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Cover bands


Frosty Jack

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Guest Young Adolesent

Could I come back and say

I do like new music. I go to a lot of cover band gigs. I do listen to radio. Just because I do like new music doesn't mean I'm a hipster or anything. I'm just confortable with the music I listen to now. I play in an originals band and I like it so....

Seriously though, I don't understand how someone can just write off all new music. There's an amazing amount of music out there and to right it all off just seems, to me, like you're causing yourself to miss out.

yes thats your best come back so far haha

i guess all the good music has already been written in my eye but it depends on what genre i listen to mostly indie, ceilidh and pop thats usually admiral fallow, skerryvore, arctic monkeys (the old stuff) ed sheeran (the old stuff) stereophonics twodoorcinemaclub and more the only newish music i listen to is imagine dragons and a lot of noel gallagher. New music to me is just boring nowadays. I must admit i like all genres of music. But i hate house music it just makes me angry. I think in my mind new music is "deed"

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yes thats your best come back so far haha

i guess all the good music has already been written in my eye but it depends on what genre i listen to mostly indie, ceilidh and pop thats usually admiral fallow, skerryvore, arctic monkeys (the old stuff) ed sheeran (the old stuff) stereophonics twodoorcinemaclub and more the only newish music i listen to is imagine dragons and a lot of noel gallagher. New music to me is just boring nowadays. I must admit i like all genres of music. But i hate house music it just makes me angry. I think in my mind new music is "deed"

 

This post is just utter drivel. Everybody stop writing music now. Sell your guitars. All the good music has been written.

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Guest Young Adolesent

This post is just utter drivel. Everybody stop writing music now. Sell your guitars. All the good music has been written.

your taking it the wrong way. i ment in my head i think all the good music has been written but others may agree others may not. to me right now im my head music cant get any better (unless oasis get back toghether  :rockon:  ) but thats just my opinion.

 

i still write my music based on old and modern songs 

Edited by Young Adolesent
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How old is YA again? he says old Arctic Monkeys and old Ed Sheeran (he's only had one album hasn't he?) is old music. When I think most people may be referring to music from 70s/80s/90s. Not making a dig at your age, but to a lot of people, what you think is old will actually be new.

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I've got more of a live and let live attitude to covers bands. If that's what people want to do then why not?

 

On a personal level I wouldn't be interested in playing in a covers band myself. I only really want to play music where I have been involved in the creative process as that's what I love about music, it's great when you're jamming something with your bandmates and things just click into place. I can't see where I would get the equivalent playing in a covers band. I'm not even overly keen on playing the odd cover in a band that mainly plays originals unless we can change it in some way to make it feel like we've put our own stamp on it.

 

I wouldn't go and see a covers band out of choice and like others in this thread I'd quite happily avoid venues if they had a covers band on when I was out and about. I also don't think covers bands have a place at things like festivals as they're taking up space where a more innovative act should be getting an opportunity to air their original material. If they had a stage dedicated to covers bands then that's fine I guess but even then surely the point of a festival is that it's an opportunity to find new music and see bands that you might not get to see normally.

 

If all people who play in covers bands aspire to is playing other peoples music or getting a slightly larger wad of cash at the end of a gig then fair enough, each to their own. There's no doubt that talented musicians are playing in covers bands, but is there a lack of songwriting talent?

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Come to think of it, this 'covers' debate has been done before somewhere on this very forum.....so by default it is a cover 'thread' debate closed.

 

Or leave it open...we cover band guys are very open minded on all music...hence why we play covers of many genres. It might be the 'original band' members that are not opened minded as they play only what they write and it would tend to be of one genre.....

Edited by britheguy
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Come to think of it, this 'covers' debate has been done before somewhere on this very forum.....so by default it is a cover 'thread' debate closed.

 

Or leave it open...we cover band guys are very open minded on all music...hence why we play covers of many genres. It might be the 'original band' members that are not opened minded as they play only what they write and it would tend to be of one genre.....

 

I don't know what band you play in so this isn't a personal dig or anything, but I've never seen a cover band stray from one genre. It's always a very generic mix of contemporary and classic pop music, or the rawk classics with a few chart poprock tunes thrown in to please the younger crowd.

 

As I said, I don't know your band, you could play everything from Miles Davis to Megadeath (I would watch the SHIT out of that band!) but I've never seen it happen before.

 

xx

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There are of course "named acts" who do covers, Hendrix doing Dylan, M Manson doing Depeche Mode, Stranglers doing Sandie Shaw,  and hehe, Lulu doing Bowie :D there's a whole other list of this

 

I think if you do a cover, you should first deconstruct, and then make it your own, not try and immitate the original, enhance it in some way.

 

Just dont do a whole set of covers at a festie...:)

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Come to think of it, this 'covers' debate has been done before somewhere on this very forum.....so by default it is a cover 'thread' debate closed.

 

Or leave it open...we cover band guys are very open minded on all music...hence why we play covers of many genres. It might be the 'original band' members that are not opened minded as they play only what they write and it would tend to be of one genre.....

I've played in originals bands ranging from synth pop, pop, indie pop, hardcore, emo, pop punk. I'm very open minded when it comes to writing original music. The cover gig I once played was very much one genre.

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surely the point of a festival is that it's an opportunity to find new music and see bands that you might not get to see normally.

 

If all people who play in covers bands aspire to is playing other peoples music or getting a slightly larger wad of cash at the end of a gig then fair enough, each to their own. There's no doubt that talented musicians are playing in covers bands, but is there a lack of songwriting talent?

 

I would have said the point of a music festival was to enjoy live music, be it original or not? I saw an ABBA tribute act at T a few years back, it was one of the best 45 minutes of the weekend, certainly no one cared they were a tribute act, it was just good to get a wee dance around to songs we all knew. I dont think there was anything wrong with that ABBA act getting on the main stage on a sunday afternoon, the crowd loved it and the act loved it, surely thats the only two important things? 

 

You could be right about the song writing thing, writing a good song is not an easy thing, and its not something everyone can do, but again, some people just enjoy being in a cover band, they want to learn their fav songs, and play them infront of people. I was in a cover band a few years ago with a guy who took up playing guitar purely because he wanted to start a cover band after enjoying watching so many of them, he spent a lot of time and money on getting himself up to an acceptable standard, because his goal was to play a gig in his local social club, which we did on quite a few occasions. No one can tell me this guy should be ashamed for having and achieving that ambition, especially not when he took up the guitar at 50. 

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I don't know what band you play in so this isn't a personal dig or anything, but I've never seen a cover band stray from one genre. It's always a very generic mix of contemporary and classic pop music, or the rawk classics with a few chart poprock tunes thrown in to please the younger crowd.

 

As I said, I don't know your band, you could play everything from Miles Davis to Megadeath (I would watch the SHIT out of that band!) but I've never seen it happen before.

 

xx

 

How broad would you want it to go? My band does songs from McFly, Busted, Barenaked Ladies, Status Quo, ACDC, Dire Straits, Oasis, Beatles, Blink 182. Its a pretty wide genre of music. You cant really go from Miles Davis to Megadeath in a pub, it doesnt work that well, and it certainly wont get you back for a second gig. 

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Guest Young Adolesent

How old is YA again? he says old Arctic Monkeys and old Ed Sheeran (he's only had one album hasn't he?) is old music. When I think most people may be referring to music from 70s/80s/90s. Not making a dig at your age, but to a lot of people, what you think is old will actually be new.

im 15 and the bands arent old to me and my mates there just past times no one else our age listens to them but me. Ed has 5 or 6 albums but none are as reconised apart from "+" but his other albums are good but hes resorting to covers now adays i do listen to older music i.e. Rory ghallager (interestingly enough my neighbour grew up next to him in ireland i think in Lairn or something) eric clapton pink floyd ans van morrison. I know one brilliant cover band znd thats boyce avenue there actually amazing. Theyve made a great living of covers and originals
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How broad would you want it to go? My band does songs from McFly, Busted, Barenaked Ladies, Status Quo, ACDC, Dire Straits, Oasis, Beatles, Blink 182. Its a pretty wide genre of music. You cant really go from Miles Davis to Megadeath in a pub, it doesnt work that well, and it certainly wont get you back for a second gig. 

 

I think the band you're in pretty much nails the spectrum that any band could get away with - obviously Miles Davis and Megadeath are just two arbitrary extremes, but lets look at the bands you listed there - it's a mixture of classic pop (Beatles), contemporary pop (McFly), classic rock (Quo, AC/DC) and contemporary "rock" (Oasis and Blink). It's a great range to cover but I think many local bands have a similar range in their sets, from light, poppy tunes to riffy guitar rock. It's no criticism against cover bands, simply rebutting the criticism against original acts. It's fair to say that you COULD have much more range with a cover band (Miles Davis to Megadeath) but, as you rightly pointed out, it'd be stupid to do so because you'd never get a second gig. All I'm saying is that you COULD so the same thing in an original band, it'd just be much harder to do and the results would be equally unpleasant. Both types of band generally pick a loose collection of genres and stick to them.

 

The bonus to being in an original band is you get to mix genres up, take influence from whatever you want when you're writing your guitar riffs, etc.

 

xx

Edited by Stroopy121
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Guest Young Adolesent

But you said this in your thread looking to start a band:

 

 

You play music you don't like? Or do you differentiate between 'modern' and 'new'?

to me modern is like from 2000 onward anx looking to start a band i said i wanted to do ceilidh and traditional musoc
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I think the band you're in pretty much nails the spectrum that any band could get away with - obviously Miles Davis and Megadeath are just two arbitrary extremes, but lets look at the bands you listed there - it's a mixture of classic pop (Beatles), contemporary pop (McFly), classic rock (Quo, AC/DC) and contemporary "rock" (Oasis and Blink). It's a great range to cover but I think many local bands have a similar range in their sets, from light, poppy tunes to riffy guitar rock. It's no criticism against cover bands, simply rebutting the criticism against original acts. It's fair to say that you COULD have much more range with a cover band (Miles Davis to Megadeath) but, as you rightly pointed out, it'd be stupid to do so because you'd never get a second gig. All I'm saying is that you COULD so the same thing in an original band, it'd just be much harder to do and the results would be equally unpleasant. Both types of band generally pick a loose collection of genres and stick to them.

 

The bonus to being in an original band is you get to mix genres up, take influence from whatever you want when you're writing your guitar riffs, etc.

 

xx

 

Yeah i dont buy into the statement that cover band players have more variety in their play, but no band has a huge variety of genre's as it just wouldnt work. 

People wouldnt enjoy going to see a pop punk gig and being hit with a one off death metal song half way through the set. 

 

I think both kinda bands have their bonus's and plus points. I have probably learned more about playing the drums in the cover band, than i have original music, as i have been forced to learn things outwith my usual comfort zone, but there is no doubt writing songs has this incredible effect on you, especially when you get them sounding good. I have recordings of my cover band and my original bands, i would very rarely listen to the cover band CD, because it doesnt fill me with pride having recorded the songs, where as with my original bands i would listen to myself all day, but then i always argued with the guys in the cover band that recording was pointless, it gained us nothing. Live i would say i actually prefer the cover band, mostly because i get to play for 3 hours, rather than 30 minutes, and the whole night becomes worthwhile, rather than the short time i would have with an original band. 

 

Its all about showing off baby.

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to me modern is like from 2000 onward anx looking to start a band i said i wanted to do ceilidh and traditional musoc

 

Still don't understand. So, you don't like 'new' music, but you like 'modern music' which is from 2000 onwards. I agree with your definition of modern. I would classify music from 2000 onwards as modern, but I don't know how you're defining 'new? 2000-2012? Is 2013 a terrible year for music?

Edited by Joda Serk
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Yeah i dont buy into the statement that cover band players have more variety in their play, but no band has a huge variety of genre's as it just wouldnt work. 

People wouldnt enjoy going to see a pop punk gig and being hit with a one off death metal song half way through the set. 

 

I think both kinda bands have their bonus's and plus points. I have probably learned more about playing the drums in the cover band, than i have original music, as i have been forced to learn things outwith my usual comfort zone, but there is no doubt writing songs has this incredible effect on you, especially when you get them sounding good. I have recordings of my cover band and my original bands, i would very rarely listen to the cover band CD, because it doesnt fill me with pride having recorded the songs, where as with my original bands i would listen to myself all day, but then i always argued with the guys in the cover band that recording was pointless, it gained us nothing. Live i would say i actually prefer the cover band, mostly because i get to play for 3 hours, rather than 30 minutes, and the whole night becomes worthwhile, rather than the short time i would have with an original band. 

 

Its all about showing off baby.

 

Pretty much agree with all of those points - learning covers is definitely a great way to push you to learn new shit. Covering The Who on bass is a good example, learning a bunch of ridiculous noodling that I'd never play otherwise. I do also enjoy playing longer sets in a cover band, but that's because it's nowhere near as intense. A 45 minute set with Needleman nearly kills me as I spend the whole time screaming!

 

xx

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Guest Young Adolesent

 

 

 

Still don't understand. So, you don't like 'new' music, but you like 'modern music' which is from 2000 onwards. I agree with your definition of modern. I would classify music from 2000 onwards as modern, but I don't know how you're defining 'new? 2000-2012? Is 2013 a terrible year for music?

 

no you dont understand. :)  i like up to 2009 but after that its crap

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Pretty much agree with all of those points - learning covers is definitely a great way to push you to learn new shit. Covering The Who on bass is a good example, learning a bunch of ridiculous noodling that I'd never play otherwise. I do also enjoy playing longer sets in a cover band, but that's because it's nowhere near as intense. A 45 minute set with Needleman nearly kills me as I spend the whole time screaming!

 

xx

 

Yeah i know what you mean about the intensiveness, i almost died having a Stayover practise a week or so ago, first time in about 6 years i have played anything near as fast!! But a 3 hour gig with the cover is nae bother! haha

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