Tribute Bands

Tribute bands are against my religion.

So why, then, do I intend to go and see one?

It is Gary Mullen and The Works - One Night of Queen. A British tribute band who intend to recreate the stage show of Queen with a singer who won a TV talent quest.

Reading over the sentence above, it fills me with horror. TV talent shows. Tribute band. *shudder*

So what is the problem here? First, let's examine the opposition.

I am opposed to the idea of a tribute band because I feel that a band usually contains talented musicians that, by rights, should be trying to further the cause of popular music by writing their own material and developing their own style. Slavishly imitating another band seems like a cynical marketing ploy, especially when said original band(s) is still performing. Mind you, if I was in a phenomenally successful band and there was a tribute act imitating my work the performance royalties due to me would be welcome, but I would hate to be losing ticket sales to an imitation act.

The case in point was some years ago (mid-1990s I think) where a Cold Chisel tribute band were playing in one suburban pub, while a few doors up on the same street, in another pub Ian Moss was playing. The tribute band show outsold the band's original guitarist gig by a factor of three-to-one. If there was any justice in the world, it would have been the other way around.

So, why have I caved into this? And after all, Queen + Adam Lambert are touring Australia later this year.

Reason #1: Adam Lambert is NOT Freddie Mercury.
How can you replace an icon? Especially one so fundamentally integral to Queen? And even the original bass player, John Deacon, won't tour with them, so really you're only getting half the original band. And also, I'm not a big fan of Lambert's voice. And Gary Mullen has an uncanny vocal similarity to Freddie, which brings me to...

Reason #2: This is as close to seeing Freddie Mercury live as I'm ever going to get in my lifetime.
Queen never toured Australia in a time when I could have seen them, so this will have to do, I guess. Even Peter Freestone, former personal assistant of Freddie, has admitted this that is as close as you will ever get to seeing Fred in the flesh. High praise indeed. http://www.beat.com.au/arts/one-night-queen

Reason #3: It's pure escapism.
And it's nostalgic. This is the reason I think most people would opt for a tribute band as opposed to seeing one or two members of the original act. Sure, they'll both play the same songs, but will the experience be the same?

Reason #4: It's cheaper.
$80 a ticket vs. anywhere from $200-$1200+ for Queen/Adam Lambert.

After Freddie Mercury died, Queen did the right thing and took their time before they decided to go back out on tour with another singer. They did, however, sow the seeds for future tours and records by billing themselves as Queen+ to indicate that there are other people filling the role of frontman. Record releases as far back as 1992's "Five Live" have been billed like that. Queen's 1999 release "Greatest Hits III" had a number of songs that were billed Queen+ because they featured other vocalists, so in a way it was inevitable that they would go back out on tour with someone else behind the microphone.

But again I come back to the question: "How do you replace an icon"? I'm not sure if I could bring myself to see an iconic band with a less-than-iconic substitute singer.

Maybe I should go anyway so I can compare and contrast the imitation with the real thing.

Until next time...

Review: "Crucible: The Songs of Hunters and Collectors"

Image source: The Music.com.au

This is the first tribute album dedicated to Hunters and Collectors, and the latest tribute album collecting a whole heap of hip young Australian indie bands.

As is par for the course, Tribute albums are hit-and-miss at the best of times. I really wanted to give this one my full attention and an open mind, but it's just so lackluster that I just can't help feeling disappointed with it.

The music of Hunters and Collectors is, by its very nature, emotional. "Soul" is probably not a word associated with the band, at least in the Motown sense of the word, but in a purely spiritual sense. It is music that expresses the purest of feeling, from the guts. It creates a space where deep-rooted longing, love and loss collide with a heady mix of bravado and sensitivity.

In short - it's music that breaks your heart while it's kicking your arse.

Each and every one of the bands on here (with the exception of three) reinvents the song in their own style, giving a modern sonic update of sorts. Full power to the bands for doing that. But, at the same time, they have stripped every ounce of soul, feeling and, in some cases, recognisable melody away from the songs, leaving them with all the excitement of a wet mop. If the originals had a power and drive like a Pilbara road train, these new versions have converted them into a 2-stroke lawnmower: Especially on songs like "The Slab", "Do You See What I See", "True Tears of Joy", "Still Hanging Around" and "Hear No Evil". On Husky's version of "Blind Eye", the find the emotion that was obscured in the original and bring it to the fore, exposing the depth of pain in the lyric.

The Panics have taken a difficult, angular original in the form of "Alligator Engine" and made it accessible, while the Living End and Something for Kate have kept the original power of their respective songs, largely because they play them note-for-note like the original versions. Ditto Eddie Vedder and Neil Finn, whose version of "Throw Your Arms Around Me" is pretty by-the-numbers as well.

On tribute albums you don't necessarily want to hear a band play the song in a carbon-copy of the original, but you also don't want to hear people take a t-bone steak and turn it into a tofu platter either. Unfortunately, on this album, you get both...although a lot more of the latter than of the former, admittedly.

Here's the album on Spotify below. It includes the originals from track 16 onwards. Make up your own mind.

Enjoy!