Doing a cover of local songs

THOA

THOA

New member
Just a question that is perhaps worth discussing about...

I think nearly every band in this country does a cover or two (or ten) of some foreign band; basically the band that influenced the band, heh.

Have you ever done covers of local bands though? What are the bands/songs that you had/wish to cover?
 
marchtwelve did a cover of plain sunset's find a way once.
it was fun

id like to cover any song by indus gendi for marchtwelve.
i think dearxarson would definitely love to cover an ossuary song.
 
Psychologically, among the majority of those who are also practitioners of music mainstream or otherwise (let's not call them musicians as that would be a humiliation to proper musicians), there's a certain barrier preventing most of them from accepting and respecting the "quality" of "local" music.

Through words, one can disguise hatred as love. The reality is, everyone's jealous of everyone. That's the mindset here, since Singapore's a really tiny world. Everyone wants to climb higher than everyone else for a piece of the cake. If it's covers, nobody wants to cover a local band because that, by their definition, is "not up to standard". It's just a rush to get on the bandwagon, nothing else.

Personally, I had covered part of someone's music (yes, a "band") before. That's all there is to it, there isn't anymore. When a particular piece of music interests me, I would cover it if it provides me pleasure. For many, it's "if I can cover this, what will others say?" :) Let's hope I'm wrong.
 
Cheers To Love, Best Defense, Phoenix, Last Night by Caracal.

Gamajezillion, Ladeda, Liberty With Wings and Closure by Allura.

Dear You and Night At The Bonfire by Marchtwelve.

Snowflake, Lover and The Sea, Ceremony, Death and Glitter by Astreal.

When Spring Comes Home by The Fire Fight.

=)
 
gutturalpiss said:
The reality is, everyone's jealous of everyone. That's the mindset here, since Singapore's a really tiny world. Everyone wants to climb higher than everyone else for a piece of the cake. If it's covers, nobody wants to cover a local band because that, by their definition, is "not up to standard". It's just a rush to get on the bandwagon, nothing else.
Click to expand...

To climb higher than everyone else... even if you are the best, the local music scene isn't a tall mountain peak to be at anyway (though it is slowly but sure picking up momentum in terms of recognition and support, both in which is long overdued). I don't see the point of competing with each other when we are still struggling to keep our heads above the level of 'expectations' the mass public have. Sure, it's a small safety raft that we are clinging on to; doesn't mean that we ignore others that are already on it, or worse, to push them overboard.

I rather see covering a song from a local band or artiste as a positive thing. If done with utmost sincerity, it's a big kudos to our fellow local musicians; some other band who are in same craft of expression as you are in HAS been listening. It's also another (perhaps rarely explored, I might add) way of showing that you are recognising and supporting what most of have been preaching here: supporting local music.

Of course, there is also some apprehensions that perhaps become an obstacle for that to happen. For example, doing a cover of a local song that is hardly heard, the audience might credit the band performing as the ORIGINAL artiste. Or the band covering the song might not be good enough (or maybe do it better). But these issues can be traced back to insecurity issues, which ties back to the whole "climb higher than others" issue that you mentioned.

(There's also the legal tangles with copyrights, but I have a hunch that it is not a big factor in this equation).

I'm pretty much stating mostly obvious points here, I know. But I'm a little surprised that it is still a rare little occurance.




Anyway, would love to cover:

Concave Scream - Caged (One of the first local songs I heard and fell in love with. The signature guitar riff is infectious)

Stompin Ground - Damn the Dam, Mammothical Funereal Procession (Vector Prime is just solid. These are my two fave track)

X'Statix - Teardrop (Lyrically sobering and strong. Underrated and unknown cos it's rap)

Saywhale - Children of the Saywhale (Apart from us getting to the finals, I'll remember Asian Beat 2007 because of this song, heh)
 
i would love to cover:

kid kinnear, rockstar roadsweeper - dead end (the first local band i ever liked, and they are still my heroes)
the proposal song - surreal
hello - electrico
let's make love - the suns
the departure - a vacant affair
prizefight - caracal
 
there are soooo many local songs i'd love to cover I don't even know where to start, really!
 
We are in the midst of recording 'Forest Action Team', our debut album. It will be released online to be downloaded for free. It will be a mish-mash of some originals and predominantly covers of local tunes done differently. We have gotten blessings from most of the acts we are covering.

We are covering TypeWriter's 'Enemy', Humpback Oak's 'Circling Square', 'The Boy From Katong' - Serenaide's 'The Girl From Katong', The Padres' 'Radio Station', B-Quartet's 'Shoebox', Ronin's 'Black Maria', Plainsunset's 'Plainsunset', Phorous' 'Shadowgraphs' and a currently untitled rap track with marchtwelve vocal samples.

Hopefully, we'll finish everything by Chinese New Year...
 
gutturalpiss said:
Psychologically, among the majority of those who are also practitioners of music mainstream or otherwise (let's not call them musicians as that would be a humiliation to proper musicians), there's a certain barrier preventing most of them from accepting and respecting the "quality" of "local" music.

Through words, one can disguise hatred as love. The reality is, everyone's jealous of everyone. That's the mindset here, since Singapore's a really tiny world. Everyone wants to climb higher than everyone else for a piece of the cake. If it's covers, nobody wants to cover a local band because that, by their definition, is "not up to standard". It's just a rush to get on the bandwagon, nothing else.

Personally, I had covered part of someone's music (yes, a "band") before. That's all there is to it, there isn't anymore. When a particular piece of music interests me, I would cover it if it provides me pleasure. For many, it's "if I can cover this, what will others say?" :) Let's hope I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

u need to chill out dude,
it's not a competition...
 
TheLardBrothers said:
We are covering TypeWriter's 'Enemy', Humpback Oak's 'Circling Square', 'The Boy From Katong' - Serenaide's 'The Girl From Katong', The Padres' 'Radio Station', B-Quartet's 'Shoebox', Ronin's 'Black Maria', Plainsunset's 'Plainsunset', Phorous' 'Shadowgraphs' and a currently untitled rap track with marchtwelve vocal samples.

Hopefully, we'll finish everything by Chinese New Year...
Click to expand...


omigod..
WE'RE SO YOUNGGGGG!!!
AND WE'VE GOT TIMEEEEE!!!
 
So far, my bands have only done 2 local covers. I Want You and We're Not Made In The USA by Electrico. One fun part about covering local music is the need to actually figure out the parts ourselves.
 
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o yes, very fun figuring it out although i only figured out plainsunset's girl on queen street eventhough i had never attended a plainsunset gig at that time.
 
THOA: "some other band who are in same craft of expression as you are in HAS been listening. It's also another (perhaps rarely explored, I might add) way of showing that you are recognising and supporting what most of have been preaching here: supporting local music." Precisely that, and it's time the average teenager grew to learn and appreciate this advantage.

Paperback: You've got the wrong idea. It's a psychological study.
 
THOA said:
For example, doing a cover of a local song that is hardly heard, the audience might credit the band performing as the ORIGINAL artiste.
Click to expand...

Yes i agree. So for goodness sake, rule of thumb is to mention:

1) The name of the cover
2) The original artise/band
3) make it clear its a cover and not an original

I think that's just basic respect regardless of whether the cover is by a local band or otherwise!
 
plus 1 on crediting, another important thing is that local listener of local music shud go brush up on their knowledge of local music...

it aint cool to recite the top 100 hits from the world top 10 foreign favourite bands and having difficulty to count 10 local bands album or songs titles with 2 hands
icon10.gif
 
MadWereWolfBoy said:
So far, my bands have only done 2 local covers. I Want You and We're Not Made In The USA by Electrico. One fun part about covering local music is the need to actually figure out the parts ourselves.
Click to expand...

lol. what talking you? local or foreign cover songs, you still have to listen and catch the parts yourself what?
 
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