Cover songs are a great way for a new band to give the audience something they can relate to or are familiar with. It's often difficult to watch and hear a new band play a 45 minute set of songs you don't know unless the material is really good and well executed.
All the greats played cover tunes or other people's songs. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin. Even today's artists in every genre of music imaginable including Metallica and A Perfect Circle have recorded and performed covers.
Cover songs are often a way to break an artist through to the mainstream, such as when Van Halen covered the Kinks' "You Really Got Me." In the 50's and 60's, many Rock n Roll long playing albums were comprised of 50% originals and 50% covers. Cover tunes are also used to re-ignite an acts stale, stagnant or declining career. Some artists use cover tunes as an homage to their influences or as a goodbye to their fans at the end of their careers. Unfortunately, some artists just try to make a buck.
Some say that the club scene is saturated with cover bands, but that is a different story. Those bands are just trying to make a pay check or just having fun playing music after their boring day jobs. This blog entry is focusing on the independent original artist implementing covers to establish a connection with the crowd or get some financial support while touring and trying to build their following and grow their band.
Today's independent artist must thrive on the road and through their live shows. Being on the road is expensive. Sure you can sleep in your van and practically starve, but if you want to make a career out of playing on the road, you're going to have to get paid, or sponsored.
Most venues in the US will not pay you if you don't have a large following unless you can play cover tunes. In my early bands, I never really like playing a bunch of covers, but I realize I was wrong. I should have mastered as many covers as possible in as many genres as possible to truly learn the art of songwriting and I may have become a better songwriter quicker. Cover tunes are a great learning tool that can help you construct great songs.
Get your band together, pick some covers that relate to your style, make them your own by adding some of your personality into them. Have some fun!
Cheers!
Fantazzmo
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