Check out this short clip of our male lead vocalist singing a favorite dance floor filler, Dynamite by Taio Cruz! If you want to see the full video, hop on over to our videos page where you can also see videos of all of our lineups!
Check out this short clip of our male lead vocalist singing a favorite dance floor filler, Dynamite by Taio Cruz! If you want to see the full video, hop on over to our videos page where you can also see videos of all of our lineups!
Happy New Year to all of our clients past, present and future! What a year it’s been!
The CoverUps have traveled as near as Wethele Manor in Leamington Spa and as far as Harrogate International Centre in Harrogate this past year. Having been a live West Midlands band for over a decade now, you’d think we would be tired of the travel. But truth is, the band still love playing live music for weddings, parties and corporate events all over the UK. We are really looking forward to a new year full of weddings and events for all of our lineups!
We still have dates available for 2017 so if you haven’t yet received a quick quote for your event please get in touch through our contact form here.
Enjoy a fully live video below highlighting some of our favourite moments of 2016!
Happy New Year to all of our clients past, present and future! What a year it’s been! The CoverUps have traveled as near as Wethele Manor in Leamington Spa and as far as Harrogate International Centre in Harrogate this past year. Having been a live West Midlands band for over […]
Happy New Year to you all! We’ve had a hectic couple of months playing weddings, Christmas and New Year’s parties. There are exciting times ahead for the band in 2015, and watch this space as we finally get around to uploading the blogs from the last few months! Until then, check out this video of our year:
Happy New Year to you all! We’ve had a hectic couple of months playing weddings, Christmas and New Year’s parties. There are exciting times ahead for the band in 2015, and watch this space as we finally get around to uploading the blogs from the last few months! Until then, […]
It’s the band’s 3rd or 4th visit to Lainston House, which sits just outside Winchester and a stone’s throw north from Southampton. It’s a beautiful 5* hotel, oft used by football teams playing Southampton; as it was the previous year. This time the room was decked in Venetian Attire, with human statues greeting guests as they moved through to the room from the bar where they’d been having a drinks reception. As you can see from the photos, it was all very elegant!
Something For Everyone
One thing we pride ourselves on at the CoverUps is providing a diverse repertoire: something for everyone. During sound check, in which we tested the sampler with parts from Dynamite by Taio Cruz and Happy by Pharrell Williams, we were told “You know this an older audience!” Well, for a start, we’re firm believers that you’re only as old as you feel. And at that – the audience were certainly not ‘old’ in any sense, and very up for the party. This said we did spend the first set largely ‘off-list’, plucking songs from our extensive repertoire to entertain the audience with a set largely from the 60s and 70s. It’s always fun dropping in tracks we weren’t planning to play: it keeps us on our toes and the set feeling exciting!
Playing Through New Year’s
With the countdown ready, we began our second set with Van Morrison’s Brown Eye’s Girl, and extended it through to the 10s countdown! From there it was a rousing few choruses of Auld Lang Syne (our own special take on the traditional New Year’s Song) and on with the set becoming more modern as the night went on.
Fears amongst the organisers that people might not keep partying through until the early hours were proven unfounded – the dance floor packed through til 1am when we sadly had to start making our long way back home! A great start to 2015 though – check out the photos below!
It’s the band’s 3rd or 4th visit to Lainston House, which sits just outside Winchester and a stone’s throw north from Southampton. It’s a beautiful 5* hotel, oft used by football teams playing Southampton; as it was the previous year. This time the room was decked in Venetian Attire, with human […]
Back in Easter we took a trip down to the Rec House Recording Studio in Bath to record some new tracks that didn’t quite make it into our 5-piece demo late last year. Choosing which songs to record is always a tough decision, so we were really glad to get the opportunity to add these songs to the demo.
Vocal recording, mixing and production was courtesy of our good friends at Push Record.
Back in Easter we took a trip down to the Rec House Recording Studio in Bath to record some new tracks that didn’t quite make it into our 5-piece demo late last year. Choosing which songs to record is always a tough decision, so we were really glad to get the […]
Keeping our demos and repertoire bang up to date is always a challenge – but one we relish! We headed down to the Rec House Recording Studio in bath to lay down some new tunes!
Live Band
Despite all the technology, recording a live band is definitely an art rather than a science. Today we had a mission to get the instruments down to three songs. It may sound crazy, only 3 minutes a track, surely the whole set could be recorded in a day?! Well, there’s far more than meets the eye getting things to sound just so on a recording, so even drums can take all day!
Experts In Recording
Thankfully the guys at the Rec House knew exactly what they were doing, and thanks to some beautifully tuned drums, setting up took scarcely more than an hour… A couple of runs of the first track and it was time for lunch!
Through the afternoon we spent some time getting the feel of the songs just right, and once drums and bass were down to the three tracks, it was time for Gaz to step up on guitar. Mics were carefully placed in front of his beautiful fender twin, and the volume was cranked suitable to get the elegant drive the amp is so well known for.
Karaoke Tracks
By the end of the day we had the stems to what amounted to 3 Karaoke backing tracks – all the instruments, but no vocals. Vocals would be recorded another day, by the wonder of technology, closer to home at Push Record Studios in Coventry. Watch this space for the finished products – but for now, just enjoy some shots of the guys at work!
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Keeping our demos and repertoire bang up to date is always a challenge – but one we relish! We headed down to the Rec House Recording Studio in bath to lay down some new tunes! Live Band Despite all the technology, recording a live band is definitely an art rather […]
Hotel Du Vin in Cheltenham has become a regular haunt for the CoverUps on New Year’s Eve the past few years – but this year was something slightly different! There was definitely something in the air, perhaps just the communal excitement of 2012 drawing to a close; with the Olympics and Jubilee year firmly in the memories of everyone there it was about time to see this year out in style!
Exquisite Food
The Hotel Du Vin venues are renowned for their spectacular food; and our sausage and mash this year really hit the mark! Playing primarily as a wedding band, the CoverUps enjoy some wonderful food throughout the wedding season. Each live show is fuelled by a great hot meal, often a taste of the wedding breakfast – so the band are well versed in good food… though, perhaps surprisingly, quantity remains as important as quality; and this sausage and mash hit the spot on both counts!
Lively Live Band
Enough about the food – what about the show?! New Year’s Eve is all about Midnight and as such our performances always start a bit later so we can see the new year in in full flow. The first half was from around 10-11pm – leaving enough time for the guests to finish their food (sorry, food again… perhaps I’m hungry…) and get some drinks in before dancing commenced.
We had great fun throughout the first set. The soft start we usually use for a wedding was out the window and it was party tune after party tune. The 5 piece version of the band (tonight with added keys, guitar and vocals courtesy of Matt of Push Record Studios) gave the band an added versatility, taking the weight of instrumentation from our front-man and giving added interaction to the performance.
Seeing The New Year In In Style
Hotel Du Vin in Cheltenham spare no expense in giving their guests the best party of the year each December 31st. This year not only did the guests have a great night dancing away to the live band, but they were treated to a live piper too! The band counted down to the New Year with the accuracy of the internet to aid them, at which moment the piper struck up downstairs. He blasted through a great medley of well known Scottish tunes, included an instrumental of Auld Lang Syne – which the band then joined and took the guests into a rousing rendition of the New Year’s classic.
First Party Of The New Year
From the first moments of the New Year the band took the guests through over an hour of lively party classics, from up to the minute tracks like Moves Like Jagger back to awesome night finishers like Hey Jude… via, perhaps slightly surprisingly, Enter Sandman by Metallica! A guest had requested some Metallica during the interval, and it just so happened it works as a marvellous segue from 500 miles – of all tracks! It was probably the high point of the gig – certainly for metal fan Hywel on lead guitar!
Here’s to next year, when with any luck we’ll return to the hotel for more fun! Below are some shots we took at the night!
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Hotel Du Vin in Cheltenham has become a regular haunt for the CoverUps on New Year’s Eve the past few years – but this year was something slightly different! There was definitely something in the air, perhaps just the communal excitement of 2012 drawing to a close; with the Olympics […]
Something of a regular slot for the CoverUps, Cheltenham’s Hotel du Vin really know how to throw a great party! New Year’s Eve is the biggest party night of the year, and with the backdrop of one of Cheltenham’s classiest hotels the band had the ideal setting to kick into the new year in a big way.
Lively from the Start
The night for the guests always begins with a great meal – and the same was true for us too! The venue treated the band to a slap up sausage and mash, but not just any sausage an mash. This was seriously tasty, cooked to perfection with a rich gravy to die for… A tip from the inside: keep your musicians on side by serving a hearty meal! With this inside us, we were set for a great show.
The first half started around 10:30pm. Despite being filled with all manner of great food, the guests were straight to the dance floor. The bar opposite remained busy throughout the night, which I can only imagine helped a little. Toward the end of the first half we dropped a brand new track for us – Moves Like Jagger. We really felt we’d probably seen the last of Maroon 5, with This Love being on our demo for years a little else being heard by the band. Then there’s Moves Like Jagger: a dance floor filler to match the best of them! It’s a killer vocal line, with a straightforward beat and catchy arrangement. We can see this track becoming something of a regular!
Seeing the New Year In
Our break ended just before midnight to count the audience down to midnight. Singer, Mike, had a feed directly from the atomic clock, so we gave a second-accurate greeting to the new year! Out of the cheers and sound of party poppers came the sound of bagpipes. Traditional themes were riding out across the room – Auld Lang Syne and the like – as everyone wished their loved ones the best for the new year.
When the piper had finished his set, it was back to us, and dancing into the night. It’s great being a party band on such a lively night – never a quiet moment, the audience seemed to love every note – a wonderful feeling. We played to a packed dance floor way beyond the contracted time; having a great time. We capped the night off with our rendition of Don’t Look Back in Anger, as seemed fitting.
A Happy New Year from the CoverUps
So, all that remains is to wish you all a very happy new year from everyone here at CoverUps HQ. We hope to see many of you at a wedding, corporate event or birthday party during the year!
Something of a regular slot for the CoverUps, Cheltenham’s Hotel du Vin really know how to throw a great party! New Year’s Eve is the biggest party night of the year, and with the backdrop of one of Cheltenham’s classiest hotels the band had the ideal setting to kick into […]
The CoverUps love playing at the Tythe Barn. While the venue has a reputation in some circles as having a stringent sound limiter, we’ve never found this to be a problem. We’ve been back more times than we could recollect, and love each performance. As a wedding band, it’s a great place to play live. The load in is excellent, and the venue is always exceptionally well run.
The CoverUps love playing at the Tythe Barn. While the venue has a reputation in some circles as having a stringent sound limiter, we’ve never found this to be a problem. We’ve been back more times than we could recollect, and love each performance. As a wedding band, it’s a […]
