Four years ago, a group of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill music students came together and asked the one question that all bands ask themselves at some point: "Why don't we just do all Michael Jackson songs?"
Unlike most people, Vamsi Tadepalli actually ran with the idea. At the time, saxophonist Tadepalli was in the process of starting a funk band.
"As I started putting together a song list, I realized how many Michael Jackson songs would work in that type of band," Tadepalli said in an e-mail.
So Tadepalli decided to try his hand at playing songs exclusively by Jackson.
"I asked a bunch of my friends from the UNC music school, and they all agreed to the idea," Tadepalli said.
Today, they are Who's Bad-dubbed "the closest you'll get to the King of Pop live" by the Independent Weekly. The group tours the country, each night decked out in glitzy red jackets and single white gloves.
Tribute bands, unlike cover bands, go to extreme lengths in order to emulate their source material as closely as possible. Some, such as Dark Star Orchestra-a Grateful Dead tribute band-go so far as to recreate specific concerts. The members of Zoso, a California-based Led Zeppelin tribute band, have all grown their hair to the style of their respective counterparts.
At times, adhering so closely to the source material can be somewhat restrictive.
"There are obvious limitations in our song list, being a tribute band," Tadepalli said. "There are a few songs that we open up for improvisation, but we mostly stick to the original or live recordings."
Still, Tadepalli is comfortable with where the band stands, stating that they will always be a tribute band. All of the band's members also have their own side projects, and hope to write and record original material. In the meantime, Who's Bad is a way to pay the bills-something it's doing quite well. The band sometimes plays up to four shows a week, nearly all which are before sold-out crowds.
The strong reception, most fans agree, is because of the unparalleled enthusiasm the group brings to the stage. Brian Kindle, a senior who has seen the band perform seven times, named several reasons for the group's popularity.
"For one, they bring this great sense of energy and showmanship to the stage," said Kindle, who is a Chronicle columnist. "They really know how to play to the audience. Then there's the fact that they're playing such great pop songs that people have all these great memories of."
And venues are capitalizing on fans' demand, regularly booking a variety of tribute bands.
"We usually have about two tribute shows a month," said Mark Thompson, owner of Raleigh's Lincoln Theatre. "It depends on the band, but they usually sell better than the regular bands we bring in here. You can't go out and see Zeppelin anymore. These guys give you a chance to see a show you can't see anywhere else."
Raleigh-based Jacob's Ladder, a fledgling Rush tribute band, hopes to take advantage of this growing demand. The band was born a few months back, when bassist Scott Josephson-sick of playing random covers and blues tracks-decided to try something different and do a full-on tribute to his favorite group.
"A tribute band has the opportunity to really master the sound of a band, instrumentally and vocally," said Josephson. "They can specialize and really focus on the sound, rather than doing many things just kind of well."
After posting a series of ads on the Internet, Josephson watched as the group gradually came together, starting with drummer Phil Tidmarsh, then guitarists Kris Robison and Sam Adam. Today, the group is near mastering Rush's complex instrumentation.
Unfortunately, the vocal element remains a hurdle that Jacob's Ladder has yet to clear. As a Rush tribute band, they found themselves with the nearly impossible task of finding a singer capable of Getty Lee's inimitable falsetto. Peter Norwood, a friend of Josephson, has recently undertaken the challenge. Though he's not quite capable of hitting the range needed, with the help of voice lessons, he hopes to one day fill the final spot in Jacob's Ladder.
Many tribute bands have to deal with similar problems. Vocals, explains Thompson, can make or break a good tribute band.
"Of all the elements, vocals are definitely the one that audiences most notice," said Thompson. "If the vocals are off, people can tell that the sound is off."
Still, some bands have found a way around the rule of matching their source's sound. GABBA, the self-described disco-punk sensation, plays ABBA songs in the style of the Ramones. Other groups get around this by substituting spectacle for musical fidelity.
MiniKiss, a Kiss tribute entirely comprised of little people, has recently come under fire from their rival-Tiny Kiss, which features three little people and a 350-pound woman-for lip syncing their shows. The quarrel, which has gone so far as to be chronicled on The Daily Show doesn't seem to hurt either band, as both still manage to sell out shows.
In the end, whether it be by exact musical duplication or stylistic deviation, tribute bands are slowly carving themselves a niche in the live music scene. Their success, as Thompson put it, "is probably because, if you close your eyes, you may as well be there. And the shows are damn fun."
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