Under The Covers with AJ
Aahhhhh....under the covers....under the influence....cover me......How many more cliches can we come up with? Being called a cover band may be an insult, but perfectly executing a cover song and making it your own is an exact science. When done wrong, cover songs can be bad karoke. When done right, it can be a great insight into a band's influences. It's always cool to hear a band take a song that influenced them, and add their own touch to it. Playing straight up covers are for live shows, not CDs. If a band is goin' to do a cover, they need to make it different than the original or why do it?
There's been several cover CD releases in the past few years, that's been the latest trend. The first trend was tribute CDs and then that evolved into cover CDs. At times, it may seem like a quick cash in for a band, but keep in mind a band is suppossed to pay roughly seventy dollars per song per a thousand copies they make. Michael Schenker made a whole mess of cover CDs.
It is cool to hear great muscians jam to songs that inspire them. Great songs do deserve to get played. It is a shame to lock away good songs. But still, it seems like some songs just shouldn't be covered. Some songs are so iconic that there should just be one version. Look at "Crazy Train" by Ozzy or "Highway To Hell" by AC/DC or even "Rock and Roll All Nite" by KISS. These are signature songs and, no matter how well a band may remake it, it just ain't right.
At the end of the day, cover CDs are covers...Kind of like candy...You get a sugar buzz off of them, but it doesn't last, just empty calories. But, they are cool to hear a few times. Plus, it's always great for a band to take a forgotten nugget and bring it back to life to get the attention it deserves.
There's some great indie bands out there rawking it up. Some of them have put out some pretty mean cover songs that certainly do the originals justice. Here's a few of AJ's favorite indie covers.
ULTIMATUM - "Steeler"
Ultimatum recently put out a whole CD of cover songs called "Lex Metalis." They did a great job taking songs with distinctive vocalists like Motörhead, Saxon, and Judas Priest, and put their own touches to them, while still remainly relatively faithful to the original arrangements.
This CD was well received by their fan base, who enjoyed exploring their favorite band's influences. It also brought forgotten nuggets, like Saxon's "Denim and Leather," songs most bands, don't cover back to life.
Sheered Lepus - "War Pigs"
Sheered Lepus did an excellent cover of Iron Maiden's "Wrathchild" for their debut CD "One Bad Bunny."
But, it's the video for Black Sabbath's
"War Pigs" that AJ loves. For some reason, Black Sabbath covers are
always fun and the band does a great performance of this classic.
Benedictum - "Heaven and Hell"
Speaking of Black Sabbath covers, here's a fun live performance by Benedictum. It's always great to hear a lady cover metal classics and prove they can rock with the big boys.
Benedictum has also covered "The Mob Rules" on CD. Plus, Veronica is a lot purtier to look at than Dio! Hard to believe that wicked voice comes from such an atteactive body.
And, when gator says 'wicked,' it's a good thang!!!
Hydrogyn - "Back In Black"
Ahhhh. Hydrogyn has perfected the art of the cover. Julie belts out "Back In Black" and "18 and Life" (depending on which version of Bombshell you have) with great expertise.
They covered Alanis Morrissette's "You Oughta Know" on "Deadly Passions." A Hydrogyn CD without a cover song would be a major dissappointment for Hydrogyn fans. There's something cool about speculating what song your favorite band will cover and what changes they will make.
Sekond Skyn - "Land Down Under"
The latest trend is for modern bands to recreate 80's pop tunes. Hard-hitting indie band has fun and rawks the crap out of the 80's pop tune "Land Down Under" by Men At Work.
It's my guess that Men At work went running and hid down under when they heard their pop ditty transform into an arena rock anthem. This song has been included on the new Sekond Skyn CD "Addicted To Chaos."
American Dog - "Wang Dang Sweet PoonTang"
YES!!!! AMERICAN DOG!!!! This lil' band out of Columbus, Ohio, knows how and what to cover.
Ya gotta love their choice of songs to pull out of the classic rock songbook. Frankly, this song perfectly fits their image. This is the band that wrote and recorded "Sometimes You Get The Pussy" HAHA (love that title.......and yes, sometimes the pussy gets you!) This band has saved many old tunes from the closet and dogifieds them!!
ENJOY THESE FINE COVERS!!!!!! Covers can be like old friends that stop by and see ya, or they can be like new friends that looked like yer old friends used to when they were younger!!!! Crank 'em and there's nothing a gator would rather be under the influence of tha good ol' classic rock....except maybe a case of CROCWEISER. Ya can't be under the influence of Croc and drive, but no one says ya can't crank some covers and hit the road. Just make sure the windows are down so you spread the music!!!!
