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Tribute act

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Not to be confused with Cover band.

A tribute act is a music group, singer, or musician who specifically plays the music of a well-known music act - sometimes one which has disbanded, ceased touring or is deceased. Probably the largest class of tributes acts is Elvis impersonators, individual performers who mimic the songs and style of Elvis Presley. However, most tribute acts are groups (tribute band or tribute group) and are tributes to a group. For example, The Iron Maidens are an all-female band that pays tribute to Iron Maiden.

A tribute band does not include members of the original band whose music is being honored. If a member is included in a band performing the music of their original group, the band is seen as a spin-off band rather than a tribute band. However, guest appearances do occur. For example, former Bruce Springsteen drummer Vini Lopez often plays sets with the Springsteen tribute band The E Street Shuffle and original Deep Purple Drummer Ian Paice often plays with the tribute band Purpendicular on small European tours.

The main way in which a tribute band differs from a cover band that simply plays songs by other artists is that it strives to capture every nuance of the imitated artist's actions and appearance for a perfect imitation. Some tribute bands imitate the appearance but re-interpret the original works in a particular genre or for comic effect. 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. There are also individuals who are tributes of a group, and vice versa.

Tribute bands usually name themselves based on the original band's name, some song and even albums.

History

The first tribute acts to emerge may have been Beatles tribute bands, such as The Buggs, who attempted to look and sound like The Beatles while playing their songs. However, one might argue that Elvis impersonators qualify as well.

Although initially created to honor the original bands, many tribute bands have grown to have their own fan base. Tribute band names are often a pun on the original name or the names of band members, or are derived from a famous track or record album released by the original band.

Those bands and artists that have inspired a cult following in their fans tend to have a significant tribute band presence as well, such as Status Quo, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Sabbath, Journey, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Styx, Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Kiss, Madonna, The Misfits, Queen, Alice in Chains, Grateful Dead, Van Halen, ABBA, The Rolling Stones, The Who, R.E.M., Rammstein, Neil Diamond, and Steely Dan.

In 1997, the British journalist Tony Barrell wrote a major 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 piece, 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.

Oasis tribute band No Way Sis took the notion of tribute bands a step further in 1997 by achieving a UK top 20 hit single with their rendition of "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing". In addition to this, the band were asked to step in for Oasis and play to a sell out audience in Paris after Oasis canceled their show.

In 1998, two men who were in a Blues Brothers tribute band changed their names officially by deed poll to Joliet Jake Blues and Elwood Jake Blues. They also are the only men in the UK to have their sunglasses on their passports and driver's licences.[2]

In 2000, filmmakers Jeff Economy and Darren Hacker produced the documentary film ...An Incredible Simulation, which examined the tribute band phenomenon. Produced separately and independently in 2001 was the documentary Tribute by directors Kris Curry and Rich Fox, which also covered the movement. In 2007, producers Allison Grace and Michelle Metivier produced a four-part documentary series called "Tribute Bands" for Global TV which features tributes to The Police, Queen, Rush and The Tragically Hip.

In 2002, the first biography of a tribute band was published by SAF in London. Entitled Being John Lennon, the book is a humorous account of life on the road in The Beatles' tribute "Sgt. Pepper's Only Dart Board Band", written by the group's founder, Martin Dimery.

In 2003, Mandonna, an all-male tribute to Madonna, was formed in response to the rise of all-female tribute acts such as The Iron Maidens, Lez Zeppelin and AC/DShe.

In 2005, original Lynyrd Skynyrd members Ed King (co-author of "Sweet Home Alabama"), drummers Artimus Pyle and Bob Burns, and "honkettes" Leslie Hawkins and JoJo Billingsley all played with The Saturday Night Special Band, a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute from New York. This was the first tribute band to be composed of more original members than the current touring lineup of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

In 2005, tribute band Beatallica received attention when they were threatened with a lawsuit by Sony Music Entertainment over their unique interpretation of Beatles songs done in a Metallica style. With the help of Metallica drummer/co-founder Lars Ulrich, Beatallica won their legal battle, and still record and tour today.

Original Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice has played with members of Deep Purple tribute band Purpendicular in 2002, 2004 and 2007, and the whole band in December 2008 & March 2012 (which included a surprise appearance of Original Deep Purple Bassist Roger Glover in Switzerland) on European tours.

Not all tribute acts use the impersonation style. An example is The Muffin Men, who play the music of Frank Zappa in their own style, do not look like, or attempt to look like original members, and often tour with former band members. Jimmy Carl Black was a regular in the band, and they have in the past played, recorded and toured with Ike Willis and Don Preston.

Tribute acts do not always receive full acknowledgment from the original acts they are patterned after. On April 2009, Bon Jovi sued the Los Angeles-based all-female tribute Blonde Jovi for copyright infringement. After temporarily using the name Blonde Jersey, the band reverted to Blonde Jovi before disbanding on February 2010.[3]

In 2013, a television series entitled The World's Greatest Tribute Bands appeared on American cable television network AXS TV. [4]

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. This is often done to either replace a deceased member or just one who has simply chosen to leave 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.
  • 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 long hiatus from the band.
  • 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 left the band. They approached Jeremey Hunsicker of the Journey tribute band Frontiers and had him audition for the group. 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.[5] David left the band in 2012 and was replaced by Jon Davison, who was with the Yes tribute band Roundabout.
  • 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.

List of well-known tribute acts

Some well-known tribute acts include (alphabetically by covered act, and alphabetically for each):

Playing music by ABBA:

Playing music by AC/DC:

Playing music by Aerosmith:

Playing music by Animetal:

Playing music by The Band:

Playing music by The Beatles:

Playing music by Björk:

Playing music by Black Sabbath:

Playing music by Bob Dylan:

Playing music by The Cure:

Playing music by Genesis:

Playing music by The Grateful Dead:

Playing music by Iron Maiden:

Playing music by Jethro Tull:

Playing music by KISS:

Playing music by Led Zeppelin:

Playing music by Bob Marley:

Playing music by Metallica:

Playing music by Oasis:

Playing music by the Pet Shop Boys:

Playing music by Pink Floyd:

Playing music by Queen:

Playing music by The Ramones

Playing music by The Smiths:

Playing music by George Strait

Playing music by Sublime:

Playing music by The Who

Playing music by Frank Zappa:

Parody acts

Some groups have played and recorded music that parodies a specific artist or band, either by performing the original songs with modified lyrics or doing more general stylistic parodies. Examples include The Rutles and Zombeatles (for The Beatles), Beatallica (for The Beatles and Metallica), Take Fat (for Take That) and 2 Live Jews (for 2 Live Crew).

They Might Be Giants has occasionally played their own tribute band, opening for themselves as Sapphire Bullets and performing the album Flood from start to finish.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ Tony Barrell (1997-11-09). "Playing Tribute". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2014-09-06. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ BBC News (Derbyshire) (2006-06-14). "Licence leaves band in the shade". Retrieved 2008-01-14.
  3. ^ Undercover.com.au - Bon Jovi Sue Tribute Band
  4. ^ Simpson, David (2013-06-10). "AXS TV's 'The World's Greatest Tribute Bands' Sneak Peek". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2013-09-29. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ Hard Rock Hideout - Yes to Tour With Replacement Singer
  6. ^ "Canada's Premiere AC/DC Vocalist". www.acdc.com.
  7. ^ "Sapphire Bullets". TMBW: The They Might Be Giants Knowledge Base. Retrieved 2010-05-23.
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