Joined a cover band, help me choose tunes..classic rock..

[bloodyMary]

Hi everyone, it seems that I'll be joining a cover band, and I need a piece of advice.

 

In my originals band I use all kinds of symphonic sounds, all carefully programmed. Now I'm looking for a chance to play in a band where I can do the entire set with just few sounds, and these would be real keyboard sounds - Hammond, Rhodes, piano, synth strings and a lead here and there.

 

 

That's why I found a guy who's putting together a cover band. We met yesterday and he gave me a list of songs he thought of - a mix of grunge and classic rock tunes. But he said he was wide open for suggestions.

 

We'll be rehearsing once a week and, he says, playing for good money. The guy's well connected to local club managers, and will get us some nice gigs. That's what he says. There's a chance he's full of crap, but time will tell.

 

I need to think of well-known (apparently, not to me) classic rock tunes where I can have some fun with sounds I've mentioned.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

[yorgatron]

"Green Onions" by Booker T and the MGs.

 

only because it annoys guitarists when they have to play something in the key of F and they forgot their capo...

[Griffinator]

OK, the guitar-hate aside - classic rock organ/piano jams:

 

Sugarloaf - "Green Eyed Lady"

Kansas - "Carry On Wayward Son"

Deep Purple - "Perfect Strangers"

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Things Goin On"

Uriah Heep - "Easy Livin'"

Van Halen - "I'll Wait"

Queen - "Somebody To Love"

Journey - "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'"

Boston - "Foreplay/Long Time"

Steely Dan - "Do It Again" or "Rikki" would be probably best known

 

more recent stuff:

 

Spacehog - "In The Meantime"

Pearl Jam - "Black"

Wallflowers - "One Headlight"

 

 

A really fun challenge for you because of the amount of orchestration you'd have to reproduce would be Procol Harum's "Conquistador"

 

That's all I got right now. More later....

[MikeT156]

If you want to think about how the band will succeed musically, you might want to consider if you are going to concentrate on radio play cover tunes, or album material (e.g. underground) Usually, the females in a crowd will ask for radio play cover tunes, and many of the guys are looking for album material. Of course, if you do BOTH, you have a better chance of pleasing just about everybody. Except those that want Hip-hop and would really prefer a DJ over anything you could play.

 

Mike T.

[moj]

We'll be rehearsing once a week and, he says, playing for good money. The guy's well connected to local club managers, and will get us some nice gigs. That's what he says. There's a chance he's full of crap, but time will tell.

Any thoughts?

 

 

Here's my thoughts on his "connections". If he knows the managers then you should go see them and verify. What made me question his sales pitch to you was his "open to suggestions" songlist. He should know what songs the managers want. Any seasoned club musician would know what works.

 

"Playing for good money"? Seems that's the clincher to hook keyboard players into his net. I've been thru this type of scenario before. This guy seems to have a hard time finding an experienced "covers" KB player. No disrespect to you, of course.

[Mr. Nightime]

Stay away from the songs that everybody does, and does badly. Songs like:

 

Sweet Home Alabama

Old Time Rock-n-Roll

La Grange

Proud Mary

Many, many others. While these were great songs originally, they've been played and butchered so many times, and they still are. Find the lesser played, but equally as good and recognizable. This will help distinguish your band for the others in the area. then people will come to see you because that's the only place to hear those songs.

 

For instance, instead of Old Time Rock-n-Roll we'll play Hollywood Nights

Instead of La Grange, we'll play Cheap Sunglasses or Pearl Necklace.

Instead of Sweet Home Alabama, we'll play Simple Man.

 

[MikeT156]

Quote by Mr. Nightime:

 

"Stay away from the songs that everybody does, and does badly. Songs like:

 

Sweet Home Alabama

Old Time Rock-n-Roll

Proud Mary

 

This reminds me of a sign I saw that a local solo entertainer keeps within everyone's view at the club he plays regularly.

 

"Requests:

 

Title You Sing I sing

 

Sweet Home Alabama $20 $40

Old Time Rock n Roll $20 $40

Brown Eyed Girl $20 $40

 

Piano Man $50 $75

 

Free Bird $75 $100

 

"One more song" after last call"? Don't even think about it!"

 

Cute

 

Mike T.

 

[bloodyMary]

Moj, he mentioned numbers, not just 'good money'. What made me think he's really somehow connected, is the fact he's gonna rehearse in one of local (very popular) bars, during daytime. They've got drums and PA.

[bloodyMary]

Anyway, if I see that we don't get gigs after few rehearsals, I don't intend to practice every week just for fun. How long should I wait for the first gig? Never been in a cover band before.

[Griffinator]

Anyway, if I see that we don't get gigs after few rehearsals, I don't intend to practice every week just for fun. How long should I wait for the first gig? Never been in a cover band before.

 

Depends on what kind of work ethic is involved. If everyone is committed to doing their homework and learning their parts, there's no reason you shouldn't be gigging in a month.

 

If half the band only actually practices the material on rehearsal day, it could take a year....

[Bill H.]

Classic rock means different things to different age groups. Skynyrd, Doors, Creedence to one, Guns N Roses, Bon Jovi, Metallica to another, and more recent bands that play in the style like Weezer, Sublime, Puddle Of Mudd to still another.

 

To make it even more difficult, none of us have any idea what it means in Southern Israel.

 

I'd go to the pubs in question and check out the age group there and what other bands (or DJs) are playing. But around here, there has been a slow separation over the last decade between two general types of "classic rock" with the dividing line somewhere in the late 1980s.

 

While you're there you might find out a little more about this guy and whether he's legit.

[J. Dan]

Usually, the females in a crowd will ask for radio play cover tunes, and many of the guys are looking for album material. Of course, if you do BOTH, you have a better chance of pleasing just about everybody.

 

Don't worry about pleasing the guys. Get the girls out there dancing and you'll have good crowds everywhere you go. The guys will come out to see the girls, but will stand there drinking beer trying to get up enough courage to hit on the girls, which will increase your bar ring and get you booked there again. Trust me.

 

Plus it makes the gigs much more enjoyable when you have a healthy crop of dancing girls to watch all night. Much better than a bunch of guys standing there spilling beer on the stage screaming in your face.

[MikeT156]

80's-LZ:

 

Your post is quite accurate. I have found the general tendency of the type of songs one gender requests over the other to be true most of the time too. I have played places that had that "bunch of guys standing there spilling been on the stage screaming in your face" situation happen down thru the years. One time, I even over-heard a guy say "He doesn't play anything I want to hear" after I did ONE song as a sound check, and apparently he didn't like my selection, or me. He wasn't all that pretty himself. Not a whole lot of fun.

 

Mike T.

 

 

 

 

[stepay]

Griffinator has some good suggestions. I would have said most of those songs.

 

I'll add more:

 

White Room by Cream

Riders On The Storm by The Doors (crowd loves this if you do it well)

Night Moves by Bob Seger

Black Magic Woman, Evil Ways and Oye Como Va by Carlos Santana

Mr. Jones by Counting Crows

Walk of Life by Dire Straits

Blue Collar Man by Styx

Takin' It To The Streets by The Doobie Brothers

Feelin' Alright by Joe Cocker

Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton

Freeze Frame by J. Geils Band

The Load Out AND Stay by Jackson Browne (the first song right into the second one)

Don't Stop Believin' by Journey

All Of My Love by Led Zeppelin

Blinded By The Light by Manfred Mann

Overkill by Men At Work

Maybe I'm Amazed by Paul McCartney

Killer Queen by Queen (if the vocalist can handle it)

Shaking Through by REM

Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones

Born To Be Wild by Steppenwolf

While You See A Chance by Steve Winwood

Dear Mr. Fantasy by Traffic

Superstition by Stevie Wonder

Don't Call Us We'll Call You (and the aforementioned Green Eyed Lady) by Sugarloaf

Lazy by Deep Purple

Lovesong by The Cure (if that's classic rock enough)

Baba O'Reilly and Eminence Front by The Who

Free Fallin' by Tom Petty

Jump by Van Halen (people love it if you can do it)

Low Rider by War

Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon

Badge and Crossroads by Cream

Statesboro Blues and Southbound by The Allman Brothers

Almost any ZZ Top

Little Wing by Derek and the Dominoes (need the lyrics, NOT the instrumental by Stevie Ray Vaughan)

The Joker by The Steve Miller Band

 

That's a good start.

[wmp]

Gimme some Lovin'

Good Lovin'

Time Is Tight

 

I charge extra for Doors, and double that for Skynard. You really have to, because Skynard takes a toll on your gear.

[Griffinator]

Damn, Stepay, you hijacked the rest of the list I was going to post!

[timwat]

Stepay - great list!

[wmp]

Stepay - great list!

 

+1 Good mix of stuff that includes a lot of my favorites.

 

A few more I like.

 

Dead Flowers

The Shape I'm In

Ophelia

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Oh Atlanta

Fatman In The Bathtub

Dixie Chicken

Down On The Farm

All That You Dream

 

[Musicale]

Whiter Shade

Layla

Badge

Moondance

Long Train Runnin'

Brown Eyed Gurl

Gimme Some Lovin

Reelin' In The Years

etc.

 

Regards,

[bloodyMary]

Wow, this's gonna be a long list for me!

Stepay - I dig your suggestions! Love some of these songs - Lazy by Deep Purple is The most fun song for me to play.

 

 

 

Bill H. what you said is very true, about different people having different definitions of 'classic rock'. I just never though of it - always considered classic rock to be Led Zep, Deep Purple, Clapton, Doors, Hendrix - this kind of age.

 

 

Our bars are usually filled with college crowd (22-30 years old). Or college students are older than US's, because we all are obligated to serve 3 years in the military (including girls).

 

Almost none of the bars have any kind of live music, or a DJ permanently - mp3 player is what they have. I presume it's the lack of good cover bands who would play for reasonable fee.

 

Some of what they play in bars:

 

All time classics - Hendrix, Led Zep, Deep Purple, Santana

Grunge - Pearl Gam, Sound Garden, etc

newer rock - Alice Cooper ("poison" 3 times a night), most popular of Metallica, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith.

 

 

 

 

I'll talk to the guy and give him a short list of artists you've suggested -

 

Santana, Clapton, Cocker, Styx, Queen, Deep Purple, Journey, The Cure, Cream, The Who, Steppenwolf (1 song?), Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam. Stevie Wonder, too.

 

If he refuses all of that, and insists we do mostly grunge/guitar oriented, more modern stuff, I'll pass.

 

 

I really appreciate the efforts, these lists are long an Good!

Thanx everyone!

 

Of course, more input on what to expect/do in bar band situation, is welcomed.

[MikeT156]

quote by bloodymark:

 

"I presume it's the lack of good cover bands who would play for reasonable fee."

 

What is a reasonable fee in Israel? Based on what instruments cost in Israel, I don't think it would seem all that reasonable to club owners. Probably because they never priced pro gear themselves.

 

Cheers,

 

 

Mike

 

[Blue JC]

Of course, more input on what to expect/do in bar band situation, is welcomed.

 

Here's some:

 

Never leave without getting paid.

 

Always be on time. That includes: arriving to set-up in time, starting on time, returning from break on time and quitting on time. Don't take forever getting the gear out of the club. If the staff has cleaned up and is sitting, waiting for you, you are taking too long.

 

Make sure there's no band tab at the bar. You could actually end up owing money at the end of the night. Individual bar tabs only.

 

Never set-up in front of a trumpet, a guitar amp or crash cymbals if you can avoid it.

 

Get the monitors right before you play. Insist on it. Do not start until they are right.

 

If somebody starts getting too loud, say something as soon as you notice it. Don't turn yourself up and don't wait for the whole band to turn up to compensate.

 

Use a set list. Nothing is worse than watching a band discussing/arguing about what to play next on stage. When writing the set list, make sure that you don't have 8 shuffles in E back-to-back. Mix up the grooves and the keys.

 

If you have a full house, don't take up seats for the paying customers for you or your broke-ass friends. Nothing pisses off a club owner more.

 

There's a lot more. Maybe others can add to this list.

 

Be on time, don't leave without getting paid and have fun!

[montunoman]

blodymary,I hope your gig pans out. You're lucky the leader is interested in what you'd like to play. Every band I've every played in gave charts, a CD, or a list of tunes and tell to me to lean them. Very rarely do they ask what tunes/styles I like.

 

Good luck!

[MikeT156]

Blues JC:

 

That's some excellent advice. The only thing I can add is too....

BE SOBER. If you party hardy your playing and singing end up in the toilet before the end of the night. Nothing is worse than seeing a band get trashed as the night goes on, taking "smoke" breaks to get high, and come back on stage only to forget where they were in the song, lyrics, or take a couple of 15 minute uninteresting solos.

 

Act professionally and you have a better chance of being treated as a professional.

 

Mike T.

[harmonizer]

bloodyMary

The vocal range and the number of vocalists will effect which songs your band can cover. If your lead vocalist is male, they will need a high range to do most Led Zep songs, or to do most "Eagles" songs. Many songs by groups like The Eagles and The Doobie Brothers will require 3 vocalists to sing in harmony, in order for the song to sound good.

 

I am guessing that you are not a lead vocalist, because you have not mentioned singing. If you have a decent voice, doing the background vocals can be a lot of fun, and add a lot to the appeal of your covers band. A decent 3-part vocal harmony is a real crowd pleaser, if done well. If singing background vocals is a new thing to you, then start with simpler ones, listen well, and stay within your capabilities until you build some experience.

[wmp]

The vocal range and the number of vocalists will effect which songs your band can cover.

 

This puts a lot of my favorites out of reach for me.

 

One of the dumb things many folks do learn three sets of stuff they want to do, then go looking for the singer who can and will do it all for them.

 

All a band needs to be a band is the front and the gig pimp. All other problems are easy.

[Griffinator]

Nothing is worse than seeing a band get trashed as the night goes on, taking "smoke" breaks to get high, and come back on stage only to forget where they were in the song, lyrics, or take a couple of 15 minute uninteresting solos.

 

Take all the fun out of it, whydontcha?!

[bloodyMary]

blodymary,I hope your gig pans out. You're lucky the leader is interested in what you'd like to play. Every band I've every played in gave charts, a CD, or a list of tunes and tell to me to lean them. Very rarely do they ask what tunes/styles I like.

 

Good luck!

 

I presume it's because they're just starting out and don't really care what exactly to play, as long as local crowd likes it. Of course, if offer to play obscure tunes by jazz bands, they won't listen to me

 

 

[bloodyMary]

Blue JC, a good list of things to remember, I appreciate it.

 

Fortunately, I don't drink much, so it helps.

Unfortunately, I don't sing neither, at all. I think it's time to start, but some practice is required before I do it on public

 

I might try singing backups on rehearsals and see what comes out of it (although I have told the guy I don't sing. This way he won't expect miracles)

 

 

 

Especially good note on vocal ranges. I didn't think of it. Seems like song choice will depend on vocalist more than on anything.

 

 

We have a rehearsal planned in a week. I'll go there, and decide what to do. The band might be too good for me (of course, I'll stay - nothing develops chops faster than working with better players). They might also suck, or be unprofessional, or be heavy drinkers or whatever. I guess it's just 'wait and see' situation.

[stepay]

Damn, Stepay, you hijacked the rest of the list I was going to post!

 

Sorry brother. I had some time, and classic rock tunes are one of my top two favorite musical subjects...the other one being how and why the singer for Canned Heat sang like that.