Me And Some Friends Started A Cover Band

Hey everyone, I hope everything is going well for you all. I thought I would write a post, talking about a new band I recently got together with some friends of mine.

Source

About 3 months or so ago we decided to get together and play some music, I had the thought of doing a cover band for a while but never got anything together as I was focused more on other things. But, a few friends of mine got back from Canada and between the four of us, we had a Drummer, Guitarist, and Singer, plus each of us doing some backing vocals and myself on Bass.

We were on our way up to a gig and while on the bus I put the idea out to them and it was a unanimous yes.

Where We Jam
Forming it was the easy part, next it was finding a space to practice as well as choosing a day. Thursday was the day we all picked as each of us were free regularly that day after 6 PM. We weren't too sure where to jam, but the Guitar player offered us to play in his house as he has a PA and amps to use. So with the date and location set, we all got cracking, we threw around a few song ideas to learn, each learned in our own time and when we got together we were able to play the songs pretty well.

The Set List
The first two songs we learned and played were:

• Blondie - Call Me
• The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored

The songs went well and before ending that jam we were messing around playing some other stuff we knew off the top of our heads.

• Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
• Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop

As the weeks went on we would add more to the list so we weren't getting bored of the couple of songs we had. In the few months of playing the list has expanded so much, now we are playing the ones above, plus.

• Kim Wilde - Kids In America
• Stone Temple Pilots - Vaseline
• The Clash - I Fought The Law
• Mazzy Star - Fade Into You
• Creedence Clearwater - Fortunate Son
• Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit

We also have a few songs we are currently learning and nearly have down and ready to play.

• Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant
• The Raconteurs - Steady As She Goes

Apart from just covers though we are currently working on two original songs, one is close to being finished, it just needs a bit of work and the other is relatively new. But has a cool sound and all we need to do is structure it.

The Future List
One thing we did after a couple of weeks, was set up a shared google folder where we could compile a bunch of songs we'd like to learn once we have the others down. This is great as it gives everyone a chance to throw out ideas and since they're there and readily available we don't really have to think about what we'd like to learn next.

Videos or Recordings
Sadly, at the moment we have no recordings or videos of us playing. But, I think that'll be something we'll be working on over the coming weeks. Which will be cool as I'll be able to share them up here.

The Future
Soon we hope to start booking some gigs, we know a lot of different venues around the town that put on gigs so to test the waters we're thinking of opening a night next time there's a gig on or even set up our own night and get a few friends to come and play with their bands.

Once we're ready and the setlist is a bit longer we're looking to play some pub gigs as there are plenty of places near us calling out for bands. For a pub gig though we'd want at least one and a half or two hours worth of a set.

Right now it's about forty-five minutes to an hour-ish, which is great for filling a slot at a gig, but, it isn't really enough time to be booked by a pub.

It's been going really well though and we've been having a lot of fun with it. I'm happy that we've all been able to get creative and make some of our own stuff too.

I hadn't played Bass much over the lockdowns so jumping into something like this and learning other people's songs I think has helped me a lot and I can hear some great improvement in my playing. It's also fun playing with new people. My other band is a good laugh and I love playing with them too, but I think being a musician you have to try and jam with different people here and there to expand your own knowledge.