When she heard the familiar voice of one of rock music’s most recognizable singers during a recent Sunday afternoon concert at a park in La Cañada Flintridge, Sue Lindstrom wasted no time getting off her lawn chair to charge the stage.
The La Crescenta resident had seen Creedence Clearwater Revival perform in Detroit in the 1970s when she was 18 but admits she doesn’t remember much of the show. This time, she was determined to take it all in.
But the show wasn’t a long-awaited reunion of the rock group with lead singer John Fogerty performing at a small city park for the lucky 400 or so people who attended.
The concert was a show by Fortunate Son, one of the city’s many busy tribute bands made up of talented musicians who strive to capture the sound, spirit and, more often than not, the exact look of a specific group. Unlike cover bands, they don’t just play famous songs from a certain era or genre, they try to re-create the experience of their chosen band. And for fans like Lindstrom, that means a chance to dance to live music from a band that’s no longer together.
“They’re great; they really are very good. They sound just like Creedence,” Lindstrom said.
The group is part of a busy local scene that includes dozens and dozens of tribute bands who perform regularly at music venues such as Los Angeles’ House of Blues, Whisky A Go Go, Saint Rocke in Hermosa Beach, The Starlight Bowl in Burbank, as well as casinos, county fairs and other events.
“We all basically started with a vision like everybody else of being rock stars and playing original music,” Fortunate Son drummer Dan Murdy said. “We’ve all done the original music band thing back in the ’80s, and we were all close to record deals that never happened.”
Fortunate Son is preparing to perform at the Whisky in September as part of season four of “The World’s Greatest Tribute Bands.”
The show, broadcast live from the famous club, airs on AXS TV on Tuesday nights starting Sept. 9.
Meanwhile, on Aug. 2, the Queen Mary is set to hold its annual Rock the Queen show, a one-day concert that includes various tribute bands. The show is expected to draw about 2,000 people.
“These tribute bands come with a lot of energy and excitement,” said Steve Sheldon, director of entertainment events at the Queen Mary. “People who are into music and follow the music scene enjoy these great musical performances.”
Members of Vitalogy, who were preparing for the Queen Mary show at a small rented practice space in Hollywood a few weeks before the show, said they are first and foremost huge fans of the band they emulate.
“Pearl Jam faithfuls can be very, very skeptical of a tribute to Pearl Jam,” said Aaron Saffa, the band’s lead singer. “Most that have come and seen us, we’ve won them over. They understand that we don’t think we’re Pearl Jam, we’re not trying to replace Pearl Jam. We’re just fans who are looking for a fix as well. They tend to be very supportive once they see us and they come along for the ride.”
They were teens when grunge was at its height in the 1990s and came together as Vitalogy in 2006 when bassist Dave Miller and drummer Ziad Afana decided to pay homage to their favorite band.
“My main thing is that I really love performing, so I felt that playing a tribute to a specific artist gives me more of an opportunity to play and be able to perform,” Afana said.
And in fact, this niche industry has become a booming career for many musicians. Nearly 40 bands were featured during the first three seasons of “The World’s Greatest Tribute Bands,” and the show received about 250 submissions from bands who wanted to appear on the upcoming season, said show producer Katie Daryl.
“Our goal is that if someone turns on the TV and they don’t know about the show, that for one second we want them to stop and think ‘Oh my God, is that the real thing?’ We want to blow their minds,” she said. “And they (tribute bands) have to sound good; they’re serious musicians with talent.”
One of those talented musicians is Long Beach resident Joey Infante, who performs as Mick Jagger in Jumpin Jack Flash. They won’t be at the Queen Mary show, but they have upcoming shows in Upland and Chino, as well as Long Beach. The busy schedule, along with a few other cover-band gigs, allows Infante to make a living as a rock star.
“This is my day job; this is what I do to feed my kids and pay my mortgage,” said Infante, who estimates that he’s performed about 3,000 shows in his career.
His music career started on the Sunset Strip back in the 1980s playing with a hair metal band called Roxanne, which landed a record deal. The band toured across the country in a van as the four-man group and a couple of roadies shared hotel rooms between gigs. But with a tough road schedule and little money coming in, Infante soon soured on the music scene.
“This was not the life for me,” he said. “You can spend years and years making records and unless you are one of the very few, you’ll be starving to death unless you make it.
“The irony is that now we’re like rock stars wherever we go. If I wrote a bunch of songs, would people come out in droves and see me play? Probably not.”
