes ago, police squad said:

Looks great, what is your website?

 

 

 

[MacDaddy]

22 hours ago, ChunkyMunky said:

So, how many of you play in a tribute band? Tell us all about it.

How far do you go into replicating the original? Do you replicate the live or studio versions of the songs more closely? Any funny stories? I currently play in a Kaiser Chiefs tribute band called 'Kaiser Cheats' myself! Cheers, y'all.

do you play a Shuker Simon Rix sig P bass?

[Damonjames]

21 hours ago, walshy said:

Aye was in the UK Chili Peppers for 3-4 years and great fun playing Flea, skeleton suit the lot. Left just after Xmas and working in a grunge/90’s type band and also about to join a Foo Fighters tribute too! Good harmless fun! 

What 90's/grunge band??

[police squad]

1 hour ago, Mike said:

 

www.thepoliced.moonfruit.com

or Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/groups/thepoliced/?ref=bookmarks

Website is out of date, but FB is reasonably ok

[walshy]

1 hour ago, Damonjames said:

What 90's/grunge band??

Just started The Saviors with a few guys from some different bands playing grunge/rock stuff and strictly no dad rock! Even though some dad rock is cool!

[ezbass]

I formed/joined a Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers tribute last year, a few months before TP passed away. I was all for chucking it in as I didn't want it to appear that we were cashing in on his demise. However, after some soul searching and some positive comments along the lines of, "No, you should still do it, Tom would approve," some of them on this esteemed forum, we decided to keep going. Only two gigs thus far, but we're going into the studio next week to record some promotional material (I'll share here when they're mixed). We don't try to look like TP & The HBs, but we do try to nail the songs correctly, either studio or live performances. We are, wait for it, The Heartfakers.