To cover or not to cover

As a working band, one of the things that often comes up when we're talking to people about our band is whether we are an "original band" or a "cover band." The answer seems to be very important to some people. Those people need to decide how to feel about you before they've heard you. Those people decide whether you are a "real" musician based solely on whether you write and perform your own music or someone else's.

I find this an interesting, and wholly unfair, judgement.

You see, we have a lot of musician friends - some play originals only, some play covers only, and some (like us) play a mix of covers and originals. And we are ALL musicians. Some who play only covers are superior musicians to us in some ways, and some who play originals are not as good as we are. It's not about your song selection. It's about how good you are what you do.

We don't play originals to try and get the respect of people who are too elitist to enjoy a rousing performance of "Proud Mary." (You just started singing that in your head, didn't you? You pictured Tina Turner cuttin' a rug on stage in a leg-baring, sequined outfit with backup dancers, right? Guess what? Tina Turner covered that song. The original artist was Creedence Clearwater Revival. That's right - John Fogerty wrote it and CCR released it first. So, is it still okay for Tina to sing it or is she just a hack cover artist now?)

We play originals because we love to write music. It's fulfilling. It's fun. And we're good enough at it to have made some fans and sold some CDs. If we had no outlet, we'd still do it and just play for each other. We're just fortunate enough to be able to do it professionally.

It is a skill and its own category of music-making. I'm not going to diminish the talent of songwriters, including ourselves, by suggesting that it's not a talent and skill to be respected. Not everyone can do it or do it well. But if you're not good at it or interested in doing it, you can still make music and be good at it by playing songs you didn't write.

Which is why we also play covers - because it's fun! We play songs that we like and that people know, because we enjoy playing them and people enjoy hearing them. People sing along and they dance. You know why? Because they're good songs! The reason we know the songs we cover is because the songs were successful. So, if it's a good song, and we like it, and our audience likes it, why wouldn't we play it?

These people are dancing to "Brown Eyed Girl" (that's just a guess).

We do our *version* of the covers we play, but not because we want them to be less "cover-y." Sometimes it's because we're a three-piece and don't have all the parts of the original band. Sometimes the original vocal is really distinctive and rather than try, unsuccessfully, to reproduce it, we alter it to make it work for us. And sometimes we just want to make it our own, because creatively, we hear something fun that we can do with it.

But it's all music. And another bonus is that playing a mix gives us more opportunities to play than we would otherwise have. You need an all-original set? We can do it. You want covers only for an event? We gotcha covered. You want an 8-piece tribute band that sounds exactly like the radio? We have some friends we can refer you to.

If you're in a band, play what you enjoy. Don't let other people bully you into not playing something you really like just because you didn't write it. If you ever get signed to a label, they'll bully you about what to play. Until then, have fun and play what you want.

And if you're a music fan, next time someone says they have a band, don't draw conclusions about how good or "legit" they are based solely on whether they also write. Go see them play, then decide. Maybe they suck, or maybe you'll find yourself tapping your toe to "Proud Mary" despite yourself. Let the music decide.

Now, DJ's and karaoke singers? Those are not musicians.