To Pay Tribute or Not to Pay Tribute

To Pay Tribute or Not to Pay Tribute

I have often toyed with the idea of forming a tribute band. A tribute band is not a cover band, it is a homage to the original artist or in my band's case a genre of music. Tribute bands can make great money, a friend of mine in England, who plays in an Abba tribute band gets £300 per night and has 20 gigs lined up for September.

However, there is a little voice inside me that says there is a morality to tribute bands that kinda cuts off my nose to spite my own face. Can we pay tribute and still move forward ? Do we damage the future of music by looking too far in to the past ?

Certainly, if you look at todays average 20 something they have a far greater musical choice than any previous generation of music listener. Indeed, if Facebook profiles are any indication of what 20 somethings' are listening to, it amazes this 45 year old as to their musical voraciousness.

Today's kids are listening to everything from Bill Haley and the Comets onwards. In many cases the original performers have long retired to the "great gig in the sky". Or at the least, performers are rarely touring and when they do it is in an audience unfriendly venue. So when a tribute band rolls in to town, music fans have a chance to experience, at some level, the original performance of a particular band or genre of music in a venue that affords some level of interaction between the band and audience.

However, the level of "tribute" varies from one act to the next. In my English friends case, Abba have long since broken up with no threat of ever getting back together. Combine that with an extremely mainstream appeal and the recipe for a lucrative career in the Abba tribute business can be a sure thing. There are of course many other bands and performers ready to give the Abba tribute a try and only the best and most authentic tributes will rise to the top.

So if you are out shopping for a tribute band what are the things to look out for ?

Authenticity - probably the most sought after attribute for any tribute band. Instrumentally, a band can play note for note as per an original recording, however vocals are often the most challenging. A tribute bands greatest strength lies with a vocalist that can accurately mimic the originals. However, vocal interpretation is only complete with a look-a-like impression; not only do you have to sound like Rod Stewart or Tina Turner, you have to look like him or her also, preferably at the peak of his or her career.


An authentic tribute band can actually be more of an authentic experience than the original performer. This sounds totally ludicrous, sometimes it is true. Take one of my favourite bands Thin Lizzy. There are several Lizzy tribute bands in the UK, some of them sound better than the current ensemble acting under the Thin Lizzy moniker. In this particular case the "real" Thin Lizzy has no original members, Scott Gorham joined in 74, John Sykes joined in 82 and Phil Lynott passed away in 86, the original drummer Brian Downey retired years back. The current Thin Lizzy are a far cry from the band at its creative peak in the late 70's.

Queen is another example of how the tribute band genre actually pushed the original members in to touring. The plethora of Queen tribute bands actually roused Brian May to reform the band and set out on tour with Paul Rodgers and Roger Taylor [the original drummer]. Apparently the Queen tour was a great success both financially and as an audiences experience.

Do musical tributes stifle musical growth ? If history tells us, we are selective in how we learn from the past, visiting recent musical history is no different and is subject to a great deal of interpretation.

A young musician can see a tribute band and be inspired to start his or her musical interpretation of the genre in a more contemporary style. Musical trends are cyclical in nature and never really fade away. There can be no replacement for an original performer, however in some cases a tribute could be the only legacy of that performer and it is often better to pay tribute than to let a memory fade in to musical history.

Opposingly, a poor quality tribute will do the original performer a great disservice. Nothing is worse than paying good money to see some singer make a complete hash of a classic song. Therein lies the rule of thumb for a tribute band - can you do the original material justice ? The life of a tribute band could and possibly should be cut short due to lack of authenticity, we have all heard the originals and have similar frames of reference and thus expectations for that music.