Tribute bands.... The less talented cover band.... | General Forum | Forum

While I agree with most of what you are saying, I feel all cover bands owe artists a huge amount of money for playing covers.  They ALL are making money based off of someone else's songwriting skills.  But I also blame the area for not caring about original music.  Most people are interested in going out and drinking while a band is essentially a juke box.  They feel like they are supporting local music because it's a band, but they still could have touch tunes pumping.  I am a huge proponant of live original music but feel that bands need to put a little effort into their originals too.  There are tons of bands out there and online.  People don't want to sort through all the shit before they hear a local gem.  If they hear songs they know, then they can at least guarantee some enjoyment out of the night even if it sucks.  They know the songs and are pretty drunk anyway.  They won't remember how bad or good it was, where as a shitty original band can suck it up and people will leave within 5 songs.  GOOD ORIGINAL BANDS NEED TO STEP IT UP IN ORDER TO SAVE THE SCENE!!!!!!!!!!!  Remember Julian Fist, Jellybricks, Dead 50's, Live, Fuel, August Burns Red, Sadaharu, An Early Ending, and Halestorm are/were local bands!  They are great original bands whether you like the type of music or not.  I personally am a fan of punk rock and have the utmost respect for all of the aforementioned bands.  Hell, the punk bands around central PA seem to have the scene pumping.  We have national acts coming through the area and locals are always on the bill garnishing the accolades of the majors they play with.  You have Off With Their Heads coming, The Have Nots, Agent Orange, Far From Finished, Flatfoot 56, Dropkick Murphys, Bouncing Souls, Street Dogs, the Misfits, Bayside, Yellowcard, and DRI, all with local punk bands as support.  When is the last time a national touring act came through the area with a local?  Maybe three times at the Chameleon?

Awesome!  Thanks for the insight.  That's why I love these discussions, you learn alot about the inner workings.  The Goat Ropin' Bastards are a great band and I'm glad to see that The Village did that.  As for Halestorm, that was an MMC thing so I wouldn't expect anything less than showcasing a local.  Though 1 Echo 1 wasn't the original opener on the bill.  Being in an original band, I do not know about the liscensing these clubs pay.  I'm sure that some of these clubs aren't exactly paying though!  Keep in mind though, I do have a few covers in my set for filler if needed and I made sure to get written consent from the Harry Fox Agency or the artist directly.  The thing is with most of the covers we rearranged them and then own arrangement rights now.  Exceptions to the rule are Bouncing Souls and Dropkick Murphys songs we play.  We do know the bands and have their consent.  They also gave us their seal of approval! 

 

Keep rocking no matter what you play.  I have repect for those who can imitate the greats as well as the bands that are working to be the next great one from Central Pa.  Again, if you are a good original band people will care.  If enough good original music comes out then a club can dedicate itself to all original bands.  The Spy Club does it, and so does the Depot in York.   If you are a cover band, enjoy playing your favorite songs and making the money. 

 

We're in this together!

sconrad said:

While I agree with most of what you are saying, I feel all cover bands owe artists a huge amount of money for playing covers.  They ALL are making money based off of someone else's songwriting skills.  But I also blame the area for not caring about original music.  Most people are interested in going out and drinking while a band is essentially a juke box.  They feel like they are supporting local music because it's a band, but they still could have touch tunes pumping.  I am a huge proponant of live original music but feel that bands need to put a little effort into their originals too.  There are tons of bands out there and online.  People don't want to sort through all the shit before they hear a local gem.  If they hear songs they know, then they can at least guarantee some enjoyment out of the night even if it sucks.  They know the songs and are pretty drunk anyway.  They won't remember how bad or good it was, where as a shitty original band can suck it up and people will leave within 5 songs.  GOOD ORIGINAL BANDS NEED TO STEP IT UP IN ORDER TO SAVE THE SCENE!!!!!!!!!!!  Remember Julian Fist, Jellybricks, Dead 50's, Live, Fuel, August Burns Red, Sadaharu, An Early Ending, and Halestorm are/were local bands!  They are great original bands whether you like the type of music or not.  I personally am a fan of punk rock and have the utmost respect for all of the aforementioned bands.  Hell, the punk bands around central PA seem to have the scene pumping.  We have national acts coming through the area and locals are always on the bill garnishing the accolades of the majors they play with.  You have Off With Their Heads coming, The Have Nots, Agent Orange, Far From Finished, Flatfoot 56, Dropkick Murphys, Bouncing Souls, Street Dogs, the Misfits, Bayside, Yellowcard, and DRI, all with local punk bands as support.  When is the last time a national touring act came through the area with a local?  Maybe three times at the Chameleon?

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What did I miss?  What has happened recently with Julian Fist and The Jellybricks?  Anything new with D5?  What happened with An Early Ending?

Anything in the last couple years from Sadaharu?  Live and Fuel obviously.  Halestorm obviously.  And many don't know that August Burns Red is doing really really well. And I heard about Jellybricks Roling Stone video guitar hero.

 

But maybe I have a little different view of what's going on.  A lot of national stuff is happening that you're not mentioning.

 

1)  Taylor Swift is from Reading.  She did leave when she was 13 and was not famous when she left, but she did leave to go to Nashville to pursue music

more seriously.  She clearly was pursuing music right here, in order to make a major life decision to go for it.  Taylor Swift is the biggest star in music right now.  2 shows at Foxboro Stadium.  Never has there been a music star bigger and younger.

 

2) Matt Holmes, Pat Besecker of The Underwater, Sinclarity are in Timothy Blooms band.  This is getting huge.   I could go on and on, look on my facebook, where I talk about it, or twitter.  They just were just playing on live tv, watched by hundreds of thousands.  The EP "The Budding Rose" is on the top 100 album chart on iTunes, the video "Til the End of Time" has 177,543 views in just over 3 weeks.  "Til the End of Time" is the iTunes free single of the week.

And it's just starting.  Going to be huge.

 

3) Rebecca Miller is opening for Bright Eyes on a bunch of Bright Eyes dates.  Played House of Blues in Boston last night.  Playing Portland, ME tonight.

 Playing Toronto, Chicago, Nashville, played Radio City Music Hall.  If you know who Bright Eyes is, you know it's big.  She's playing in (or with) The Mynabirds who are a great indie band on Saddle Creek.  http://www.facebook.com/themynabirds

 

4) Innerpartysystem – from Reading – They were more from Reading, but

they played a decent number of shows in Hbg (whether it was 13 O 8 or Darey October.  They're from here.  They're on Red Bull Records.  The latest EP "Never Be Content" came out just a week or 3 ago,  went to #1 on the Electronic Charts and it's still high up there.   They just did a big US tour playing big venues with Pendulum.  And they're spending a couple of months or so touring in Europe, a good bit of it touring with 3oh3.  Good stuff.  Earlier, they were #1 on MTV2 UK.

 

5) You mentioned Halestorm. I might want to note that they have new material available to pre order.  Fans were given the opportunity to buy limited edition type stuff.  It's an EP of covers, called ReAnimate and it comes out March 22.  

 

6)  Priscilla Ahn is on Blue Note, is currently touring with Devotchka, has a new album coming out soon, is from Reading, PA, a neighbor of Liz Hale, Taylor Swift at one point. She's good, you might've heard her "Dream" in a couple of Big Hollywood Movies. I think one had Anne Hathaway in it. I have a bunch of great footage of her from Bixlers Lodge in 2003. Well, the footage wasn't great, but she sounded great. If I went there from Mechanicsburg or Lemoyne to film her, she's local.

 

That's a lot going on around here.  check facebook.com/parocks for links and stories about these acts.  You can use your profile as a list not of your day to day goings on, but as a place you can share stories, share the message that the act is trying to get out.   It's useful, but it has its limitations.