??!! Are Cover Bands Cool If You’re Not a Cheeseball?
posted by on February 1 at 14:34 PM
Three things have been capturing my attention lately on the subject of cover bands.
1) The upcoming performance of No Quarter, the world’s premier Led Zeppelin cover band, at the Tractor on 2/23:
They boast “Authentic Costuming!” and “Exclusive Audio Visual Presentation and Laser Light Show!” and “Naming Ourselves After the Worst Led Zeppelin Song Ever Written!” as reasons you should book them.
You all should know that Led Zeppelin is my second favorite band of all time, right after Bikini Kill. I entered that stupid drawing for the London show on the first day, and convinced my dad and my officemate Nick Scholl to enter, too, and then give me the ticket it they won. Yes, I WOULD pay whatever they charged to go see Zeppelin. I think I calculated that if I won a ticket and bought a plane ticket the whole venture was gonna cost me around $700. I didn’t care, but I didn’t win.
I can’t decide if I want to see No Quarter. These guys are obviously cheesenuts and it seems like they might emphasize all the wrong things about the Zep, the “Playing Stairway to Heaven in Guitar Center” type things.
Lame.
2) It’s weird how the Cramps were pretty much a cover band:
Tyler Bosch, who is one of our editorial layout designers (and is in the Ononos, kind of a Yoko Ono cover band), has been sending me a lot of the originals of songs that I previously thought of as Cramps songs. Here’s Goo Goo Muck, for instance. It was originally recorded by Ronnie Cook & the Gaylads.
Now, I know this is like slap your forehead no fucking duh knowledge. There’s even two volumes of a collection called “Songs the Cramps Taught Us” that has all these originals. So don’t make fun of me. It’s still interesting. And I still want to marry Poison Ivy. The Cramps weren’t a cover band because they reworked all these songs with a new, snarling intensity. But…they kind of were. Sort of. I mean, technically.
3) I kind of want to form a cover band:
So you see where all this is going? I don’t want to adopt the “Authentic Costuming” or whatever. And I don’t have the musical chops to completely rework the songs I want to do. So it would be somewhere in the middle of the Cramps and No Quarter. But I still feel musically guilty. It’s so unacceptable these days to even do what the Cramps were doing.
It’s like eating at Taco Bell—so socially unacceptable, yet extremely satisfying. I want to cover Dusty Springfield, The Ronettes, and Patsy Cline songs. I’ve tried to satisfy this intense urge at karaoke. It doesn’t work. (Partially because for some reason karaoke parlors only ever stock the sad Patsy Cline and Dusty Springfield songs, and I want to cover the badass ones.)
I feel so uncool.
1] there is a difference between 'cover band' and 'tribute band'. degrees of cheese TBD.
2] covers can be used for good, and covers can be used for evil.
i want to point out that one of the greatest music projects ever could be labeled a cover band: this mortal coil. 'it'll end in tears' is an unfuckwitable masterpiece.
oh, and nouvelle vague are not bad either, right?
But This Mortal Coil and Nouvelle Vague (and Seu Jorge, if you want another example) are all like the Cramps--playing cover songs that they basically completely re-worked into new songs, with just the basic melody and lyrics remaining. I want to outright cover things, like No Quarter. But not with cheese.
Your Taco Bell comparison is right on.
There were these guys I saw in Athens, GA a few times called 'the Back Doors.' Doors cover band, imagine that. They would always pack wherever they played. It was right when the Doors movie came out. The guy who was Morrison thought he was actually Morrison. He wore this frikking wig. Even after the show, he stayed in character. They were playing a frat house one time and my friends and I infiltrated. After the show we found the Morrison singer and got into a conversation with him. I ripped off his wig and ran off. He chased me and tripped me, but I handed the wig off to one of my friends who made it out with the wig. It was one of the greatest nights of my life.
Wait they were a Doors 'Tribute' Cover Band.
i think it's funny / sad that 3/4 of the doors are in a doors tribute band with the ex-lead singer fuel.
question: has a tribute band ever had an audience bigger than a fraction of the tributee's original act?
Answer: Sort of. Velvet Revolver.
Bikini Kill? Really?
What??? No Quarter is an awesome song.
#9: Yes, but it changes semi-weekly.
#10: It's the worst Led Zeppelin song. I always skip it. It's especially a letdown coming right after "D'yer Mak'er", in which John Bonham seems to be having the fun of his life. Why listen to "No Quarter" when "The Ocean" could just be the next song you listen to?
No Quarter is one of my favorite Zeppelin songs. It's dark and moody and John Paul Jone's organ intro on it fucking slays. Nirvana would later attempt to cover this song and fail miserably.
As for D'Yer Mak'er, that song was originally intended to be a reggae jam. Plant and Page really wanted to make it work but Bonham could not figure out how to play a reggae beat.
I have read "Hammer of the Gods" cover to cover more times than any other book.
Please kill me.
Cover bands have their place. I lost count on how many times I saw No. 13 Baby before the Pixies decided to reunite.
I wouldn't even worry about the "acceptability" (mostly in quotes in case I spelled it wrong) of your (future) cover-replete band, just do it! Up until maybe 25 years ago, just about every band had roots in doing sets of covers until their originals caught on. It's still rock n' roll.
Of course, if you're too closely aping the originals, it's just live karaoke. You have to make it your own, at least somewhat
All this "we're bad but it's cute" business is a pretty recent phenomena, really. Start covering those tracks you love, and see what it turns into.
Speaking from experience, the best way to know if you are using the power of covers for good or evil is how sordid you feel about it during and immediately afterward. If the power of rock is truly flowing through your veins, you will find you want to burst out laughing or do a David Lee Roth spin-kick. If it is merely cheese fondue running through your veins, you will feel bloated, sluggish and full of shame.
Ari, go see No Quarter. They destroy. Their Bonzo is worth the ticket price alone. Actually, he's the main reason to go.
"Cover bands have their place. I lost count on how many times I saw No. 13 Baby before the Pixies decided to reunite."
Those guys really sound like the Pixies should sound, but don't anymore. And they don't wear costumes or hairpieces.
Punk rock Phil Collins cover band. Let's do it - call me.
OMG!!! You should definitly see these guys. If you are a Zeppelin fan you can't help but appreciate what these guys are doing. They maybe cheezballs but they are also excellent musicians and sound just as good as the real thing.
I just found the myspace site. Go to www.myspace.com/noquarterzeppelintribute to check them out.
Playing covers is perfectly good, honest, work. If any song you didn't write is a "cover", then 99% of all musicians at any given time are playing covers. Was Miles Davis cheesy? Yo Yo Ma? Two-thirds of Nirvana?
I think you should consider a muppet's cover band.
There's a Beatles cover band called the Fab Faux, made up of the guitarist from Conan O'Brien and the bassist from Letterman. They don't care about Authentic Costuming or correct vintage instruments. They just care about sounding good, which they do. And they cover songs from the entire Beatles catalog, not just the "She Loves You" early era.
Cheeseballs? Cheeznuts?
Just not Cornnuts...I hate Cornnuts.
Oh, just come out and see us... you will enjoy it!
Whether you want to or not!
www.myspace.com/noquarterzeppelintribute
CM
aka-JPJ
The Dead Hensons from SF already do all your Muppet/Sesame/Electric Company cover goodness. Played at the Funhouse a while ago, it was awesome hearing everyone singing 'Rainbow Connection' at the top of their voices wasted
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