As the lead singer-guitarist of the Tom Petty tribute act Breakdown, Scott Blackwell admits to leaving a few fans heartbroken.
After performing as part of the players’ parade at Glendale’s Westgate Entertainment District during the Super Bowl XLII festivities in 2008, Blackwell was approached by an overzealous Petty fan.
“‘Man, you’re great,’” the man gushed. “‘I saw you in Cincinnati back in ’79.’”
Breakdown, which honors the legacy of Tom Petty, plays tribute band double duty by also paying homage to Rob Zombie in AstroCreep2000.
Blackwell—with his Petty-esque poker-straight hair, square sunglasses and wide smile—gently conveyed the news to the concert goer that he was 8 years old in 1979 and had never been to Cincinnati in his life.
“‘I’m an impersonator,’” Blackwell informed him and was rewarded with a “you-just-crushed-my-world” look in response.
Breakdown, whose afore-mentioned gig was the same weekend that the “real” Petty performed during the Super Bowl’s halftime show, is one of a slew of tribute acts—don’t call them “cover bands”—around the Valley, paying homage to their celebrity doppelgangers and not-so-similar-looking musicians.
Blackwell may resemble Petty, but he doesn’t look a thing like Rob Zombie. That hasn’t stopped him and his quintet from also imitating the musician/horror-movie maven in AstroCreep2000, another of Blackwell’s projects.
“It works perfectly for us,” says Eric Garcia, who plays the part of Zombie and straps on a guitar for Breakdown. “The guitar player for the Zombie tribute is the Tom Petty (character). The singer for Zombie is the Mike Campbell (character), the (Heartbreakers’) guitar player. We just changed instruments. We become that person as much as possible to try and convey the real experience.
“We used to throw a few dead babies (dolls) out on the stage,” Garcia explains. “Now we have a full (set) behind us. We have quite a bit more in staging and costumes as well. As the band evolved, so did we. White Zombie didn’t do much with costuming, but Rob Zombie does. We’re more in the era of (the song) ‘Dragula.’”
Honing in on a band’s particular era is a popular move. B/S was an AC/DC tribute band that celebrated the Bon Scott era. The first time B/S bassist Tom Tindale heard singer Kyran Brennan imitate Scott, he was blown away.
“Sometimes I would hear some AC/DC songs and I couldn’t tell if it was us or them,” Tindale says. “It was that close.
“The singer did an incredible Bon Scott. The first time I ever saw him do Bon Scott, it sent a shiver down my spine. I was, like, ‘Oh my God.’”
B/S, which ended its eight-year hold on AC/DC when Brennan left the band because of a work conflict earlier this year, rehearsed for about a year, memorizing every nuance and idiosyncrasy of the Australian hard-rock heroes before hitting the stage.
For eight years, B/S performed Bon Scott-era AC/DC music before calling it quits earlier this year.
“We got our hands on every bootleg, live thing, odd recording that we could,” Tindale says. “Everybody did their homework. Everybody sat and watched a ton of videos for the first three or four months. We played the same 30 songs for eight years. It got to the point where it was automatic.”
Like Breakdown and B/S, Michael Buble impersonator Scott Keo did his due diligence. When Keo heard Buble’s song “Home” for the first time, he knew he was on to something special.
“It just clicked,” Keo says. “I’ve done bands. I was a one-man band. I was a wedding DJ for a while. I’ve been in entertainment my whole life. I never did a tribute. I never knew I sounded like someone until I heard Buble. It changed everything for me.”
Now Keo travels throughout North America performing as the Canadian pop star. He’s spending the next two months in Branson, Missouri, crooning for the flocks of tourists who head to the Show-Me State’s entertainment Mecca.
Successful Venture
Terry Davies knows the business well. Not only does he represent tribute acts via his TAD Management booking agency, he performs in such shows as “The Piano Man: The Music of Billy Joel and Elton John” and the group December ’63, a spin on Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Music is a family affair for Davies, whose wife, Anne, and son, Nick, also perform in ABBA Fab.
He and Anne founded TAD six years ago. Their success is a testament to the popularity of tribute acts.
“We’re growing quicker than I can keep up with on my own,” Davies says. “We’re adding staff all the time. It’s great.”
Unlike some performers who pull off the look but not the music, the Davies strive to find the right balance in their acts.
“We don’t try to be the band,” says Anne Davies. “A lot of them look exactly like them—even fake the accents. We keep it a tribute to the music. All the music arrangements are exactly as fans would have heard them in the ’70s for ABBA. We keep the costumes as close to the originals as possible. We just bring them up a little bit and bling them. We go out and have fun and make sure it’s infectious. We want fans to have their money’s worth.”
Tribute acts are successful, Terry Davies says, because ticket prices for the real deals are pricey. For roughly $20, fans can see the next-best thing.
Davies explains that concert-goers 35 and older want to see their favorite bands, but they don’t want to pay $200 a ticket. On the other side are once-popular bands that no longer perform, like ABBA and The Beatles, and tribute bands are like time machines for their deprived fans.
Scott Keo, who performs as a tribute act to Michael Buble, says that it’s important to be yourself or you lose your soul. If you do, your act comes off as hollow.
Then there are the new tributes popping up because certain music has been revived through musicals and movies—case in point, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
Terry Davies says the tribute market hasn’t hit its peak yet. Cirque du Soleil shows were all the rage in Vegas, but that’s slowly giving way to tribute acts.
“I think it’s in its early stages,” he says. “The more bands fall away, the more tribute acts there will be to fill the void.”
However, some bands perform concurrently with their peers. The Davies family founded ABBA Fab to satisfy fans’ yearning to hear music from the Swedish pop act, and December ’63 was inspired by Valli’s success with the “Jersey Boys” film and musical.
“It was a really good show to throw together at this moment,” says Rhys Gilyeat, a member of December ’63, along with Nick Davies, Matt Bedsole and Jesse Berger. “The musical has gained momentum ever since it first came out.”
Sitting backstage at Wild Horse Pass and Casino in Chandler, December ’63’s singers say that they joined the band because Valli’s sound is timeless.
“Everybody loves the music,” Berger says, “even if they don’t know the band in its entirety.”
But December ’63 puts a “little twist” on the show, performing a concert re-creation.
“We don’t actually play the characters in the group,” Berger explains. “We sing the songs, and we put our own personalities in it. We put a concert on for you. We tell bits and pieces about Frankie Valli and his life so you understand who he was and where they came from.”
Cover Band vs. Tribute Acts
Call any of these acts a “cover band,” and you’re bound to be chewed out.
“Cover bands are a dime a dozen,” says Tindale. “You can only have so many bands out there playing ‘Brown Eyed Girl.’ Tribute bands fit a really good niche. We got better shows than we had as a cover band and didn’t have the pressure of being in an all-original band.”
December ‘63—from left, Rhys Gilyeat, Nick Davies, Matt Bedsole and Jesse Berger—played a nearly sold-out show at Wild Horse Pass Resort and Casino in August. The quartet recreates a classic Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons concert experience. Photo by Kimberly Carrillo
B/S has enjoyed a chunk of success, headlining the Marquee in Tempe two to three times a year, pulling in 900 fans per gig. One of the band’s biggest shows was at a NASCAR race in front of 6,000 people. The same evening, however, only 60 people showed up to see the guys sing in Tucson.
“We had a ton of great experiences, though,” Tindale says. “You take your favorite hobby on the road, head out for two to three days with your friends. You do what you love to do. All expenses are paid. You have $700, $800 in your pocket at the end of the weekend. Geez, that’s terrible.”
Keo says jokingly that there are a few benefits to performing in a tribute act, namely ticket-holders sometimes come in with “low expectations.”
“In a sense, that’s kind of good because it’s easy to impress someone when they come in with low expectations. The challenge is to convert that into your own style,” he says.
He admits to sneaking in a few original songs during his Buble tribute.
“You have to be yourself. If you’re just a ‘tribute,’ you’ll lose your soul. You’ll lose yourself. It’s shallow and kind of hollow. The challenge is to keep yourself in the tribute enough that you’re having fun. You have to show enough of you that you have a connection with the audience.”
The Real Thing
Most of the artists interviewed hadn’t met their heroes, but Keo came very close to shaking hands with Buble.
“I met Alan Chang, his piano player and band director,” he says. “I was supposed to meet Michael in Vegas but he got pulled away for an interview. We just didn’t connect. I was so close.”
Keo explains he’s on Buble’s “radar,” as the two have a mutual friend. He says that he and Buble are hoping to work on a project together.
“He’s a cool cat,” Keo says of Buble’s reputation. “He’s not above us. He’s a son of a fisherman. He’s just a riot. He’s hilarious. He’s an entertainer. He’s many elements that I think I am. It wasn’t hard to jump into doing this. It was second nature.”
Acts like Zombie, Buble and Petty are always evolving, and that keeps AstroCreep2000, Keo and Breakdown on their toes.
“I have to learn all new material,” Keo says. “We get to do some fresh stuff. Elvis tribute artists wish they could come up with some new stuff.”