Working cover bands

[cloy26]

So, I'm going away to college and don't really want to get another "real" job right now. I have loans I'll be using to live off of, but I wouldn't mind extra money... I have a lot saved up for school, but I was wanting to maybe work in a cover band... Any of you guys have experience? How much money can you make if you're decent? Thanks guys.

Also, any tips on song selection or getting actual gigs?

 

[Nebulous]

If money is your short term objective you might be best off looking for an established band looking for your skills as they will have all the minor details sorted and you can just slot into their schedule. That way you'll also be able to see what sort of crowds they cater to and how much they earn.

You could also consider doing an acoustic duet thing as with less members you could potentially earn more and have less money required to start up something new. (smaller PA, no guitar amps, less to pack into a car, etc).

It doesn't sound like a long term goal so I won't ramble about that side of it.

Good luck with it mate.

 

[cloy26]

Well, I would appreciate long term/short term advice if you're willing to give it. I mean, if it's something I can do for a second source of income as opposed to a 9 to 5, I may be interested...

I've tried the acoustic thing with a girl, but she flakes out quite often.

 

[Nebulous]

Well to start with- if you'd consider it as a long term income you'd want to figure out pretty early on if you're willing to "sellout" to a certain crowd (pop, 80/90's hits) so that you can play to larger crowds and attract a larger fee.\

Playing to a younger crowd may mean having to keep up with the newest "hits" and learn some really shit songs. Playing some older stuff and aiming to work crowds in the older demographic (over 30's clubs, etc) may mean learning 50 song and never having to learn a new one again, so you could get pretty sick of them quickly.

FWIW, I've played in a covers/ wedding band of sorts which was for a very niche market and I wouldn't restrict myself to such a small audience ever again. It gets boring pretty quickly playing to a rotation of the same 100 or so people.

 

[ChrisTanakaCanwell]

I played in a 3-piece cover band for a while... we were forced to play some pretty cheesy shit to get drunk people to like us but the money was pretty decent. I ended up making between 250-350 each weekend playing Friday and Saturday 9-1. It's pretty agonizing when you're playing retarded pop songs and the place is mostly empty, but there was free beer and covers are about the only way you can make any money playing music in my city.

 

[Skinny Viking]

I'm in a vintage Metallica (only songs from Justice and earlier) / thrash tribute band. We usually gig out about 2 times a month, playing 3 sets of 45-50 minutes per show. I can't complain about the money. After we tip out the soundguy if there is one and take out what we need for the booking agent we're usually left with an average of about $250 each, sometimes $300 on holiday weekends. That and free beer. Not too bad considering all we play is metallica, anthrax, slayer, sepultura, megadeth, maiden, SOD ... you get the idea

 

[cloy26]

That's not bad at all...

 

[Skinny Viking]

and its fun as hell ... we have a pretty loyal fan base in separate parts of the city that are almost always at our gigs

and then there is Pool Stick Jay. He jumps on stage next to me every time we play Slayer tunes and uses a pool stick as an air guitar

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtP6la8W2GE&feature=related[/ame]

 

[TravisW]

A lot of it depends on where you are playing. I did a country/rock band about 10 years ago, and after I figured out the hours that I logged dicking around with band stuff, I would have made more money delivering pizzas. I would have also avoided learning Toby Keith and Dixie Chicks songs. If you're into making money, it's probably better just to join an established band.

The high points can be: Good nights, lots of people, good money, good tunes

The low points can be: No people, not enough money, bad music, having to bust bar managers' balls to get paid.

 

[Styvo]

I say go for it dude. At the end of the day your playing covers but more importantly YOU'RE playing music which is fun.If your with a bunch of guys/girls that are fun to be around ,and you have moments of fun and excitement within that environment then it becomes an enjoyable way of making some extra cash.
How you go about scoring gig's etc comes down to what type's of cover's you want to do and how often you want to play.
Get a recording happening and a package you can leave with agencies or with venue owners about what the band does and the songs in your set list and go from there.

 

[shred101]

Piece of advice, IMHO, if you're looking to do tribute, no one gives a shit about you if theres someone doing the same thing better in your town. Pick a band thats really popular and well known but not covered by anyone. I used to do Judas Priest (which got us virtually any biker venue we wanted) and I can say that theres no way we'd have got as much interest as we did if we'd have churned out yet another metallica/zep covers band.

 

[Skinny Viking]

Piece of advice, IMHO, if you're looking to do tribute, no one gives a shit about you if theres someone doing the same thing better in your town. Pick a band thats really popular and well known but not covered by anyone. I used to do Judas Priest (which got us virtually any biker venue we wanted) and I can say that theres no way we'd have got as much interest as we did if we'd have churned out yet another metallica/zep covers band.

+1

Thats kinda our thing here ... there are several other metal cover / tribute bands in the city but none of them is doing the classic thrash thing so thats helped us carve our own niche in the city

 

[Jevil]

In my town, what better works is to do covers but just pop/rock.
And playing acoustic helps, cause many pubs don't want loud music due to neighbours and law troubles.