The Cover Band Learning Curve
It’s getting to that time of year again, when 5 men of the cloth ring in the Christmas joy with song. After the Gregorian chant books have closed. I may or may not be in a cover band. The disclaimer is that it’s named in honor of some of the greatest ascetic saints in the glorious history of the Church… So the story goes that when a whole province of religious priests get together, there’s always a few musically minded ones that don’t do dominoes, and ask those other birds of a feather: “wanna jam?” It grew from back-room rhythms to playing for the other hundred padres gathered, so we needed a name to be official. “The Prophets” sounded too generic, too O.T. And then someone said: “The Desert Fathers.” I promise our adopted icon is not inspired by ZZ Top ; can’t speak for whoever designed it, though: Cover bands are thoroughly American artifacts that include everything from the doppelgängers that perpetuate the legacy of great rock groups (like The Fab Four ),...