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 3 hours 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.

[JapanAxe]

14 minutes ago, Sean said:

 

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.

Yes there are some 'genre' tributes but I think it can be trickier to pitch. For instance, if you did a Britpop show, you would somehow need to differentiate your act from a thousand pub bands knocking out covers of Oasis, Pulp, Blur etc. It's important to have a unique selling point (USP).

 

If all this sounds very business-oriented, that's because it is!

[dudewheresmybass]

yeah - as noted above, it's all about the contacts.

My main band atm is an Ozzy/ Sabbath trib that I've been doing for 12 years or so.

We started small and have built it slowly over that time, but due to the sad news in July, things have been mental.

Also through some of the contacts I've made, I pick up work depping with a Metallica trib show among others.

 

IMO You're better off finding an iconic band that ideally doesn't tour here or very rarely comes here and forming a band around that.

JMB can be useful as can forums similar to this

 

 

 

[warwickhunt]

I play in two tributes; one I do purely as I love the band (Cheap Trick) and the 2nd I joined as I liked the band (INXS) and it was an ideal opportunity to play better/bigger gigs (but not necessarily for more money).  

 

A couple of observations. 

• Be sure you like the material, nothing worse than playing a couple of hours of stuff you don't like.
• Network with anyone you know in a tribute band, you'll likely get any gig/band through contacts.
• Be prepared (if you aren't already) to use IEM and compromise on 'your' sound because you may be doing gigs where you have a 15-30 minute turnaround with other bands.
• Don't take for granted you'll be getting good money; we've done gigs where I'd have been paid more for a pub covers gig.
• Some gigs 'might' end up being percentages of ticket sales (your band can of course refuse these).
• If you choose to do a tribute that is often covered, you'd better be significantly better than the local competition.
• If you choose a less obvious tribute, you could end up with very few gigs... it's a fine line.  
• The singer/frontperson is where it is at (unless it is something like VH), so you'd be a numpty to join a band that doesn't have that main ingredient. 
• If you elect to play 'Fake Festivals' you might need to travel considerable distances for gigs (does anyone in the band work on a Fri/Sat/Sun?), you are likely to be ofeered a series of gigs and you can't cherry pick otherwise the organiser will need to work twice as hard... and they don't like that!   

 

[dudewheresmybass]

1 minute ago, warwickhunt said:

I play in two tributes; one I do purely as I love the band (Cheap Trick) and the 2nd I joined as I liked the band (INXS) and it was an ideal opportunity to play better/bigger gigs (but not necessarily for more money).  

 

A couple of observations. 

• Be sure you like the material, nothing worse than playing a couple of hours of stuff you don't like.
• Network with anyone you know in a tribute band, you'll likely get any gig/band through contacts.
• Be prepared (if you aren't already) to use IEM and compromise on 'your' sound because you may be doing gigs where you have a 15-30 minute turnaround with other bands.
• Don't take for granted you'll be getting good money; we've done gigs where I'd have been paid more for a pub covers gig.
• Some gigs 'might' end up being percentages of ticket sales (your band can of course refuse these).
• If you choose to do a tribute that is often covered, you'd better be significantly better than the local competition.
• If you choose a less obvious tribute, you could end up with very few gigs... it's a fine line.  
• The singer/frontperson is where it is at (unless it is something like VH), so you'd be a numpty to join a band that doesn't have that main ingredient. 
• If you elect to play 'Fake Festivals' you might need to travel considerable distances for gigs (does anyone in the band work on a Fri/Sat/Sun?), you are likely to be ofeered a series of gigs and you can't cherry pick otherwise the organiser will need to work twice as hard... and they don't like that!   

 

Exactly this