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IN
THIS ISSUE
Saturday Night’s Alright For
Fighting
“Take
a stress pill and think things over.”
And the winner
is...
Wisdom
©2001
MakeaStar.com
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October
31, 2001 |
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There have always been, and will
always be cover bands. The fan that dwells inside many
musicians can’t help but play the songs they love. If
they happen to make a few dollars doing it – at
weddings, bar mitzvahs, Saturday nights at the local
Mexican restaurant – all the better. But cover bands are
not to be confused with “tribute bands,” a darker
subculture of the cover world that takes devotion to new
depths. We have an infestation of them in Los Angeles
(The Atomic Punks, Slack Babbath, Ratt N Roll) and there
are probably a few lurking in the shadows of your town
too.
And
now tribute bands are being brought to the silver screen
in a new rockumentary entitled “Tribute.” Produced and
directed by
Rich
Fox and Kris Curry, along with Executive Producer, Steve
Soderbergh, the movie follows the lives of five die hard
tribute bands, including:
Escape (Journey); Larger Than Life (Kiss); The Missing
Links (The Monkees); Sheer Heart Attack (Queen), and
Bloodstone (Judas Priest). “Tribute” will premiere
Saturday, November 3, as part of AFI International Film
Festival in Hollywood, California.
“Tribute
bands go to extraordinary lengths to re-create the
experience of rock supergroups…The result can be
anything from an emotionally potent nostalgia trip, to
something more like Spinal Tap,” according to the
movie’s website.
Whether “Tribute” gives tribute bands a
fair shake (a la “The Decline of Western Civilization,
Parts I and II”) or mocks them (a la “Heavy Metal
Parking Lot”) remains to be seen. One thing is for sure,
though, tribute bands have become a force to reckon with
in local music scenes across the country. In Los Angeles
alone (the self-serious rock capital of the universe)
tribute bands regularly sell out the same clubs that
original acts leave empty night after night. In the last
year alone, members of L.A.’s resident Van Halen cover
band, The Atomic Punks, have shared the stage with both
the Foo Fighters and David Lee Roth himself. The singer,
Ralph Saenz, is also in that Discover Card commercial
band Danger Kitty that did “Love Rocket.” They perform
weekly in L.A. at the Viper Room under the band name
Metal Shop. I’ve seen both bands and I must admit that
they are a lot of fun. With such great songs, how could
you go wrong?
Whether you view tribute bands as cheesy, sad, offensive
or even threatening, there is something beautiful about
the way they bring Fans and the music they love together
– both on stage and in the crowd. And that’s something
that’s important for us here at MakeaStar.com. Besides,
it allows you to come up with new cover band ideas of
your own. Here are some of the ones my friends or I have
come up with (remember the rules - the more ridiculous,
the better): Macy Gray C/DC; Stabbing Westerberg
(Stabbing Westward/Paul Westerberg); J Lo Fidelity All
Stars; Abba Abba Hey! (Abba/Ramones); Third Eye Blind
Melon; Neil Youngstown; The Bee Sting Boys; Marilyn
Hanson, and, last but not least, Van Hagar (wait,
there’s nothing funny about that one).
-MakeaStar.com |
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Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting |
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This Saturday is when our next
Industry Advisory Board meeting takes place. In addition
to sacrifices to the Rock Gods, and whatnot, we will also
be choosing our next Sweepstakes winners. Remember, the
more you vote, the better your chance are of winning one
of our fabulous prizes. This months prizes are a Sharp DVD
Player with MP3 Capability, and a Classic Portable CD/MP3
Player. All you have to do is listen to cool new music and
vote. That’s it. |
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“Take
a stress pill and think things over.” |
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 A
lot of the Artists that make it into our contests are
curious about how the songs are paired in the first round.
Some have even gone so far as to suggest that we pair them
ourselves in order to decrease their chances of winning.
Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s not a cold,
heartless human being that pairs the competitors in the
first round – it’s a cold, heartless computer. You know,
like Hal. The computer from “2001: A Space Odyssey” that
is pictured and quoted above.
Feel better?
Here’s how it works. You can think of the MakeaStar.com's
music talent contest as a "single-elimination,
revolving-door" championship. Each week, MakeaStar.com's
patent-pending Virtual Artist & Repertoire (VAR) engine
takes the 16 highest-scoring songs, as reviewed by our
Industry Review Board, and randomly pairs them up,
regardless of genre, to compete in 8 "Clubs". Music Fans
can drop in to any of the Clubs, listen to the songs,
learn about the artists, and vote for the ones they think
are the best.
Unlike other music sites, during the weekly contests we do
not bias our voters by posting the current standing of the
artists. At the end of the week, however, our VAR engine
tallies the Fan votes in each match and balances them with
the votes of Music Industry professionals who have also
been listening and voting. Regardless of how many Fans or
Industry people vote, the outcome of Fan votes has the
same weight as the outcome of the Industry votes. These
important features of our contests will minimize or
eliminate any potential "ballot stuffing" or "favoritism"
by Fans or the Industry.
Now we have 8 winners who move on to the next round, where
they are matched in 4 "Concert Halls". By the end of the
second week, there will only be 4 songs left from our
original 16. The winning 4 songs will battle it out during
the next week in the 2 "Arenas". The 2 winners emerging
from the "Arenas" will then go head to head in the
"Stadium" finale.
Keep in mind, though, that every week there are 16 new
contenders, so all the venues are always filled; any time
you visit our site, you can vote for songs in all four
rounds. That means we always have 30 competing songs (16
in Preliminaries + 8 Semi-Finalists + 4 Quarter-Finalists
+ 2 Finalists...got it?) for visitors to listen to. To
find answers to more questions about MakeaStar.com, visit
the
FAQ
page. |
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And The Winner Is…
 Some
one recently asked me this question: “Why do the bands
with hot girls always win the MakeaStar.com contests?” I
have two answers: 1) All of our winners are talented and
deserve it; 2) Ummm…duh. This week’s winner is no
exception. Without any further ado, the winner is (drum
roll please)
WET.
Hoping to break the recent female dominance of the MakeaStar.com
contests are this week’s Finalists,
Gift Shop, and
Jon Bare. Let’s see them
pose like the singer from WET.
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Wait –
let’s not. |
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Wisdom
"All the bands that inspired me - like
Warrant, Poison, Motley Crue, Ratt, and Bon Jovi -
ruled MTV in the '80s. Then Nirvana came around and killed
heavy metal, but I still have not cut my hair."
-
Atomic Punks and Metal Shop member Ralph
Saenz on his own rock and roll philosophy. |
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