wineandkeyz Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Wineandkeys nailed it. It was another Loverboy tune: "It's Your Life" which I played in the same band. So I haven't completely lost it. It's around here somewhere... In my defense, it WAS over 30 years ago... I had a hunch that was it from your description. I played it 30 years ago, too, and always had fun with it. Tried to get one of my current bands to do it, but they claimed they'd never heard it... Sigh... Quote Live: Yamaha S70XS (#1); Roland Jupiter-80; Mackie 1202VLZ4; IEMs or Traynor K4 Home: Hammond SK Pro 73; Moog Minimoog Voyager Electric Blue; Yamaha S70XS (#2); Roland Integra-7; Wurlitzer 200A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stokely Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 I know how that goes. One of my favorite tunes to play live is INXS's Don't Change. It is absurdly easy, high energy, great set opener...yet most bands say it's too obscure. Well I'm not always the best judge of what goes over so maybe they are right..but why not take 10 minutes to learn it and we'll give it a shot to make the keys player happy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimboK Posted March 3, 2016 Author Share Posted March 3, 2016 I know how that goes. One of my favorite tunes to play live is INXS's Don't Change. It is absurdly easy, high energy, great set opener...yet most bands say it's too obscure. Well I'm not always the best judge of what goes over so maybe they are right..but why not take 10 minutes to learn it and we'll give it a shot to make the keys player happy! Hey Stokely, we're just about to can that song for being "too obscure". I love it and so does most of the band. The energy level is right, the classic status is there, but only 1 in 5 or so audiences even give it a second thought. Every once in a while, a couple middle aged ladies or guys go berserk for it, but not enough to justify it taking a slot in the "every gig" rotation. It's going to be relegated to the "call out" list for when someone want's to hear some INXS. You're mileage may vary... Quote Korg Kronos 2 61, Kronos 1 61, Dave Smith Mopho x4, 1954 Hammond C2, Wurlitzer 200A, Yamaha Motif 6, Casio CDP-100, Alesis Vortex Wireless, too much PA gear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zxcvbnm098 Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 "Don't Change" was a huge hit on MTV in its early years. But if you were watching it then you're at least 40 years old at a minimum. More like 45-50 years old. Not exactly the typical club going demographic there days... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthaholic Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 In honor of Timwat I've kept my snarky comments about Loverboy to myself. But they were very funny! Quote The fact there's a Highway To Hell and only a Stairway To Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers People only say "It's a free country" when they're doing something shitty-Demetri Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimboK Posted March 4, 2016 Author Share Posted March 4, 2016 "Don't Change" was a huge hit on MTV in its early years. But if you were watching it then you're at least 40 years old at a minimum. More like 45-50 years old. Not exactly the typical club going demographic there days... Oddly enough, a large part of our demographic is the 40+ crowd. Cougar town. We think it's largely due to lots of folks that age have the kids older (in college or whatever) and thus can go back out to bars and drink, dance, etc. So our standard bar crowd is a bunch of 21-27 year olds and a bunch of 40-60 year olds. No 30 somethings as they're all home with young kids. Which also explains why the 90's stuff never works. Quote Korg Kronos 2 61, Kronos 1 61, Dave Smith Mopho x4, 1954 Hammond C2, Wurlitzer 200A, Yamaha Motif 6, Casio CDP-100, Alesis Vortex Wireless, too much PA gear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stokely Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 "Don't Change" was a huge hit on MTV in its early years. But if you were watching it then you're at least 40 years old at a minimum. More like 45-50 years old. Not exactly the typical club going demographic there days... Yes indeed, our band is in that demo (actually older for some). But as the post above states, so is our crowd 95% of our set is 70s music, that was the "theme" the singer wanted (though we reach up into the 80s a bit, I wish we'd just drop the theme but it's not "my" band). And don't underestimate the power of the 80s amongst the younger set. I work with a lot of 20s to 30-year olds and they show an incredible knowledge of 80s music. It's just the retro target right now I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonglow Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 My band did "Don't Change" for a handful of shows. Fun song to play, and I found a cool patch in my Jupiter-80 that worked well for that tune. Unfortunately, it received a lukewarm crowd response (at best) so we ended up shit-canning it. Quote "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kpl1228 Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 No 30 somethings as they're all home with young kids. Which also explains why the 90's stuff never works. Angst-sy, introspective 90's stuff didn't "work" as cover tunes even in the 90's, with a few exceptions. At least not for getting a crowd up and moving. 80's tunes always work. I also remember the 90's as the time where keyboard players covered rhythm guitar parts on their keyboard, or stood there banging a cowbell. I think it's a lull when many of us 80's synth guys discovered older piano and organ guys. Always thought Doug Johnson was an underappreciated 80's keyboardist. Added a lot of tasty synth color to a fairly generic band. Even when he was blatantly flirting with my date from the stage in a Kentucky redneck bar mid 90's when they played there on their way down the music business food chain. (Damn keyboard players....) Quote Roland RD-2000, Yamaha Motif XF7, Mojo 61, 2 Invisible keyboard stands (!!!!!), 1939 Martin Handcraft Imperial trumpet "Everyone knows rock music attained perfection in 1974. It is a scientific fact." -- Homer Simpson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Mein Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 I was talking to the keyboard player in an 80's cover band a couple of months ago. He said he e-mailed Doug Johnson of Loverboy and Doug sent him a transcription of the part. I play this song in one of my bands and do it very close to BernMeister's transcription. Do you know where I can get this? I played this for quite a while in a band but I got out of that two or three years ago. I found a good transcription back then but I'm having trouble finding that now. A local band had their keyboard player die the other day and now they'd like me to fill in on some gigs. I'd dismiss them offhand but I have a close friend in the group . Back when I was playing it I used a two tier setup which worked best for me. Quote https://www.facebook.com/Meinfield-346702719450783/ Songs on SoundCloud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baldwin Funster Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 My band did "Don't Change" for a handful of shows. Fun song to play, and I found a cool patch in my Jupiter-80 that worked well for that tune. Unfortunately, it received a lukewarm crowd response (at best) so we ended up shit-canning it. If any Loverboy song would go over I think it would be turn me loose because it was their first hit. Easy keyboard in that. I could see lovin every minute of it going over good. It has that def lepperd groove. In fact it sound like a def lepperd song, Quote FunMachine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stokely Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 There's a bunch of high-energy Loverboy tunes, my old, old band used to do Lucky Ones. I wonder if "It's Over" would work as a slow tune...slow tunes are ALWAYS a hit, people just swarm out there for a chance to "get sticky with it" as our guitarist says! I'll give an update on Don't Change. We added it, I get to sing it--people go crazy over it. I had a bunch of people come up to me between sets and comment about it, which rarely happens with other songs. Here I was hoping for lukewarm or better, turns out it goes over great (so far at least). My problem on Working for the Weekend is playing the right part while singing...given enough practice I could probably do it. I sing the under-harmony during the chorus and while I'm doing so I do a feeble version of what he's doing. Going to see if the guitarist can cover those backups so I can play it right, especially now that I'm bringing my Summit out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Real MC Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 I think the parts in the chorus are actually simpler than most of the overplaying in charts and YT demos. It's the pre-chorus that has tripped me for years, and I finally figured it out. Doug uses a guitar-like timbre on his CS-60 for the parts played in two part harmony over eighth notes. The timbre is not meant to be a prominent part in the mix and that's by design. The sound and notes are a little hard to pick out but they are effective for adding suspense to the chorus. It goes over well when played right. I've heard other bands play it a little slower which loses its energy. Our sound engineer puts the keyboards in my vocal monitor, and I know he is making my keyboards in that song prominent when it is blasting in the vocal monitor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EscapeRocks Posted May 17, 2021 Share Posted May 17, 2021 FYI some fun info: For the last few years, Doug has been using older M-Audio Keystation 49 and 61 boards for his rig when playing with Loverboy. He runs Mainstage Here's from a show in 2017. He told me he wraps them in red tape when the mood strikes Here's a post he made a month ago while getting the rig and sounds back up and running for upcoming (yet to be announced) shows. Quote David Gig Rig:Roland Fantom 08 | Roland Jupiter 80 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonnor Posted April 12, 2022 Share Posted April 12, 2022 Saw this today on the "Keyboard Players In Cover Bands" FB group (great bunch of people, btw). Doug Johnson sent one of the group moderators a google drive link with his own (Doug's) "fast and dirty sketch" of Weekend from start to 'fine' which should set the record straight. 😎 Enjoy. Doug J's Transcription: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vmdnfXVQSUTHT5fCWza80HFH0KM5R_km/view FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1096679527422725 ~ vonnor 2 Quote Gear: Hardware: Nord Stage4, Korg Kronos 2, Novation Summit Software: Cantabile 3, Halion Sonic 3 and assorted VST plug-ins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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