Tribute bands - Good or Evil?
I commented in a post on the Fish Forum about Tribute bands, which attracted the ire of a member of Dutch Marillion tribute band Lords of the Backstage.
While there is probably a place for some tribute bands, and I don’t know the situation in The Netherlands, over here in Britain there are far, far too many tribute bands. They’re dominating the club circuit to the extent that bands playing their own material are finding it increasingly difficult to get gigs, if they play a style of music that isn’t generic indie.
I’ve heard the argument that tribute bands aren’t in direct competition with the likes of Breathing Space or The Reasoning, in that they appeal to non-overlapping audiences. I’m not convinced by that argument myself. Is there really nobody out there who might listen to something new if it wasn’t for the inexhaustible supply of bands willing to pander to lazy audiences who haven’t listened to anything new since 1985?
Am I right, or am I “talking a load of crap”?
August 17th, 2008 at 4:01 am
Wow, Marillion cover bands? That’s crazy. The only ones we tend to see around here are for pretty big or iconic bands like Kiss or the Beatles (or Neil Diamond — I think there are at least two Neil Diamond tributes around here).
I’d rather see a tribute band for someone I liked than a generic top 40 cover band, but a band that I like who does their own original material is way better than either. Although there are bands around that do both — there was a local band a while ago that would play their own stuff at club shows but you could also book them for, say, a school dance, and they’d be a lot more like a cover band then.
Seriously, do you see like more than one tribute band a week in local clubs? I don’t know if we have one play every month here in Vancouver, at least not in the big venues…
August 17th, 2008 at 8:41 am
There’s a club local to me in Crewe (The Limelight Club) that has a gig most nights of the week - and at least three quarters of the bands are tribute bands. That’s how bad it is. Just follow the link and look at their gig listings.
August 17th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
I’ve played in several original bands- all of which deviated from generic in-the-charts stuff of whichever genre, and found it really difficult to get people to listen, to get a following-
however people have always been willing to come out for the covers bands I’ve also played in-
particularly weird being the amount of praise the covers bands got, when they couldn’t be bothered to check out my original bands.
the oddest being when A&R people have approached us (a covers band) saying they’re interested (yes, really)-
obviously liking the way we looked, moved, acted onstage, and considering
writing original music to be a mere token formality.
the same people would bin a CD from any of my original bands rather than give it a listen.
the truth is that most people are unwilling to check out new music that hasn’t got the endorsement of press, radio and tv coverage.
creating a buzz to attract people along is tough for a band to do by themselves, and very non-music related- admittedly the original bands I was in were pretty clueless/reserved about that side of it.
so i’ve got mixed views about tribute bands- yes, it would be better if everyone wrote their own music and only played that, but you have to deal with a lot of bullshit to get anywhere, unless you take the easy option and become a generic indie (or whatever populist genre) band- in which case you might as well be a covers band- eg. Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Razorlight tribute band.
August 17th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Everything you say is sad but true. It’s tragic that so many people won’t listen to music that doesn’t have the endorsement of cretins like Steven Wells.
And you’re absolutely right about generic indie being coverbands in all but name.
August 17th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
I was reading on the Rotd board about concerns over the future of White Lies- who are yet another unnecessary Joy Division clone band á la Editors, Rakes, Interpol etc.-
an already saturated market just like Jing Jang & co. found with their Razorlight furrow?
turns out White Lies used to be called Fear of flying, and sounded more like the Teardrop Explodes- as Guardian blogger and ex A&R guy Ben Wardle reveals-
http://benwardle.blogspot.com/2008/02/night-in-hoxton.html
looks like they got nowhere until they jumped on the Joy Division clone bandwagon, donned the black clothes and then all the A&R guys came sniffing to get their chunk of the Editors market.
lazy A&R ploughing the same old furrows to death, and unwilling to promote anything different-
because nearly all of them are tone deaf and can’t really tell what has promise. bands have to learn to play them on their level if they want to attract their interest..
Alan McGee is particularly clueless- as anyone will know if they’ve been to Death Disco or any of his clubnights. he judges bands on their appearance
and swagger/cockiness. what he writes (or gets Paul Brownell or whoever to write) on the Guardian blogs is utter garbage.
I wrote a thread on clone bands on the 6music messageboard-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mb6music/F3920735?thread=2589064
the Strokes and Libertines clone bands were at Death Disco.
August 17th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Yep, I’m with you on this: I wouldn’t have any interest at all in seeing a tribute band. I saw the Australian Pink Floyd a few years ago and though I thought they were excellent at what they did, I rapidly realised that what they did isn’t something I want to experience again.
As someone maintaining a band’s tour history and who has a blog, I’m frequently asked to promote related tribute bands. I hope I’m polite, but I invariable decline, on principle.
August 18th, 2008 at 9:10 am
I think Tribute Vs Original has much to do with the type of audience a band is playing to. We have to face it that some people (”older” if you’ll forgive the ageist generalisation) don’t want to hear anything unfamiliar. They often want to be sure what they’re getting on a night out in terms of what they’re going to listen to.
Again to generalise, it often tends to be a younger crowd that is open enough to listen to original material.
If a band want to appeal to the widest possible audience I always suggest they play a combination of their own and other people’s material. If you don’t want to get involved in playing anything other than your own songs fair enough. But, if you’re looking to maximise your gig income then mixing material up can obviously appeal to both “types” of audience.
August 18th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
BB - The clone bands thing is a whole ‘nother issue; and you’re right that they’re effectively tribute bands in all but name.
Re: Alan McGee - I’ve read enough of his breathless hypings of yet another bunch of derivative no-hopers on the Grauniad Music Blog to recognise he knows nothing about music - he only cares about image and attitude and knows a good tune about as well as Jimmy Saville. But what would you expect from the man who inflicted Oasis upon the world?
BTW, sorry your post took 24 hours to appear - it got caught in my spam filters - I think that’s only the third false positive I can remember. The last one was from Fish (yes, *that* Fish. Really)