The Tribute band circuit

[okusman]

I’m looking at finding a bass chair in a tribute act. 
I have:
Kit ✅ 

Chops ✅ 

Huge gigging experience ✅ 

Learn fast/read tab fluently ✅ 

Is there a password/inter-sanctum initiation that has to be overcome before the opportunities become apparent?

The ‘usual’ musicians wanted sites seem to yield close to nothing…

Anyone with advice/knowledge/password, willing to share wisdom?

Mark

[Geek99]

@police squad

[police squad]

Hi there

actually I have no idea.

There is facebook sites dedicated to tribut acts, they probably advertise on there

Probably start following a few bands online and maybe message them that you would be interested if the opportunity came up

I joined U2 Tribe after a support slot with The Policed in Southend. I saw their bassist had announced his departure and so I contacted their singer

Job was mine immediately as they had already seen me and loved my bass sound

[Sean]

5 hours ago, okusman said:

I’m looking at finding a bass chair in a tribute act. 
I have:
Kit ✅ 

Chops ✅ 

Huge gigging experience ✅ 

Learn fast/read tab fluently ✅ 

Is there a password/inter-sanctum initiation that has to be overcome before the opportunities become apparent?

The ‘usual’ musicians wanted sites seem to yield close to nothing…

Anyone with advice/knowledge/password, willing to share wisdom?

Mark

There's a lot of bassists here that have done or do tribute at quite a serious level and might be able to comment. 

 

I think the answer depends on the situation, the particular tribute. The last time I did it, I was approached because the band leader knew me and knew that I'm generally up for playing anything within my technical capacity. 

 

If you're looking at being in a touring tribute I'm sure kit, ability and being gig savvy are givens.  There's one big touring UK tribute band that I've seen a few times where the bassist (IMO) hasn't got the chops and some of the iconic parts are simplified or sketched over but he's solid, does BVs as per the original, has replica gear and is a really good lookalike. He seems to be a really nice guy too. I'm sure that what he lacks in technical ability is made up for in all the other things he is and brings. 

 

I don't think think there's a cheat code for this, I think you just have to knock on a lot of doors, put yourself about and network. 

[jazzyvee]

Any particular tribute you are seeking?

[okusman]

1 hour ago, jazzyvee said:

Any particular tribute you are seeking?

Really open-minded, just nothing too heavy. 

[JapanAxe]

It’s about who you know really. I dep on rhythm guitar (mostly) and bass (occasionally) in a Dire Straits tribute that plays theatres and arts centres all over the UK. I met the BL through a mutual friend who was putting together a scratch band for a wedding - not something I recommend btw!

[ezbass]

23 minutes ago, JapanAxe said:

It’s about who you know really.

Very much this^^^^ and who knows you from seeing you play in other bands. That is not to say that advertising on Join My Band, etc doesn’t work too (I got my current gig through JMB) but the ‘network’ is where a large percentage of gigs come from.

[Burns-bass]

34 minutes ago, JapanAxe said:

It’s about who you know really. I dep on rhythm guitar (mostly) and bass (occasionally) in a Dire Straits tribute that plays theatres and arts centres all over the UK. I met the BL through a mutual friend who was putting together a scratch band for a wedding - not something I recommend btw!

This is how it works. As soon as I did a few scratch band wedding gigs I found the phone started pinging. (Nobody rings anymore, do they?)

 

Thankfully I’m out of that now.

[Bassassin]

Never played in a trib band myself, but most seem to be put together by people who are particular fans of the act & personally influenced by them.

 

It might be an idea to think about it from that perspective with a view to starting a band rather than walking into an existing one.

[Sean]

26 minutes ago, Bassassin said:

Never played in a trib band myself, but most seem to be put together by people who are particular fans of the act & personally influenced by them.

 

It might be an idea to think about it from that perspective with a view to starting a band rather than walking into an existing one.

I think this could be a good shout. If you go down this route my advice would be to make sure you have your key ingredients in place early.

 

I spent 4-6 months (with a friend) rehearsing, planning and putting together an Aerosmith tribute and we were so keen and over the moon with the guitarist chemistry, drummer, band name and sound that we were ploughing ahead without the crucial ingredient, Tribute Steven Tyler. We auditioned a lot of singers (male and female) and we always thought that it would just be matter of time, we never got there and didn't have a Plan B. We could have taken one of the auditioned singers and easily done something else very good but all of us were fixated on Aerosmith. We found out the hard way why there aren't many Aerosmith tributes around. 

 

I would drop everything to be in a good Aerosmith tribute (sorry, current bandmates).  I'd also love to do a Pearl Jam tribute, I'd get to wear Vans and play my Hamer every gig. 

 

Having an idea of what tribute you'd like to be in and knowing all the obvious bangers off pat gets you off the blocks.  

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Sean

[JapanAxe]

1 hour ago, Bassassin said:

Never played in a trib band myself, but most seem to be put together by people who are particular fans of the act & personally influenced by them.

 

It might be an idea to think about it from that perspective with a view to starting a band rather than walking into an existing one.

Be aware that is a long and expensive road. You need to pick an artist with enough well-known material (with maybe some album 'deep cuts') to fill a 2-hour show, and a strong enough base of diehard fans and/or well-heeled (usually mature) punters to pay for tickets. Some acts really require lookalikes as well as soundalikes. If the material is heavily produced/orchestrated, you may need synched tracks to fill out the sound. Then you'll want a professional-quality showreel for you or your booking agent to send out to venues. If a venue already has a tribute to your chosen artist, they may not wish to take a chance on an alternative.

 

Just some things to think about...

[Sean]

40 minutes ago, JapanAxe said:

Be aware that is a long and expensive road. You need to pick an artist with enough well-known material (with maybe some album 'deep cuts') to fill a 2-hour show, and a strong enough base of diehard fans and/or well-heeled (usually mature) punters to pay for tickets. Some acts really require lookalikes as well as soundalikes. If the material is heavily produced/orchestrated, you may need synched tracks to fill out the sound. Then you'll want a professional-quality showreel for you or your booking agent to send out to venues. If a venue already has a tribute to your chosen artist, they may not wish to take a chance on an alternative.

 

Just some things to think about...

 

To add to this and illustrate just one of the points above, you don't necessarily need to "tribute" a specific artist, there are two (that I know of) acts out there in direct competition that tribute the genre that is the punk and new wave scene (1976-83), there's Punk Off! and rePunK'd.

 

In some cases they play the same venues but well spaced on the calendar. Both have well-produced showreels and they are very savvy with social media. Ticket prices get up to 35 quid for theatres and the amount of graft that goes into the production, planning and stagecraft exceeds that of a function/covers band by an order of magnitude. 

 

There's up front investment as a business proposition long before any profits of ticket sales come in and at that level someone needs to be "on it" pretty much full time.