The EM Poll

Send in the Clones

Mar 14, 2008 5:03 PM, By David Simons

           

TRIBUTE BANDS: GIGGING IN THE LAND OF MAKE BELIEVE

E' Casanova as Michael Jackson

Imagine All the Income

How much money do tribute bands make? That all depends on where you are, who you are, and how well you do the job. It's not uncommon for the right act to make a pretty fair pile of dough on any given occasion. At one recent outdoor event, Grateful Dead copyists Shakedown Street raked in a cool $12,000. Led Zepagain can pull in anything between $800 and $1,500 for a typical West Coast gig and about $2,500 to $4,000 when they travel. For newer, second-tier tribute bands, the take is usually a lot less. Still, both Number Nine and Heart of Gold manage a respectable (and consistent) business without having to leave their home regions.

“Trust me, we're not putting our kids through college with the money from this band,” says Number Nine's Heffelfinger, whose band makes anything from $350 to $750 a night. “Of course, we're only serious about the music — not the money,” he says.

Playing mostly around Los Angeles, a real hotbed for tribute bands, Heart of Gold averages $200 to $300 per gig. “The most we've made is $500 for an hour set,” says Dennis Neil. “We've had higher offers, like playing in Europe at $1,000 to $1,500. To make a lot of money as a tribute act, you have to be a road band and travel a lot. We haven't gone that route yet.”

Tomorrow the World

When it comes to working in the tribute world, location is key. Along with Los Angeles, other tried-and-true markets include the Midwest (a historical bastion for the arena rock favored by many tribute acts), the Southwest, and Canada. Theme parks like Disneyland and Six Flags make regular use of tribute bands, as do fairs and festivals across the country. By contrast, the East Coast, particularly the Northeast, appears to be somewhat less hospitable to the tribute-band phenomenon.

A tribute band naturally stands a better chance of survival in a major metropolitan market. Still, Led Zepagain's Lenny Mann thinks that venues in more remote regions are beginning to find the concept attractive. “Just by looking at the listings of tribute bands on Tribute City [www.tributecity.com], you can see the trend starting to show all across America and the world,” he says. “In the U.K., tribute acts have been quite popular for a while now.”

Some tribute bands have managed to sniff out pockets of support by tapping into the regional popularity of a particular group. Shakedown Street set up shop in Denver — an area with a history of supporting all things Dead, tie-dyed, and patchoulied — and have lived the good life ever since. “In an area like this, it's a natural draw,” says Jake Wolf, the group's drummer. “The Dead, Neil Young, Dylan are all huge out here. It makes perfect sense to be doing this.”

Riding the Wave

Naturally, the biggest variable in the tribute-band sweeps is the overall popularity of the artist being copied, which explains the abundance of counterfeit Led Zeppelin, Who, AC/DC, and other classic-rock icons. In the tribute-band business, nostalgia is a prime motivator. Fans too young to have heard the real John Bonham in person will pay good money to hear a top-flight imitation. “People who missed the era of Led Zeppelin, Beatles, and the Doors, as well as those who were really there, can all enjoy seeing a simulated concert,” Mann says.

Not surprisingly, the fortunes of many tribute bands can rise and fall with the on-again, off-again popularity of the real thing. When the Blues Brothers 2000 flick rekindled the memory of the Saturday Night Live R&B duo, tribute act the Jake & Elwood Blues Revue was right there, riding the wave.

Number Nine took advantage of the recent surge of Beatles hype. “We've just tailored our newest song list to the tracks on Beatles One,” notes Heffelfinger. “I mean, it topped Billboard for months — people are dying to hear those songs right now.”