Tributes

Tribute bands.

 "Why don’t you start a covers/tribute band? Tribute bands always make good money doing shows, playing songs that people already know, yknow, the classics, you can’t complain about being paid for doing what you love doing."

It took me years to give in to that idea of being paid for performing other people’s music.

                          But what are the pros of being in a tribute band? Generally it’s for the money, or being the next best thing for a fraction of the price, or generally getting experience and your own name out there and provide some kind of publicity for your own self as well as your own band’s music. And instead of performing for free in an unknown local band at an empty venue for god knows how long, I realised that performing in a tribute band does that for yourself on an individual musician level too. It allows opportunities to do more gigs or projects outside of a band you’re in because there’s no limiting faithfulness to be constricted by. 

And what about against? Some people would say it’s a bad idea copying other people, no originality, and on a musician level, being physically able to play whichever songs by their favourite band, it could be seen as a big hurdle. As well as experience enough to put their performance as close as possible to the person they’re tributing. Though this is more of your own limitations I guess. I think that acting/looking like someone they’re not might have an awkward or wrong feeling to the player, being uncomfortable on stage is probably the worst thing to feel. Is it pointless? It’s already been done before, keep moving on with new music.

Despite all that... It was sometime through playing in Interrobang that I realised I should be part of a covers/tribute band, Elliot, Interrobang’s bassplayer had started a Rage Against The Machine tribute band called " The Machine Rages On" and proceeded to jam out the debut album tracks instrumentally. On the off chance, Elliot had Facebooked a last minute rehearsal due to his drummer cancelling, and I felt reluctant at first to even go, after a long time of not listening to that particular band. (I know, I’m sorry.) He left thus leaving an opportunity for me to relive and relearn old-school RATM songs on drums. Much fun!

The Machine Rages On; Myself, Kostas Tzimas, Amit Mohan, Elliot Smith.

What’s your views on tribute bands?  Let me know your thoughts!