Grateful Dead Music Forum

Our band, like many out there, want to play originals. It is not possible to play places as a new unestablished band without connections only playing originals. Our band agreed we want to attract the "Jam Band" scene, knowing we would get off most by people that would really get off on our music. Or Rhythm guitarist thinks, like a wedding band/garage we should have a huge array of songs from zz top to tom petty, a few dead tunes, a neil young, Jimi hendrix, songs etc... then mix in some of our originals. I was thinking we would cover 1/2 the dead and try to book as a dead band and 1/2 original.

With all that said, what do you think attracts audiences more, a focused tribute style cover band with originals, or a multi-facet cover band that also play originals? I think both would work but having a keen focus on our target audience is more effective to communicate within the city and its easy to target advertise. having a multi genre approach I think would make you just another good garage or wedding band something that seems to be popular around here too. Not that there is nothing wrong with that IMO, I just want to take a different approach. What do you all think is more effective?

Who cares what we think? You have a band, yes? Why not ask them.

The bottom line is simple, the players may all want something different depending on how they were sold on joining the band.

Regarding originals, you may find that fans of tribute bands may not want to hear your originals mixed into the setlist.

If that is your goal, to do originals, I'd make sure your bandmates are aligned and definitely not be tribute.

Assuming all memebers are into the idea, I would operate under multiple Charters.
Sometimes you play an original set on a multi band bill (until you get enough material to do multiple sets).
Sometimes you play a Dead Tribute set (until you get enough material to do multiple sets).
Sometimes you need to be able to cover a Wedding (Good bucks for playing covers that most members already know).
You could use the same band name and members for all three, or pick three band names, then pursue these genres independantly of each other.
You've just increased your groups odds of success by 3x.
Your strong suit will emerge.

I could use a pragmatic soul like you in our band strummin, including a rhythm guy that has a healthy love for bobby's groove. We seem to get so worked up about the unimportant at the expense of the important. I was not looking for someone to give me my direction, rather just wondering how others do it. I Just had a chat with everyone about our direction. Feel better. I was thinking there may be a system or procedure that works well and is tried and true, meaning if I explained our methodology someone would say, "Oh you do it like that? you can play, draw crowds and get paid better doing it like this. everyone knows this."


Thanks Pete, that makes very good sense and everyone seemed to get the gist of the issue when laid out like that. There is a real possibility for us to play one way at certain venues and another when it comes to some, that seemed to be embraced, as for right now at least. When we play this place called Joe's Lounge, They love our covers. They are a bunch of good ol boys that like anything loud and movin'. Some other mainstream places may not work out that well, and have a younger more judgmental crowd or trendy crowd with "expectations" of us. I guess there is no real answer to this except for strummins point, what are OUR expectations. Thanks, that seemed to motivate me to help clarify and force some collective management of our mission.

I also would love if Jeff (and anyone else for that matter) to touch on some of his "Chick" tricks to draw the female fans to in turn attract the male.

Good Bobby's are hard to find. Just ask the guys in Furthur

Kidding aside it really helps to get pragmatic from time to time and lay things out. I had a grumpy bandmate a few gigs back. After a short chat I found out he hated a venue for various and legitimate reasons. So we won't book there anymore and he was happy. Sadly it sometimes takes coaxing.

Regarding your plan, there is no recipe, IMO. I've watched one band start doing covers, work in originals and go all original in under a year. Another, of similar quality in players and originals and all else important, has been struggling to do the cutover for years. I think that missing component is how the tunes impact the listener and how quickly they get familiar with the material.

Can't say for sure but something to consider. Oh, and thanks for what I assume was a compliment

It was stummin

There doesn't seem to be a formula that works in every situation, strummin rightly pointed out that some bands make an easy transition to originals some don't even with great players. A lot of has to do with the people that come out to see you play, they are a huge wild card and can change from night to night. My only advice is to be as versatile as possible so you can adapt to changing audiences. Once you get some folks hooked in then they are more receptive to new things. The balance to that is feeling like you have to play crap you don't want to play. You reach a point where you become a wedding band (not that it's necessarily a bad thing $$$). Though you've been around this game long enough to know this.

Case in point, Saturday night we played this cool little outdoor club. When we started our crowd was just starting to filter in but there were a lot of holdovers from dinner still there. They were not hippies, from an older guy in his 70s to a bunch of families. We started with some straighter stuff, an Elvis tune, a Patsy Cline tune, some countrified Dead tunes. Our crowd loves that stuff too but it also meant that we had about 30 people stay from dinner that might not have and added over $200 to the door. Once those folks were hooked in they'll be more open to different stuff. We had that 70 year old guy dancing with one of the hippie girls to some country tune early in the show. I figured he would take off once things go a little weird but there he was dancing away to some pretty psychedelic stuff. Last week we had some character wanting us to play MC Hammer so he could bump and grind with his very embarrassed date. We declined that one

One thing that is a good idea is to craft a mission statement for your band. This is something that I do with our clients at work with their businesses. If nothing else it makes decision making easier. It makes it easier to manage people within the band. It makes it easier to take gigs or not take gigs. It makes a booking agent's job easier if you go that route. I have gone round and round with bandmates about taking gigs that weren't a good fit or booking a gig under the band's name and bringing in other folks so we can do the gig. Eventually you become schizophrenic and not only do people not know what to expect if they come see you play but you lose your identity as a band.

JonnyBoy wrote:
I also would love if Jeff (and anyone else for that matter) to touch on some of his "Chick" tricks to draw the female fans to in turn attract the male.

haha Jonny.....I said it another thread....DANCE MUSIC (like tcsned mentioned above)...Shakedown is first and foremost a Dance band filtered through the lens of grateful dead material. At the actual expense of authenticity Shakedown is a dance band. It just totally reiterated itself to me these past couple weekends. 2 weeks ago Legion and Shakedown shared a bill (believe it or not that does not happen often although it would be a good thing for my schedule if we did more often). Legion was on right before Shakedown. Legion had some hard cores dancing. Shakedown had EVERYONE dancing. Then yesterday was another example, a Legion gig at a beautiful outdoor venue, no Shakedown on the bill, but it was such a nice day and such a good bill, that a lot of the very young Shakedown crowd came out. These are people who get out and MOVE at Shakedown gigs. I saw them all sitting on their hands during Legion. It is just different music. In Legion I am doing stuff like Gomorrah and I'll take a Melody and Catfish john, and I know that takes the young dancers out of the equation but I dont care, that band is for ME and the people who LOVE that music, that is why I do it. And Legion plays WELL it is an insanely talented band (except for me somehow I always get real lucky and get a bunch of serious players to play with Legion,like Fret Wilkes on this board, he is fantastic!... they prop me up! ) I take stuff uptempo but I will bring it back down just like a good jerry show, as a matter of fact, I would like to take it down even more than I do......but if I started peppering the sets with forever young and Tears of Rage and Simple Twist in addition to the slow ones we already do I would probably draw flies.

Lesson from above:
Play the Grateful dead Dance catalog, along with the "well known" classics. Play 'em funky...stay in the groove.

In Legion we play what we want to hear/play and it is not usually what a 21 year old wants to hear.


One thing we always hear at Shakedown gigs is "I didnt really like the Grateful Dead but I love you guys". That makes no sense to me, but I have heard it enough to not be shocked by it anymore. Obviously we are drawing outside of the normal deadhead circles. We play upbeat and overly aggressive to a fault at most bar gigs. it really works, especially for the younger crowd. They want to get out there and MOVE. When you're younger you are more social and lets face it more apt to partake in some chemical recreation on weekends. By creating a space where all these people can get together and get loose (physically and mentally) and then give them a reason to get out on the dance floor and flirt and an have fun and have that "family vibe" thing happening, it just creates a snowball effect. You get some young guys and girls having a blast on the dance floor and the next week they bring friends, and those friends bring friends etc... People spun and loose at bars (I am discounting hard core and older heads here, but they are not the ones coming out anymore anyway) do not want to hear stella blue or comes a time as rule. We actually sometimes do that stuff but we really pick our spots. Once a night tops, and if the floor is moving and you see that people want to keep moving we keep them moving.
It actually gets tiring sometimes on stage keeping that kind of energy up.


I see that Tigerstrat is doing a Jerry side project in addition to Ramblin Rose, I am wondering TS, if you read this, do you notice a different crowd reaction at the JGB based shows?

jeffm725 wrote: ...These are people who get out and MOVE at Shakedown gigs. I saw them all sitting on their hands during Legion. It is just different music. In Legion I am doing stuff like Gomorrah and I'll take a Melody and Catfish john, and I know that takes the young dancers out of the equation but I dont care, that band is for ME and the people who LOVE that music, that is why I do it. ...I would like to take it down even more than I do......but if I started peppering the sets with forever young and Tears of Rage and Simple Twist in addition to the slow ones we already do I would probably draw flies.

...sometimes do that stuff but we really pick our spots. Once a night tops, and if the floor is moving and you see that people want to keep moving we keep them moving.

I see that Tigerstrat is doing a Jerry side project in addition to Ramblin Rose, I am wondering TS, if you read this, do you notice a different crowd reaction at the JGB based shows?

Cats Under The Stars gigs definitely draw a bit less of a party crowd than Ramblin' Rose, and a bit more of a... a church crowd- really hardcore fans that are truly moved to be there. I get more emotional comments after the sets. Natch there is generally less material that can compete head-to-head for dancers with a hot Shakedown, China-Rider, Other One, or many GD favorites... but still lots of get-crazy on the floor, even to the slower numbers!

Agreed there are semi-slow-ish tunes like Prudence or Valerie and then there are realllly slowww crawlers like Simple Twist or Dixie Down that DO have the potential to bring things to a near stop. BUT, down-tempo yummies are a big part of JGB music imho, and a tip of the hat should be given. Kinda disagree on Melody or Catfish cooling off the floor!Opened with Melody the other night and it was a great icebreaker. Also haven't done Forever Young in ages but it can really rock and howl...

(quick "look at me!": MP3's from Sat. 8/21 are up at http://www.facebook.com/catsunderthestars my first gig with a middle split Super Distortion on my Schecter!)

sounds great TS!
Chucky W rocking the bass in the video! Awesome!

This is a good thread and I thought maybe we should take it to another thread but it actually fits this thread perfectly (setting up material for a band).

I have some more harebrained opinions..........

jeffm725 wrote:sounds great TS!
Chucky W rocking the bass in the video! Awesome!

thanks man! Kinda funny: Chuck actually plays keyboard on the 8/21 show that the new MP3 clips were taken from- he's our utility infielder! Video was a cool surprise posted by a fan, just wish our vocalist Keesha had been with us for that show...