Venues for Cover/Tribute bands

Groupie Joined: Nov 06, 2007 Posts: 85

I'm unfamiliar with the Cover/Tribute band bar scene. What bars and clubs are out there that have a decent guarantee that bring in bands that are not doing all originals?

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 10:56 am

Well I think first of all you should tell us what area you are living in as that would help.

Groupie Joined: Nov 06, 2007 Posts: 85

Sure.

Ferndale is where we practice. We will travel for dough. $$$

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 3:16 pm

I don't know what type of Tribute you are doing, but if it is a full show these guys would have some ideas about where to play:

http://www.pinkfloydtributeband.net

That is the link to the Surrogate Band and they have been doing a Pink Floyd Tribute show for a while now. I would contact them or look at some of the places they have played for some ideas.

Mitch also put together quite an extensive list of Maps to Venues a while back. It is in the menu on the left. That will lead you to some venues that have live music. Many of them will have the phone number etc.

Rick

Groupie Joined: Nov 06, 2007 Posts: 85

We are a Black Sabbath Tribute.

I've heard of Surrogate Band. They changed their name recently. The stuff I heard I really liked. They had some real old school Floyd that they were covering. Great sound! Very authentic.

That's kind of what we're after.

I'd sent them a message or two before and got no response.

Another band is Rock Star. I have a few places that I want to hit up for a gig based on some of their past shows. I’m just looking to possibly get a few more from here.

I'd seen that list. I know a lot of those places but it's still just a list. I'm looking for some personal input.

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:33 pm

Here's a link directly to Surrogate's (now known as "Echoes of Pink Floyd") calendar page.
http://www.pinkfloydtributeband.net/shows.html

MoDoggies out in Fenton is a pretty good room for covers. It's right off the freeway so it's not a bad drive. Barnstormers out in whitmore lake used to be another good cover room.

Feel free to chime in here anywhere people.

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:52 pm

I dropped a line to a good friend of mine who is a member of Catz Ass. I'm sure he'd know some more good cover rooms for a Sabbath tribute. Outriggers in Whitmore Lake is another room he plays pretty often.

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 5:35 pm

Good stuff Mitch. A Black Sabbath tribute is a cool idea. I know a band up in Flint that does Sweet Leaf. That took me back a bit when they started with the coughing deal. I got a laugh out of that one.

You should talk to Keith Jennings in Flint. He's a old school rocker that does booking for a few rooms in town. He would like the Black Sabbath tribute idea.

Send me a PM (private message) and I will shoot you his email address.

Rick

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 5:36 pm

Crap! I'm a newbie!

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 5:44 pm

Rick wrote:

Crap! I'm a newbie!

HA HA!

Shit, I am too! Mad

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 6:53 pm

haha ...I gave you guys a rank

Groupie Joined: Nov 06, 2007 Posts: 85

We've already played a number of places.

Token Lounge
Elbow Room
Hell (Biker Rally)
Dawghouse
Iroc
Machine Shop
New York New York
TC's Speakeasy

etc....

We have about 2 1/2 hours of Sabbath and Ozzy tunes that we can do.

We're just looking for some better pay. $$$ It's a big show that we put together compared to a lot of other bands and it's not been cheap to do.

Groupie Joined: Aug 29, 2002 Posts: 28

I played in a Alice Cooper tribute band quite awhile ago. We actually worked with a booking agent who sent us down south on 2 week tours. We did really well money wise. We seemed to make better $$$ traveling than staying around here. I don't remember who the agent was though...I can remember clubs down south paying anywhere from $800 to 1500 a night plus a meal/drinks and motel rooms

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 11:30 am

Ah, going for the big bucks.

I can add a couple of things to this.

Some time back I put together a tribute show called the The H.O.P. show. It had three front guys for Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley.

The show sold for about $2,500 per apperance. We played a few bigger clubs in Michigan, but most of the stuff was private parties and festivals.

We belonged to the Michigan Festivals and Events Associaltion whose members are the people that put on all the festivals in Michigan. The MEFA does a convention each year and part of that is a showcase of acts.

Normally bands are not members of the organization, but booking agents are. We decided to go direct. We were able to set up a table and sell our show directly to the festival presenters.

Here is the link to their website: http://www.michiganfun.us/

I would think that a Black Sabbath tribute would have to appeal to a certain crowd but, I played with Jefferson Starship at Lapeer days for example and I know that a lot of these other festivals have had some hair bands headline. Why not a Black Sabbath tribute especially since you can point to the popularity of Ozzy with young and older people.

All they are really interested in is if you will bring a crowd to their event and that you won't melt down and piss off the families that come out. These are family deals so you have to keep that in mind.

Rick

Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 1:43 pm

Is "Q" (Jason) in this band?