cover bands

A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. New or unknown bands often find the format marketable for smaller venues, such as pubs, clubs or parks. The bands also perform at private events, for example, weddings and birthday parties, and may be known as a wedding band, party band, function band or band-for-hire. A band whose covers consist mainly of songs that were chart hits is often called a top 40 band. Some bands, however, start as cover bands, then grow to perform original material. For example, the Rolling Stones released three albums consisting primarily of covers and then recorded one with their own original material.

Cover bands play several types of venues. When a band is starting out, they might play private parties and fundraisers, often for little or no money, or in return for food and bar privileges, although many professional musicians refuse to do this. With enough experience, a band will begin to "play out" professionally at bars and night clubs. Some cover bands are made up of full-time professional musicians. These bands are usually represented by an entertainment agency.

When cover bands consist of professional musicians, they often do not have a fixed lineup; rather, they are often made up of a flexible lineup of session musicians, utilizing "dep" (deputy, that is, stand-in) musicians where necessary. The music industry is considered by many musicians as a relatively difficult industry to make an income in, and cover bands can be a good source of income for professional musicians alongside other work.

Music

Cover bands play songs written and recorded by other artists, usually well-known songs (as compared to "original" bands which play music they themselves have written). There are a wide variety of cover bands – some cover bands play material from particular decades, for example, a 1980s cover band. Others focus exclusively on the music of a particular group, usually iconic groups, and are called tribute bands. It is not uncommon to find tribute bands performing the songs of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Oasis, Aerosmith, or U2. Some cover bands will play a variety of song styles, from different artists, genres, and decades. Another type of cover band is one that plays songs in a different genre or style than that of the original composition (e.g., jazz versions of what were originally hard rock songs).

Some cover bands perform covers that are of a different musical genre from the originals. For instance:

* Richard Cheese covers rock and rap songs in the style of lounge music.
* Gregorian covers pop and rock songs in the style of Gregorian chant.
* Gabba covers the pop songs of ABBA in the punk style of the Ramones (the name is also a reference to the chant "Gabba Gabba Hey" from the Ramones' song "Pinhead" from their '' Leave Home'' album).
* Nouvelle Vague covers new wave-era bands with a bossa nova twist.
* Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is known for punk covers of other artists, with each album picking a different genre or era (i.e. hits of the 1970s, showtunes, etc.)
* Dread Zeppelin specialized in reggae versions of Led Zeppelin songs, with an Elvis impersonator on lead vocals.
* Hayseed Dixie started as a "hillbilly tribute to AC/DC" and has become a bluegrass tribute band covering many well-known rock bands in their own "rockgrass" style.
* Run C&W performed bluegrass arrangements of 1960s soul music, primarily classics from the Motown catalog.
* Turetsky's Choir, a former synagogue choir from Moscow is famous for its remakes of music pieces from different styles, ranging from opera classic to pop hits. The band's repertoire usually includes covers only. Some of them are arranged into medleys.
* The Baseballs are a German band, known for doing rockabilly covers of 2000s pop songs, like " Bleeding Love" and "Umbrella".
* UB40 were an English band best known for reggae versions of 1950s and 1960s pop songs.
* Mallavoodoo, a Brazilian band from Recife, plays instrumental covers of hard rock with keyboards and saxophone.
* DMK, a Colombian band featuring Dicken Schrader and his children Milah and Korben, plays Depeche Mode songs using an old keyboard, toys and various household items as instruments.
* Taco is most famous for his Great American Songbook show tune covers, rearranged as synthpop.
* Ray Charles, particularly from the 1960s onward, devoted much of his recording career to soul covers of pop, jazz and country music.
* The Mike Flowers Pops rearranges popular music into easy listening, with their most famous cover being that of " Wonderwall," originally by Oasis

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