What do ya' mean you ain't a cover band? You're just playin' cover tunes!
an editorial by Mike Edwards
We did a CD called "Hook Water Wolf" that celebrated the works of our three favorite blues masters: John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. All of the songs on "Hook Water Wolf" were written by people who were never in King muDDfish and all of the songs on "Hook Water Wolf" were popularized by John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters or Howlin' Wolf. Ok, none of the songs on "Hook Water Wolf" were original tunes by King muDDfish. So, does that make us a "Cover Band"?
King muDDfish is a cover band?
The argument that we are a cover band is simply that "Hook Water Wolf" is just basic blues fare that is a recording of a cover blues band just rehashing the same old worn out tunes that you hear in every venue across the good ol' USA. I mean, there is not an original King muDDfish song on the whole CD. So, no original tunes on the CD means that King muDDfish is a cover band. Case closed. Guilty as charged may say the jury.
King muDDfish is not a cover band.
The argument that we are not a cover band is a bit more complex. The bottom line is that instead of doing what most blues bands do, we recognized the original composers of the songs and paid royalties on for the songs on one CD "Hook Water Wolf". Well, "what do most blues bands do?" you ask. The accepted standard adhered to by most blues performers is to "write" a song with the same groove, progression and melodic themes that were performed by the old masters, re-arrange the words to convey a similar meaning and sentiment, put your name on the tune as the composer, copyright the new tune, and avoid paying any royalties to the current owners of the copyrights on the original creative works.
What is a cover band?
Lets diverge from the bottom line for a bit and discuss a few concepts. If you are not "in the business" you may not be familiar with the terminology "cover band". In the broadest definition, a cover band is a band that "covers" or performs songs by other bands or artists. By that definition, virtually every blues band in the world is a cover band. Stevie Ray Vaughn did mostly covers on his CD's, BB King does covers, heck, Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf did covers...predominantly. So the broadest definition of "cover band" may not be useful in conveying any real distinctive meaning for blues bands.
Now that blues has had a resurgence in popularity, there are blues bands everywhere. Take a look at any blues society web site on their "Artist Links" or band listing page. There are boat loads of blues bands. Literally. It looks like blues bands are taking over the world. What does that have to do with the term "cover band"? Well, one of the ways blues lovers can convey their approval or disapproval of any particular blues band is to brand bands that don't make their "two thumbs up" list is as "cover bands". It's basically a charge that is difficult be rebut. If a blues band is accused of being a "blues cover band", unless they have a catalogue of totally unique blues compositions that cannot be easily traced as derivative works of earlier masterpieces, the band cannot succinctly defend that they are not a "cover band" (I've never heard a blues band that could unequivocally defend this charge).
But wait just a cotton pickin' minute, there are definitely true, unabashed "blues cover bands". I mean, a rose by any other name, blue or not, shall smell so sweet. Ok, so who are these "blues cover bands"? I believe that there is some objective criteria that can be applied to determine just what a "blues cover band" is. This is my opinion, and I may be wrong, but the term "blues cover band" should apply in a couple of situations and I believe that the blues community generally agrees with this in principle.
Situation number 1 -- if a band performs songs as performed by perhaps, Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Allman Brothers, George Thoroughgood, ZZ Top, B.B. King, Muddy Waters (and the key is that they try to sound like the performers) then that band fills the role of being a "live" juke box and they are a blues cover band. Think about it... you see a band, and you are amazed how the guitar player sounded just like Stevie Ray...you just saw a cover band. Or maybe they did "One Way Out" just like the Allman Brothers and if you closed your eyes, you could imagine you were at an Allman Brothers concert... you saw a cover band. When I lived in Singapore, there was a Tamil guy that did Muddy Waters, he played guitar like Muddy, he sang Muddy songs, he sounded like Muddy, buy gosh, he even started to look like Muddy... I saw a cover band. There are some great blues cover bands and I love to see them perform. There are some not so great blues cover bands, gee, I can even think of some lesser developed, blues cover bands trying to become great cover bands. These cover bands are easy to identify because the guitarist is usually trying to sound like Stevie Ray and B.B. but doesn't really come close. A night listening to a bad blues band is better than a good night not listening to any blues.
Situation number 2 -- I call this the club date blues band, a sub-variety of the blues cover band. The club date blues band usually has the following characteristics:
a) there is a performer who books the band, and
b) then assembles the band on an ad hoc basis based on the number of pieces required by the booking venue, and
c) the players in the band are selected from a group of musicians who know the blues standards; therefore,
d) the band requires no rehearsal, because
e) the band only performs blues standards.
If you're not in the business, there are some terms and concepts above that may need some explanation. Usually there is performer who books the band and is considered the band leader (for that job). The performer may be the singer, guitarist, pianist, harmonica player, drummer or bass player, whatever. There is some importance to being the leader because you are entitled to extra pay. Sometimes it is a double scale pay rate (twice what each of the other performers get paid) or sometimes it is slightly more than the rate of another musician, or it could be more than the sum of all the other musicians pay for the job.
If you're the performer who books the job, then as leader, you start calling your list of musicians to see who is available and willing to work for the money you believe you can afford to pay them. Start with your friends or favorites, and work your way down the list until you have all the pieces filled.
Often the booking venue (the blues bar, the party, the corporate sponsor) will be hiring the club date blues band as a 3, 4 or 5 piece band. So the band leader will need to hire three more musicians if the booking venue requires a 4 piece band. If the leader shows up with a trio only (himself and two other musicians), the booking venue will tend to pay less than originally agreed upon.
The musicians that the leader is hiring know the blues
standards. Standards is a term used to denote that a song is "must
know" song for musicians. You may have seen books in music stores called
"Fake Books". These books tend to be a dictionary of standards. The
fake books will chart the chord progression, melody and lyrics. So, if you
memorize the chord progression, melody and lyrics, you can "fake" your
way through the tune in a club date setting. I'm not sure if there is a
"Blues Fake Book" in
print, but there is a conceptual blues fake book
that is a compilation of blues standards (Mustang Sally, Sweet Home Chicago,
various Stevie Ray Vaughn songs, Blues Brothers Songs, One Way Out, certain
Fabulous Thunderbirds tunes, etc.) in addition to the inclusion of a large
number of 12 bar I - IV - V chord progression songs. For a copy of the blues
fake book, go to an open mic blues jam night at a blues bar in your area and
just listen.
Since all of the selected musicians know the blues standards, they don't have to rehearse to get through the job. The saying goes "If you're rehearsing, you ain't makin' no money."
In effect, club date blues bands are a very specific subset of "blues cover bands" and provide an efficient mechanism for delivering live blues to the listening public. I have seen some outstanding performances by blues club date bands. In some circles, you aren't considered a real blues musician unless you can put together or play blues club date gigs. Some national blues performers show up in town with their instrument only and have a local blues club date band their backup band. So it is possible that a blues club date cover band actually performed as a backup band for the likes of B.B. King.
In summary, I believe that most of the blues community sees these two types of bands as blues cover bands -- the "live" jukebox band and the blues club date band.
King muDDfish is not a cover band?
King muDDfish is not a cover band. There, I said it again. Listen to the CD, or better yet come see King muDDfish perform live. Ask yourself as you listen.
Does King muDDfish sound like we are trying to sound like another band?
Well, we definitely don't sound like Stevie Ray, the Allman Brothers, the Blues Brothers, ZZ Top, George Thoroughgood, Blues Traveler, Grateful Dead, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, or any other blues band we know of. If you know of another band that we sound like, please let us know so we can admit our guilt. Ok, we are somewhat guilty with "Smokestack Lightnin'" because we did try to capture the same feel and sound of Howlin' Wolf's version, it is just too good. That is one tough song, with the syncopation, howling and all.
Does King muDDfish just play blues standards?
Are any of the "Hook Water Wolf" songs standards? "Rock Me Baby" is a 15 bar blues with the verse sung on the IV. I can tell you that I've met very very few blues musicians that can actually get through that progression without screwing it up. There is no chord progression to "Crawlin' King Snake", "Back Door Man", "Spoonful", "Wang Dang Doodle" or "Smokestack Lightnin'". Put that in your standards pipe and smoke it. Heck, we can hardly get through our arrangement of "Baby Please Don't Go".
Perhaps musicians could fake their way though "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "I'm Ready" and "Good Morning Little School Girl".
Are these the same musicians I saw last time I saw King muDDfish?
Dan, Mike, Jerry and Joel are King muDDfish. There is no band leader. No one gets a bigger cut. The pieces are not interchangeable.
Does King muDDfish write their own music? Well, yes, as a matter of fact. King muDDfish performs "Don't Believe" now. The first song that King muDDfish started recording was "Country Angel". Wait for our next CD or come see us perform for a taste of King muDDfish originals.
So if someone tells you "King muDDfish is just another blues cover band" just quietly smile to yourself because you now know the well kept secret.