...But it's a REALLY GOOD Paint-By-Numbers

Anatomy of a cover band, continued: I have no problem whatsoever playing ANY cover song, whether I like the song or not. You give yourself over to that when you decide to play in a cover band. The only difference, band-to-band, is how committed you are to placating the audience, what sort of venues you want to play and who your target audience is.

I've always looked at cover music like a paint-by-numbers painting. You know, I can spend big bucks on top of the line art supplies - paint, brushes, a nice easel - the whole works. When I bring home a high-quality paint-by-numbers Mona Lisa palette, I can agonize over each color, every brush stroke, the paint's consistency, the lighting in the room - all of it. And when I'm done I can say I've completed something that looks pretty nice.

However, at the end of the day the thing's still a knockoff of Leonardo Da Vinci's timeless classic. All I've done is recreated it the best I can to - hopefully - make the people who happen to see it happy.

Cover music's the same way. We, as cover musicians, aren't creating anything from scratch. We're doing our best to recreate the original for one reason: to make people happy. Sure, a band can place its stamp on a song, but by and large the template/boilerplate of the song was created by someone else. You're just trying to do the original justice, and by doing so you're giving the audience something THEY want - not what the MUSICIAN wants. That's the nature of cover music.

In my career as a professional musician I've had countless disagreements with musicians who think playing certain popular songs - songs the people coming to see you and the people paying you WANT to hear - is "selling out." I can't tell you how many times I've heard "that song sucks" or "I hate disco" or "I'll NEVER play that song" or "I don't want to do that - it's too lame/wimpy/insert YOUR adjective here." That attitude boggles my mind. So - you're saying a paint-by-numbers picture of a unicorn has LESS artistic merit than a paint-by-numbers of the Mona Lisa? You see where I'm going with this?

A cover band is built to make people happy, which in turn keeps the band working. Cover band musicans must relinquish ego for the good of the band and the crowd (ASIDE: although relinquishing ego is a must, a GOOD cover band has a swagger and cockiness about it - a confidence that says "we can knock any song out of the park - we're good players and love challenges. We'll play ANY cover song, cheesy or otherwise, and it'll BURN"). Exceptional musical competency, quality equipment, "up" or good attitudes, experience and a flair to entertain are MUSTS in this sort of band - but when the smoke clears, it ain't great art.

As for me - I satiate my artistic side and the need to create by following my muse and writing and recording my original music in my home studio (THAT blog is coming soon - ye gods). As for playing cover music, I have no problem whatsoever with doing ANY song, if that song gets the job done. After all - there's a reason it's called a "cover" band.