Photo courtesy of The LoveMonkeys
The LoveMonkeys
During festival season Milwaukeeans cram as much fun as possible into a three-month window of opportunity. That includes everything from block parties and church festivals to ethnic festivals, the Wisconsin State Fair and Summerfest. At these events you will likely witness a crowd reliving the soundtrack of their golden era as performed by local musicians.
For many musicians, original material is the art they hope to be remembered for. But does it pay the bills?
A local musician with a lifetime in bands playing originals spent one summer as part of the crew for a busy Milwaukee cover act. That band’s leader once commented that when the conversation turns critical of cover bands, he laughs all the way to the bank.
Playing since 1967, Jason Klagstad started at bar mitzvahs with the late Howie Epstein and went on to Semi Twang, Bill Camplin, Jerry Harrison, Peter Buffett, Plumb Loco and Arroyo. He has owned music stores, coordinated festivals and worked in marketing.
He has maintained a balance of playing covers and originals. “The Beatles started out as a cover band and most orchestras today are just cover bands,” Klagstad points out.
In recent years local venues have populated their calendars with tribute acts focusing on a group or a genre. Shank Hall’s Peter Jest says that as members of nationally known bands retire or die, tribute acts became popular when fans realize they will never get to see the real thing in the flesh. He jokes how the late Mark Shurilla kept track of deceased stars and set up tribute acts. According to Jest about 20% of his club’s shows fall under the tribute category with Led Zeppelin tribute Headley Grange a good draw; The Cars, Supertramp and Fleetwood Mac acts will play in upcoming months.
Straddling art and commerce
Bassist Jack Rice and guitarist Bob Eickhoff have played in bands since high school including The Mighty Deerlick and The Carolinas. In recent years those bands slowed down and Rice found himself with New Wave appreciators Radio Radio and Eickhoff with Rolling Stones tribute act Shattered.
“It's just different to learn existing music or parts than to come up with your own,” Rice says. “In the original bands I've been in, I've been free to come up with my own basslines and vocal parts, for the most part,” he says. “With Radio Radio at least, we mostly try to hew pretty close to what the original song sounds like, but we still each bring our own spirit or personality to the song. I'm embarrassed to say I'm not real big on sitting around the house practicing the bass, so it's definitely improved my playing overall and forced me to learn things and approach music in a different way.”
Rice says Radio Radio “is much more organized and efficient than most original bands I've been in … everybody shows up to rehearsals prepared and knowing exactly what we'll be working on.”
Likewise, Eickhoff saw Shattered as an opportunity to grow as a musician. “I was never interested in the cover band aspect jumping from song to song from different artist to different artist. The tribute appealed to me, but it would have had to be the right band. I had started putting together a R.E.M. tribute and we were ready to go but it kind of fizzled after a member decided he wasn't interested anymore,” he says.
“The idea still appealed to me with the right band and when I was approached to join Shattered it was a perfect fit. It gave me a huge opportunity to grow as a guitar player learning to play in open G and E tunings which I had never done before.”
The Stones’ looseness is appealing. “The beautiful thing about The Stones is that their live versions can be dramatically different than the recorded versions and have evolved over time, so we tend to pull the best out of the different versions out there from different tours. There are also areas where they stretch out live and we do the same. We are all into vintage gear and utilize instruments from the Stones DNA—Fender amps, Gibson and Fender guitars.”
A hybrid model
After 26 years, Milwaukee’s Zappafest is America’s longest running tribute to the music of Frank Zappa. Local band Gozortenplat has anchored the festivities, has performed in Germany and will soon head to Las Vegas. What sets Gozortenplat apart is drafting Zappa-band vocalists Ike Willis and Ray White to front the group for the Zappafest shows. It’s like throwing a knuckleball at all the legacy acts touring with one original member or the cousin of the original singer.
Zappafest is also notable for offering an opening set to The Mirror Men, a local group performing material by Zappa’s teenage friend Captain Beefheart.
Brian Wurch released an album of original material and toured Europe the Psycho Bunnies. These days the vocalist-guitarist leads The Falcons, a cover band that haunts suburban VFW halls. The Falcons formed when Wurch was booked for a David Bowie tribute, The Spiders from Milwaukee, at Legion Post 449. When he blew out his voice in rehearsals he called in some favors “slapped together a night of English Invasion. Kept getting booked monthly there for eight years,” he says.
That pesky music degree
Eli Holman is classically trained and started playing jazz at Roosevelt Middle School before getting a music degree at Oberlin College. He considered working as a professional musician but decided it was easier to make a career in tech. “I wouldn’t end up burning myself out on something I loved,” he says.
He joined the Love Monkey nearly 10 years ago. He says he was friendly with the band because he had been playing Latin jazz with Love Monkeys’ drummer Carlos Adames in the Carlos Adames Group and was excited to have a chance to join them. “I think the sheer size of the repertoire that the band can conjure up at a moment’s notice is pretty incredible, and after nearly 10 years with the band I feel like John Hauser can still break into something I’ve never heard before but everyone else seems to know,” he says. “I think it was also surprising how much opportunity there has been for improvisation and general experimentation. It sometimes feels more like a jam band than a cover band.”
Holman also addresses the financial reality of playing music. “The Monkeys play 30 times or so in a year and I earn a fixed amount per show so it’s very consistent. I usually play more like 8-10 shows a year with the Carlos Adames Group but they tend to be more like concerts with money coming from ticket sales or the door which can vary. The truth is though, it’s nearly impossible to support yourself from gigging alone as a local act in a city the size of Milwaukee so I think it’s more about what you enjoy!”
Familiar faces
The 5 Card Studs have played in the area of 2,000 shows in the past 29 years. “We’re all pretty proud of it. And it’s still fun and a very good paycheck,” says guitarist Jeff Benske. Like Jason Klagstad before him, Benske spends his 9-5 at his music shop Top Shelf Guitars in Bay View.
Members of the Studs cut their teeth in original bands like Loyal Order of Water Buffalo, Chief and Johnny and the Losers playing at long gone clubs like The Boardwalk and The Unicorn.
The Studs found a way to stand out early on. “Music for sexy people, by sexy people,” was the conceit, along with sly alter egos and stage names. But a carefully curated set list of top 40 AM gold nuggets dug deeper and proved more rewarding than standard cover-fare. The group was formed on a lark and managed to weave a particular schtick—it was a joke, but everybody got the joke.
“I never thought that I’d ever be in a cover band. The thought of doing it never crossed my mind,” Benske says. “I wanted to play original music. There’s nothing wrong with playing covers if that’s what you decide to do, but I can’t recall a cover band that was really great from back in the day because I never paid any attention to them.”
He recalls the origin. “We didn’t do it for the money. Mike Eitel needed a lounge band for New Year’s Eve at the Nomad in 1995 so he asked Paul Jonas, who worked for him at the time, to see if he could throw something together.” Around 2000 the band began making money. We were all still playing original music, so it created an artistic conflict of interest. Art vs. money.
“We were so brow bashed by not getting paid for all of those years, that when we started getting real money, it was hard to pass up,” he recalls. “The plus side was The Studs was our idea, we were very different from other cover bands. We were so bad that it was good. I don’t believe there was a cover band that did what we did. It was an original band from that perspective. The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra is a popular cover band if you want to go that route.”
Milwaukee has produced a lot of great original bands, but there’s no money in it, he says. “If I recall correctly, the Loyal Order of Water Buffalo would be pretty ecstatic over making $350 at the door and then you pay the other band half and split the $175 or put it in the band kitty. And then there were the $25 dollar nights.”
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He considers himself lucky to have experienced both sides. “I miss the creative aspect of original music, and maybe I’ll do it again someday,” he says. “Who knows maybe 60 will be the new 20.”
For nearly 25 years and over 1,500 performances Chris Tishler, per his nom de rocke Cesar Palace, fronted the Studs. In 2021Tishler released the album Reach for the Sun as a solo artist. Referring to the Studs he says, “For me personally, all of the members of the cover band that I was in had stage names and played/portrayed certain ‘characters.’ I was the loungey/flirty/sleazy frontman guy, using catch phrases and had to be in character all the time.”
When the Studs got established, Tishler says, the 80-100 gigs a year “was definitely a nice second income.” On the flipside, with original bands he says “some venues will offer a flat amount, some do a guarantee vs the door, and a few don't do any at all and even then maybe have a tip jar or whatever. It’s been varied, but one can always incorporate the ‘labor of love’ aspect as being kind of an underlying unwritten rule in being in an original band.”
Any regrets about stepping away from the Studs? “I don't do ‘regret.’ It's a waste of one's time.”
Matt Liban takes his view from different angles. Aside from playing in the Studs, he has played originals, played with top blues players, played studio gigs and taught music. His dad, Jim Liban, offered Matt a first-hand look at what the life of a musician entailed.
“Milwaukee has always had popular cover bands. All of the festivals and community concerts as well as bars want to get the masses to buy drinks,” he says. “It’s the least common denominator for an audience, they want what’s familiar and/or nostalgia for a more innocent time in their lives.” He recalls the Studs have played both wedding and divorce parties for the same couple.
With original bands the audiences seem more in tune with what’s going on musically, “which asks a lot of the listener. In the ‘90s and early 2000s we had definite scenes or cliques that would catch the local, original bands. We were young, we would drink and support other bands in the community and could stay out late.”
There are certain audiences that expect a party, a good time; those are the folks who attend cover band shows. “Once again, they know what they’re going to get. The original band audience is possibly more open to taking chances with what they’ll receive-good and bad,” he observes.
