Ness K Vs. Cover Bands

And just to further confuse the definitions of "tribute act" and "cover band", where does Dread Zeppelin fit in?
They play Led Zeppelin songs, but re-arranged as reggae. And add an Elvis impersonator as lead singer....

It was a lot of funwhen I saw them in the bars.. almost 20 years ago :oops: .

This has probably already been noted, but.......

tons of blues and country artists didn't write their own tunes, they 'covered' materials written by songwriters (like Willie Dixon penning a lot of e.g. Muddy Waters' tunes).

without the blues and country, there's arguably no soul, rnb, rock, hip hop, jazz.......basically no music. and what about an artist performing their own song in a different way (a la bob dylan)? or an instrumental interpretation of a song (e.g. jeff beck doing ray charles' drown in my own tears)?

personally, I have 'most' respect for people doing original and good songs, then good covers, then bad originals, then bad covers. but even that has to be couched in loose terms.

There is a Beatle's tribute band called Rain that recently played in my area. They had a big write-up and interview in our local paper. These guys are obsessive, they actually watch hours and hours of Beatles videos and try to copy the exact moves the Beatles did during a performance. They try to do everything perfectly to Beatles recordings and work relentlessly on vocals especially. The paper said they were excellent. Here is their website.

http://www.rainthebeatlesexperience.com/

To tell you the truth, I really wanted to go see them, I am a lifelong Beatles fan. Hey, great music is great music, if these guys can do the Beatles 90%, I would love to see and hear them.

These guys play to packed houses everywhere they go. Check out this video that aired on CBS Sunday Morning News. They are pretty great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VSiQ9TawX4

That is the great thing about music. You can play and sing anything you want, and nobody can stop you. I read an interview of Steve Vai once, and he said that's what drew him to music, he could play anyway he wanted, and nobody could stop him.

So whatever you play, covers or originals, just be the best musician you can be. :D

And just to further confuse the definitions of "tribute act" and "cover band", where does Dread Zeppelin fit in?
They play Led Zeppelin songs, but re-arranged as reggae. And add an Elvis impersonator as lead singer....

It was a lot of funwhen I saw them in the bars.. almost 20 years ago :oops: .

And then there's cover songs Frank Zappa style!!
I've seen him about a bizzilion times and he always did great versions of other musician's/group's songs. (I know the topic is really about bar bands...but I couldn't resist)

The most well known would be Zappa's version of "Tied to the Whippin Post" Steve Vai plays on that recording if I remember correctly.

And then there's cover songs Frank Zappa style!!
I've seen him about a bizzilion times and he always did great versions of other musician's/group's songs. (I know the topic is really about bar bands...but I couldn't resist)

You'll excuse some envy on my part. I never managed to be in the same city as him...
Even when Dweezil came thru on the ZPZ tour, my boss had to send me 2 time zones away :cry:
The most well known would be Zappa's version of "Tied to the Whippin Post" Steve Vai plays on that recording if I remember correctly.
Whippin' post shows up in the middle of "Montana" on a couple of live recordings I have.
I've always had fun finding snippets of cover songs burried in Zappas stuff.
Louie Louie shows up all over the place :lol:

Check out Whippin...on Them or Us. He and Vai do the song great justice.

Not to rub it in, (just to share)...one of my greatest concert moments was at the Nassau Coliseum. I had made a huge banner out of a bed sheet, I drew this massive collage of Zappa and the band on it. Steve Vai came down off the stage to take a banner from me, brought it onto the stage and then held it up as he walked across the stage.

And in my best "Roseanne Roseannadanna/Gilda Radner " impression for all you old people..." I thought I was gonna die"

sorry for highjacking the thread...

Got to remember, when people go to a bar on Friday or Saturday nights they are going to to be with friends, drink and have a good time. Most of them enjoy singing along with the band, at least on the choruses, dancing to music they know, play air guitar to it or remember significant moments in their life that the song reminds them of, like "That was playing the first time my wife and I went out, heard this on the way to the hospital when our first kid was born, rocked out to this when my divorce was finalized :lol: " etc.
Really hard to do any of that when you've never heard any of the songs before, and quite frankly, alot of the original stuff I hear, including alot of what I write myself is pure crap.

I'll definitely be catching ZPZ at Bonnaroo.

I am not against original music whatsoever. One of my favorite artists is Frank Black, formerly Black Francis of The Pixies. This guy has dozens of albums and packs houses all over the world. But you will never hear him on the radio because his music is just very different from everyone else's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBXYjtcreTA

And as you can see, he draws a pretty good crowd for a guy that's never had a hit on the radio. :roll:

He is an amazing songwriter. But very few people are.

So I have nothing against original music, we need it. But it's got to be good.

Having said that, even Frank Black, who has written hundreds of great songs, plays covers now and then. This is his cover of Hang On to Your Ego, written by the Beach Boys. It is very different from the way they played it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0MqtVedGzo&feature=related

Having said that, even Frank Black, who has written hundreds of great songs, plays originals now and then.

I gotta say, if I go to see music, I wanna hear some originals. Who the originals were originally by is something I'm less fussy about. :wink: :lol:

Thanks for correcting me, I fixed that sentence. :oops:

But you actually make a good point, all songs are originals aren't they?? :D

that's what I found amusing about it, accidently hitting on something very astute. actually, props for posting those links, I hadn't heard Frank Black's solo stuff before, and I've just been listening to 6-7 tunes. Deffo gonna get into him a bit more - cheers Wes. 8)

Frank's first solo album after leaving the Pixies is excellent, it is called "Teenager of the Year". Fantastic album.

Here is one of my favorites from that album, Pong Machine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-1vRCzZYGY&feature=related

You know, I guess I like this song because I can relate. I can remember when the first Pong machines came out in the early 70's, and my younger brother and I used to play them. I am not good at games like this, but my brother is a real pinball wizard. We would go to the bowling alley and he would win 20 or more games on any pinball machine with one quarter. Kids would gather around. He would let the kids play and lose all the games except one. Then they would come and get him and he would rack up 20 free wins again. I am not kidding either.

To me there is a difference between what I do and what others do. If I'm drinking a beer in the pub I dont particularly mind if the band plays covers. But personally I don't like playing covers at all. I'd rather do my own songs with no public at all then play covers in sold-out arena's. If I would be an author I'd write my own sentences instead of copying famous quotes. If I were a painter I would paint what I would see or experience instead of copying van Gogh. Same goes for music.

Heh, good thing I don't give a hoot about what people think about me. :twisted: