Question 1

What is the single biggest suggestion you would give to someone wanting to get into this career?

Jason Tanzer · Accepted Answer

“Be somebody that you want to hang out with. At the end of the day, you just want to be around someone who’s cool. You don’t want to be around someone who’s super arrogant.”

Question 2

What’s the #1 mistake people make when trying to get into this career?

Jason Tanzer · Accepted Answer

“Taking yourself more importantly than the equation. At the end of the day, if this is a Lady Gaga formula, it’s that she has the ability to act the way she wants because she is the one people are paying to see.”
“It’s about “not taking yourself too seriously. You’re not the reason behind it. The combined total group of people behind it might get you work, but it’s not you. If you’re in a Cover Band you didn’t write the music.”

Question 3

What is the question people should ask about this career but rarely do?

Jason Tanzer · Accepted Answer

“The thing that people overlook the most is, ‘do I have to do what someone else tells me to do?’ 
“[If] we sit down and I ask them what they want to do, and they say ‘I want to do Muse,’ I have to say ‘there’s not a lot of work for Muse Cover Bands.’ I’ll say to them ‘I am in the business of trying to facilitate some of your wishes, but why would I take on a business that’s going to fail?’
“Artists, by nature are not business people, so on face value they’re not thinking about the final product. They’re thinking they want to entertain, so they see something they like and they want to do it but they don’t realize that the set list has been fleshed out for many years over trial and error.“

Question 4

What is one thing I should have asked which I didn’t?

Jason Tanzer · Accepted Answer

“The only thing I would add that you didn’t ask is, ‘is the career fun and if it is fun, for how long?’
“The majority of people don’t realize that if they are looking for this to become successful, their measure of success will never be attained. If they’re looking for this to enjoy being a performer they can do this for twenty years. I see both. Are you looking to do this to become successful or are you doing it to enjoy it? 
“If the answer is both, you’ll probably succeed. If the answer is success, you’ll probably burn out. If you’re doing it for enjoyment, you’ll probably do it forever. You could start off in a skimpy outfit in a Dance Band…[later] you could be 40, an Electrical Engineer and playing at a martini bar because you love it, doing it forever.”

Question 5

If you could describe in one word what makes you successful, what would it be?

Jason Tanzer · Accepted Answer

“Understanding — and being open-minded to the market share of the community in which you thrive.
“When I’ll go to Chicago they might like stuff that’s dirtier and heavier — say Kings of Leon all the way up to Slipknot. I’m not necessarily speaking for Chicago, but the market will dictate the value added to the property and the desirable.
“It can all be summed up in ‘what are you getting into it for?’ Are you getting into it because you enjoy it? Or if you want to be successful, you’re never going to be a name in a Cover Band. There are like a handful I can think of who have reached any kind of household name status and they don’t even know the individuals’ names.”

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