Lords of the new church

In the Book of Bonham from the Rock ’n’ Roll Bible, it is written that one of the warning signs of the apocalypse is the rise of tribute bands. The idea that talented, grown men would forgo their own artistic endeavors to sonically and visually copy other, more successful, artists has always been a source of great debate among musicians.

To truly understand the controversy, one has to understand the difference between a tribute band and a cover band. Cover bands perform a vast repertoire of songs written and recorded by multiple artists. Usually the songs are massive hits familiar to any audience. There is no dressing up, and the band doesn’t try to mimic every aspect of the song. Cover bands can be genre-specific. For instance, on a local level there is Jodi Farrell and The Front Street Prophets, which do all blues covers, and Custom Made for the more mainstream modern R&B stuff. Every week at the Canyon Club, you can see the Spazmatics, a group that specializes in all ’80s music with members even dressing like nerds.

A tribute band differs from a cover band in that it only performs music from one artist, and members strive to copy that artist down to the look, performance style and even stage setup. Tribute bands also tend to draw inspiration from song titles when choosing a name. One example is the local Sublime tribute Emilbus (think hard for the connection), or for Journey tribs, it’s Don’t Stop Believing, one of Journey’s biggest hits and the soundtrack to Tony Soprano’s potential whacking. On a national level, maybe the best tribute name, or at least the most fitting, is the Dave Matthews Cover Band.
Who’s to blame or praise for all this? Like most things good and bad in music, point the finger at The King. Along with pioneering excessive rock star living and death, Elvis tributes (widely referred to as Elvis impersonators) ushered in the tribute era, and these days, it’s a full-fledged business.

The current popularity, though, of trib acts is downright stunning. Ventura County will play host to at least 10 different tribute bands in the next month that will pay homage to everything from Led Zeppelin to more modern artists like No Doubt.

Though the idea of a tribute band versus an original act can seem strange, if not hokey, the bands tend to include extremely talented musicians. Several Ventura County rockers are currently subsidizing their original projects with tribute bands.

One such case is guitar virtuoso and producer Armand John Anthony.

Anthony, a longtime staple in the local music scene with The Whereabouts and From Satellite, is currently a member of Le Meu Le Purr. A producer and engineer, his Satellite Studios has seen local, national and even international acts come to Ventura to work with him. So why would someone so busy with his own work also be in three tribute bands? Not so surprisingly, it started with Halloween.

“It was a joke,” says Anthony. “Let’s be Guns and Roses for Halloween. We’ll play a show. I can be my idol [Slash] for a night. It was totally just for fun. The reaction was overwhelming, though. There was an immediate demand for us to do it again. A little scary, really.”

Scary indeed. From that Halloween show, Pistols and Pilez was born, and soon after, Anthony was asked to join One More From the Road, a Lynyrd Skynyrd Tribute with local music legend Rick Hunter, who also performs in Holy Diver, a Dio Tribute. Most recently, Anthony stumbled into another tribute band for one of his all-time favorite groups: Black Sabbath.

The Sabbath tribute, Warning!, was started innocently enough. Anthony wanted to get some friends together for his birthday and do an all-Sabbath set. He enlisted two established local musicians: drummer Tony Cicero, who also plays in the Johnny Cash tribute Big River, and Jeff Hershey, who runs a popular annual Halloween Misfits tribute called Hybrid Moments. The birthday bash turned into a three-show weekend run that was the talk of the local music scene, with the band doing close to a three-hour set that covered, in amazing detail, practically all of Black Sabbath’s catalog. Lead singer Aaron Johnson went as far as dressing and acting spot-on like a drugged-out Ozzy Osbourne while he ordered drinks at Billy O’s, which was packed to capacity. Now, with only one weekend of gigs under its belt, Warning! is doing the seemingly impossible by #headlining# the Ventura Theater this weekend.

“I think it’s a sign of the times,” says Anthony. These are bands that are timeless. Nobody has been able to touch them since then,” said Anthony. “Even though some of these [original] bands are still together, they honestly don’t do it as well as some of the tribute acts. It’s like seeing a senior citizen trying to do something he did when he was in his 20s, full of cocaine and booze,” he laughs. “People are more excited to see the tributes, when it’s done right, of course. These are tough times. People want to suspend disbelief. Who wouldn’t want to see 1969-era Sabbath play Billy O’s?”

As for the critics who say tribute bands are a sellout that denies the musicians’ own passion and talent, Anthony may have the last word for all those who choose to don wigs and “trib it up.”

“We’ve all been screwed to one extent or another doing original music. It’s not making money right now. I accept that reality. I’m always going to feel the need to make original music, but I’m getting older, the economy is getting worse, and if I can make some money here and there playing music that I love, I’m fine with that.”  

Here’s a short list of upcoming performances by tribute bands in the county. Feel free to break out your fringed jackets and long wigs.

8/29 Warning! (Black Sabbath) and Holy Diver (Dio), Ventura Theatre

9/5 Bonfire (AC/DC), Canyon Club Agoura Hills

9/7 Raymond Michael (Elvis Presley), Conejo Community Park, Thousand Oaks

9/11 Fantastic Diamond (Neil Diamond), Canyon Club, Agoura Hills

9/12 Raymond Michael (Elvis Presley), Constitution Park, Camarillo

9/18 Don’t Stop Believing (Journey), Canyon Club, Agoura Hills

9/18 Queen Nation (Queen), Canyon Club, Agoura Hills

9/22 No Duh (No Doubt), Rookees, Ventura  

chris@armyoffreshmen.com