A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays only cover songs. Most wedding bands can be considered cover bands. Other common terms are party band or function band.
Overview
Cover bands typically play a mix of songs from different decades and different styles. Some cover bands play material from particular decades, for example a 1980s cover band. Others focus exclusively on a single group, and are called tribute bands: it is not uncommon to find Led Zeppelin cover bands, Pink Floyd cover bands, or U2 cover bands. Cover bands are very popular for weddings and corporate events, as well as in bars and clubs because they play many songs guests are familiar with.
Examples
Some examples are:
- Björn Again, an ABBA tribute band
- The Detroit Cobras
- Nickelback, a popular rock band that started out as a cover band
- The Party Boys
- Groovestone, A soul / pop / funk covers band
- The Covers, a Detroit garage band
Some cover bands perform covers that are of a different music genre to the originals. For instance:
- The String Quartet Tribute covers many genres of music to a classical strings section style
- Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine covers rock and rap songs in the style of lounge music
- Gregorian covers pop and rock songs in the style of Gregorian chant
- Gabba covers the pop songs of ABBA in the punk style of The Ramones
- Nouvelle Vague covers New Wave era bands with a bossa-nova twist
- Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is known for punk covers of other artists, with each album picking a different genre or era (i.e. hits of the 70's, showtunes, etc.)
- Ten Masked Men covers 'classic' pop songs in a death metal style.
- Dread Zeppelin specialized in reggae versions of Led Zeppelin songs, with an Elvis impersonator on lead vocals.
- Hayseed Dixie started as a, "hillbilly tribute to AC/DC" and has become a Bluegrass tribute band covering many well known rock bands in their own "rockgrass" style.
See also
