You grow up, and the lost smorgasbords of your youth leave a void. So you fill that abyss with the live sounds of peerless Austin-based rocker Bob Schneider, whose two-hour-and-then-some sets careen from sing-along jams pioneered by Schneider's raunchy alter-ego band the Scabs, to unreleased material that might or might not appear on an upcoming album (tentatively titled Fuck All You Motherfuckers), to songwritery ballads that make the college chicks go all weak-kneed.
And then, boys and girls, there's our topic for today: the covers.
Along with the vast catalog of originals, Bob and the band have a penchant for dipping into others' oeuvres, typically the territory classic rockers like to call deep cuts -- from Grandmaster Flash to the Climax Blues Band, Violent Femmes to Kansas, "Hooked on a Feeling" to "The Weight."
With this in mind, we sat down with a pitcher of margaritas and downloaded a CD full of rawk. Then we phoned Schneider on the road. While he watched the miles roll by, we played him our CD, requesting that he rate the songs on the Bob-O-Meter for cover consideration. The annotated results (* = already covered):
"All Right Now" (Free) At one point when I was in high school, that was my favorite song. But no.
"(Don't Fear) the Reaper" (Blue Öyster Cult)* We did a recording of it that I submitted to the folks at Six Feet Under. They passed on it.
"Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress)" (Hollies) A definite maybe.
"Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" (Looking Glass) Not sure I could do it justice. You know who would? Big Head Todd.
"Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" (Rolling Stones) It's like going to a radio station and somebody gives you a bunch of CDs -- "I'll take all these CDs." And then you never listen to them.
"Take It Easy" (Jackson Browne)*
"Crazy On You" (Heart)
"Turn the Page" (Bob Seger) Someone sent me a Bob Seger record cover where I look exactly like Bob Seger at a certain age. I might consider doing that one with the Scabs, but with Bob Schneider I'd do one that didn't have any sax. I'd probably do "Like a Rock."
"Spanish Moon" (Little Feat)
"Can't You See" (Marshall Tucker Band)
"You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" (Bachman-Turner Overdrive) A definite-for-sure yes.
"Games People Play" (Joe South)
"Tuesday's Gone" (Lynyrd Skynyrd) We do "Sweet Home Alabama." Sometimes people request "Free Bird," and they're joking. We play it anyway.
"La Grange" (ZZ Top)* May do it again.
"Free Ride" (Edgar Winter Group) For the Scabs, definitely.
"Midnight Rider" (Allman Brothers Band) That's a hard one. You playing me that song may have been the key to unlocking what's wrong with me. Because half of me is saying absolutely not, and the other half is saying fuckin' cool!
"One Toke Over the Line" (Brewer & Shipley) I want you to send me the CD just so I can have a copy of that song. But no -- I don't like to have too much fun at the expense of Jesus.
