Tribute Bands

[fallenangel]

Before I go any further, here's some handy dandy definitions for those who need them

Cover band: A band who plays covers of other groups' songs. They have their own look and sometimes their own style, but they play (typically in small clubs, bars, bowling alleys, etc) the songs of a variety of other groups.

Tribute band: They play the songs of one artist/group as a "tribute" to them. Typically the best ones have members who remotely do justice to the original members, as that's what people want to see when they attend. An impersonation of the original.

Ok, so now that we know the difference, let it be known I'm talking about TRIBUTE bands. Not your local group of high school kids playing a bunch of covers. So, two questions:

[b]1. Would you or do you attend tribute band shows?[/b]

and

[b]2. What are your favorite tribute bands?[/b]


1 - There are some amazing and some terrible tribute bands out there. Usually they're either young kids who haven't joined up with a "real band" yet and just want stage time and some pocket money, or are middle age guys who are no longer able to keep the dream of making it alive and are just living out a fantasy. But either way, some are really good. There's always a level of cheese in it, since it's basically a whole musical "career" of ripping off someone else's identity, but there's no harm in fun, and they'll never make it beyond the small club circuit. Some (see below) do an amazing job of putting themselves into it, even while impersonating someone else. There's no making up for a lack of talent.

2 - The Atomic Punks. A Van Halen tribute fronted by Ralph Saenz, who is the closest you'll find to DLR besides the man himself (Dave loves them). He's a great frontman, and they're a great band who happens to play VH tunes. They mostly play in Hollywood and other Cali dates. You can hear samples HERE Two of the members (Ralph and Russ) also play in Metal Skool (formerly Metal Shop and Danger Kitty), which is a tribute/cover/original comedy group that plays every week in Hollywood. They're also great, but not a tribute band exactly.

There's some other pretty good tributes around here. Crazy Train (Ozzy tribute) played in Portland and Washington up until last week. Now they've split into two groups, Crazy Train continuing with a couple new members, and a new Dio tribute band.

Add other good ones you know of, and websites if they have 'em.
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"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall

[ragingflea002]

We only have one good tribute band here, although I haven't seen any of their shows(they perform in strip clubs), I've heard them on 98X, who promotes strip clubs extensively.
They are Gn'R Lies. Guess who they cover. They're said to have an excellent, if not better, version of "Sweet Child O' Mine".
I only heard their cover of "Rocket Queen". It was good.
_________________
Not all who wander are lost.
"The separation between spirit and logic is reasonable because spirit is defined by faith and logic forces others to think about what they have faith in."

[fallenangel]

Metal Skool do Sweet Child. They're like the ultimate tribute band, I suppose, aside from the fact they do have original (comedic) material. But they dress up as different band members and perform songs, like Russ coming out dressed as Axl and doing Sweet Child, then some more comedy, then a different tribute, etc. etc.

One of the funniest tribute bands is a Poison tribute, Pose'in. They suck so very majorly. If you think Poison sucks, just wait till you see some even uglier, fatter guys making the songs ten times worse. It's painfully bad comedy at its best. Website Plus they have an angelfire site, which just screams lack of effort.
_________________
"I care about people as much as I care about lawn furniture" - Dexter/Michael C. Hall