Popular bands that are rarely covered

ICBM

p90fool said:

I don't think people avoid U2 covers because they're difficult to play, but because they're mostly production rather than song based. That's not a criticism by the way, it's no less valid or skilful. 

You can't just strip it back to basics and still have a recognisable chord structure, which is probably why they've never been John Lewised with an acoustic guitar and a soppy girly voice. 

For a guitar band, covering most U2 songs is like covering Kraftwerk - not impossible but rarely worth the technological challenges. 

I can’t possibly disagree more! They’re *entirely* song-based and very easy to strip down to the basic chords. Playing them so they sound like the originals is the hard bit…

… so don’t. Although most cover bands seem to regard it as the benchmark to reproduce the original arrangement, which is the main reason I don’t like traditional cover bands.

Devil#20

ICBM said:

scrumhalf said:

Has anyone ever covered anything by The Fall? 

Yes. We've done Totally Wired and Mr. Pharmacist... to my shame, probably slightly less shambolically than the The Fall, although we did try quite hard! Seemed to go down pretty well.

No Bulbs would be a good one to do I reckon. 

lustycourtier

Stuckfast said:

scrumhalf said:

Has anyone ever covered anything by The Fall? 

Are The Fall popular?

(I mean, I like them, but I am not sure there are many Fall tunes that would go well down at the Dog & Duck on a Friday night.)

Yes, (How I wrote elastic man) but then we also do Half Man Half Biscuit covers in pubs and weddings.
 We also do stuff like Gay Bar, Red light spells danger and Chop Suey! so a varied set, and people know that when booking

lustycourtier

menamestom said:

The Stone Roses you don't hear much, outside of tribute acts.  

Every other band around here (under 50) does waterfall or She bangs the drum. Must be a regional thing.

CaseOfAce

Regarding U2 songs...

"As we were leaving stage, I said [to Bob Dylan], 'Those songs are gonna last forever, Bob.' And he said, 'Your songs are gonna last forever, too - the only thing is, no one's gonna be able to play them.' They're hard to figure out, you know?" - Bono

Stuckfast

Classic Bono name dropping there.

Handsome_Chris

Chemical Brothers. Saying that, I do not think that they've Ben as prolific in recent years.

Danny1969

There's not many U2 songs you can't do convincingly with just one guitar bass and drums. Even something like With or without you doesn't need much except a little arp played by someone on guitars or keys. It's basically the sign of a great song. 

Although this is played on my Superstrat through a Marshall and 4 x 12 and none of us are using any of the same gear U2 would use if you play more or less the right notes it will still sound OK, fine for a pub anyway 

CaseOfAce

Danny1969 said:

There's not many U2 songs you can't do convincingly with just one guitar bass and drums. Even something like With or without you doesn't need much except a little arp played by someone on guitars or keys. It's basically the sign of a great song. 

Although this is played on my Superstrat through a Marshall and 4 x 12 and none of us are using any of the same gear U2 would use if you play more or less the right notes it will still sound OK, fine for a pub anyway 

That's superb.
You're all absolutely nailing it!

TTBZ

RocknRollDave said:

TTBZ said:

I've done I Will Follow with the cover band. Easy and quite satisfying to play actually, and that's from a non-U2 fan! Vertigo always went down well as well, although that's not really a typical U2 song so you can get away with it I think.

How did I Will Follow go down?
I wouldn’t have thought it was that well-known a song. (Not at all a criticism, btw)

Pretty good from what I remember, but depends on the venue and crowd. I've only played it with that band a few times. It went really well at a "music" pub - the kind of place with album artwork all over the walls, half decent music on the jukebox etc. Not quite so popular at the craft beer and wine bar we did it at, but it was lively enough to keep some people moving.

ICBM said:
Although most cover bands seem to regard it as the benchmark to reproduce the original arrangement, which is the main reason I don’t like traditional cover bands.

I've always liked the idea of a "themed" cover band - IE covering all sorts of songs in a punk rock style or something. But nobody seems too keen to try that. Maybe it's too niche for pubs.

EricTheWeary

TTBZ said:

RocknRollDave said:

TTBZ said:

I've done I Will Follow with the cover band. Easy and quite satisfying to play actually, and that's from a non-U2 fan! Vertigo always went down well as well, although that's not really a typical U2 song so you can get away with it I think.

How did I Will Follow go down?
I wouldn’t have thought it was that well-known a song. (Not at all a criticism, btw)

Pretty good from what I remember, but depends on the venue and crowd. I've only played it with that band a few times. It went really well at a "music" pub - the kind of place with album artwork all over the walls, half decent music on the jukebox etc. Not quite so popular at the craft beer and wine bar we did it at, but it was lively enough to keep some people moving.

ICBM said:
Although most cover bands seem to regard it as the benchmark to reproduce the original arrangement, which is the main reason I don’t like traditional cover bands.

I've always liked the idea of a "themed" cover band - IE covering all sorts of songs in a punk rock style or something. But nobody seems too keen to try that. Maybe it's too niche for pubs.

I did get my idea for Skariachi to an initial discussion stage  - ska versions of  whatever random songs we could get to fit. And  Hayseed Dixie were an amazing live band, heavy rock songs done as bluegrass. 

I think with covers you need to either rework them or get them spot on or get the essence of them ( I appreciate that's a bit wooly). What I'm not keen on is what most people do which is attempt to get it spot on but fail or just do something that's recognisable but conveys no sympathy for the original.    

Shrews

Cover bands don't tend to do any Nile Rogers stuff, which to me is a shame. Surely they're very good tunes to get people dancing, singing along and having a good time?

Are they difficult to do or just that I've not heard many attempt them? 

ICBM

TTBZ said:

I've always liked the idea of a "themed" cover band - IE covering all sorts of songs in a punk rock style or something. But nobody seems too keen to try that. Maybe it's too niche for pubs.

That’s precisely what we do, and it definitely isn’t too niche - at least for bars that are primarily set up for live music.

EricTheWeary said:

I think with covers you need to either rework them or get them spot on or get the essence of them ( I appreciate that's a bit wooly). What I'm not keen on is what most people do which is attempt to get it spot on but fail or just do something that's recognisable but conveys no sympathy for the original.    

That’s exactly why I don’t like most covers bands.

Dominic

As a genre very few bands cover soul /disco type things ........perhaps because they don't have the quality of vocalist and the set-up for backing singers etc outside of really top rate Function bands.
I've never heard any Luther Vandross ,Alex O'Neil , Odyssey ,Whitney , Colonel Abraham , Roy Ayres Earth,Wind and Fire.
The closest I've heard had been 'play that funky music '
We did Boney M RA RA Rasputin and people love it 
Very few people do any Abba either for that matter

Devil#20

Danny1969 said:

There's not many U2 songs you can't do convincingly with just one guitar bass and drums. Even something like With or without you doesn't need much except a little arp played by someone on guitars or keys. It's basically the sign of a great song. 

Although this is played on my Superstrat through a Marshall and 4 x 12 and none of us are using any of the same gear U2 would use if you play more or less the right notes it will still sound OK, fine for a pub anyway 

Danny. Are you using an eBow on there. Looks like you are. 

Blueingreen

Dominic said:

As a genre very few bands cover soul /disco type things ........perhaps because they don't have the quality of vocalist and the set-up for backing singers etc outside of really top rate Function bands.
I've never heard any Luther Vandross ,Alex O'Neil , Odyssey ,Whitney , Colonel Abraham , Roy Ayres Earth,Wind and Fire.
The closest I've heard had been 'play that funky music '
We did Boney M RA RA Rasputin and people love it 
Very few people do any Abba either for that matter

Maybe that's regional variation to some extent - in my neck of the woods there's never been any shortage of disco/soul/funk cover bands.

hollywoodrox

Hall & Oates
  

Dominic

^ I couldn't go for that !

Dominic

Blueingreen said:

Dominic said:

As a genre very few bands cover soul /disco type things ........perhaps because they don't have the quality of vocalist and the set-up for backing singers etc outside of really top rate Function bands.
I've never heard any Luther Vandross ,Alex O'Neil , Odyssey ,Whitney , Colonel Abraham , Roy Ayres Earth,Wind and Fire.
The closest I've heard had been 'play that funky music '
We did Boney M RA RA Rasputin and people love it 
Very few people do any Abba either for that matter

Maybe that's regional variation to some extent - in my neck of the woods there's never been any shortage of disco/soul/funk cover bands.

Whereabouts is that ?.........certainly London and South East is dismal for that .....you get a few Funk bands but nothing like real soul .
Never see anybody do authentic Bee Gees either .........again the backing vocals/harmonies are probably the reason although it can't be easy to find a falsetto like that ..........they don't make trousers that tight anymore !

Danny1969

Devil#20 said:

Danny1969 said:

There's not many U2 songs you can't do convincingly with just one guitar bass and drums. Even something like With or without you doesn't need much except a little arp played by someone on guitars or keys. It's basically the sign of a great song. 

Although this is played on my Superstrat through a Marshall and 4 x 12 and none of us are using any of the same gear U2 would use if you play more or less the right notes it will still sound OK, fine for a pub anyway 

Danny. Are you using an eBow on there. Looks like you are. 

Yeah I think on the original he had a special pickup in the guitar that did the sustain thing but the Ebow seems to work OK 

@CaseOfAce ;
Thanks mate