Those Two Dirty Words "Tribute Band"

I was talking with a friend of mine one day about going to see some bands this summer I really love going to see in concert, the Fab Faux and Wish You Were Here, and he looked at me like I had grown a second head and said, “I don’t go see tribute bands.”

I then looked at him with a “are you kidding me expression on my face” and said “Why, are you waiting to buy tickets for the Beatles or the Floyd reunion tours, because let me tell ya just in case you didn’t know, neither is going to happen.”

We went back and forth arguing our points, drinking beer, arguing, drinking more beer, and of course I won the argument with the simple logical reasoning, what are you going to do if you want to hear the music of The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, etc live. He retorted “I can put on their live album” and I told him “shut up and have another beer.”

My friend is not the only one I’ve had this conversation with, but I don’t understand why the words “tribute band” or “cover band” are such dirty words to some people and I mean some of these people are music fanatics just like me but they don’t want anything to do with those…..ohhh “tribute bands”.

As my readers know by now, I am not your typical music fan. I love music. I listen to music most of my waking day. I love to go out and hear music. My only requirement, it has to be good music.

There is nothing worse than plunking down your hard earned cash to see a band and after a couple of songs saying to yourself, “why am I here?” I’m not just talking going to someplace like your neighborhood bar and watching some local band butcher your favorite song. I’ve walked out of shows from some major national acts playing their music that I loved that were rough to listen too, I mean they were terrible. When I owned the bar, the Café Rock we had bands 4 or 5 nights a week. Artists like Alex Bevan and Charlie Weiner played there monthly and were great but I would also book bands like Shout doing Motown covers and an unknown band called Comma like the symbol “,”. These 5 guys from Bedford would come in every other week and pack the place, I mean out the door pack the place. You know what they played? They played covers. They played what was hot on the radio, they made it fun and they sounded fantastic. I loved it when they played at the bar. I knew I was going to hear good music all night and also sell a lot of beer!

I want to hear good music period!

Look I would love to see and hear Pink Floyd together live but you’re not going to see David Gilmour and Roger Waters on a stage again. The five song reunion they did for Live 8 in 2005 was the last time anyone is going to see them together. (A little side note: If you have not seen this show, go out, buy it, rent it, see if it’s on youtube, but don’t miss it. It was amazing. Not only for us Pink Floyd fans, but every band that played that day stuck around all day just to watch perform again live. That tells you what a special event it really was. Also watch Disk 4 with the behind the scenes rehearsal, amazing stuff)

So what do I do if I want to hear the music live again? I find a, ohhhh I’m going to use that dirty word again, a “tribute band” to go see.

As I said earlier I want to hear good music. There are bands doing this great music and doing it well.

Talent can play talent.

Who do I like and who do I think is worth you spending your hard earned dollars on seeing

The three bands below are examples of bands that do it right!

For listening to The Beatles, there is no better band than the Fab Faux. This band is comprised of Will Lee, Rich Pagano, Jimmy Vivino, Frank Agnello and Jack Petruzzelli. You might recognize Will Lee from David Letterman’s band and Jimmy Vivino from Conan’s but these are some of the top session musicians in NY and all are touring musicians playing with artists like Ian Hunter, Levon Helm, Robbie Robinson, Ray Charles, Joan Osborne, Rufus Wainwright, Donovan, Marshall Crenshaw, Al Kooper, Bette Midler, Steely Dan, BB King, Billy Joel, Carly Simon, and Ronnie Spector to just name a few. If that is not enough talent on stage, the backing horns section includes Tom “Bones” Malone who played with Woody Herman, Frank Zappa and the greatest “cover” band ever, The Blues Brothers as well as Tom Timko from Blood Sweat and Tears and Toto. There is so much talent on one stage. In a Rolling Stones article that first brought the Fab Faux to my attention, Jimmy Vivino tells of a conversation with Will Lee about joining the Beatles band that Lee and Pagano were putting together. Lee explained to Vivino “I'm talking about the way classical musicians start a chamber orchestra to play Mozart. I'm talking about playing the Beatles' songs and records live, as perfectly as we can.” and they do. They reproduce the Beatles in a way the Beatles themselves knew they could not back when they were together. From the same Rolling Stones article Rich Pagano says “"When we play the early stuff, it's fun," but when we play the later stuff, it becomes an enigma, this dream state -- how it would have been." I can attest to this. I have seen them twice in the past year and was blown away. I knew because of the talent of the musicians that the music would be great but what really blew me away is how the five of them can reproduce the vocals to a point that is right on but not fake. They are not trying to be John or Paul but their natural voices just make the music jump at you. It is very cool when they do their special shows also where they’ll play the White Album in its entirety or the Solo Works shows. This is a not miss band! Look how many “tribute bands” can sell out Radio City Music Hall? www.thefabfaux.com/

We are blessed in the Cleveland area to have one of the best Pink Floyd tribute bands in the country right here so when I need my Floyd fix, I find where Wish You Were Here is playing. Wish You Were Here has been a local staple of the Cleveland music scene since 1987 when Eric "Eroc" Sosinski and Jim Tigue formed the band Harvest and during their shows played sets in tribute to Pink Floyd. In 1995 the band changed to exclusively play Pink Floyd and Wish You Were Here was born. The nine piece band reproduces the sound and music of Pink Floyd but their shows offer a visual experience you are not soon to forget. As Eroc told me “some musicians think all they have to do is basically learn a band's songs and dress up like them or have a light show like them, and that makes them great. But it takes much more than that to really get to the "essence" of a particular band you are tributing.” I agree 100% with Eroc. I have seen many, many bands think they jump on a stage, put some makeup on or flash a couple of lasers across the audience and they are doing the music justice and most just don’t cut it. Look I know when I go to see Wish You Were Here I am not going to hear David Gilmour’s voice or guitar work but I want to hear quality music and that is what I get when I go to a WYWH show. I am not the only one thinking this. They sell out the House of Blues and Tower City Amphitheatre whenever they play there. Listen to them play Run Like Hell, Brain Damage, Sheep or Dogs (I think two of WYWH best songs they do, it actually brought me back to listening to Animals after seeing them do it live) or Comfortably Numb and tell me you didn’t have a great time at the show. Isn’t that what a concert is supposed to be, fun! www.floydtribute.com/index2.htm

This last band is kind of an enigma to me of how it came to be a so called “cover band”, but seriously this is not your average cover band. Before I tell you who it is I have to tell you about seeing them last year in concert. I first heard them on Howard Stern playing in studio and I sat in my car would not go in the house as I had to hear the whole part of the show they were on. I had not heard songs being sung like they were doing on the show. I immediately went into the house and googled them to see if they were coming to Cleveland anytime soon and they were coming the next month to Tangiers. I called Tangiers and got tickets and couldn’t wait for the show. When they came, I have to honestly say it was one of the best shows I have EVER heard and I have been to over 1000 shows in my lifetime. After two hours of fantastic music I actually wanted more, I didn’t want the show to end. Who am I talking about? The band is called Shaw-Blades. You are probably saying who? Shaw-Blades is Tommy Shaw from Styx and Jack Blades from Night Ranger and of course when they teamed up in the 90’s with Ted Nugent they formed Damn Yankees. Now you get the name Shaw-Blades don’t you. They got together and made a very good album together of originals called Hallucination but the next album they recorded they wanted to do the songs that influenced them and so the album “Influence” was recorded and a phenomenon was born. In their concert it is just them along with LA guitarist Will Evankovich playing acoustic guitars and harmonizing on classics like Summer Wind (I hate the original, love their version), Your Move by Yes, Simon and Garfunkel’s I Am A Rock and Sounds Of Silence, The Hollies On A Carousel (you read in one of my earlier stories that I think this version blows the Hollies version away) and one of my all time favorite songs Dirty Work by Steely Dan. It has to figure when you put together two of the best rock vocalists on a stage, the end product has to be great, and it is. Look I liked Styx, Night Ranger and Damn Yankees in their own right but to sit back and hear Tommy and Jack do some of my favorite songs from other artists in such an intimate setting with their harmonies can’t be described by words. It is just music at its best. You know the best part? They are in the studio recording Influence II. Can’t wait for the tour! www.myspace.com/shawbladesinfluence

So next time someone says “hey looks go see that tribute band” don’t look down your nose at them, you might just miss some great musicians making some great music!

Nuff said, at least till next week
Peace Out
Bear

Shaw Blades - High Enough