last song of set - cover
31Oh man, have you actually seen people stop a song to change a string? That's absolutely brutal.
last song of set - cover
33Cats & Jammers closed the one set I saw them play with a cover of "Head Over Heels" by the Go-Go's. That was some fun.
Mission of Burma opened (or maybe it was the second song?) the set I saw them do in NY with a cover of "Astronomy Domine." Also not crap.
There is only one tolerable cover of Prayer to God, and it is by SKWM.
I like covers in general though, so I vote not crap.
Mission of Burma opened (or maybe it was the second song?) the set I saw them do in NY with a cover of "Astronomy Domine." Also not crap.
There is only one tolerable cover of Prayer to God, and it is by SKWM.
I like covers in general though, so I vote not crap.
Rick Reuben wrote:You are dumber than week-old donuts.
last song of set - cover
34Johnny C wrote:Oh man, have you actually seen people stop a song to change a string? That's absolutely brutal.
More brutal: Guitar player stops a song to ask if anyone in the audience can change the string for him. I have witnessed this.
If you're prone to breaking strings, you need to bring a backup guitar. It can be a cheap one.
Tuning breaks (invisible to audience): not crap.
Emergency right-handed single-string tuning while still playing the chord and not losing time in the song: not crap.
Closing with a cover: crap. Next to last is much better. End with your own closer.
Playing on a stage: not crap.
Stick around for: crap.
I will also add...
Playing your whole six minute opus during soundcheck, especially if said soundcheck is only minutes before the show: crap.
last song of set - cover
35justinc wrote:maybe this has already been mulled over by you electrical board,
but
i do not understand this semi-traditional thing of playing some fucking cover song as the last song of a yr set.
is fine w/ me if you like that song, but why is it the last song of the set all the time?
what the a fuck? huh
JC -- if you have a problem w/ my band(s), at least have the decency to tell me in person.
last song of set - cover
36huh
so okay in a rare stroke of decency i will now make an exception for last song = cover = wtf for you mb:
IF
you play The Weight by The Band
AND
its the last song you ever play ever
even tho The Band sux
but i can make no exceptions for the band w the 'bulls on parade' cover from the other day. vom
so okay in a rare stroke of decency i will now make an exception for last song = cover = wtf for you mb:
IF
you play The Weight by The Band
AND
its the last song you ever play ever
even tho The Band sux
but i can make no exceptions for the band w the 'bulls on parade' cover from the other day. vom
satisfactoryatburntsienna dt com
last song of set - cover
37Edd Tastyhead wrote:Hate The Police by the Dicks.
you're emulating Mudhoney on there
last song of set - cover
38Closing with a cover is fine, if your set was already strong and the cover is fucking great, either by rocking huge, being something that would make people genuinely smile and laugh, being just the perfect lead-in for the transition from your band into the next band (factoring in the XX minutes for changeover), or other truly meaningful purpose.
Opening with a cover is a great idea, especially if it's something that people are really familiar with and love, or if it's just really interesting.
Playing a cover in the middle of the set, that's more meh for me. I'm sure it can be done well, but I tend to think they're stronger at the beginning or the end.
If a cover is in there as filler, you maybe need to write twice as many songs as you have and then throw some of them out. You really need more songs.
Chris, you saw Cats and Jammers? The band from years-ago Chicago, or another one?
Monitor requests, it depends a lot on what the soundcheck was like. If you got ten or thirty minutes before the show started, you should probably be close enough to what you need to just play through it. But here's an example...
you got no soundcheck at all. you're the second band of the night, at a venue with a PA that sucks to begin with. maybe your vocal lineup is substantially different from the band before you.
SO. If you're at the point where one or more of you are singing but can't hear your vocals well enough to stay near being in tune, or any member of the group can't hear one of the other instruments across the stage well enough to cue off it and keep the parts together, then make the damned monitor request. Do it as quickly and unassumingly as you can. To play a set where you needlessly have out of tune vocals or bad timing between members, all for the sake of not upsetting people in the audience with a monitor request, to me that's just ridiculous.
Playing with broken strings can be anything from a huge problem to no problem at all, on bass or guitar, depending on what kinda stuff you play. I hesitate to bring up alternate tunings, and how the idea of "move it up 5 frets and over one string" does not apply on a guitar tuned weird, versus a standard-tuned bass where it's easy as pie.
Factor in stuff like how complex your parts are, how fast they happen, how crucial individual notes are to the chords or phrases you play, how much of a difference it will make in the remaining songs, and other equally important considerations. There's a lot to think about. I like to practice parts in different spots on different strings, but there isn't really enough time to be prepared for the loss of any string at any moment in any song, not on guitar anyway.
With bass, there's no hard-and-fast rule thet applies universally. Tuned normal, as Tim said, unless you've lost the E, you've still got access to every note you had access to before. Losing the A can actually be a killer pretty easily though, if you have parts that use an open-A-to-some-fret type pattern. I would love to see Waxeater played missing the A or D string or whatever the heavier loss would be; that would be incredible.
If you're riding a pedal A with notes that are on the 4th fret or higher, it's not too much to manage on the 5th fret of the E just stretchin your fingers to get there. But think about something like a fast 0-3rd fret-5th fret riff on the A, and how on the E you'd have no way to span the 5th to 10th frets quickly. You'd have to change the part, maybe a lot.
And that's just bass. On guitar, it can be way worse what with the whole "4frets from the G to the B string" thing. It depends so much on the nature of what your parts are like though. If you're playing bass like a bass player, parts that aren't super-complex, and you're good, you'll be able to work around the loss of a string. Even the low E, the same note an octave higher is right there, only 2 frets and 2 strings away.
Whatever happens, finish the song if it's salvageable, but if you've gone out of tune as a result of breaking the string, you have two options, and playing your normal part shittily out of tune is not one of them.
You can turn off your volume, drink some of your drink, and get to fixing the problem by replacing the string, switching instruments (and checking the tuning if necessary), or just retuning to accomodate having gone out of tune when the string broke.
Or.
You can get all screechy or scratchy or bendy or feedbacky, but it's something you're going to be doing on the spot, no plan, nobody is expecting it, and the song won't be the worse for you having done it. Some creative way to get rid of that whole "fuck, I didn't wanna break that string" thing that's probably going on. If it's gonna make the song worse, then just don't do it. Drink your drink and get to work.
But for fuck's sake, don't play the rest of the song with a guitar that's got some strings 30% out of tune unless you're a psychedellic band or something. You're taking a shit situation and making things *worse*. Why again?
Hey, there's nothing wrong with asking somebody to restring your guitar, if it's a buddy of yours in the audience who's good for it! What is there, some kinda theatrical facade that must be maintained? You're some fucking clowns on a stage playing your music, just like everybody else. A fixed string is a problem solved. I've been on both sides of that, and there's no reason you can't do it in a non-douchebag way, that is unless you're just always a douchebag in which case it doesn't matter what you do. Another solution is to borrow a guitar or bass or kick pedal or clutch or whatever from one of the other bands, which can actually go pretty smoothly if you're friends.
Problem with your drum mechanicals? Kick pedal, hihat stand or clutch or something? Some songs you'll be able to finish, but some will really, really suck ass if you try to play them without a kick for example. If you can, as a band, tear the song apart and cut it short in an interesting way, great, and if it goes into a 2 minute ambient drone or shredfest or whatever, that's gonna be better than trying to finish the song pretending everything's cool with no kick drum. Sure you can hit the floor tom where the kick hits would be, but that's not always gonna work.
Any time you spend changing your string or replacing your battery or putting your unscrewed clutch back together, or otherwise recovering from some near or full-on disaster, that's *your* time that was lost, not the band(s) after you. If there's any kinda time deadlines for changeovers or even when the night has to end, don't fuck the band after you or the last band or any band by playing all the songs you wanted to play and going beyond your slot. Drop a song, drop two songs, fuck, get off the stage and let the bands after you have an extra few minutes if you have to, but don't eat up somebody else's set because you had a problem during yours.
What about shaving on stage, not as a prop bit, but just out of sheer necessity?
Opening with a cover is a great idea, especially if it's something that people are really familiar with and love, or if it's just really interesting.
Playing a cover in the middle of the set, that's more meh for me. I'm sure it can be done well, but I tend to think they're stronger at the beginning or the end.
If a cover is in there as filler, you maybe need to write twice as many songs as you have and then throw some of them out. You really need more songs.
Chris, you saw Cats and Jammers? The band from years-ago Chicago, or another one?
Monitor requests, it depends a lot on what the soundcheck was like. If you got ten or thirty minutes before the show started, you should probably be close enough to what you need to just play through it. But here's an example...
you got no soundcheck at all. you're the second band of the night, at a venue with a PA that sucks to begin with. maybe your vocal lineup is substantially different from the band before you.
SO. If you're at the point where one or more of you are singing but can't hear your vocals well enough to stay near being in tune, or any member of the group can't hear one of the other instruments across the stage well enough to cue off it and keep the parts together, then make the damned monitor request. Do it as quickly and unassumingly as you can. To play a set where you needlessly have out of tune vocals or bad timing between members, all for the sake of not upsetting people in the audience with a monitor request, to me that's just ridiculous.
Playing with broken strings can be anything from a huge problem to no problem at all, on bass or guitar, depending on what kinda stuff you play. I hesitate to bring up alternate tunings, and how the idea of "move it up 5 frets and over one string" does not apply on a guitar tuned weird, versus a standard-tuned bass where it's easy as pie.
Factor in stuff like how complex your parts are, how fast they happen, how crucial individual notes are to the chords or phrases you play, how much of a difference it will make in the remaining songs, and other equally important considerations. There's a lot to think about. I like to practice parts in different spots on different strings, but there isn't really enough time to be prepared for the loss of any string at any moment in any song, not on guitar anyway.
With bass, there's no hard-and-fast rule thet applies universally. Tuned normal, as Tim said, unless you've lost the E, you've still got access to every note you had access to before. Losing the A can actually be a killer pretty easily though, if you have parts that use an open-A-to-some-fret type pattern. I would love to see Waxeater played missing the A or D string or whatever the heavier loss would be; that would be incredible.
If you're riding a pedal A with notes that are on the 4th fret or higher, it's not too much to manage on the 5th fret of the E just stretchin your fingers to get there. But think about something like a fast 0-3rd fret-5th fret riff on the A, and how on the E you'd have no way to span the 5th to 10th frets quickly. You'd have to change the part, maybe a lot.
And that's just bass. On guitar, it can be way worse what with the whole "4frets from the G to the B string" thing. It depends so much on the nature of what your parts are like though. If you're playing bass like a bass player, parts that aren't super-complex, and you're good, you'll be able to work around the loss of a string. Even the low E, the same note an octave higher is right there, only 2 frets and 2 strings away.
Whatever happens, finish the song if it's salvageable, but if you've gone out of tune as a result of breaking the string, you have two options, and playing your normal part shittily out of tune is not one of them.
You can turn off your volume, drink some of your drink, and get to fixing the problem by replacing the string, switching instruments (and checking the tuning if necessary), or just retuning to accomodate having gone out of tune when the string broke.
Or.
You can get all screechy or scratchy or bendy or feedbacky, but it's something you're going to be doing on the spot, no plan, nobody is expecting it, and the song won't be the worse for you having done it. Some creative way to get rid of that whole "fuck, I didn't wanna break that string" thing that's probably going on. If it's gonna make the song worse, then just don't do it. Drink your drink and get to work.
But for fuck's sake, don't play the rest of the song with a guitar that's got some strings 30% out of tune unless you're a psychedellic band or something. You're taking a shit situation and making things *worse*. Why again?
Hey, there's nothing wrong with asking somebody to restring your guitar, if it's a buddy of yours in the audience who's good for it! What is there, some kinda theatrical facade that must be maintained? You're some fucking clowns on a stage playing your music, just like everybody else. A fixed string is a problem solved. I've been on both sides of that, and there's no reason you can't do it in a non-douchebag way, that is unless you're just always a douchebag in which case it doesn't matter what you do. Another solution is to borrow a guitar or bass or kick pedal or clutch or whatever from one of the other bands, which can actually go pretty smoothly if you're friends.
Problem with your drum mechanicals? Kick pedal, hihat stand or clutch or something? Some songs you'll be able to finish, but some will really, really suck ass if you try to play them without a kick for example. If you can, as a band, tear the song apart and cut it short in an interesting way, great, and if it goes into a 2 minute ambient drone or shredfest or whatever, that's gonna be better than trying to finish the song pretending everything's cool with no kick drum. Sure you can hit the floor tom where the kick hits would be, but that's not always gonna work.
Any time you spend changing your string or replacing your battery or putting your unscrewed clutch back together, or otherwise recovering from some near or full-on disaster, that's *your* time that was lost, not the band(s) after you. If there's any kinda time deadlines for changeovers or even when the night has to end, don't fuck the band after you or the last band or any band by playing all the songs you wanted to play and going beyond your slot. Drop a song, drop two songs, fuck, get off the stage and let the bands after you have an extra few minutes if you have to, but don't eat up somebody else's set because you had a problem during yours.
What about shaving on stage, not as a prop bit, but just out of sheer necessity?
"The bastards have landed"
www.myspace.com/thechromerobes - now has a couple songs from the new album
www.myspace.com/thechromerobes - now has a couple songs from the new album
last song of set - cover
39scott wrote:Chris, you saw Cats and Jammers? The band from years-ago Chicago, or another one?
That was them. They were opening for Wesley Willis in Baltimore, if I remember right. Nice guys, didn't even tease me too much for not remembering who originally did the song they closed with. I bought and still enjoy their cd to this day.
What about shaving on stage, not as a prop bit, but just out of sheer necessity?
I can't imagine.
Rick Reuben wrote:You are dumber than week-old donuts.
last song of set - cover
40scott wrote:Any time you spend changing your string or replacing your battery or putting your unscrewed clutch back together, or otherwise recovering from some near or full-on disaster, that's *your* time that was lost, not the band(s) after you. If there's any kinda time deadlines for changeovers or even when the night has to end, don't fuck the band after you or the last band or any band by playing all the songs you wanted to play and going beyond your slot. Drop a song, drop two songs, fuck, get off the stage and let the bands after you have an extra few minutes if you have to, but don't eat up somebody else's set because you had a problem during yours.
It's true! We had to drop a song at our last set because setup took too long.
Marsupialized wrote:You are shitting me