Sometimes a band heads in a direction you didn't expect, but it just makes sense...

[drummer5359]

Last year I stepped into a new band. They had just gotten a new lead singer, at the same time that their long time drummer passed away from cancer. The band covered Foreigner, Pat Benatar, Cheap Trick, Joan Jett, The Outfield Fleetwood Mac...

Shortly after I joined the new singer was having issues with her voice. Actually the issue pre-dated me, but she was diagnosed three weeks after I came on board. She damaged her vocal chords and has been getting therapy, and working with a vocal coach. We have continued to rehearse without her. The lead guitarist and bassist have decent voices, suited to different songs, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Initially we continued to concentrate of polishing up the songs for Dana to sing. The guys would sing them, just for timing purposes. There are also some tunes that each of them sing well, and the intent had always been to mix them in with Dana's tunes to give her a break. As we have continued to rehearse, we've added more songs that they sing. Robert Palmer, Donny Iris, John Mellencamp, Greg Kihn Band, Coney Hatch, Beastie Boys, and Tom Petty. (Among others.)

Our lead guitarist really nails Petty's vocals. One Petty tune became two, then three. Last night we played Yer so bad, Refugee, Breakdown, and Listen to your heart all in a row. They really sounded dead on. After "Listen to your heart", I put a hold on moving on to the next song. I asked if they all agreed that our Tom Petty covers are our best tunes. They all agreed. I suggested that we maybe try a few more. The guitarist had several more that he used to sing in an acoustic duo. We jumped into The Waiting, Shadow of a doubt, Woman in love, and Free Falling. Although we need to polish them up, every one of them sounded good right out of the box.

We still are hoping for Dana to be able to return, or maybe down the road to pick up another female lead singer if she is unable to continue singing. In the mean time we are developing at the very least a Tom Petty set, possibly a Petty tribute band.

Sometimes a band's direction ends up not being what you expected it to be...

 

[Dumpy]

In my experience, a band’s direction is likely fluid. Example: when KISS was Wicked Lester, the music was unrecognizable and didn’t remotely sound like KISS.

Sometimes it’s a conscious decision, other times it’s organic, as personnel leaves and arrives. The direction can change as tastes change or even what genres of band are being hired at the desired venues.

I experienced sudden, conscious directional changes in my last band. We were blues, then party band, then went back to blues. There were certain decisions the band leader was making that were literally taking us back to square one when we were starting to build a reputation.

It sounds like your band has found its niche.

 

[Cauldronics]

Band directions do change a lot. The first band I joined in around 1988 was playing sloppy, funny, garage punk rock. My friend on bass and I on drums joined and the leader took it right into Slayer/Exodus/Metallica/Voivod territory which was a trial by fire for me. I’d never played metal before then and learned a lot.

After about 1.5 years of that, Nirvana took off and destroyed the metal scene. We changed our sound to an oddball, no wave, somewhat artistic originals band with a few covers thrown in. Looking back, I’m glad we didn’t jump on the grunge bandwagon and actually found our own direction.

From there we morphed into a 90’s alt rock kind of 120 Minutes (MTV alternative music show) modern band that I still think was ahead of our time. We didn’t sound like anyone else.

Other bands I’ve been in have morphed a bit but not as much as that one. Overall, it makes you grow as a drummer and musician and I’d call it invaluable.

 

[Mcjnic]

From there we morphed into a 90’s alt rock kind of 120 Minutes (MTV alternative music show) modern band that I still think was ahead of our time. We didn’t sound like anyone else.

I had come from a very rocking Moon inspired background.
I fell into an amazing trio during the 90s.
That was one of my favorite times behind the kit. It seemed like every song was just an exercise into deep and meaningful groove. Some playful stuff, too.
Man, I loved that.
So, I get your sound comment.
In my view, it was one of the most original sounding and creative times for music.
It wasn’t so much the “band” changed sounds ... it was more I changed with the sounds around me ... which changed the sound of the band.

 

[bassanddrum84]

Tom and the petty files!!!! Great name. Might not get booked tho lol