Team Coverage

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 30, 2004 5:14PM

Is there a bigger double-edged sword in any live music scene than the cover band and its fraternal twin, the tribute band? You could decide to form Safety Dancers: A Tribute To Men Without Hats and though you’d still have a built-in audience most clubs (at least the ones that don’t feature a “quarter draft night”) would be reluctant to book you because no matter how hard you work you’ll still be derisively referred to as “just a cover band.” With live band karaoke now the rage, most bands are finding that they have to bring a unique spin to the artists they cover in order to separate themselves from the pack.

That’s where Tributosaurus comes in. Not content to merely ape the songs of one band, Tributosaurus becomes a new band every month. In its original incarnation, they were the Who and then evolved into The Police, Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell and the Cars among others. Rather than make the song fit the band, Tributosaurus adds instrumentation and members to re-create the sound of the band on record and favors “the hits” as well as deep cuts from a band’s catalog (when’s the last time you heard any band play The Smith’s “Vicar In A Tutu?”). They continue their 1st-Wednesday-of-the-month residency at Martyr’s tomorrow by "becoming" Paul McCartney. Don’t be fooled by Metromix though. There are two show times: 7 and 10 PM and tickets are $10.

Also, today is the last day to get free tickets to the “Wes Anderson Rocks” show on December 15th, where various local bands will be taking a break from their usual gigs to perform a tribute to the music found in the director’s fine films (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, Royal Tennenbaums and the upcoming The Life Aquatic). The catch is you’ll have to sign up for the RedEye Rewards program. But isn’t it worth it to hear a hip-hop cover of “Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard” or members of Wilco covering tunes from Bottle Rocket? Yeah, we thought so too but that didn’t stop us from signing up as “Haywood Jablome.”

UPDATE: Matt McGuire, Music Editor at Metromix dropped us a line to say that a printable ticket for the Wes Anderson show will be posted on their site tomorrow and will be available "until the bands hit the stage...and probably a few hours after too." Thanks to Matt for the information and for helping out lazy procrastinators throughout the city.