Coverband Players Share Your Song Secrets

The male singer's mane is gorgeous. I bet it smells like life.


I agree with staying within the bands capabilites, cover close as possible without getting anal about it...HAVE FUN!
Our band [url]http://www.theflashbacks.biz [/URL]plays at a retirement city in Florida (The Villages)..mostly boomers with money.
Journey, Boston work well....the old 50's stuff works for some bands who cater to that crowd, (we want to do material no one else is trying to cover).
We play a few current country hits.
Disco era stuff always works
The crowd will line dance to ANYTHING...I HATE the MACARENA!!!...uhg..ad nauseum.
 
I actually have no real suggestions. Even for the same band in the same venue with many of the same people in the crowd week after week, what works one night may not work another night. They just want to be entertained. It's hard to predict what will work. Sometimes, the crowd is on fire. Other nights, they might as well be asleep.
 
My secret is that I have over 400 songs in my show. I let the audience pick what they want to hear all night long.

When adding songs I always make sure I have a bands number one and number two hits in my show before I add a song that my be a deeper or more interesting track.

The biggest secret is to always remember that the show is for the audience, not for the performer.

400 covers - Wow!
Do you have any video, clips or website....interested in checking some of it out. Thx
 
I'm in a Rush tribute band, so we aren't playing the typical crowd-pleasing songs, but Xanadu, Working Man, and we recently did all of Moving Pictures which really got em going. In my previous classic rock band, Stranglehold was the one that always seemed to work.
 
After many many years in the cover band scene, I am trying something brand new: playing songs we love. I decided that if I have to play summer of 69 one more time that I was going to just quit life, so I found a group of people that had the same taste I did. We have 2 simple rules for song selection. 1) we only play top 40 hits 2) if somebody in the band hates the song, we don't play it. After almost 2 years we have a set list of about 65 songs that we like to play and are major hits... As it turns out, we're mostly 90's rock. When we started, people said it wouldn't work and I told them "I would rather play to 50% of the bar 100% of the time than 100% of the bar 50% of the time". We have a pretty loyal following that shows up even at obscure bars. I don't have to play country, acdc, Bryan Adams, etc... It's pretty awesome.
 
I'm in a reasonably "successful" band in my area, meaning we play the larger rooms, and the formula that seems to keep us there is to pick songs that are:
1) Instantly recognizable (nothing lets the air out of a room like a cover band playing a song nobody knows... leave that for original bands)
2) Uptempo and danceable (not everyone dances, but when people are dancing, it sets the party atmosphere)
3) Appeal to women (men don't care what the band plays as long as women are there)
4) Sound good when we cover them (e.g., don't pick songs you don't cover well, either instrumentally or (most importantly) vocally)
5) You can at least fake like you're enjoying playing (energy transfers to the audience)
 
I'm in a reasonably "successful" band in my area, meaning we play the larger rooms, and the formula that seems to keep us there is to pick songs that are:
1) Instantly recognizable (nothing lets the air out of a room like a cover band playing a song nobody knows... leave that for original bands)
2) Uptempo and danceable (not everyone dances, but when people are dancing, it sets the party atmosphere)
3) Appeal to women (men don't care what the band plays as long as women are there)
4) Sound good when we cover them (e.g., don't pick songs you don't cover well, either instrumentally or (most importantly) vocally)
5) You can at least fake like you're enjoying playing (energy transfers to the audience)


This is really, really good. The next band I form or join will have to take this on board. I spent time last year trying to convince the 2 bands I was in that these were the principles to follow. One was folded by the band leader because he wasn't interested in any compromise; the other band I quit, and although they were working towards this goal it was too little to late. Both bands convinced an agent to give then a tryout gig, and then squandered the opportunity with an inappropriate song selection.

I'd like to add is my version of the above.

In order of importance:

Song choice...... you don't feed alligators hay......give them what they want

Energy/Excitement......This will take even a bunch of beginners a long way....pros would do well to remember that.

Visuals.....In this day and age slacks and polo shirts probably don’t cut it. Except for Balls and Weddings, DRESS UP. Next band I'm in I'm going to create a character for myself. It will make it more fun for me, and give people something to comment on.

Flow.....As someone else has already said, move to the next song with no breaks, chatter, or jokes.

Tightness....This is a long way down the list. Most bands spend months practicing stuff to get it "tight". FOR WHAT? The audience truly don’t care if all of the above are in place. They won’t notice if the verse/chorus arrangement is mixed up, the words are wrong. Just get tops and tails right and get out there and work.

I asked a similar question on TGP a couple of weeks ago and some of the song suggestions lead to a small epiphany. It caused me to go looking for well known dance tunes with simple arrangements and chord progressions.

In 15 minutes I found 10 tunes that only had 4 chords for the whole song. This includes tunes by Das Punk, the Neville Bros, Jamiriqoi, Kool and the gang etc.

This kind of simple music will be the focus of my next commercial band. I’m totally over tunes that have complicated arrangements. There’s always one or two people who can’t remember arrangements and these practices bore me to tears. That time should be spent on groove and feel and energy.
 
I play in a dance band now, mainly at casinos and large events. I came from the traditional bar band playing mainly classic rock. This dance band has a formula that just works.

Energy on stage.
Keeping the beat going.
Playing with fun and a smile.
Forget note for note. Tone and enough familiarity is all the audience needs.

It doesn't matter what the songs are, as we play anything from Taylor Swift, to Le Freak, to Don't stop Believing , Billie Jean, Maroon 5, Living on a Prayer, Pussy Cat Dolls,
Usher, Rhianna, Brickhouse,....

It keeps them on the floor. But it's really more about the performance and fun.

The interesting part is that I'm playing a GR55 with my role to be the keyboard in the band (a little guitar too). I can't cover what a real keys player does, the audience says were incredible sounding and how much better we are than the original songs. The have no idea how much is missing compared, but they hear with their eyes. Seeing a group performing with fun and energy is what they want.
 
As for not playing note for note, I couldn’t agree more. My approach is to play only signature riffs of well-known tunes. The rest is largely improvised, which keeps boredom at bay. That said, one must be extra diligent not to overuse riffs (the old comfort zone trap). With respect to our sets, we play a mix of classic and new blues/rock, and original material. We think it’s more important to have an identifiable style and sound that sets us apart than reproducing tunes as recorded…this works for us.
 
Those are great tips and I agree with a lot of it in my own bands. Definitely keep the music going. You aren't hired to talk :)

I dunno! I played a gig last night where I goodnaturedly knocked the shite out of a few folks verbally and it was great fun for all involved! :) ...including those on the receiving end, btw. ;)

And on the soloing thing I tend to improvise most things. You can't get away with improving Sweet Child or Whiskey In The Jar (in Ireland anyway....) but when it comes to most other songs I tend to put my own flavour on it. Blows the cobwebs off and keeps me thinking. :)
 
Los Angeles, California

Everyone wants the hits. Whether current(uptown funk) or classic (don't stop believing). Other things that keep a crowd in the room and having fun is tight segues, engaging the people and keeping it fun and danceable. It's always about being inclusive rather than exclusive.

The more the audience feels they are part of the experience, the more they are willing to stay etc. I have an 80s tribute band in the vein of steel panther, atomic punks, spazmatica etc. we do the whole spandex thing. During set breaks we take pictures with the crowd, we have skits with audience members jumping on stage to hit a cowbell in time with the band playing the songs (dance the night away or don't fear the reaper). Etc.

Another band that I'm in that works a ton is a live karaoke band. Pick a song off our list (250 songs) and sing with the band. We have a TV screen that has the lyrics cues from an iPad. I control the lyric scrolling with a footswitch. Again crowd participation and inclusiveness. Fun gig but definitely demanding because I am tap dancing like a madman and have to really nail the coordination.
 
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