Fantastic Fakes!

Read and listen. Fantastic Fakes!

What is a tribute band? Well, it’s an unknown band which imitates a famous pop music band. There are many singers and musicians who imitate individual rock stars, too.

So, who are the most popular bands for imitation? Unsurprisingly, there are lots of Beatles tribute bands – The Plastic Beatles, The Bogus Beatles, The Baetles – and the Rolling Stones have also got several tribute bands – The Counterfeit Stones, Rolling Stoned, The 21st Century Stones.

But people don’t copy only the great historic rock bands and singers. Popular new groups have got tribute bands, too. Here are some of them:

Coolplayers Yes, this is obviously a tribute band of the great British band, Coldplay. The tribute band come from Yarmouth, on the east coast of the UK.

New Horizons Digital 1 • Unit 3 pp.48–49 © Oxford University Press PHOTOCOPIABLE Their first gig was in October 2003, and the members are all enthusiastic Coldplay fans: Wayne Smith, 18 – vocals, keyboards and guitar; Guy Dobson, 16 – bass guitar; Jim Fenton, 20 – lead guitar; Neil Travis, 17 – drums; Tracy Cook, 18 – strings and backing vocals. They are good musicians and believe that the quality of their performances is the same as their heroes’, Coldplay!

Elvis Presley Singer Dave Edmonds is only 20 years old but he is a big fan of ‘The King’ and can imitate his voice and mannerisms perfectly. He comes from Liverpool, where he sings in a large number of clubs and pubs on Friday and Saturday nights.

He isn’t a professional musician, and he works as a mechanic in a garage during the day, but he’s a real professional on stage!

Mean Day This is a tribute band to the punk legends, Green Day. The band play songs from the American Idiot album, and classics such as, Basket Case, She, Welcome To Paradise and Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life).

There are three members in the band, and they are all very good musicians. Tom Edwards, 25, plays the drums, the accordion and the guitar. Will Taylor, 22, plays the guitar, the harmonica, the drums and the piano, and is the band’s singer. Otis Redmond, 28, plays the bass and the drums. Tom and Will come from Leeds and Otis is from Newcastle, but the band mainly perform in Leeds.

New Horizons Digital 1 • Unit 3 pp.48–49 © Oxford University Press PHOTOCOPIABLE Madonna Tribute artist Linda Connolly is a great singer with a fantastic voice. She looks just like America’s favourite singer and she can perform just like her, too. Linda sings in different cities all over the UK, and she’s sometimes on TV. She’s 22 years old and comes from Exeter, in the south-west of England, but she lives in London now.