New Band - Need Songs

[Fratelli]

hey there.

ive recently started up a new band with 3 other guys i know from work and school. problem is we all listen to differnet types of music.

i was in the same situation with a previous band and things got difficult when we ended up only having about 10 songs we could agree on doing and things never really took off. we played a couple of slots in pubs and supported a band from manchester Venetia And The Voltage but all together there was only about 8-10 gigs.

this new band is better in terms of people are more willing to do other songs.

in this new band ive got a drummer who loves paramore, blink 182....
guitarist who hates emo music
singer who loves indie music such as cajun dance party, milburn and the view.
im kings of leon daft but i will play almost anything, anything but the 3 bands listed above.

ok yea i know the easy option is to say "why the hell did you even start this band then idiot?"

well i live in caithness where there are more sheep than people in the north of scotland. the population of the town is about 9000.
there is a music group and theres about 30 members, 2 original bands and about 10 bands with different members from other bands which always ends up in distaster.

therefore i found the need to start up another original band with members who could actually play.

the crowd in caithness is a mix of all ages in the pubs and its hard to keep everyone happy, someone ALWAYS asks for AC/DC, then someone asks for The Kooks, Then some country shit.

what i want to know is considering the situation, what sort of bands should we do covers of before we start writing our own stuff to keep all the members happy and intrested before the shit hits the fan again?

thanks

 

[Richard]

What you should do is get a piece of paper and pens, sit down in a circle and write down 10 songs you want to cover and pass the paper clock wise and every time it gets passed, you can cross one name out until there is one name left on each paper. Do that a few times to figure out songs people don't mind playing but this is the sort of thing you should have thought about before forming the band. If you do that, do it in silence. I've been invited before by bands to do keyboard and/or sing but I'm not going to work with people who don't want to do the songs I want because it'd get annoying.

But if you do that, you'll end up with songs that people don't mind to do since they didn't cross them off (The paper thing). You'll have to do it a few times though since you're going to want more than 1 song to cover so do it like 10 or so times.

 

[Tim]

One thing that would've helped here would be telling us how good each of the members are. What you should do, you should each brainstorm songs, and you should try playing them. If you hate how the song sounds or hate playing them, then scratch that song and move onto another song. Or you could just each come up with one song that's playable by the whole group and play that song. It's what my band does, and I actually got into a band by doing that. And if you can't decide on any songs, then just write your own stuff. You'd be amazed at how easy it actually is, and it'll be something everybody will want to play.

Do some songs everyone knows, Highway to Hell, Sweet Child O Mine, All The Small Things. Mix it up with a bit of variety to keep the band and the crowd happy. Some punk, some hard rock, some slower songs. If you all hate something then don't do it even if the crowd wants it. You just need to find your groove, and it will be easier to pick what songs to play.

And on this note, my band also needs some new songs to play. Hard rock/rock songs, like AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, or bands like Coldplay. Drummer can play most things, guitarist can play intermediate things, and some harder songs. So yeah just whatever comes to mind, if you think of anything PM me.