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what constitutes a cover band?


bONES

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just thinking about Phish covering other bands tunes...or how about entire shows playing another bands music ie: the Beatles, The Who

Are they/ were they a "cover band" those halloween shows?

interesting to ponder...i love cover bands

hey anyone everheard of Terrapin Nation? They recreate Dark Star Orchestra recreations of the Grateful Dead...the bobby dude in T.N. sounds just like the bobby in DSO who sounds just like the bobby from the DEAD...they're som'n alright...

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i dunno 'bout cover bands, but you just described infinity!

more seriously, though, bands can cover a tune, but take that tune to a much different level (whether a higher level or lower level, depends entirely on the band) - but, this alone does not a cover band make.

a "cover band" is one that does not approach a tune or tunes from a different angle...basically just dusts it off, polishes it up and regurgitates - not that this is a bad thing, it just signals a certain level of talent...

i read it on the internet so it must be true.. cover band defined

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Back in highschool I had to make fake ID so I could go see Beatlemania and 1964 (I think these guys were actually better than beatlemania) at Stages in Kingston.

I'm DYING to see a cover-band like that again.

To me, those pretty much defined what a cover-band is.

There are alot of bar bands that are just generic cover bands and don't do it very well. For instance, bands that learn what's currently on the radio and covering that shit at a bar....so annoying.

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Oh yeah cover bands...i like it when it's a whole package deal, like they try and look like the band they are covering as well as some name that's a distinct pointer to the band....

e.g.

Road Apples

Van Whalen (hmm this actually might have been one of their names...)

Back in Black

...and tons more-you guys probably remember a handful...

on a side note I discovered through a work connection that Platinum Blonde have decided to come outta the woodwork...check out their website, only if you have lots of time though as it's the most bloated piece of flash shit-bigger than their hair ever was!

www.platinumblonde.com

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Heya! Mine and my friends definitions on this, which are based largely on our experience of playing in bands and going to see bands are more or less as follows:

* Bands that do the music of one band, and often (but not necessarily) try to look like them and stuff (i.e. Road Apples or Hip Kings doing the Tragically Hip, The Musical Box doing Genesis, DSO doing the Dead, etc.) are what I would call "tribute bands".

* Bands that play primarily or exclusively covers of various other bands (i.e. bands I could think of in this category would include The Dawgs, Downstroke, The Bourbons, etc) are what I would call "cover bands". These are the kind of bands that you often see in venues like St. Louis Bar & Grill or the Chicken Deli in Toronto - I'm sure there are similar venues in every town. Bands like this might throw a few originals into a set - the band Born Yesterday that we used to see a lot out in Pickering and Scarborough in the early 90s are great example of this, they had lots of original songs and eventually put out a CD on A&M, but usually if you saw them in the bar it was 90% Stones, Lynard Skynard and ZZ Top songs and such.

For a "mathematically-correct" definition, I would generally say a band that plays at least 50% original material doesn't qualify as a cover band. So, if you go and see a three-set Uncle Seth gig, for instance, we usually play a lot of covers but I don't think we'd ever do more covers than originals. To complicate matters, there are bands that will play gigs where they play all originals, and then the next night they might play all covers, depending on the venue and such. The band Zoolab that my friend played drums for, used to do this regularly - one night it was all originals with maybe one or two covers, literally the next night in a different venue they'd be cranking out Cars & Clash covers! [smile]

Anyway, that's just my way of differentiating, it's certainly not carved in stone anywhere!

Peace,

Mr. M.

P.S. Tungsten, the Platinum Blonde site is a RIOT! Thanks for the blast from the past.

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Platinum Blonde rocked the Lindsay Exhibition...September 1986?????

and I was there my friends...minus the big blonde due though. I was more into the big black dye job due...Robert Smith was GOD i tell you. Anyone know of a Cure cover band doin' the rounds??

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Oh Bones...you're makin' me feel old...

I was stopped on Queen St west, on my way from Groovy L Waves to Kensington Market in 1986, my Robert Smith due looking way toooooo cool(and believe me, at the time, it really did look cool), by this old english man. He walks right up to me and said, "I do like your hat, I really do" I said "thanks" and kept on walking. My friends and I laughed for a long time. I'll never forget that.

Flicker, flicker, flicker, flicker, flicker, flicker, here you are...

Cata, cata, cata, cata, cata, cata, cata, cata caterpllar girl......

Oh ya-now THAT'S what I'm talkin' 'bout!!!!

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