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Underground > Radio & Music >

Bands that tour without all the members...

11:22 / 09.03.06

I was reading that New Pornographers have a different line up for touring than they do recording- with a different female vocalist (not sure of names) has anyone seen them? Is it as irritating as it sounds? Isobel Campbell has just made a record with Mark Laneghan- but Lanaghan isn't on the tour to support the record- these duties fall on Eugene Kelly from the vaselines- not a bad replacement but not the record that's being promoted either.

The other band that seem to do this are Broken social scene with Leslie Feists vocals replaced by another singer. Again- its going to be hard, as I know they're a collective and Feist's priority is probably towards her solo stuff. They were after all amazing live- but a little part of me was annoyed that the 'proper' band weren't there.

Obviously the first person to do this was Brian Wilson- with the Beach boys touring without him- kind of forgivable given his fragile state of mind but do you feel cheated when you've forked out your buck only to confronted with an imposter?

Obviously if we have a guest singer on a track then the band need to work a way around this, Gail Ann Dorsey has made Freddie Mercury's part on 'Under Pressure' her own and is certainly understandable.

I guess it can add to the charm of the live experience- a reworking of a familiar record is often fun- but where does the line get drawn...

anyone got any thoughts on this?

03:08 / 10.03.06

Well, with the New Pornographers, it's a super-group of Canadian indie artists. A lot of them come from other still active bands, including the female vocalist Neko Case. She recently released a solo album and is currently promoting that record; she has no time to help the New Pornographers. They recently played a show in my hometown not two weeks ago and most of my spies there reported a satisfactory performance, if not a good one.

04:14 / 10.03.06

I saw The New Pornographers with the alternate singer last week and it was a really good show, but her vocals certainly don't match Neko Case's. They didn't shy away from the Neko heavy songs, but on stuff like "The Rules Have Changed" or "Mass Romantic," there was something lacking. That said, I would still consider it a worthwhile live experience, A.C. Newman seems to be the core of the band, and he was there, so it's not like a New Pornos tribute band or anything. But, I'd still love to see the whole lineup together.

14:24 / 13.03.06

Soooo where do the pop kids stand on the ever changing face of the Sugababes now that Mutya has left will Haus or Flyboy still be queueing up at stargreen for tickets- or has it gone too far now only one 'original' member of the three piece remains?

The band that made the name no longer exists but the brand still does- so are we heading towards Japan's J-pop and 'Morning Musume' a pop group that's constantly evolving with ever changing members 'graduating' from the band to be replaced by new younger models?

12:26 / 20.03.06

Anybody out there in the music forum care to discuss....

Should queen have toured with the bloke from Free (and billed themselves as queen)? Was there any point to Van Halen once David Lee Roth left? The INX's search for a star series?

This is a topic that surely people should have some opinion on?

c'mon anybody on barbelith want to talk music?

15:34 / 20.03.06

That brings up a neat question.

What about AC/DC? Bon Scott died in - what? - 1980 and Brian Johnson replaced him with the album Back in Black, an album which frequently tops lists of greatest of all time. It is often considered the greatest AC/DC album, and it is without the presence of a founding member. When I was younger, I thought Brian Johnson was the original singer.... I think AC/DC did pretty darn well without Bon Scott. There are purists out there.

It doesn't bother me that Paul Rodgers replaced Freddie Mercury in Queen. Rodgers has a powerful voice, even still, and has a pretty decent back catalogue of hits to his name. Who can't sing the chorus to "All Right Now"?

And with another singer fronting the band, it reminds me again and again of Mercury's incredible talent and voice. It is a tragedy that he passed away. However, the rest of the band has not. They have a desire to give to the audience their music. They have that itch to perform even without their frontman. (Dare I say - they also have a responsibility to the audience to perform)

We shouldn't fault Queen or AC/DC for choosing to move on with their lives and their careers. It doesn't bother me that large (figuratively and numerically) bands should tour without every single one of their members.

(The old axe question. If your dad gives you an axe, and the handle breaks, you replace the handle. Then the axehead breaks and you replace the head. Is it still the axe your father gave you?)

On the other hand, when the drummer for Led Zeppelin died, the remaining members disbanded, saying that without John Bonham, there is no Zep. Good for them, I guess. It's too bad that Page and Plant toured under Page and Plant, and did not invite John Paul Jones for anything. I saw an interview with Jones in which he complained that Page and Plant should not have called their project "No Quarter," considering that that song was Jones' "showcase" for his skills.

17:01 / 20.03.06

i would make a distinction between the respective post-death-of-frontman career paths taken by ac/dc and queen.

ac/dc, as you say, moved on with their lives and careers. recruiting a new singer they continued to produce new material which (for a time at least) equalled their previous output, maybe even bettered it.

queen seem to me to have progressed more down the inxs cabaret /self-parody route, essentially becoming a tribute band to themselves.

you could argue that they have a duty to take their music to their fans, but if no new material of note is being produced, what's the point?
yeah, i'm sure the fans have a good time, but what the fuck do they know?

17:17 / 20.03.06

I completely agree with you about ACDC- of course they should have carried on- they made some more great music- I also have a record by 'The Spiders from Mars' no Bowie or Rono on it- guess what its shit. I guess with the Queen thing they were being nothing other than honest when they advertised themselves- and as you said were filling a demand.

What about Sugababes- who i mentioned further upthread, who it seems are less of a band and more of a brand with 2/3 of the original band no longer there.

It's innevitable that bands will loose members/ change line-ups- i guess it starts to annoy me more when singers leave- as the 'voice' it seems is a more unique instrument but (yes i know i'm being facetious and some musicians are irreplaceable) a good session musicians can replace many a missing instrument such as a guitar etc.

It seems like in many other forms of consumables the customer is becoming brand loyal towards music- whether conciously aware of it or not- the sugababes are still the sugababes cos the record sleeve/ label says so.... something that we have had hinted at in the past with the attempted S-club branding- which while moderately succesful never really spread from the 7 to the juniors in the way they probably hoped.

21:03 / 20.03.06

queen seem to me to have progressed more down the inxs cabaret /self-parody route, essentially becoming a tribute band to themselves.

While I agree with your point, I disagree with the details. Quality aside, INXS has produced an album worth of new material with their new singer.

08:11 / 21.03.06

Buuut is it really an inxs album- without the key member- maybe a more honest approach would be something like Tina Weymouth, Jerry Harrison & Chris Frantz calling themselves 'The Heads' as David Byrne didn't want to work with them any more. I guess time will tell.

Thinking further on the reasons why some bands can more easily change vocalists- i guess it seems easier if the band are also part of the brand- too me AC/DC isn't Bon Scott or Brian Johnson- its Angus Young & shorts- where Van Halen lost David Lee Roth- they had Eddie Van Halen

Now the INXS brand to me (i'm no fan- just an observer so correct me if i'm wrong) was Michael Hutchins- videos often just featured him and beautiful girls- imagine an ACDC video without Angus Young!

12:55 / 21.03.06

Buuut is it really an inxs album- without the key member

Again. I agree with the point, but not the details. Michael Hutchence may have been the frontman, but he certainly was not the main songwriter of the group. Certainly on "Kick," he had co-writing credits on most of the songs but Andrew Farriss was and is the primary songwriter, especially in the later albums.

13:32 / 21.03.06

I'm not talking about songwriters- but the 'brand' ie what is recognisable about INXS without hutchins- It may not be fair or even a realistic expectation- but when the bands identity is hung largely on one person then when they are no longer in the band then it becomes unrecognisable. INXS used hutchins as the poster boy- as the face- and identity of INXS- it certainly takes a very loyal fan to see through this.

When Atomic Kitten decided that they no longer needed the svengali dude from OMD writing their songs nobody noticed - because the 'brand' was 3 girls from liverpool- not the guy writing the songs.

14:09 / 21.03.06

Hmm. Fair enough.

14:11 / 21.03.06

Yeah, for my money, the actual INXS sound was all about the Farris brothers, although they would never have made it as far as they did without their very pretty lead singer. I'm curious about the new INXS. I like the "Pretty Vegas" song quite a bit, but haven't heard the rest of the album.

I saw The New Pornographers on their current tour and thought Carl Newman's niece did a really excellent job taking Neko Case's vocals. Sure, I would have liked to have heard Neko up there with them, but I'm really happy she's keeping the emphasis on her own music rather than TNP. She's just so damn good.

And I actually like Belle & Sebastian better without Isobel Campbell. Nothing against her (her solo stuff is great), I just lovelovelove the direction that Stevie Jackson has been able to push the band without her there.

But all that said, I still turned down free tickets to see Queen last month. Because as good a guitarist as Brian May is, the Queen experience is all about Freddie and his superhuman level of charisma and style.

15:27 / 21.03.06

I wonder if we forgive indie bands a bit more because the sell is more on the band than the individual- most of the time Isobel Campbell was in Belle & Sebastian they remained fairly anonymous- and they only really seemed to have started touring 'properly' in the last few years. So i didn't care either way when she left.

While on the subject of Isobel campbell- has anyone seen her on tour? How does it work? My favourite tracks on the album have tended to be Laneghan led like deus ibi est and Ballad of Broken Seas- which sounds like a missing Nick Cave or Tindersticks song but difficult to replicate if the main singer isn't there...

16:41 / 21.03.06

I wonder if we forgive indie bands a bit more because the sell is more on the band than the individual

There's probably some truth to that. But there are plenty of indie bands that I can't imagine seeing without their key member (imagine Rilo Kiley without Jenny Lewis for example).

17:42 / 21.03.06

(imagine Rilo Kiley without Jenny Lewis for example)

I believe they call themselves The Elected, and their second album was released this year on the Sub Pop. The question is whether or not they consider themselves a whole new band, or a side project to the main project Rilo Kiley.

18:15 / 21.03.06

i'm sure i remember hearing about a brazilian boy band who replaced its members on reaching the age of 18 ... LIVE ON STAGE!

the offending teen would stand on a platform, waving to the crowd and be lowered out of sight, and in his place up would arise a fresh-faced ten year old replacement, also waving!

can anyone else confirm at least having heard this story?
maybe i dreamt it, in which case a long talk with mum and dad could be on the cards...

19:06 / 21.03.06

I believe they call themselves The Elected, and their second album was released this year on the Sub Pop.

Wow, I totally missed that offshoot. I'll check them out. With any luck, I'll like them and have to eat my words.

20:49 / 21.03.06

I hope you like them. I certainly do. They have a nice lackadaisical (sp?) style. Songs meander in a good way. Like you're sitting on the porch or something.

praricac: are you thinking of Menudo? With Ricky Martin as a former member?

21:27 / 21.03.06

yes, it must be menudo!
mind now at ease, cheers m

02:58 / 22.03.06

Never mind memebers dying, it can be annoying enough when bands continue to tour without releasing new material... like The Who, Queen, etc.

The-band-formerly-known-as 'The Doors of the 21st Century' at least had great entertainment value. Come see The Doors! With Ian Astbury singing! I only wish tickets weren't $40 or I probably would have gone to that. I remember that The Doors actually tried making post-Morrison albums, but they just didn't sell and they gave up...

The worst of the lot are ones I've heard about (but may not be true) like Lynyrd Skynyrd and Steppenwolf, who contain maybe one original member at the most, and sometimes just 'the guy who played guitar on that one album' is fronting the band...

It's too bad that Page and Plant toured under Page and Plant, and did not invite John Paul Jones for anything

I remember hearing that John Paul Jones was invited to join Page & Plant, but refused.

12:18 / 22.03.06

All this talk is making me want to read "Eddie and the Cruisers" again.

13:04 / 22.03.06

The-band-formerly-known-as 'The Doors of the 21st Century' at least had great entertainment value. Come see The Doors! With Ian Astbury singing! I only wish tickets weren't $40 or I probably would have gone to that. I remember that The Doors actually tried making post-Morrison albums, but they just didn't sell and they gave up...

I have a bootleg DVD that my dad gave me, even though I have no interest in them at all (full disclosure: I don't like the Doors for a myriad of reasons). I watched the more famous tunes and concluded that Ian Astbury was doing a fine job. On the whole, however, it really felt fake and plastic, like a really tight tribute fan.

On a related note, what do people think of the rumours of Maynard James Keenan singing for Alice in Chains? MJK played a benefit concert with AIC and sang a couple tunes. Now the rumours are swirling that MJK will actually tour with AIC after the new Tool tour. [Squeeeee!] This would be something I would really really want to go see. Even though MJK has a world's-apart voice from Layne Staley, it would still be hugely entertaining.

13:35 / 22.03.06

What's the general opinion on tribute bands?

I saw the Bootleg Beatles about 10 years ago in the acoustic tent at Glastonbury- they kept changing their outfits and backdrops going from loveable mop tops to beardy hippys through the course of the set- rather good it was too.

However the idea of going to see tributes out of the festival circuit and shelling out cash for em isn't something i want to do.

How do people feel about Brian Wilson touring as 'Brian wilson' given that effectively he was the 'Beach Boys'- on record at least?

I guess the other extreme is when members of bands go solo but don't acknowledge their back catalogue- after seeing Stephen Malkmus's first solo show in the UK about 5 years ago i swore i'd never see him again- no pavement numbers and somehow he had gone from being a member of one of the most exciting bands ever live- to dull dull dull. Made me realise that despite all the press Malkmus was never the 'frontman' of pavement- they were definitely a band that were much more than one members songs/ vocals etc.