Jul 012021
 
av undercover

Anyone who was paying attention to cover songs a decade ago will remember The A.V. Club’s “Undercover” series. In the vein of the BBC Live Lounge and Triple J Like a Version, the entertainment web site would bring bands into their Chicago offices to cover a song. The concept, though, was the site started with a masters list of songs and the band had to pick one. The later they came in, the fewer song choices remained. It went on for years and the covers were ubiquitous (we must have posted a million of ’em). Practically every indie band of the era stopped by (many several times), and they often delivered something great. Continue reading »

Nov 022016
 

Welcome to Cover Me Q&A, where we take your questions about cover songs and answer them to the best of our ability.

Here at Cover Me Q&A, we’ll be taking questions about cover songs and giving as many different answers as we can. This will give us a chance to hold forth on covers we might not otherwise get to talk about, to give Cover Me readers a chance to learn more about individual staffers’ tastes and writing styles, and to provide an opportunity for some back-and-forth, as we’ll be taking requests (learn how to do so at feature’s end).

Today’s question, from Cover Me staffer Mike Misch: What cover song makes you laugh?
Continue reading »

Jan 252013
 

A.V. Undercover from the A.V. Club has a very simple equation: 25 songs+25 artists= 25 unique covers. As each band enters the studio they choose from the remaining songs, covering them faithfully, or more often, creatively. The results speak for themselves over the years, from GWAR being stuck with Kansas‘ “Carry on My Wayward Son,” to Iron & Wine‘s version of George Michael‘s “One More Try,” to They Might Be Giants including the staff of the A.V. Club to join in on Chumbawamba‘s “Tubthumping.” Continue reading »

Oct 112012
 

The AV Club in Chicago admits to catching flack every now and then for only featuring “small indie bands.”  These small indie bands usually have a fun time in the AV Sessions (we just saw Calexico do Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone“) but no one will ever be able to top alt-metal monsters GWAR and their take on Kansas’ “Carry On My Wayward Son.” Continue reading »