When does a band become a tribute to itself?
That’s a question I’ve been pondering on lately. It’s probably an exercise in futility; wasting time thinking about marketing labels. If the band, whoever it is, is a viable commodity - if people want to see them - who cares what label you slap on it?
Still, I haven’t been able to let it go. Blame it on my OCD, or Asperger’s, or whatever-the-hell-it-is-syndrome I have. When this happens to me I worry the thing like a dog with a bone.
Here’s an example; Grand Funk Railroad. Is it really Grand Funk Railroad without Mark Farner? Legally, it is. But that’s not what I’m talking about.
Neither am I saying that the current iteration is no good; they kick ass!
I’m talking about the original Grand Funk Railroad, the one that had all the hits; I’m Your Captain, We’re an American Band, Some Kind of Wonderful etc.
Man, I wore out the double-live album they released in 1970.
Mark Farner played guitar, keyboards, harmonica, sang lead and wrote most of the hits.
It’s simplistic to put it this way, but for the sake of brevity I’ll just say it took 3 guys to replace him.
And, as far as I know, Grand Funk has not had a new hit song without Farner.
A few years ago the bass player, Mel Schacher (who I consider to be one of the most underrated bass players in Rock), took almost a year off because his wife was fighting cancer. He was replaced on a temporary basis by Stanley Sheldon, of Peter Frampton, Warren Zevon, Delbert McClinton fame. Mel has returned to the band but Stan subs when needed to this day.
So when Stan is on the gig, at that point the drummer, Don Brewer, is the only original member onstage. Keep in mind, Don Brewer DID write and sing a couple of the hits.
So is that really Grand Funk, or a Grand Funk tribute? Or a Grand Funk cover band?
My concept of a tribute band is that there are no original members in the band. The band doesn’t use the original name, but the band members dress, act, and use the identical gear as the original, and try to sound exactly like the original.
I’ve written about this before in I Used To Disrespect Tribute Bands.
A cover band doesn’t have any original members and doesn’t try to recreate the original, they just cover the tunes. They might play them more or less like the original, or they might put their own spin on them.
The current Grand Funk Railroad doesn’t fit either of these categories.
Several weeks ago I traveled to Dallas to see BEAT. For those who don’t know, from https://beat-tour.com;
Former King Crimson members ADRIAN BELEW and TONY LEVIN band together with guitar virtuoso STEVE VAI and explosive Tool drummer DANNY CAREY for the first time to create BEAT, a creative reinterpretation of the three iconic 80s KING CRIMSON albums – Discipline, Beat, and Three Of A Perfect Pair.
As anyone familiar with King Crimson knows, King Crimson IS Robert Fripp. Fripp declined involvement but gave the tour his blessing, named the band BEAT and said,
“Steve Vai is the only guitarist who can play my parts.”
Notice the description, “…a creative reinterpretation…”
Ok, that, to me, suggests a cover band. But two of the four guys were in King Crimson and played on those very albums. One of those two guys, Adrian Belew, was the lead singer/front man and co-wrote the songs.
Steve Vai has a successful solo career going but enthusiastically agreed to do the tour. He has his own identity, style, and presentation. Yeah, he played Fripp’s parts, but he did it his way. Ditto for Danny Carey.
So…BEAT is not a King Crimson cover band even though it exists to “cover” 3 King Crimson albums. Adrian Belew is not ”covering” those songs, he’s performing songs that he co-wrote!
It is not a King Crimson tribute band because it contains two original members and “reinterprets” the songs, not, “reproduces” the songs.
How about the Eagles?
Out of the founding members, Glenn Frey (guitars, vocals), Don Henley (drums, vocals), Bernie Leadon (guitars, vocals), and Randy Meisner (bass guitar, vocals), Don Henley is the only one still in the band.
Now you can make the case that Joe Walsh should be counted; he completely changed the sound of the band when he joined in 1975 and co-wrote some of their biggest latter hits - Hotel California and Life in the Fast Lane come to mind.
You could also make an argument (a weaker argument, imo) for Timothy B. Schmidt when he replaced Randy Meisner in 1977. His high tenor harmonies are an integral part of the Eagles' sound.
But when Glenn Fry died, in my opinion, that was the end. Don’t misunderstand, I think his replacement, Vince Gill, is a great choice. I have a lot of respect for Vince Gill, but I’m having a hard time seeing the band as “The Eagles” without Glenn Fry being on stage. Yeah, they still have Don Henley, and secondarily, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmidt - but without Glenn Fry? I dunno man.
I could go on, there are many more examples. I could also talk about my own experiences of playing with some iconic “bands” that only had one or two of the original members; the rest of us were hired guns. To me, it felt like playing in a cover band.
But you get the idea.
It just so happens that Stanley Sheldon, the current “special guest” bass player for Grand Funk Railroad is a friend of mine. We worked together back in 2010. Who better to ask for an answer?
So I texted him and said, “Hey, man, I wanna pick your brain about something, meet me for lunch - my treat!”
So Stan and I meet up and I lay all this out for him, then ask,
“You’re on the inside of this issue man, you’d know more about this than me or anybody else that I know. What do you think?”
His answer?
“Ya know, I've had the same question!”
I was talking with one of my long-time students and friend, Rick Barret, about this. When he came into his next lesson, he said,
“I’ve been thinking about what you said last week and I think I have a name for what you’re talking about - Remnant Bands.”
Yes! That’s it! There’s a remnant of the original still onstage but most of the band are not original members.
That’s one of the things I love about my job; I get paid to learn stuff! Thanks Rick! 🙏
REMNANT BANDS!
I can sleep now.
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Remnant! Perfect!