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Yes , YOU!
Top music as ever this week from Jesta~Scully Says, Belizer~How many times?, Carvalho~ Sin & Shame, Caroline’s Capuchin~Prepare to Fall, By The River~Take Control, Sonny~Fighting Fair and Sigurdór Guðmundsson ~Gengið á Gufunum” (Running on fumes… to be exact ;-).
Paul Lane from Unplug The Jukebox came in and we put the world right as regards playing gigs for money and covers and that….
11 replies on “Is This Thing On Podcast 81”
Bands should definitely do covers.
1) Everyone learnt to play by playing other artists songs
2) Sometimes playing a song and jamming around is a great source of inspiration for your own writing
3) You don’t have to play it exactly the same way, you can play around with it as much as you like, remoulding it as you see fit
4) Sometimes it’s just nice, refreshing and, most importantly, enjoyable to play songs that have influenced and inspired you.
Agreed.
It’s a shame that bands often have to play a few covers to get paid, but that is what some pubs andbars want. If you don’t want to play those places then don’t.
I’m not a massive fan of cover and tribute bands, more driven towards original sounds. I think I would rather see a band offering something new, doing it with conviction even if they lack some of the tecnicality and finess than a musically competant cover band offering up the same old, same old. That said market forces dictate that people trying to make a living out of music are often pushed to sacrifice originality for covers to make ends meet. That however says more about the punter/the market than the player.
Thanks for your comment Dave, it might be usefull to listen to what we had to say on the podcast.
What we said, in a nutshell, was that in order to get paid for some gigs it’s not the end of the world if you have to play a couple of covers.
ahhh…that would probably help but alas I am at work in a speakerless environment, will have an aural shufty when I get home.
The weird thing about these so-called “tribute” groups is when the people playing the part of someone else actually begin to believe they have the same talent as their “hero”, usually, (in fact 99% of the time) it is the Paul McCartney figure in any/every Beatles “tribute” band!
You mean I’m NOT Freedie Mercury?
You swine!!
I like the instant hit u get in a room when u play a covers set, eveyone knows the songs so they sing along and are more likly to dance with out ever having heard you before. I totally understand musicians prefering to hear/play original stuff, but i enjoy rocking out covers, and getting paid!!!
[…] + Effect” on Nick Tann’s “Is This Thing On?” podcast here. This entry was posted in CD/MP3 Reviews and tagged Alternative rock, Broken Links, Eastleigh, […]
Mutant thread- just typing as I listen. Always enjoy hearing “Sin & Shame”. Digging By The River. Would like some real horns, but that’s a minor quibble.
On the cover debate: I agree 100%. If you don’t want to play covers, don’t take the gig. Nick, you well point out that 60’s bands played covers. But in many early recording contracts, the acts were compelled to play covers to make more money for the label. That doesn’t mean the Beatles & Stones versions aren’t great, but we’ll never know who’s idea it really was.
And Paul- how does the pub really “audit” how many covers you play? Does the manager know every other song recorded? I think they were just being cheap.
For disclosure I spent eternity in a tribute band that did Elton John, Garth Brooks and Neil Diamond- all on the same gig. I did my best, but on the whole it was torture.
They ARE real horns on By The Rivers, Matt. All live playing. check out this live video –