This video popped up in the Cover Band Central Group news feed recently with the caption “Some rehearsal fun,” and we took immediate notice. The band looks to be recording in someone’s home right next to the laundry room, or perhaps in an office building, but the setting becomes irrelevant once you hear the performance. For this week’s feature, we love the band Back to the Bars.
BTTB hails from Buffalo, New York, and specializes in “forgotten classics, one-hit wonders, amazing B-sides, and songs you’d thought you’d never hear a band play” according to their website.
As a connoisseur of cover bands, we like to promote the idea of bands playing songs that are familiar to the crowd. This strategy is almost always successful, but much to the chagrin of many musicians, it usually involves playing songs that have been beaten to death.
Back to the Bars employs the familiar song approach, but stays away from the overplayed “Jessie’s Girls” and “Don’t Stop Believings” of the cover band world. Instead, they pick from more of the AOR (Album Oriented Radio) hits of the 70s and 80s. Yes, these songs are recognizable, but they aren’t tunes that you would normally hear from your everyday cover band.
While song selection is one of the most important factors in a band’s success, it still comes down to performance. BTTB is a collection of seasoned players, and they replicate their chosen tracks flawlessly.
Musicians and casual music fans alike will invariably key in on vocals when enjoying a band, and BTTB excels in this area. With (at least) two lead singers in the Group, and lush harmonies throughout, each song that the band plays is a treat to listen to.
For our selection this week, we chose this band’s version of Hall & Oates’ Top 10 1976 hit “She’s Gone.” As mentioned earlier, the guys filmed this in a rehearsal setting, with social distancing practices in place. Many artists have done the splice together thing well during this pandemic, and this clip is no exception. Enjoy the video below, and be sure to share!
Do you have a clip worthy of Video of the Week? Send an email to steve@coverbandcentral.com with a link to the clip (must be a YouTube video) and a brief summary as to why you should be chosen, and you could be our next selection!
