My wife and I went out last night to see a very good Talking Heads cover band.
What cover band would you like to see? Or actually be a part of? It probably should be a band that doesn’t exist now. It has to be something that you would actually go out of your way to see. It doesn’t have to be something popular, just something that would mean something to you.
My 1st choice would be 1980’s Minneapolis: Replacements/Husker Du/Soul Asylum
I saw the Replacements at the very end of their run, I saw Soul Asylum a couple times, never got a chance to see Husker Du (but I saw Bob Mould solo once).
I saw K-Earth’s Legends concert last year. They had a Michael Jackson tribute band called Who’s Bad. Now I don’t really care for Michael Jackson’s music, but this band was great. Would like to see them again.
If I had to be in a cover band, as a guitar player I’d want to be it along the lines of a bluesy late 80s/early 90s hard rock band like Guns ‘n’ Roses, Black Crowes, or Cinderella. They all have songs that are fun to play, with a good opportunity for improvisation, without any pressure to have to be a Steve Vai-like virtuoso.
There are a few excellent Kate Bush tribute bands in the UK, but as far as I know none in the US, other than as one-off projects. The best of the latter was Chicago’s Ladies of the Canyon who did a really amazing evening of Kate:
I think a cover band specializing in one hit wonders would be a hoot. All those songs that, when you hear them, make you go, “Oh I loved this. What’s the name of that band?” There’s a huge range of musical styles available. An Aussie band tried it with some success but didn’t seem to be much good from their youtube clips.
I shoot concerts by various locations of the School of Rock, an after-school music program for kids age 7 to 18. The Chicago location did a tribute to “One Hit Wonders” a couple of years ago, and it was loads of fun.
I’ve only seen them once, years ago, but Omaha had a really great U2 cover band called Me2. Don’t know if they still play anywhere as I’ve not seen them listed lately.