Some advice for cover bands

Albuquerque NM

Description

ABQ has been my home base for a long time and have watched the quality of the music scene go down and down. As someone who has been doing music professionally (as in for a living) for over 30 years I am going to give some general friendly advice for current bands and forming bands. It's really very simple advice but nonetheless something I see not a lot of bands understand. Song choices that fit your singer. Let me explain some stuff to you. Just because you think a song is a great song or it's a song you love to play, you need to make sure your singer(s) absolutely nails whatever it is. Your lead singer is the one person that can make or break you. If that person can't actually sing the material you are playing, then you are doing a disservice to everyone listening to the band. If you are going to play out live you need to make sure of this. I don't care how good the other musicians in the band are and how tight you are, if your singer is pitchy or outright bad because he or she can't comfortably sing certain songs, then you suck. That's the bottom line. I've seen too many bands in ABQ and other areas that suffer from this and it's a shame. I am not picking on anyone or trying to put people down. I am merely talking about things I have seen while out checking out local bands. Believe me when I say that you will please the crowd much more doing something that's tired and overplayed but the singer does it great over a song you think would be cool to do live but the singer is terrible at it. Find your singers range and build your song list around it. I have been all over the country playing live and have a ton of experience so I am just trying to help out. Believe me I am far from perfect and that's why I don't sing HAHA! Just please remember. You are out there to entertain people not yourself. Whether you are just weekend warriors working for tips and beer or someone who makes a living doing it. Peace and Love to you.