Good point. But chops or not, when they quit moving forward creatively, then they become glorified cover bands.
I can respect the business sense in that but don't see much musical integrity in it. I don't know...maybe it's the audience who is to blame for not expecting more?
...hmmm.....something like KISS?...oh wait, you said musical
integrity...sorry...hahaha!
When I was a kid I really got into KISS, and I still like a lot of the songs and they are fun to play (cool songs,
not R&R All Nite...) and people
really dig some of the good obscure stuff when we do a cover.
But the last studio effort (Psyco Circus...uggh jeeze....) was pretty lame (being generous) IMO, there's some decent
bits, but .....it's a bad record.
The "Band" is a tribute now to what it
was IMO...but people still go and pay to see it.
Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer are great players, but they're in a high paid cover band situation IMO...which wouldn't suck...I'd like to be doing it (
maybe--you never know what it's
really like!).
I get what you are saying, and it's that way when it's ONE guy and maybe not even the main member going out and calling it "X" like it's "the band".
Thin Lizzy was like that a few years ago. There's
one guy from the band, and he was a lesser known guy (and he might not have even been an original member) who hired big name players and went out as "Thin Lizzy".
Kinda lame, on the other hand, it's a great way to see Tommy Aldridge up really close
really playing in a
gig situation and not in a clinic.
Groups like Bachman/Comings are playing "the hits", but they have people that still want to hear them, and they get hired to do some pretty HIGH DOLLAR events, which say's there's a lot of opportunity out there for a GOOD group other than "touring" and selling records.
If you are a musician, you play.
I was surprised at all the stuff they do--some pretty cool sh*t from what the band was saying.
Cheap Trick.....not just playing the hits and living off the past.
They have a prtety big and loyal fan base too.
Go on their site and look the tour itinerary....lots of dates.
They go to Austrailia in the next month for a bunch of shows, and I think they're pretty solidly booked the rest of the year!
They also put out albums that are good--even though they get no air-play--and they do more than play the hits (which people forget that they have
several hits).
The stuff "radio" plays now is full of a lot of the same sounding crap, and with the net, people can discover cool a$$ music like the old days when it was more word of mouth and bands grew a loyal following and not just become the flavor of the month and then fade away.
The Cars...they weren't the original BAND, but with Eliot Easton and Greg Hawkes, they really had the original SOUND, and they played GREAT.
Todd Rundgren can sing in the range covering Ben Orr and Ric Okasek(sp?), and did a fine job....but I can see the "cover band" in that situation, but people loved it, and they sounded great, so the "musical" part was absolutely there.
In my line of work I have picked integrity (and working with good honest people over big money and BS dealing with shallow back stabbing a-holes--I'm in graphic design/advertising) over money as well.
Not that I don't do pretty dang good, but my snare drum collection isn't as cool as some here....I won't mention any names....but there's a custom gold plated engraved snare with their name on it on this forum somewhere....
haha all in good fun!