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Tribute act

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Not to be confused with Cover band.

Piss, a tribute band to Kiss

A tribute act, tribute band, tribute group or tribute artist is a music group, singer, or musician who specifically plays the music of a well-known music act. Tribute acts include individual performers who mimic the songs and style of an artist, such as Elvis impersonators covering the works of Elvis Presley or groups like The Iron Maidens, an all-female band that pays tribute to Iron Maiden.

Many tribute bands, in addition to playing the music of an artist or group, also try to emulate the vocal styles and overall appearance of that group, to make as close an approximation as possible. Others introduce a twist on the original act; for example, Dread Zeppelin plays Led Zeppelin songs in a reggae style with a lead singer dressed up as Elvis Presley, while Gabba perform the songs of ABBA in the style of the Ramones.

Tribute bands usually name themselves based on the original band's name (sometimes with a pun), or on one of their songs or albums.

History

20th century

Queen Real Tribute Band, a tribute to Queen

In 1997, the British journalist Tony Barrell wrote a feature for The Sunday Times about the UK tribute-band scene, which mentioned bands including Pink Fraud, the Pretend Pretenders and Clouded House. In the article, Barrell asserted that "the main cradle of the tribute band...is Australia. Starved of big names, owing to their reluctance to put Oz on their tour itineraries, Australians were quite unembarrassed about creating home-grown versions. Then, like an airborne seed, one of these bands just happened to drift to Britain." The band in question was the ABBA tribute Björn Again, who staged a successful publicity stunt in the early 1990s, arriving at Heathrow Airport in white one-piece outfits similar to the ones worn by ABBA on the cover of their 1976 album, Arrival.[1] Other tribute acts such as The Beatnix (Beatles), Zeppelin Live, and The Australian Pink Floyd Show have experienced continued popularity for over a decade.

21st century

In 2000, filmmakers Jeff Economy and Darren Hacker produced the documentary film ...An Incredible Simulation, which examined the tribute band phenomenon. The title was taken from the promotion of Beatlemania advertised as "Not the Beatles, but an incredible simulation."[2]

In November 2008, for one week Late Show with David Letterman featured tribute bands each night: Purple Reign (Prince), The Cold Hard Cash (Johnny Cash), Mr. Brownstone (Guns N' Roses), Super Diamond (Neil Diamond) and The Allstarz (James Brown)[3]

Although initially created to honor the original bands, many tribute bands have grown to have their own fan base. Only One Direction have performed to hundreds of thousands of fans, have completed four UK theatre tours, and debuted in their own show on London's West End in October 2015.[4][5]

In 2013 through 2017, a television series titled The World's Greatest Tribute Bands appeared on American cable television network AXS TV.[6]

In 2017, BBC Music released three short films for BBC iPlayer in the run up to Glastonbury Festival, each one featuring tribute acts to the three Glastonbury headliners that year: Foo Fighters, Radiohead and Ed Sheeran. The first was entitled ‘My Hero: UK Foo Fighters’ featuring UK Foo Fighters tribute band.[7]

In April 2020, Post Malone, drummer Travis Barker of Blink 182, bassist Brian Lee, and guitarist Nick Mack performed a tribute concert to Nirvana that raised funds for The United Nations Foundation's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for The World Health Organization (WHO) in support of COVID-19 relief efforts.[8]

From tribute to the genuine article

There have been several instances where members of a tribute band have been called up to join the actual band they were paying tribute to, or a related band that features members of that band, after a current member dies or leaves the group. This is often seen as a great way for bands to carry on since tribute band members have usually studied their part and can closely replicate the musical parts of the original artists. Some examples include:

  • Lead singer Rob Halford left Judas Priest in 1992 and was replaced by Tim "Ripper" Owens from the tribute band British Steel in 1996. This was the first publicised example of a tribute performer joining the band they were paying tribute to and was the inspiration for the 2001 film Rock Star. Owens eventually left Judas Priest in 2003 when Halford rejoined the band.[9]
  • Tommy Thayer, who once played with the Kiss cover band Cold Gin as Ace Frehley, became Frehley's replacement in Kiss in 2002. Prior to these events, Thayer had worked with Kiss as a songwriter on their 1989 album Hot in the Shade and a session guitarist on the 1998 album Psycho Circus, and had assisted Frehley in re-learning his guitar parts to old Kiss songs for a reunion tour after the latter's long hiatus from the band.[10]
  • When original drummer for The Jam Rick Buckler formed the band The Gift in 2006, which performed Jam material, guitarist Russell Hastings joined on guitar. Hastings had been a member of a Jam tribute band. Later that year original Jam bassist Bruce Foxton joined the band as well and they changed their name to From The Jam. Even though Buckler has left, Hastings still performs in the band with Foxton.
  • In 2007 Journey's then lead singer Jeff Scott Soto was fired. They approached Jeremey Hunsicker of the Journey tribute band Frontiers and had him audition for the group.[11] While he did not ultimately end up performing or formally recording with the band, he did rehearse with them and got a songwriting credit on their album Revelation.
  • When singer Jon Anderson was unable to rejoin progressive rock band Yes in 2008 due to health problems, Benoît David replaced him after bassist Chris Squire discovered a video of him performing with a Yes tribute band called Close to the Edge.[12] David left the band in 2012 and was replaced by Jon Davison, who was with the Yes tribute band Roundabout.
  • In 2009, original Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh formed the band Furthur, whose repertoire consists primarily of Grateful Dead songs. They selected guitarist John Kadlecik from the Dead tribute band Dark Star Orchestra to play the parts of the late Jerry Garcia. Since Furthur's breakup in 2014 Kadlecik has occasionally performed with Phil Lesh & Friends.
  • In 2010 singer Dave Brock joined Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors in their reformation project Manzarek-Krieger. Brock had performed in The Doors cover band Wild Child for over 20 years. Manzarek-Krieger ceased to exist in 2013 following the death of Ray Manzarek.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ Barrell, Tony (9 November 1997). "Playing Tribute". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  2. ^ "Four Young Musicians to Simulate Beatles," New York Times (April 5, 1977).
  3. ^ "It's Tribute Band Week on Letterman!". chicago.suntimes.com. 11 November 2008. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  4. ^ Porter, Hilary. "PREVIEW: Only One Direction, Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre". Daily Echo. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  5. ^ O'Mahony, Kieran. "Jamie still part of the famous five 1D tribute". Southern Star. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  6. ^ Simpson, David (10 June 2013). "AXS TV's 'The World's Greatest Tribute Bands' Sneak Peek". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  7. ^ "BBC Music - Glastonbury, My Hero, UK Foo Fighters". BBC. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  8. ^ Elassar, Alaa (24 April 2020). "Post Malone held a Nirvana tribute concert that raised over $500,000 for coronavirus relief". cnn.
  9. ^ "Tim 'Ripper' Owens still livin' the rock 'n' roll dream in his Akron hometown after his reign as frontman of Judas Priest". Cleveland Plain Dealer. 17 December 2011.
  10. ^ Bienstock, Richard (12 March 2019). "Tommy Thayer Reflects on Going from Kiss Fan to Spaceman to the End of the Road". Guitar World.
  11. ^ Tobias, Scott (7 March 2013). "'Everyman's Journey': Don't Believe Everything You Hear". NPR.
  12. ^ Hard Rock Hideout – Yes to Tour With Replacement Singer
  13. ^ Boessenkool, Antonie (13 March 2015). "Tribute bands outlive their inspirations". The Orange County Register.
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