I do not mind admitting I am fast reaching middle age. The panic I used to constantly feel as I mourned my lost youth no longer haunts me. Putting in a fifty hour week to keep the man happy is all behind me. I have packed it all in and hit the road with my guitar strapped on, covering all the songs sung by the heroes of my youth.
Everybody in the music business these days is bemoaning its demise. Anybody who will listen gets told the story of diminishing sales and internet piracy stealing copyright fees. In fact, the internet is truly a great leveler for the entrepreneurial in spirit. It is just a new way of becoming famous and very rich quickly. The social networking sites that abound at present can catapult a relatively obscure name to stardom overnight. There is, however, still a lucrative enough side to the music business which is - the covers artist.
These days I get stressed trying to decide which shoes to wear. My only source of worry comes from breaking a string. The only person I have to answer to is me.
I can earn a little over twice as much money, before tax that is, playing three gigs a week than I used to earn working a fifty plus hour week, not including the time I sat in traffic jams. If I play more than three gigs a week I class it as overtime. The hours are only unsociable if you want to view them as such. I do not have any commitments or pressing need to be anywhere other than on stage. I prefer my new hours which allow me to sleep late. The most refreshing aspect of this existence is not having to battle against rush-hour traffic. I do not feel guilty in the least for my bohemian lifestyle or my laid back attitude to life. I am now able to pay the rent without too much effort doing what I do best. Forgive me if I enjoy myself in the process. The only difference between now and when I was taking my musical career deadly serious as a kid, is now it really is a business.
It is unbelievable how simple it was really. Myself and four like-minded friends decided to form a sixties and seventies covers band. Before too long we had sixty songs that we could perform to a more than acceptable standard. We impressed all the right people and found ourselves an agent who promptly found us all the work we could handle within a forty kilometre radius of the homestead. Sourcing all the gear including transport was the most tedious part of the process. The exciting part used to lie in discovering what kind of place we had been booked to play and what the crowd was like and were they hard to please, or would they dance to anything. The company some nights could be hard to motivate. Other nights the punters were easily excitable. Usually the more the alcohol flows the easier it becomes. As time has passed and we are returning to already visited venues there are not as many surprises, but it is still just as much fun. The crowd-pleasers are still anything by Chuck Berry, Elvis or The Beatles. As long as you are constantly prepared to add to your repertoire, especially those often requested songs, your future as an in-demand covers band will be assured.
Kevin Roache
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