Hawkwindforum

following some discussion in another strand, i thought this might be a time and a place to bring up the question of when the 'real' band ceases to exist and when cover bands take over.
have seen both the wishbone ashes in the past year and they are, imo, both cover bands in that they rely totally on past glories for their concert performances even though the andy powell version does occasionally play new material, it is well below par compared to the earlier stuff and never gets the same audience response.
man are soldiering on but without the two guitarists that made them their name so once again a covers band.
motorhead are a bit more difficult to categorise. while they produce and play new material,it's basically the old stuff rehashed and the classics are what most of the audience turn up for anyway so although the line up has been going for a while, they are there to cover the early period material.
the who stopped being the who many years ago and now just churn out a greatest hits cover set.
as for the stones, they were never particularly good at covering their own stuff anyway. saw them in newcastle in '83 and couldn't believe how shoddy the performance was.
as far as hawkwind go, have been a fan since i saw them in '71 but feel they are beginning to fall into the second wishbone ash category. will be going to see them at the 02 in newcastle this year but essentially to see them cover the old stuff yet again will continue to buy the remasters cos i still enjoy the live performance and the recorded material.
maybe this is the problem, we the audience, with all our emotional baggage and expectations associated with growing old with their music as the sound track to our lives prevent our 'heroes' from moving forward and so condemn them to becoming a covers band by default.

Thought provoking... must be really difficult bringing new material to an audience after 40 successful years in the biz...

Some bands put new/different style material in different sets, making sure to put their classic stuff in the main set.

In autumn 1977 we were looking forward to the "Spirit of the Age" tour. I remember some people then were on the "I hope they're going to do plenty of the old stuff" tack, despite the new album offering lots of goodies.

I was one of them, as this was the first time that I'd see them as a knowledgeable fan. I hoped for a mixture of QSC and SR, and that's pretty much what happened.

I've never agreed with the proposition that Hawkwind are a cover band of themselves, so long as the shows mix old and new material, and arrangements sometimes get customised. Like 'Mirror of Illusion'. Their writing output has slowed in recent decades, though.

I saw Motorhead a couple of years ago in Brighton supporting Alice Cooper. They were crap. They played some of the songs too fast, and did a terrible cover version of Rosalie. I won't be seeing them again. It's alright for bands to continue so long as they can deliver high quality performances. The minute they start going through the motions they should stop, because that is short changing the fans, who pay alot of hard earned money for tickets these days. As for cover bands taking over from originals, I think that's abit strange, but there is nothing wrong in bands doing a few covers of other bands songs so long as they do them justice, unlike Motorhead.(I should point out that it was only at the last couple of Motorhead gigs I've been to that they were not very good.The ones before that were awesome). I havn't been to a Hawkwind gig since Alan Davey left, the last one being Astoria 2006. I'd be interested to know what they are like live now. I felt that there wern't enough wooshy space noises recently and band jamming. Is that still the case. My favourite Hawk gigs in the last 10 years were Canterbury Fayre in 2001, and Brighton Concorde in 2001. They were both fantastic. They even played Moonglum at the Brighton gig and I hadn't heard that since the eighties.

Can't really get too enthusiastic about seeing old groups doing stuff from 30 years before unless its Hawkwind who have been constantly going properly during that time. Couldn't even be bothered to check out Mott reformed.

Hmmm, tough one. Although its a bit harsh calling Motorhead a "covers" band. The so called classic line up only lasted from 1976-82 and Phil Campbell has been in the band since 1984 and Mikey Dee has been in since 1992 and he only replaced Philthy as his knees were shot.

However there are some valid points as when does a band stop becoming a 'genuine' band. Take the Axl Rose band, sorry Guns N Roses. Axl owns the trademark so he can call himself that. Same with Status Quo, only two originals but they have used the same keyboard player (bar one tour) since 74 (?) and their 'new' bassist has been in longer that the original one but their messageboard is full of agruements over the classic line up.

I tend to think is for marketing, particuarly for the casual fan. Take Pink Floyd, when I saw Roger Waters a years or so ago no one at work knew who he was, until I mentioned Pink Floyd. For Mr and Mrs Casual Fan they want to see the brand, not the band. Hence Roger played half full arenas whilst up the road Pink Floyd played his songs in a sold out stadium. Same with Status Quo, they want Francis and Rick out front Whatever You Want, Down Down, In The Army Now and Rocking All Over The World, they could give two hoots about the others.

It's a question of originality and imitation; the group live on stage in front of us are doing something different and original.
Anyone here ever been to a Hawkwind gig exactly the same as the last one you went along to? Me neither.

It is c.d.'s dvds and records that imitate the group.
What we hear through our speakers at home, and see on our tv screens is a brief moment in time in the life of the band and the music. A snapshot, a static image; like a fly trapped in amber.

I recently saw dave gilmour in gdansk dvd advertised. It was FIVE hours long! Add to that all the other pink floyd albums, dvds and plethora of videos and stuff on the internet, it does not suprise me people get bored.
There is another band I used to really like, when I first started buying their albums I could look forward to about 40 miutes to an hour of listening, then go out for a beer or walk the dog. NOW when I buy one of their albums, it's about 2 hours of music to listen to, plus a dvd version and all the other gubbings on 'tinterweb!

The only way Hawkwind could be called a cover band would be if their music enveloped the entire atmosphere of our Earth.
Whoever hears kar-ee-okk-ee through all of this has their sphincter tickling their adams apple.
Hawkwind's been covering me for 38 years now.
And I'm gonna change?...hahahahahahahahaha

hi all

good topic and sensible answers, however please note i have moved it to hawkwind chat as i don't see where it fits in with album's etc

this is a great forum but please make sure you post in the correct place

thanks for reading

regards

dave

As a lifetime Motorhead fan

Thing about them is they release an album every two years (Approx) and tour it worldwide,all which explains why every 2 years.
But they are still very much in the business of making new music and they have a worldwide audience for it of reasonable numbers,reasonable enough to make the world tours.
Every album you still get that buzz from what they do.
The sense of rehashing is a difficult thing to avoid,in-as much as one guitarist,one drummer,one bassist/vocalist playing hard core rock' n roll.
The same could be said of almost every single artist going from chuck Berry onwards.
It's more of ,well that's what they do.
It would be VERY weird if they didn't
A bit like Hawkwind releasing a collection of pop love songs.
Yes it would be new ground,but

Live ,yep,lot of old numbers,a bit like the Hawks,a lot to draw from.
Whatever they play someone will always wish they had played more from the new album or elss from the new album.
Current tour,about a third of the set is new/newish

I've heard one or two VERY good Motorhead cover bands,but they are not Motorhead.
However good the cover band is,it's just the cover band,it takes a lot more to come up with the sound than it does to mimic it.


I think there is an inbuilt almost cartooning of the self after a while,like the image becomes ever more focused to the point of little else existing.

But not with Motorhead
Did I say I was a die hard Motorhead fan? LOL

i prefer thier version of enter sandman to the original not bad for old men really

You may want to argue that as soon as an original member leaves then that band becomes a cover band but bare in mind that dave does like change as it freshens thing up and makes it interesting. It therefore could be argues that Hawkwind have been a cover band since about 1971 and equally that would apply to bands like Deep Purple etc.

The majority of bands have a number of "classic" tracks which the fans want to hear and if by playing then does that make the band a cover band?

As long as there is an original meber in the band and they are producing the goods so what. It is when the shows are run for money and not the name or the music that the problems begin.

Hawkwind covers band - no way.

sorry dave. i meant to put it in 'any other business', hence the other threads bit, but c**ked up.ta for moving it

agree with a lot you've said but a lot of bands fall into self parody after years of playing the same songs. they are often on auto pilot and the lack of energy being put into the performance shows. the andy powell wishbone ash produce very variable standards of old stuff depending which gigs you see even though the line up and invariably the set, is the same each night. i have seen local bands attack the same material with more spirit than they do.
motorhead and status quo do produce 'new material' but it's so much of the brand it is indistinguishable from what has gone before. likewise dave gilmour and roger waters. some of the highlights of the gdansk stuff are the rarely played material like wot's .... the deal so maybe a look back at old material might be a good idea for some bands.

i must admit, i do enjoy covers of material by artists who 'add' in some way to the original. lily allen does a beautiful version of straight to hell by the clash for example....but that's another thread entirely

LOL...yeah.
Good version.,as is their cover of "Breaking the law"