Get your own Free Home Page"If Hootie and the Blowfish came to town," Jason Spiewak was saying one day, "they would have to play covers," No band can escape that.
At least no band in State College can escape that. In this college town, covers seem to be what the audience prefers. Some bands, however, don't always prefer to play covers. They rather play original music but they realize that they must keep their fans happy if they are to keep their jobs. Other bands don't mind playing covers at all and have made it their career in doing so.
Covers refer to the songs bands play when covering another artist's material, usually someone popular. In State College, the most popular local band is Velveeta. This band plays nothing but cover songs from the eighties. Eighties music seems to be what most fans prefer.
Velveeta plays at the Saloon, a local bar at the corner of Heister Avenue and College Avenue, almost every Saturday night. On a typical Saturday night, fans are lined up outside the bar waiting to get in. At most times, the line starts at the Heister Ave. entrance of the Saloon and swings around the corner of College Ave. ending all the way back at the Dairy Queen, which is five buildings away.
Once inside, the place is packed with people, making it hard to get around. The audience is dancing and singing along, some of them drunk but most of them drinking. They all know the words to the songs, screaming at the top of their lungs until they lose their voices. A few glasses drop, falling to the ground and shattering in all sorts of directions. Nobody cares. They continue to drink and listen to the music they all know so well, this music being a part of their childhood lives.
The situation is different however when going to a show of a band who actually plays original songs, along with the covers. The place isn't as packed and the fans don't dance as much.
Bluesuedegroove, a local band that plays both original and cover songs, feels that State College is definitely a cover band town. The band members, consisting of Nate Walker, Jason Spiewak, Art Armani, Stephen Bentz, and Rich Smalley, all feel that it is hard to produce original music in State College.
"People are very unforgiving in original music. People don't want to hear original music," says Walker, lead singer for the band.
That is why the band has decided to put cover songs in their set. Songs from artists such as Billy Joel, Phish, Grateful Dead, and John Mellancamp really get the crowd excited and revved up to dance, especially on weekend nights. The problem is the band doesn't necessarily like playing covers all the time but it is something they have to do.
"Bands need to pay rent, " says Bentz, guitar player for the band. "Only place to see bands is where people can drink.
"People come out to drink and want to see bands play songs they know," says Spiewak, dressed in a black shirt with his last name printed in big white letters on the front.
This is when the fans dance the most at a Bluesuedegroove show. When playing that Billy Joel tune that everybody knows so well, this is when the band sees the most action coming from the audience. However, when playing one of the their original songs, the audience quiets down, either just standing there watching or sitting there drinking, waiting for the next song that they will recognize. Once this happens, the audience is back up on their feet and ready to dance and sing again.
Cover bands seem to attract all the fans and the bars in State College realize this. Bluesuedegroove feels that, although the bars are supportive of all bands, it is the cover bands that the bars tend to schedule the most. This is because with cover bands, the bar can draw in more of a crowd and make more money off them.
Mike Caruso, owner of the Darkhorse Tavern, a place where many local bands get their start, explains why he tends to book cover bands over original bands. "People respond to cover bands around here, says Caruso. "I cater to the market."
This market refers to approximately 46,000 college students who all want to hear something that interests them. What interests most fans, however, is music that they have heard before. This doesn't leave much room for talented, young bands that are playing their own music.
Denny (who refused to give his last name), the sound man and entertainment agent of Cafe 210 West, prefers to book original bands but realizes that it's cover bands that sell. Denny has his own theory of why the audience doesn't want to hear original music. "People who are students now, grew up listening to 30 second sound bites from Sesame Street and MTV. They don't have the attention span, curiosity, or intelligence to sit down and listen to original music."
This is the attitude that most booking agents and owners of bars have when it comes to booking bands. They believe that most fans don't want to hear original bands so they continue to book cover bands, knowing the bars will make money in the process. Some bars try to balance out the entertainment, booking an original band here and there. However, many original bands are left out of the rotation. Bars need to make money and to make money, there has to be some sort of sacrifice made.
For original bands, a sacrifice must be made, too. JR and Sharon, an acoustical rock-country duo in State College, consisting of JR Mangan and Sharon Clendenning, believe that if you want to make original music, it would probably be best to leave State College and to perform elsewhere.
However, JR and Sharon notices that original bands are more popular now in State College then they have ever been. A few years ago, no one would have even thought of going to see an original band perform. However, now that original music has gained some popularity in State College, Mangan feels that there are just too many bands putting out lackluster material.
Mangan should know. He's been around State College for 13 years now, first as a solo artist and now as a duo. JR and Sharon first got together at the Art Festival three years ago and have been playing together ever since.
JR and Sharon play both cover and original songs, not just to please the crowd, but to please themselves as well. Most shows require three hours of extraneous and continuous playing with one or two ten minute breaks in between. For JR and Sharon, this could be too long a time to play only original songs. "I don't know if I be happy playing just original songs for three hours," said Mangan.
JR and Sharon are happy, however, when someone requests one of their original songs during a show. For the most part, though, the duo will mainly play covers, throwing an original song in the set every once in a while to keep the performance fresh. "We're just glad that there's room for both," says Clendenning.
This formula has turned out to work for JR and Sharon. In recent weeks, the duo has found a larger audience attending their shows during their Thursday night set at the Saloon. The place is almost as packed as the Velveeta shows there, although the audience is not as rowdy. This could be because the dance floor is filled up with tables on weeknights. Instead the audience sits and sings along, drinking and playing pool, letting the sound in the background entertain their evening.
It is these cover bands that the audience reacts to the most. However, it is not just any type of cover band. Playing cover songs isn't just going to cut it. It has to be specific cover songs that the audience recognizes and knows well enough that they can sing along to.
Take for example a band like Simple Crisis, consisting of Jeff Kukitz, Mike Dempsey, and Kevin Donelly. A fairly new band, Simple Crisis plays mainly cover songs of heavy alternative rock music. However in State College, this is not what the fans want to hear. Since this is the case, the band has found it hard to gained a regular rotation in the bars at State College. The band plays wherever they can get a gig, mainly at house parties and on occasion, at one of the bars downtown.
"It's hard to break in as a new band in State College, "says Kukitz. "In Allentown (where Kukitz is from), it was a lot easier. Up here, they need to hear a demo or need to see you live first. Bars are concerned about money. They don't want to hear new bands."
Under these pressures, Simple Crisis has tried their best to break into the music scene. Finally, they got their break. Simple Crisis was to play their first show at the Brewery. The problem was that it was during intersession when nobody was around. After this, the band would try hard to get gigs at other bars. As Kukitz puts it, "we would push for it."
Kukitz has a disliking for eighties music, which is what Velveeta plays. That is why Simple Crisis prefers to play cover songs of newer music. They do like to play original music, but just like JR and Sharon, they can't see playing three hours of original music only. They do, however, have a way of dealing with cover songs. They play covers that they like to play and not just any song that will please the audience. They want to enjoy their music also and most of the audience usually likes what they hear anyway.
Simple Crisis does not see cover bands as a bad thing. The band believes that there is an equal amount of cover and original bands in State College. It is the cover bands, however, that are gaining the most popularity. It all depends on the band's attitude and on whether they care how many fans they get. Bands that don't care do their own thing. Bands that do care will try to please the crowd. Simple Crisis thinks that both type of bands serve a purpose. "Both are needed to have some sort of a balance," Kukitz says.
Both Simple Crisis and Bluesuedegroove hope to one day rid themselves of this cover band image. Bluesuedegroove plans to put as many original songs into their show as possible. By continuously playing their original songs, they hope the audience will get to know them, like them, and possibly request them. Bluesuedegroove has successfully managed to gain the audience's interests with their original songs. The band now plans to record a CD of original songs and hopes to release it sometime at the beginning of 1998. Having sold many copies of their demo tape to fans in the past year, Bluesuedegroove has proven that original music can sell in State College, if done right.
Simple Crisis plans to continue playing music for the rest of their lives. Kukitz hopes to get a part-time job at a fast food restaurant so that he can spend his nights playing music at the bars in State College. They would eventually like to release an album of original songs, but it might take a couple of years. When writing new songs, they like to take their time and rework the songs until they get them right. For now, the band's main goals are to graduate from college and to get a steady gig at one of the bars. Until then, they will continue playing cover songs.
JR and Sharon, on the other hand, have found their calling. Mangan is 35, married and has four children. Music is already JR and Sharon's career. With a mix of original songs and cover songs, they have found a combination that has worked for them. With 13 years experience at State College under his belt, Mangan knows how to please the audience and to give them what they want. This is the key to success in State College.
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