What's with all the Asheville 'tribute' concerts?
Every music obsession starts a little differently.
When Mark Casson was a 17-year-old in northern England first discovering the music of David Bowie, he knew he loved the songs, but he never expected to actually be Bowie one day.
Cassana Monje, who fell in love with the Grateful Dead when she was 13 in the mid-2000s, knew right away she wanted to be part of the music, but as a woman, she wasn't exactly an obvious standin for Jerry Garcia.
Yet, somehow, both musicians wound up singing in dedicated tribute acts, recreating beloved music from the past for an Asheville audience.
Casson is the front man for the Wham Bam Bowie Band, which takes its name from the lyrics of the 1972 song "Suffragette City." He thinks his 17-year-old self would be shocked to know he now dresses up like Bowie's iconic alter ego Ziggy Stardust in platform boots and stage makeup.
"I definitely had reservations about doing tribute band music," he says. "I always thought it was a bit cheesy to be honest, especially when I was younger. When you're in your 20s, the idea of doing that is pretty far away because you're focused on your own original stuff. As time has worn on, I became comfortable with the idea of doing it."
Cheesy or not, Asheville has an appetite for cover acts and tribute shows. Between now and August, dozens of tribute bands, local and touring, will play in Asheville, including Wham Bam Bowie Band and Monje's group, Phuncle Sam, which plays weekly shows at Asheville Music Hall in addition to its other performances.
Liz Whalen Tallent, who manages The Orange Peel, says there's a reason cover bands play so much this time of year. "The bigger bands that we fill the calendar with the rest of the year don't tour in the summer," she says. "It's a great time to fill our weekends with stuff that's really approachable that a tourist can walk by and say, 'Oh, Stevie Wonder. Oh, Rolling Stones. I know that.'"
Cover bands, including Who's Bad, a Michael Jackson tribute, and Dark Star Orchestra, a nationally touring Grateful Dead cover band that plays Pisgah Brewing in August, have sold out The Orange Peel with its capacity of 1,100 people several times. Abbey Road Live!, a Beatles tribute that returns to The Orange Peel in June, also draws big crowds.
Whalen Tallent says tribute artists are usually skilled musicians. They have to be. If they're not able to replicate the quality of the original artist, fans notice.
"It makes it really accessible for your average person to go hear Rolling Stones music for 10 bucks, whereas it's a lot more of a process and a lot more expensive to go see the actual band," she says.
For the love of live
The Grateful Dead has a storied cult following that includes nearly 500 cover bands all over the country, according to the website gratefuldeadtributebands.com, which lists each group that signs up by city and state. Monje, who sings backing and lead vocals in Phuncle Sam, depending on the song, says the music demands to be played live.
"I think it's really easy for people who haven't been to a live show — including myself — to make a judgment on it or have little interest because if you listen to a studio album, it's like, 'OK, it's fine, but I don't really get it,'" she says.
But when the music resounds from the stage, it changes, she says.
"A lot of people I think start going to Grateful Dead shows for the party, and then they end up falling in love with the music and realizing that the music is so much more than just spacey jams," she says. "The music of the Grateful Dead kind of caters to every possible situation you could ever have in your life."
Casson agrees: There's something special about seeing music played live, and many artists will never perform their hits again because they've either moved on in their careers or passed on.
"Although Bowie is still alive and recording music ... I think he's probably beyond wanting to go back and do Ziggy and Hunk Dory and all those songs," he says. "I feel like we're able to transport them through our show to ... almost what it must have been like in the early '70s."
Why don't you play your own music?
Although Casson has taken on Bowie's persona for the past three years, he does play original music. His pop band The Cheeksters has been together for 25 years. In fact, audiences at Cheeksters shows first pointed out the similarities between Casson and Bowie, in singing voice and facial features.
Casson says he's acutely aware of the ways in which Bowie's reputation outshines his own, but that's to be expected. Does he hope The Cheeksters will become as popular as Wham Bam Bowie Band — or even Bowie himself? "I'd be a liar if I said I didn't wish that, but the reality is, David Bowie's famous — very famous," he says. "The beauty of the tribute band is being able to go to every city in the world and everybody knows who David Bowie is."
Not all tribute artists play their own music. Monje had never been in a band before Phuncle Sam, and R. Scott Murray, who is hosting several tribute shows at The Altamont Theatre this summer, plays covers almost exclusively.
"Some people frown on not playing your own original music," he says. "For me, I just think it's really important to remember. Most of the people I pay tribute to have gone, and I think it's important to keep the music alive."
Without tribute shows, certain musical styles could be forgotten by all but the most studied musicians. Murray thinks it's important for audiences to understand that context, too.
His June tribute to Merle Haggard and Buck Owens won't just honor the personalities involved. It will explore the genre of country music they helped to define: the Bakersfield sound, which is known for its raw, twangy vocal guitar licks.
"It's a very specific type of sound — just a few ingredients, and they're all very important," he says. "I want to keep this stuff alive so it doesn't get forgotten. The stuff they're calling country music nowadays is not really country music for a lot of people."
Do the songs remain the same?
Every cover band has a different approach to the music it emulates. Some deviate from the original song arrangements more than others.
"I, personally, am in favor of taking liberties," says Monje. "Not all of our band members have the same view. That's one thing we can't agree on: Do we keep it strictly Grateful Dead '70s version, or do we explore some of the '80s, which is totally different, or can we just put our own spin on it?"
The band does change the vocals on some songs because Monje sings what Jerry Garcia would have sung in "High Times," "Super Cool," "Eyes of the World," "Dark Star" and others.
There was a woman in Grateful Dead for about nine years, Monje explains, so her voice isn't as out of place as people who only know Jerry Garcia's songs might assume.
The Wham Bam Bowie Band takes a stricter approach to its subject. The bandmates go to great lengths to replicate not just the David Bowie songs but also the David Bowie experience.
"Bowie always had a theatricality to his performance and his delivery," Casson says. "The other thing I wanted to do to keep this real was have everyone dress up ... For Bowie, I think, that visual aspect was very, very important, as evidenced by all the different characters, from Ziggy to Aladdin Sane through Young Americans, Thin White Duke."
The five members of the band are always on the look out for platform boots, wigs and appropriately tight pants. Casson wears stage makeup in the style of Ziggy Stardust, Bowie's most well known persona, a rock star who gets messages from outer space. He sports a glowing circle on his forehead.
Casson hasn't started emulating Bowie's most well-known look yet, the red lighting bolt face paint of Aladdin Sane. The band is working its way through Bowie's discography one album at a time. Its shows often involve playing a complete record in addition to some of the big singles from the '80s.
It hasn't gotten to Aladdin Sane yet, but it will.
A GUIDE TO THE TRIBUTES
• Free Dead Fridays with members of Phuncle Sam: Fridays (ongoing) at Asheville Music Hall.
• Amy Winehouse cover concert by The Feels: June 1 at 5 Walnut.
• MANG: A Brown Tribute to Ween: June 6 at the Grey Eagle.
• Etta James cover concert by The Feels: June 8 at 5 Walnut.
• Beck to the Future: June 12 at Asheville Music Hall.
• Grind: A Tribute to Alice in Chains: June 12 at The Orange Peel.
• Sweet Dreamers: A Tribute to Patsy Cline: June 12 at The Altamont Theatre.
• Wham Bam Bowie Band! June 13 at Pisgah Brewing.
• Abbey Road Live! June 19 at The Orange Peel.
• Live at the Fillmore: The Definitive Tribute to the Original Allman Brothers Band: June 20 at The Orange Peel.
• Welcome to Buckersfield: A Tribute to the Bakersfield Sound of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard: June 20 at The Altamont Theatre.
• Appetite for Destruction: The Ultimate Tribute to Guns N' Roses: June 27 at The Orange Peel.
• Harrah's Elvis Weekend: July 9-11 at Harrah's Cherokee Event Center.
• Natural Wonder (Stevie Wonder tribute band): July 10 at The Orange Peel.
• Holy Ghost Tent Revival covers Beck's Midnite Vultures: July 11 at The Mothlight.
• The Breakfast Club: Aug. 1 at The Orange Peel.
• Zoso: The Ultimate Led Zepplin Experience: Aug. 5 at The Orange Peel.
• Dark Star Orchestra (Grateful Dead tribute): Aug. 7 and 8 at Pisgah Brewing Outdoor Stage.
• Satisfaction: The International Rolling Stones Show: Aug. 15 at The Orange Peel.