Choosing songs in your (covers) band

thomasross20

"My" (it's not "mine") band is going well. Good mix of songs. We're getting another gig off the back of the last one. 

Now it's time to add more songs. We're held captive to the female singers as they don't like some rock tunes, and we're starting to veer toward Adele/Donna Summer territory, which you'll know isn't really my thing. That's cool, but the number of rock tracks getting picked now seems to be zero. I reckon it should be a joint process to accept a song, and each member should have roughly the same amount of songs chosen. What do you think? 

Hopefully it's not the first signs of cracks forming but I don't want to be just some tool without much input, yet at the same time I've found it so difficult to get into a band over the years. 

PolarityMan

If it was me I'd ditch the femaie singer(s), they're usually not as good as people make out anyway and form a band with people who have a similar artistic direction.

If you're in it for the money might be a different choice though. 

John_P

Most bands I gig with have evolved into a simple system...    

Agree what type of music you all want to do - either a tight theme (soul, ska, 80's rock etc) or a mix anything so long as it goes down well.

Then let everyone have the right to say if they hate a song - a bit of give a take is needed and you sometimes play songs you aren't a huge fan of but I don't like the hassle of forcing someone to reluctantly do a halfassed job of playing a song and looking grumpy - there is no shortage of possible tunes so why insist.

The other thought is that is does need to suit the whoever is going to sing it.

If people can't fit in with that and still have a setlist of 30+ songs (preferably loads more) then they are in the wrong band.

thomasross20

Things are ok... and we all have a say, I just don't want it to get to the point of no return!

Thinking of doing an instrumental -> Top Gun into Bohemian Rhapsody into Beat It. 

stickyfiddle

My feeling for covers (assuming you're getting paid) is to play whatever you can do justice to that also gets the crowd dancing. 

In my experience it's extremely difficult to run a band as a democracy - ultimately you need to have a leader, or at least an agreed voting system, but tbh voting can be dodgy if it means you all end up playing your favourite songs that none else has heard of. Not saying that's happening here but worth bearing in mind. 

I've always been happy to have a veto or 2 per member, but any more than that and you end up cutting out a whole set's worth of popular stuff just because people don't like playing it. IMO everyone should be expected/allowed to suggest songs and each should be taken on their own merits, as long as the rules in my opening line are covered!

From what you've said it may not quite be the right band for you.

robinbowes

stickyfiddle said:

My feeling for covers (assuming you're getting paid) is to play whatever you can do justice to that also gets the crowd dancing. 

In my experience it's extremely difficult to run a band as a democracy - ultimately you need to have a leader, or at least an agreed voting system, but tbh voting can be dodgy if it means you all end up playing your favourite songs that none else has heard of. Not saying that's happening here but worth bearing in mind. 

I've always been happy to have a veto or 2 per member, but any more than that and you end up cutting out a whole set's worth of popular stuff just because people don't like playing it. IMO everyone should be expected/allowed to suggest songs and each should be taken on their own merits, as long as the rules in my opening line are covered!

From what you've said it may not quite be the right band for you.

This is all absolutely right on the money.

Democracies don't work - I played in a rock covers band once and we got to the stage where we could never actually agree on songs because everyone had the "power of veto" and someone didn't like every song that was suggested. The singer walked in the end. I wasn't sorry.

The key issue is "what is the band for?". Decide this, and the songs will pick themselves. If you want to be "poopular" and get bookings for parties, events, etc. then you need to do songs that lots of (non-musical) people like, and this inevitably means stuff you might not want to play. Once you get over that, just have fun entertaining people!

R.

thomasross20

Well, I think it's a bit much to say it's not suited to me lol!

We have a great mix right now and we all play songs others don't like that are crowd pleasers. It's a pub band and we just have a good time and hope the audience do, too. I try to throw in the odd rock anthem and those went down really well when we played. 

Danny1969

Democracy in bands is time consuming and a bit pointless as not all members are equal. If you have 2 female vox's then it makes sense to pick material that suits them 

There's no law says you can only be in one band, you could carry on with this and join another more rock origiated band as well 

stickyfiddle

thomasross20 said:

Well, I think it's a bit much to say it's not suited to me lol!

We have a great mix right now and we all play songs others don't like that are crowd pleasers. It's a pub band and we just have a good time and hope the audience do, too. I try to throw in the odd rock anthem and those went down really well when we played. 

I was just checking

If you've done rocky stuff before and had it well then definitely worth fighting for. Might be the singer(s) feel a bit exposed and/or unconfident on the rock stuff?

John_P

I'd agree with Danny - enjoy the gigs with this band and do tunes that suit the singers and go down well - if you want more rock you can always do another band. 

It's a lot easier to find new bands when you've done a lot of gigs and people know who you are and you built up a network of local gigging musicians.

It all depends what you want out of the band - I'll play almost anything these days if it goes down well because I love gigging and it's worth compromising and playing tunes that years ago I might not have been keen on, if it means a paid night out with a full dancefloor.

EricTheWeary

Wisdom @robinbowes on 'what is the band for' - ideally that's all very clear from day one rather than drifting through rehearsals and then disagreeing over song choices, how often to play,can you do free gigs, what's the stage look,etc.
Might be worth a bit of naive questioning.
On a positive note there can be a difference between what you like as a listener and what you can find interesting as a guitarist. And a good audience reaction can overcome the shittest of songs.
I'd also guess that whilst the rock stuff goes down well there maybe a point of diminishing returns - if your set became mostly rock you wouldn't get a reaction to it.

thomasross20

Agreed, wouldn't do all rock!

Also agreed, easier to get into another band once you've played around and nothing to stop being in more than one band

MoANjAm

We used a simple 1,2 3 rating on all new suggestions:

1 is a def no - must provide reasons why,

2 is ok, no problems playing that,

3 is a def yes, would be good for the band to play, and give reasons.

then add up the scores.

...then sulk at the results, have a big fall out, realise who is secretly sleeping with who  and eventually advertise for a new singer.

thomasross20

Your band mates slept with each other!? There was a discussion about this on another thread lol!

DesVegas

I have found that the singer has the final say. Also you should try out new songs that you wouldnt normally play, you might learn something. And finally, you can ALWAYS kick another OD pedal in live if you want to rock a version of a Donna Summer record.

Or, like the man says, being in two bands is refreshing.

BilliBob

Strangest one I ever came across was Dolly Parton 9 to 5.  When suggested I was totally No not doing that crap.  When I did give it a go I was very surprised how cool a song it is to actually play, with loads of room to put your own stamp on it.

RocknRollDave

Being in a band always involves compromise. I think that when it comes to song choice, the trick is choosing your battles. Don't be the guy who always moans about the setlist ...save your "vote", so to speak, for the occasions when it's really important to you, not the smaller niggles you can live with for the greater good of band harmony.
Play fair, though - the songs you DO play, give them all equal billing in terms of effort, so your bandmates can't accuse you of only properly learning the ones you like.
That aside,there is a point where a band deviates too far from what you want it to be, and that's when you know it's time to leave...only you can make that call, but remember, only a solo artist or a band dictator gets to pick all of the songs, so unless that's what you want to be, there's an element of compromise ever time.

bigjon

I sing against type a lot, and really enjoy rocking up the guitar parts. Our stadium rock version of Beyoncé's Halo is probably my favourite to play in the whole set, but the bassist hates it, so I only schedule it about one gig in two! (I run the band as a benevolent dictatorship ;-) )

RedRabbit

We work on the basis that everyone can veto a song if they really don't want to do it.  So far no one has taken the piss and it's rare that a song doesn't get at least get an airing once suggested but I think it's important for everyone to be able to say no. 

In the past songs have been rejected for various reasons - strong dislike of song/artist, emotional connections to songs, being beyond someone's ability.

I try and give any suggestion a fair go but I've put a bit of a filter in place.  Too often someone would suggest a song, I'd go away and learn it only for the person who suggested it to turn up unprepared.  Now it's up to the suggester to provide at, the very least, a lyric sheet with the basic song structure on it before the real work starts.  Generally it only needs a quick google of the lyrics and listening to the song a couple of times to sort it out but you'd be surprised how few suggestions end up being handed out at the next rehearsal.

thomasross20

Ouch, sucks to spend ages learning a song only for it to be ditched!

You know we've so many songs now I wish I could write it all down as I transcribe by ear a lot and tend to forget if not played for some time...!

RedRabbit

To be fair a lot of it was only simple, strum along songs but it was the regularity of it more than the time invested.

I find simplified chord sheets help a lot for jogging my memory if we've not played something for a while.  I also try to maintain a playlist on spotify of everything in the set and play through it every so often.  It's a bit of a pain if we don't stick to the original tuning or structure but it means most things stay fresh.