It's not unusual for a young band to start out by building up a set of songs gleaned from band members' favorite records. It's a good way to get to know one another musically and get together enough songs for gigs, while still honing your own songs.
But here in Milwaukee, where original music is often a hard sell, some bands have discovered that mixing originals and covers is the key to hometown success.
Take Crazy Man's Basement, a quartet that just released "There and Back," its first disc of 11 original songs.
"We started playing all covers," says drummer Mark Kindler. "We added a couple of acoustic-based originals in the first year and got a good response. Since writing the songs for the CD we have been playing six or seven of them at most gigs."
When the band played Summerfest this year, serving up about 25 percent originals and 75 percent covers, according to Kindler, response was good.
"Summerfest was fantastic! The crowd was bigger than expected and, according to the stage crew, even a little bigger than a typical noon slot at the Miller Stage," Kindler says. "The originals went over very well and probably helped us sell dozens of CDs and t-shirts."
In fact, Kindler says, although most of the audience may be at a Crazy Man's Basement gig to hear familiar tunes, most of the crowd is open-minded.
"Reaction has been great to the originals, but we also know that people like to hear some stuff they recognize. We're happy to mix it up."
The group -- which also includes bassist Bob Hedgcock, singer Tom Klubertanz and guitarist Andy Zietow -- formed about two years ago, cramming to get a set together for its first gig, at the Milwaukee Ale House. That meant relying heavily on covers. But, when the originals starting coming, the band wasn't necessarily eager to alter its path.
"We're happy to mix it up with a little of both," Kindler says. "When you're covering great bands like Dave Matthews, U2 and The Police there is still plenty of challenge and enjoyment in playing it right.
"We really enjoy and respect the bands we're covering so it's not one of those deals where you're playing the junk that you hate but you know 'they' want to hear. I wouldn't say that any of us are frustrated, at all, to be playing a combination of covers and originals. (These) bands ... are major influences in our own music, and it's fun to put our own spin on the stuff that motivated us to do this in the first place."
