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Thank God for Cover Clubs |
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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 12 April 2004 |
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Interesting weekend friends... In an effort to track down new talent my brother and I hit the road to check out some local & not so local shows. What we found was rather disturbing. We did find a "few" good original bands but most were cheesy cover bands beating Breaking Ben, Blink 182, and Creed to death. At one point, after 6 or so cover songs I began to shake and twitch as if I was going through alcohol withdrawal. During this barrage of Top-40 turmoil I began to scan around the club to see who really likes this junk. I noticed I was surrounded by drywall hangers donned in Baseball caps & camouflage shorts. Right then I new I wasn't in Kansas anymore. To even horrify me even further I noticed the band on stage was dressed the same!!! What about the chicks you might ask??? Well, I did see a dozen or so that were rather focused on their triple wing orders while sporting their newest fashion of NEPA sweat pants.
To get to the point. It seems that most clubs / bars are filled with cover bands and cover fans. The funny thing that occurred to me is that cover music attracts (2) specific type of people. (1) The people that treat music as nothing more than background noise. I'm sure that if I got on stage and played a cover for these people and swapped out the lyrics with profanities they wouldn't even notice. Basically they don't know or care about music. (2) The people that LOVE covers. The people that only listen to music they've already heard. These are the guys that get drunk and yell FREEBIRD or ask the band if they know any Bob Seager. (I AM NOT JOKING)
So we hopped into the car and headed out of the valley to an Irish pub. We dig all kinds of music so why not. We had a bite to eat while the 2 man folk band played. I thought wow, these guys are pretty good! Then it happened... They did a change up to Beatle songs followed by Simon and Garfunkle!! This was the last straw. There's nothing I detest more than Simon & Garfunkle. Unfortunately, I gave them my business card prior to the intonations of the 60's. I can only hope they didn't empty their pockets before doing laundry.
Bottom line, keep it ORIGINAL people!! Those of you that won't please stay where you are.
-JOE
P.S. No disrespect to drywall hangers :-) |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 29 May 2007 )
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What makes a band successful? |
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 29 May 2007 |
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What makes a band successful? Well I've had this conversation with a couple hundred bands over the last 2 years and it all boils down to (3) major things...
1. GOOD MUSIC
2. GOOD LYRICS
3. GOOD STAGE PRESENCE
Lets take a look at some past proven acts like, Jimi Hendrix, Aerosmith, and The Rolling Stones. Arguably they worked the above 3 elements to the fullest. So, would Aerosmith be as successful as they were if they didn't do any mic stand twirling or dress as they did? Maybe, but we have to admit their visual show did carry them pretty far.
I think todays new bands do have good music and lyrics but rarely have good stage presence. I saw too many band die on the vine because of this fatal mistake. I've also seen bands with crap lyrics do well because of there stage presence.
Now how about Metalica? I guess I'll say they did have good music but who could really say they had impressive lyrics??? The bottom line on these guys is they made millions with hard core music and stage presence!
So what do you guys think?? IS there a 4th or 5th element I'm over looking?? Let me know what you think or give some advice to the other bands that read this blog. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 29 May 2007 )
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Curse of the 13 year old girl! |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 05 July 2007 |
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As far as I can tell this is the only REAL curse known to man. So, what is this so-called curse? Well, the Curse of the 13 Year Old Girl affects Musicians, Bands, and even TV shows. The Curse sets in when the majority of your fans are 13 year old girls. You may think this isn't a big deal since fans are fans right? Wrong! Keep in mind that 13 year old girls have very very short attention spans. One minute they love you with all their heart, the next they deny ever listening to your music. To make matters worse, any adult that realizes most of your fans are 13 year old girls will quickly deny liking your music and toss your CD's in the trash to avoid ridicule from friends. Here's a few of many acts that suffered from this curse: The Backstreet Boys, The Hanson's, The Spice Girls, and Donny Osmond. The Curse can make you money as it did with these people but rest assured it WILL make your music career very short and no one will ever take you or your music serious again. Really would you take a few song writing tips from the Spice Girls? So how can a band avoid such a Curse? Well, the first thing is to be very careful which venues you select to play at. To play a gig for the local 7th grade prom may be a great money maker but do you really want to toss your musical career in the trash before it begins? If you're doing bookings for your band avoid The Chucky-Cheese type venues or your career will suffer the Curse of the 13 year Old Girl. So in the future, if you find yourself on stage with a bunch of Kiddies with their Mommies avoid eye contact and pack your gear up and run. |
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