The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

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Bands with no original members left

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I’m sure we’ve discussed this before, but some acts are now completely “Trigger’s Broom” (in fact an act should be called that). I read that “Foreigner” are currently playing a tour of the USA, and there is not a single original member now. Dr Feelgood and Lynyrd Skynyrd are other bands with the same situation. Inevitably, all acts will become this eventually. Might it be better if they admit they are tributes to the band, unless they are recognised as a brand? I thing the current “Gong” is in the spirit of the original, but for anonymous faces slickly banging out the big numbers is more common. Should there be a copyright mark?

Tribute Bands : The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

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We saw the Bootleg Beatles at the Stroud Subscription Rooms last Thursday (the same venue as the real Beatles played in 1962 – the first gig booked under the auspices of Brian Epstein). They were by far the best Beatles tribute band I’ve seen (and I’ve seen a few). For me, the interesting question on tribute bands is how much weight is given to looks and similarity to the originals against musicianship. With the Bootleg Beatles, “Paul” looked vaguely similar although it was a bit odd seeing an older Paul face in their 60s suits. “John” looked OK although the syrup was a bit dodgy. “Ringo” was pretty good but by far the best was “George” who looked uncannily like the real George, particularly in his later 60s incarnation. So what are your experiences of tribute bands – good, bad or just plain ugly?

Tribute Bands – Reimagined

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Having been fortunate enough to have seen most of the bands I wanted to see which were around when I was able to see them, the idea of a tribute band is a slightly strange concept to me. If you are in a band playing other people’s songs then why restrict yourself to songs by a single artist? Tribute bands are getting more and more popular, to such an extent that the original bands sometimes turn into their own tribute band with classic album or greatest hits tours. Friends who regularly see tribute bands tell me that what they want from a tribute band is as close an imitation as possible.

Give the people what they want, fair enough, but not everybody wants the obvious or predictable. London’s recently reopened Jazz Café have spotted this hole in the market and have been very successful in presenting familiar music in an unexpected way.

Examples include The African Gospel Choir Presents Graceland which sold out 3 nights, Transatlantic Choral Ensemble Performs Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, a celebration of William Onyeabor with African funk band Yaaba Funk. and last night I saw the first of 4 sold out nights of London Astrobeat Orchestra » Continue Reading.