Opportunities for short set - for "band" just starting out

Hi Folks,

I’ve been playing with the same cast of characters for several weeks now (I just started playing with others about a year ago and this is my first time going steady). We’ve had 4-5 rehearsals. We like to play loud, basic rock n’ roll. I'm playing main guitar (we have a 2nd guitar, but he's very limited) and singing. It's undecided if we're going to try to find a 'real singer' at some point, as I'm not very good (though improving, lol). We’ve been covering a lot of Social Distortion, because we like it, it’s relatively easy for me to play and sing, and has enough harmony and melody to keep it interesting.

We’re trying not to be a Social D. cover band, and are trying to integrate some standards into the mix, but performed in the same energetic style.

Here’s our current “set”

1) Story Of My Life (Social Distortion )
2) Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright (Bob Dylan, Mike Ness- arrangement )
3) Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash standard – original arrangement)
4) Making Believe (Kitty Wells, similar to Mike Ness arrangement)
5) Bad Luck (Social Distortion)
6) Oh Boy! (Buddy Holly – original arrangement )
7) Born To Lose (Social Distortion)
8) Ball And Chain (Social Distortion)
9) Cocaine Blues (original arrangement)
10) Ring Of Fire (Johnny Cash standard, original arrangement)

I guess our sound is similar to social D. – raw vocals, heavy, raw, unprocessed overdriven guitar, pretty loud.

First off, I realize that this set isn’t really "danceable", but since this is a hobby band and we're doing it for fun and the experience, we kind of decided to just play stuff that we like and that we can easily handle - but does this kind of basic, American Rock n’ Roll go over anywhere? Or, are we building a losing set, here?

2nd, are there opportunities to play a short set? I guess we could pull off 45 minutes with our current material. Obviously, that’s not going to cut it, but should there be some opportunity to start looking for chances to play out and cut our teeth while still building? Obvious, at our level, we're just looking for experience, not a paycheck.

I have no idea who social distortion is but you do realize Johnny Cash and Kitty Wells are Country Music Hall of Fame members, right?

I think you need to be careful not to pigeon hole yourself into too much one one particular band or sound. Basically, variety is good when it comes to most cover band situations -- play a little something for everyone. you'll always have to strike the balance between playing tunes you like vs. what the audience likes. Remeber, without an audience, you won't be playing out much. i like Social Distortion, but I can't see many people digging it for more than a couple songs, unless you're playing places that cater to that type of music.

Best of luck!

My experiences with "short sets" is that they are usually 20-30 min. Personally I avoid them because it's not worth the load it, haul it, set up and tear down, haul it, unload it time to play for half an hour.

But when it comes to building sets I approach it this way:

The average song length, adding in the average in-between-song-jibber-jabber, is 4 min. So, based on the average set of 45 min, at a multi set gig, you'd need 11-12 songs per set, depending on how much time you actually spend jibber-jabbering between songs. I always do a 12 song set list for 45 min sets. Average club gig for us is 3 sets-that's 36 songs. We rarely stray from this formula as it almost always works for us.

Thanks,

Yes, we’ve struggled with what to play, as we do realize that the end goal is to entertain people, and what we like and they like won't probably be the same things. I would be happy playing straight country, classic rock or rockabilly standards, but the guys I play with are punks and restricted on what they're willing to play. We started off playing '90's rock' (that's our generations music), but decided we didn't really enjoy playing most of that stuff (Green Day, Nirvana, etc ), with the exception of the couple Social Distortion hits we were playing. So, we started digging for more music by them or standards that could credibly be be arranged in that style.

While waiting for responses, It occurred to me that I’ve seen a lot of ‘student band’ type things (from the local music schools) playing out at street festivals and whatnot, so that might be something we can look into over the winter, targetting spring festivals.

I just need to figure out how to find these kinds of opportunities, as I've never sought them out before.

I have no idea who social distortion is but you do realize Johnny Cash and Kitty Wells are Country Music Hall of Fame members, right?

I wasn't familiar with Kitty Wells (had no idea she was in the country music HOF), though of course I’m aware of Cash’s stature.

Social Distortion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Distortion)has been around for about 30 years and they're are pretty important/influential rock band, though obviously not in the top tier of recognition. If you've listened to any rock radio programming, you've probably heard some of their songs. They were originally a punk rock band from Orange Country, CA, but over the decades evolves into something more roots oriented, the leader (Mike Ness) cutting a few very good (imho), very country influenced solo albums (http://www.amazon.com/Cheating-at-Solitaire-Mike-Ness/dp/B00000IFV9/ref=pd_sim_m_1)in the 90s

I played with cover band one time. We had about 40 songs. In that 40 songs in one night we did include 2 songs by John Fogerty, Centerfield, and Rock N Roll Girls. We also did a few CCR songs. Bad Moon, Ever Seen The Rain, and Born On The Bayou. Someone told us we played too much CCR. I was a little surprised at that comment. We were a classic rock band, everyone seemed to love the songs. We packed the dance floor. In the same night we did Beatles medley, mixed together 3 songs. Nobody complained about that. Did we overdo the CCR/JF sound? Maybe.

With all the 'original arrangements' and emphasis on one genre your setlist looks more like a Social Distortion influenced originals act, but without any original songs.

I think there is an audience for most types of music...some more than others. With that said, you just need to find where that audience hangs out.

As a guitarist in my mid 40s, my High School generation was the 80s..but I only play Pop Rock N-roll from the 50s 60s & 70s..thats all that I like mostly. The oldies band that I'm in, doesn't have a lot places to play..mostly the animal clubs and out the way beer joints.

I've never heard of 'Social distortion'..is that a type of music or band :shock: I'm guessing your in the young crowd and probably have more places to play than we do as an Oldies band :wink: Play your passion and be happy..how can you make others happy if your not happy playin the music that others enjoy :cool:

I'm well on my way to becoming a one-man Social D tribute band. So, from my experience I can say that you should play whatever the heck you want. But that will probably not score you many (any) paying gigs. Your set list is all great songs, but not recognizable to most crowds. I think you should either stick with what you are doing and go all Social D all the way, or mix it up with more recognizable 90s rock and keep Story of My Life as your only SD cover. It's fairly recognizable, and upbeat enough for most crowds. Ball and Chain is my favorite song, but it is a crowd killer.

I'm well on my way to becoming a one-man Social D tribute band. So, from my experience I can say that you should play whatever the heck you want. But that will probably not score you many (any) paying gigs. Your set list is all great songs, but not recognizable to most crowds. I think you should either stick with what you are doing and go all Social D all the way, or mix it up with more recognizable 90s rock and keep Story of My Life as your only SD cover. It's fairly recognizable, and upbeat enough for most crowds. Ball and Chain is my favorite song, but it is a crowd killer.


I get the opposite reaction on Ball and Chain. I'm a huge Social D fan , but it's the only tune of theirs I regularly cover. People LOVE it. I'm always amazed by how many know it, and how many demographics they span. Young early 20's folks, 30's and 40's professional types, and even the middle aged in the crowd all dig that tune. It's universal. I find the largest demographic who dig it are people my age (mid to late 30's) because we were at ground zero when that tune happened, but pretty much everybody likes it. never saw it as a crowd killer.

In answer to the OP- Where do you live and where do you want to play? If there are clubs that cater to that style, you might be alright gigging there with that set. if the clubs cater to dance music, or top 40 pop or country, you're gonna go over like a lead balloon. If you just want to have fun, and play your friend's keg parties, and they like that kind of music, you'll probably be fine.

I'd say the punky cover band thing could be very cool (See: Me First and the Gimme Gimmes). Maybe keep your Social D, add in some Ramones and such, and then start doing punked up covers of other hits. It can be a ton of fun to rock out and punkify other simple tunes that weren't originally done that way. You do that, and you might find yourself with an audience.

If I went to see band with your current set though, I'd think "way too much Social D", and I'm a big Social D fan.

thanks again for the responses, folks - I was almost afraid to check my thread because I thought I was about to get hammered for mixing in HOF country icons with the likes of Social D., but to my ear, the stuff goes together well. 'Punk Influenced Americana' is what I've heard it called, and I agree. It seems to have crossover appeal and Ness's music has brought some rock guys over to appreciate and respect some of the older country music. I like that he treats his country influences with respect, and not camp and irony (like some of the neo-rockabilly bands), but that's a whole 'nother topic.

To clarify, I think we're probably not destined to be a covers band that puts a huge amount of thought into what a prospective audience will like, as this is just a hobby for us. If we play private parties and the occasional street fair, that'd be fine. We're just looking to rock out a little and gain experience playing as an ensemble and to have fun with it. If we can find tunes that we dig that other people like as well, that's a bonus!

I suppose if we're into what we're doing, someone will stop and listen from time to time.

oh, and the original arrangents simply means that we're taking the original song and arranging it in a way that fits in with the sounds we make rather than trying to cop the sound of the original song. I look at it as a first step towards original songs, though I haven't tried writing anything yet. It's also an attempt to not be a Social D/Mike Ness tribute :). I do like the idea of doing punk and punk influenced rock as a few have mentioned - as a "theme" - with adding some covers of actual punk songs (I'm on a Sex Pistols and Ramones bender right now) and some punked up arrangements of other stuff, as suggested. I think that's probably where we're headed, we just like to play loud and fast, I guess.

PS - I'm not young (I'm 42 and the other guys are around my age, too) and we leave on the eastside of Seattle. I don't get out much, but there seems to be a market for blues and classic rock out here in the burbs while downtown, anything goes (lots of guys into metal and punk and hardrock). I rarely see any country bands, though I believe Forrest Lee is from this area and still comes back from time to time (I caught him sitting in with a local blues/rock band about a year ago at one of the local clubs). My guitar teacher is into jazz, blues and rockabilly type stuff and seems to gig quite often, but he's awesome.

thanks again for the responses, folks - I was almost afraid to check my thread because I thought I was about to get hammered for mixing in HOF country icons with the likes of Social D., but to my ear, the stuff goes together well. 'Punk Influenced Americana' is what I've heard it called, and I agree. It seems to have crossover appeal and Ness's music has brought some rock guys over to appreciate and respect some of the older country music. I like that he treats his country influences with respect, and not camp and irony (like some of the neo-rockabilly bands), but that's a whole 'nother topic.

To clarify, I think we're probably not destined to be a covers band that puts a huge amount of thought into what a prospective audience will like, as this is just a hobby for us. If we play private parties and the occasional street fair, that'd be fine. We're just looking to rock out a little and gain experience playing as an ensemble and to have fun with it. If we can find tunes that we dig that other people like as well, that's a bonus!

I suppose if we're into what we're doing, someone will stop and listen from time to time.

oh, and the original arrangents simply means that we're taking the original song and arranging it in a way that fits in with the sounds we make rather than trying to cop the sound of the original song. I look at it as a first step towards original songs, though I haven't tried writing anything yet. It's also an attempt to not be a Social D/Mike Ness tribute :). I do like the idea of doing punk and punk influenced rock as a few have mentioned - as a "theme" - with adding some covers of actual punk songs (I'm on a Sex Pistols and Ramones bender right now) and some punked up arrangements of other stuff, as suggested. I think that's probably where we're headed, we just like to play loud and fast, I guess.

PS - I'm not young (I'm 42 and the other guys are around my age, too) and we leave on the eastside of Seattle. I don't get out much, but there seems to be a market for blues and classic rock out here in the burbs while downtown, anything goes (lots of guys into metal and punk and hardrock). I rarely see any country bands, though I believe Forrest Lee is from this area and still comes back from time to time (I caught him sitting in with a local blues/rock band about a year ago at one of the local clubs). My guitar teacher is into jazz, blues and rockabilly type stuff and seems to gig quite often, but he's awesome.

If your downtown metro is anything like ours, MOST of the little clubs that favor starting-out garage bands like to stack up 4 or sometimes even 5 bands, each doing 45 minutes. Start by playing a few of those sorts of gigs while you work on expanding your set list. Not only will you get a chance to get your feet wet, but you will get a jump on acquiring both friends and fans, as well as maybe getting the attention of a local booking agent or two. Don't be afraid to be paired with bands of radically different styles. Sometimes that means everybody goes off and smokes during your set, and sometimes it means you become EXACTLY the change of pace they were hoping for, and shake the room.

In the long haul, you're going to want a longer set to play those suburban & rural gigs where they want one band to keep things going all evening, but ten songs is just about perfect for going into those downtown dives.

thanks MN - sometimes the bands on my local work alias post links to their shows and I wonder just where they heck they are playing (some of these bands are clearly at the beginning stages, like us). I'd bet it's something like you mention, I'll definitely look into that.