The Great Pretenders

Be careful who you pretend to be because one day you may wake up to find that’s who you are.

--Ward Cleaver

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Pretending is a big thing in rock ‘n’ roll. Most groups at least pretend to be cool, and increasingly, many bands even pretend to be somebody else. These so-called tribute bands are everywhere, and according to John Cuda of Barra Cuda Productions, there are more than 100 tribute bands nationwide and about 40 in Southern California.

While Elvis impersonators are a mini industry unto themselves, and the Boogie Knights and their many clone bands bring back the plastic, fantastic, bombastic days of disco, most of the current tribute bands fit into the classic rock category.

Imagine your watch stopped in 1980 and the radio dial was set on KLOS when every other song was “Stairway to Heaven.”

Some of these tribute bands fill a need, considering that original artists such as Buddy Holly or Jimi Hendrix won’t be showing up to jam. But death doesn’t make the difference it used to, since labels continue to release new music by dead artists. But dead artists don’t tour; tribute bands do.

Wild Child and Morrison Hotel are a couple of Doors tribute bands. Sheer Heart Attack is a tribute to Queen. Randy Hansen spends most of the year in Europe, pretending to be Jimi Hendrix, and Cold Shot does those Texas blues in the Stevie Ray Vaughan style. Skunk Rose and Cubensis concoct endless, mindless and senseless jams for swirling Deadheads too stoned to find a Phish or a Blues Traveler gig.

Still other tribute bands emulate rockers that are still alive and well, have too much money, don’t play much or have broken up. Sticky Fingers plays Rolling Stones songs. Hotel California, no surprise here, does Eagles’ music, while Caress of Steel does love-them-or-hate-them Rush, and Power Age shrieks AC/DC songs.

The Atomic Punks bring back the David Lee Roth era of Van Halen, and Billion Dollar Babies does Alice Cooper. Infinity knows Journey, Aqualung knows Jethro Tull, Strutter struts KISS songs, and the Almost Brothers have heard the Allman Brothers before. There’s even a Partridge Family tribute band.

What does it all mean? Well, more musicians are working. On the other hand, there are fewer openings available for those playing original music. A lot of these tribute bands are busy--real busy, according to Cuda, “the King of Make Believe,” who manages several of the groups.

“I think people want to relive their childhoods. They remember songs they liked, and it takes them back to their youth. I think this whole thing started in the late ‘70s with the success of ‘Beatlemania.’ And later, when the Doors movie came out, there was a big demand for Doors music. Now, it’s up and down.”

What follows is the lowdown on three area tribute bands that re-create music by groups no longer with us. If you failed to get around to seeing the Beatles, the Doors or Led Zeppelin back then, you have two options left: albums or tribute bands.

Imagine does the Beatles; Wild Child, the Doors; and with a name like Led Zepagain, their idols are obvious. Neil Burg is Ringo, Dave Brock is Jim Morrison and Tracy Longo is Jimmy Page, and none of these guys ever saw their idols play live.

Wild Child

The Doors hit it big in 1967 with their debut album featuring frantic front man Jim Morrison groaning scary lyrics and backed by surreal music. A Bruin gone bad, Morrison, once a film student at UCLA, lived the rock star life a little too fully and died in the bathtub of a heart attack at age 27. The Doors’ performances tended to be either really good or really sloppy. Wild Child plays Doors’ music as proficiently, if not better, than the originals. And front man Dave Brock has the look, the mannerisms and the voice, plus he’s still with us.

“I was getting ready to start my last semester at Cal State Long Beach when I heard this commercial on the radio for Gazzari’s, which was having a ‘Jim Morrison Rock Opera,’ said Brock, explaining how he got involved in Pretending to be The Door. “Since I was a huge Doors fan, I had to go to that one.”

Instead of a concert, it turned out, he said, to be an audition for a Doors tribute show. Majoring in drama and marketing, Brock was more than prepared for the unreal world of real rock ‘n’ roll.

“They asked me if I was there to audition and I said ‘Um . . . OK.’ Later, they called me and told me I got the lead part. I had never been in a band before.”

That gig lasted about six months, said Brock, “but it generated a lot of press. I started getting contacted by people who wanted to do a movie on Jim Morrison, so I kept the band going to promote this movie project, and we started to gain a following. Our first promoted gig was July 3, 1986, at the Whiskey [in Hollywood]--three sold-out shows. I did get a chance to audition for Oliver Stone’s movie, but I didn’t get the part.”

So after all these years of pretending to be Jim Morrison, has Brock found that he has become Jim Morrison?

“Not at all,” he said. “I’m still alive and he ain’t. He only lasted about five years as Jim and I’ve already lasted 11 years. Jim played the part of a rock god, and it was all very exciting. Doors’ music itself is great and the lyrics are very intelligent. People can actually identify with it somehow.”

Led Zepagain

Led Zeppelin was a heavy metal band, accent on the “heavy,” with a charismatic front man in Robert Plant, a great guitar player in Jimmy Page, and they played the blues (at least on their first album) really loud. Their longevity on the radio has far outlived them as a band. If you’re the type who would rather gnaw your antenna off rather than listen to “Stairway to Heaven” again, then Ventura-based Led Zepagain probably is not for you. Tracy Longo, who teaches and fixes guitars, has Pages’ licks figured out.

“We used to be a Ventura band called Eclpse, and because our album sounded so much like Led Zeppelin, we got slammed for it,” said Longo.

Since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Eclpse added a few more vowels, accepted the inevitable and became Led Zepagain around a decade ago.

“Our first show, we opened for Wild Child at the Ventura Theatre,” said Longo. “We played there three or four times and it went really well, but they found out we were locals and tried to make us go out and sell tickets, which we refused to do.”

Generally regarded as one of the best tribute bands, Led Zepagain has trouble finding a gig close to home.

So where can they play these days? Nicholby’s? “Actually, we played there once but Nick (Taylor) said we didn’t attract any dancers,” Longo said. “We need a dive bar like the Midnight Hour. We all have day jobs now, and we turn down more gigs than we accept.”

Longo is re-creating something he never saw in the first place, but he clearly has done his homework on his favorite band.

“John Bonham [lead drummer] died on my birthday, Sept. 25, 1980, and totally ruined everything,” he said. “But I’m still a big Zephead and have over 250 bootleg tapes. I think they were the best. The best tribute is to play their music.

“I think now people are going back to what made them like this music in the first place. There’s at least one song on every album for everybody. I mean, they do blues, rock, disco, funk and country music. We can play about four hours of Led Zep music. We’re the ultimate poser band.”

Imagine

This faux Beatles band starts their show in mop tops, suits with skinny ties and Beatle boots--sort of “The Ed Sullivan Show” without Ed. There’s no left-handed bass player, the drummer’s nose is too small, but the George guy has a big ol’ guitar just like the original. Imagine has the inflections figured out, and you’ll find yourself singing along and tapping those feet. Plus you can hear them clearly, since there are not a million teenage girls screaming. And Yoko and Linda are mercifully absent.

Like the vast majority of tribute-band musicians, Neil Burg, carpet cleaner by day and Ringo by night, began as a fan of the band he came to emulate.

“I remember seeing the Beatles on ‘Ed Sullivan’ when I was a kid. I’ve been listening to them since I was 11 years old and I still am and now I’m 44,” Burg said.

“I started this band in 1989, then it took two years of auditions to find the right people, and the band got off the ground in 1991. Our first gig was at Cheers in Simi Valley. We’ve always had the best musicians, never three good guys and one bad guy, but four good guys.”

When the Fab Four burst upon the scene in the early ‘60s leading the British Invasion, parents complained about their hair, at least until the Rolling Stones showed up. Imagine follows the entire long and winding road.

“We go from “Love Me Do” to “Let It Be.” We do 60 songs and four costume changes in three sets. We’re a theater band, not a bar band,” said Burg.

So why is Beatles’ music still popular today? Why do a remake movie of “Leave It to Beaver”? The Beatles and the Beave are timeless.

“A lot of people aren’t happy with what’s being presented to them today, and they want to be entertained,” said Burg. “The people with the money today are in their 40s. The Beatles are big business again what with those anthologies last year, the video, and Paul is still around. We’re busier than we’ve ever been and we play all over the country. If it wasn’t successful, we wouldn’t be out there.”

BE THERE

Wild Child will be at the Galaxy in Santa Ana, (714) 957-0600, Sept. 19, and at Billboard Live in Hollywood, (310) 274-5800, Sept. 26.

Imagine plays every Wednesday at Borage in Calabasas, (818) 225-8090; at Volare in Northridge, (818) 831-0010, Sept. 12; at Rookie’s Sports Bar & Grill in Agoura, (818) 707-7678, Sept. 20; and at Cisco’s in Westlake, (805) 497-3959, Sept. 27.

Led Zepagain generally plays a couple times a month in the Valley and Ventura County area. For information on future gigs, call Barra Cuda Enterprises at (714) 991-5065.