The Henry Ford approach to new bands

​“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” – Henry Ford

So I have been rattling on and on about how cover bands are a customer service business and that people’s opinions matter and I stand by that assertion.  People typically support the things they like and they already know what those things are.

Sometimes though people don’t know what they want until someone shows them that they may like it.  Innovation and creativity are still out there in this market and there’s plenty of untapped concepts to be marketed.

My first foray into professional cover bands was my stint as a fill-in vocalist for Yacht Rock Revue.  If you haven’t heard of them or the concept it’s because they invented it.

​Basically, there was a funny mockumentary web series about how Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, etc wrote all of their hits back in the late 70’s & 80’s.  The guys in an original band called YOU (you should seriously check their stuff out) had a residency at a local club and did a one-off gig as a joke and played a bunch of smooth 70’s easy listening songs.

That joke turned into a standing room-only phenomenon and these guys quit their day jobs and now travel the world playing this music.  They got so popular that they made another band, Yacht Rock Schooner to keep up with demand.

​There are now probably hundreds of copy-cat acts around the country.  8 years ago this kind of band didn’t exist.

Another great example is Mac Sabbath:  I can’t even explain what they do you just have to watch this.

​if that’s not an original concept, I don’t know what is.

I have not had the “lighting in a bottle” idea yet like these guys have.  They went for something and it paid off in big ways.  You have to be willing to try new things and fail or you may never get out of the rut you may find yourself in.