That sounds like a good act, Herb.

We used to do a show in the middle of the night. We'd spin one of those wheels of fortune, with different band names on the sections. Whatever it landed on would determine what we played. Then we'd do a song by them, as close to the recording as our instrument's would allow. Of course, we only put names on that wheel that we could cover.

Sometimes I wonder why tribute bands make so much money. I have a long time friend, a very good guitar player, who is in an Eagles tribute band. He makes a good buck doing that. IMO, he's got it easy, he only has to sound like one particular group.

I've been in cover bands all my life, so we have to do tribute songs to Rolling Stones, Beatles, Eagles, Adele, Aretha Franklin, Zach Brown, Jimmy Buffett, Cars, Springsteen, Alan Jackson, Metallica, Santana, Ricky Martin, Bonnie Raitt, and hundreds of others. I think that is more difficult than copying one band.

And to tell the truth, I'd rather not be in a cover band. I like the variety, we can play all these popular songs and I get to improvise my own solo, instead of playing someone else's note-for-note. In that respect it's similar to a jazz gig: play the head, improvise a solo, back to the head, and out. We can also change some songs, turn a pop song into a reggae song, another into a Latin and so on, and if the timing is right, maybe do something just for us.

A small band is a business, and we give the customer what they want to the best of our ability. And I enjoy every bit of it. I might be playing Mustang Sally for the millionth time, but the dancers are on the floor, I can feel the love from them, my musician wife is up there, we are reacting off each other, and at the end of the song, we get a round of applause. In the middle of the song, I'll improvise a solo on the sax. Sure, it's not a complicated Shostakovitch symphony, but to me, it's the musical equivalent of junk food, not much nutritional value, but a heck of a lot of fun.

To quote one of the songs we cover, “Life is good today”.

If you are going to gig, my advice is to think of yourself as a business, providing a service to the person who is going to pay you.

If it's a commercial gig, chose what to play, when to play it, and how to play it, so the customers have a good enough time so that they will stay later, spend more money, and come back again.

If it's a private party, choose the same, but the object is for the guests to have such a good time that they complement the host/hostess at the end of the night.


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Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
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