Cover versions serve two main purposes for a fledgling band. Firstly, a new band may only have four original songs. But add on a few covers, and all of a sudden they have enough material to fill a 45 minute slot. Secondly, they assist in maintaining the attention of an audience who are probably totally unfamiliar with your original material. Here are a few guidelines to choosing the perfect cover versions. They’re only guidelines, so there are exceptions, but if you do break them, you need to be able to justify your decision.
Familiarity
Choose a song that your audience will know.
As I said above, one of the main reasons why a band would play a cover version is to maintain the attention of the audience. If you play a song that they don’t know, then you gain absolutely no benefit. In fact, you’ll be making life unnecessarily hard for yourself. It’s relatively easy to draw a positive response from an audience member if you play a song that they know. It’s harder to draw a positive response if you play them one of your own songs that they haven’t heard before. But if you play them a song that they haven’t heard before, and it isn’t even one of your own original compositions, then they’ll have practically zero incentive to listen.
When to break this rule: If you love a song so very very much, and you can play it exceptionally well, then you might want to do a cover version of it anyway. This is, in effect, saying to your audience “I love this song, it’s amazing, you absolutely have to hear it.” But your performance has to be outstanding for this to work. If you’ve only been playing guitar for six months and you attempt this move, then there’s a 90% chance that you’re making a big mistake.
Originality
Choose a song that hasn’t been “covered to death”.
When was the last time that you heard a group of four pimply teenagers play Creep and found the experience to be wholly transcendental? When was the last time that you heard a group of middle-aged men play Yesterday and thought anything other than “Oh great, this one again.”
You should be aiming to select songs that are well-known, but have somehow been overlooked for covering. You want your audience’s response to be “this is a fantastic song, how come I’ve never heard anyone do a cover version of it before?” If you can elicit that response, you’re guaranteed success, even if the quality of your performance is modest.
When to break this rule: There are three clear circumstances: If you know your audience, and you know that they will accept it; if you know that your performance is exceptionally good, and this will be the greatest cover version of song X that your audience has ever heard; if you are doing “something substantially different” with the song.
Playability
If you can’t play it, then don’t try to play it.
It’s 24 hours until the gig, and the song still sounds crap. Don’t try to convince yourself that it will be alright on the night, because it won’t. It will be even worse on the night. When you look back on a gig, the most vivid memories are always the songs that you shouldn’t have played. If you ask me really nicely, I’ll upload an MP3 of my band’s cover of Neighbourhood by Space, and you’ll see what I mean. Every time I think of that gig, the first thing that comes into my mind is that song.
When to break this rule: There’s no excuse for breaking this rule. If you’re worried about your set being 4 minutes too short, then just spend a little bit of time chatting with the audience. They’ll appreciate it. If you’re too shy to talk, then just leave the stage 4 minutes early. I assure you, it’s much, much better than the alternative.
Entertainment value
Choose a song that will entertain you and your audience.
If the song is long and repetitive, then your audience will probably get bored. If you don’t enjoy playing it, then your performance will be lacklustre. Don’t settle for a second-rate song just because you know how to play it. Remember, these cover versions are here to help you to keep the audience alive. Make them count.
When to break this rule: If the song is so good that even a half-assed effort can’t ruin it. No examples spring to mind, but it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that they exist.
It’s about the song
Avoid the “hey, aren’t we ironic” cover version.
At my second gig, we did a cover version of Wannabe by The Spice Girls. This was a big mistake.
For the first 30 seconds, the audience might get the joke, and might chuckle. But then you’re stranded there on stage and you have to finish the song. It’s quite embarrassing.
When to break this rule: I’ve successfully broken this rule once before, but I’m not going to tell you about it. For now, just take this one as gospel.
It’s about the music
Consider how the song sounds when the vocals are inaudible. Added 2008-04-22
As a fledgling band, you’re going to be playing gigs in venues with terrible acoustics, useless sound engineers, and heaps of background chatter. To your audience, the vocals will be unclear and indistinct. It will sound not unlike the lead vocalist is humming the melody. So try that. Practise the song, but instead of singing the lead vocals, just hum the melody. What does the song sound like now? The same four chords repeated over and over again for four and a half minutes? That’s what your audience will hear. Maybe you should drop that song from your repertoire.
When to break this rule: When the song is so well-known and singalongable that the audience are going to be drowning you out anyway. Or if you can be absolutely certain that the vocals will be audible (ie if you have played a gig at a certain venue with a certain sound engineer and your friends in the crowd told you afterwards that they could make out the vocals clearly on every song, then it’s a decent bet that you’ll get similar results on a subsequent occasion).
When to break all of these rules
When you’re just starting out. Your repertoire is limited, and you have to do what you must. But as time goes by, you should aim to replace your weak cover versions with stronger ones. Right now, you have a valid excuse, but it doesn’t last for long, so don’t get complacent. Your band won’t fulfil its potential until you’ve ditched the deadweight.
What about recording?
Putting cover versions on your album or demo CD is generally a bad idea. “Filler” is bad enough when it’s original material, but when it’s someone else’s song, it’s bordering on the criminal.
When to break this rule: If you feel that your version is better than the original, or significantly different, then by all means, show it off. Here’s a list of good examples.
