They just fake it to the limit

By Susan Carpenter

March 4, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

There is something in the quivering vocals, the perky beat and the bubbly lyrics of the Go-Go’s that speaks to Matt McLaughlin.

“Ever since I heard their first album when I was 11 years old, I’ve wanted to be a Go-Go,” says McLaughlin, who’s now a 33-year-old singer with his own band.

For years, McLaughlin and his group, Best Revenge, were content to mix an occasional song by the ‘80s girl group into their otherwise punk sets. But their affection for the Go-Go’s began to take over. And then one day it hit them: No longer would they just cover the Go-Go’s. They’d become them.

This weekend, the Ga Gas, their gay tribute band, will make their debut at a private party in Venice. The drummer, Bilito, will mutate into Gina, chewing gum and counting out loud while he plays. McLaughlin will be “thinking about shopping, which I know Belinda loves. I’m going to be thinking, ‘Spin that head and keep those arms up and hit the tambourine’ and the rest should just flow.”

On their surface, the Ga Gas may seem like a simple novelty act -- a gender-bending five-piece riding a new wave of interest in the ‘80s. But they are also part of an increasingly inventive tribute band scene, one that is breaking the supergroup stronghold that’s traditionally defined the genre.

For years, tribute bands have tended to form around hugely popular groups that no longer exist or no longer tour, primarily acts from the ‘60s and ‘70s -- think mop-topped Beatles tributes, fire-spitting KISS renditions and leather-clad metal heads a la Van Halen.

But these days, there are tributes to all kinds of bands -- ‘80s bands you thought you’d never see again, from the Smiths to Adam and the Ants. Cult punk groups you probably never saw in the first place, such as the Misfits. Modern acts who just won’t go away: Britney, Beyonce, Alanis. There are girls imitating boy bands, boys imitating girl bands. There’s even a kids band impersonating Guns N’ Roses (don’t laugh -- they’ve played CBGB four times).

Giving audiences some twist on their favorite bands, these new tributes can be more entertaining and creative than the originals.

“I never was a big fan of tribute bands,” says L.A. filmmaker Clay Eide, 39. “I’d never actually seen one, but then I started hearing about all-female tribute bands, and I thought, ‘Now that’s clever.’ ”

Last year, he went to the Knitting Factory to indulge in a triple bill featuring all-girl tributes to boy bands -- Cheap Chick (Cheap Trick), Mistress of Reality (Black Sabbath) and AC/DShe (AC/DC).

“You can go to any bar in the world, and that jukebox will have an AC/DC song on it and everybody knows those songs,” says Eide, who’s now working on a documentary about all-girl tribute bands. “They’re very male, boozy, kind of in-your-face sexual songs, so I think the tribute works very well for a female performance.”

Like a lot of people, Eide went to see the bands feeling “a little bit skeptical,” he admitted, “just to see, ‘Can they really pull this off?’ ” He was pleasantly surprised -- not only by the bands’ performances but the audience members, many of whom were not only singing along but literally banging their heads on the stage.

‘Just like I’m up there doing an impersonation of Morrissey, the fans are doing an impersonation of a Morrissey show,” says Jose Maldonado, lead singer for the Smiths tribute, the Sweet and Tender Hooligans.

During a performance at the recent ‘80s Convention at Henry Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, both are playing their parts perfectly. While Maldonado is on stage, flinging flowers to his fans and slowly tearing at his shirt, every body in the crowd is in motion -- dancing, swaying, singing along. Some fans press against the stage, holding out their hands in the hope Maldonado might touch them.

When the thirtysomething singer kneels on the ground to stroke a girl’s face while singing the morosely romantic lyrics “and if a double-decker bus crashes into us,” she beams at him like the Virgin Mary, then screams with excitement. Others climb on the stage to kiss, hug and snap pictures of themselves with Maldonado.

It is a shocking, if exciting, scene. Maldonado is not, after all, the real Morrissey. His baby face and caramel complexion are a stark contrast to the pale, vegetarian Brit he’s impersonating. But if you close your eyes and listen, the two are virtually indistinguishable.

Robert Flores, an 18-year-old Pasadena City College student wearing a Smiths T-shirt and Morrissey-style pompadour, has seen the Sweet and Tender Hooligans more than 15 times. At one point during the show, he jumps on the stage and gives Maldonado a hug.

“It gives me the same feeling that I could have had if I jumped on stage at the Palladium,” says Flores, referring to where Morrissey played four years ago, “but I couldn’t.”

Each band at the convention sweeps the audience of 1,200 into a frenzy. Mitch Stevens enters in a cloud of imitation fog, his military jacket adorned with strategically placed bandannas and feathers, his face striped with a band of white makeup. A pack of pogo dancers bob in front, a chorus of women’s screams is let loose, hundreds of fans mouth along to Stevens and Ants Invasion, this millennium’s version of Adam and the Ants.

April Sauer, a 32-year-old “child of the ‘80s” is in the crowd. “The thing about tribute bands is it’s like seeing a concert you never got to see,” says Sauer, who missed the real Smiths and the Police and Adam and the Ants in the ‘80s -- but loved all their tribute bands at the convention.

“I couldn’t believe how all of them kind of captured the style of not only the vocals but the mannerisms,” she says. “It felt like you were watching the real band.”

Unlike cover artists, who just sing the songs of another musician, tribute bands try to sound, look and act the part. The best study videos to pick up performance quirks, look at pictures to imitate their style of dress and use whatever technical information is available on instruments and gear. In as many ways as possible, they become the band, though every group seems to have its limits.

Mike Nieland, the 33-year-old drummer for a local Police tribute, Fallout, sets up and plays his drum kit just like Stewart Copeland. He sports the custom logo T-shirt his band mate made for him to wear on stage. But he was forced to make a judgment call when it came to wearing the Dolphin running shorts Copeland favored back in the day.

“Guys in high running shorts, it wasn’t cool then, and it certainly isn’t cool now,” says Nieland, who, for authenticity’s sake, does wear shorts when performing. They just show a little less leg.

McLaughlin, a.k.a. the Ga Gas’ Belinda Carlisle, says, “I’ve spent so many countless hours in my car singing along with her that I’ve got every nuance down.”

Even so, when the band plays this weekend, he won’t be wearing a dress. “As far as looks-wise, we’re not going to do wigs and things like that because we’re not the drag Ga Gas. We’re just gay guys doing the Go-Go’s.”

L.A. has one of the most vibrant tribute scenes, partly because there are so many young bands here. And when you’re an unknown band, struggling to fill a club, it’s tempting to abandon original music in favor of performing something that has an automatic fan base. But the tribute phenom is hardly limited to L.A.

Tribute City, an online posting service for tribute bands worldwide (www.tributecity.com), lists almost 1,300 acts -- from the usual suspects (Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin) to unlikely candidates such as Anne Murray, the Corrs and Green Day. “If these people are putting that much time and effort into doing it, there’s an audience,” says Lenny Mann, Tribute City’s founder.

In the four years he’s been running the site, Mann says he has seen tributes “are getting more and more popular.” Some promoters estimate their numbers have increased fourfold in the last 10 years.

“There’s a lot of original artists out there that will travel a couple hundred miles to play in front of five people, it’s just hard to bring in an audience,” says Mann, a software programmer who masquerades as Jimmy Page in the Ventura-based Led Zeppelin tribute, Led Zepplica. “A good tribute band can come into any town and with good advertising be successful.”

When Li’l Gn’r played CBGB in New York last fall, there was little chance they’d be mistaken for the real thing. The New Jersey Guns N’ Roses tribute is made up of kids, handpicked and assembled into a band by longtime Guns N’ Roses fan Mark Malkoff, a comedian and filmmaker attempting a “Spinal Tap” spoof.

“I showed them a little footage of the band, only the clean stuff, and played them a little of the music. I told them the band shows up late to rehearsals and concerts, that they were reckless and wild,” says Malkoff, explaining his methodology for training the 5-, 9- and 11-year-olds in Li’l Gn’r. “We went to a hotel near Times Square, and we had the kids trash the hotel room to get into character.”

That was last fall. Since then, the mini supergroup has played the legendary New York City nightclub four times. (Note to concerned parents: Their shows start at 6:30, allowing for a 9 p.m. bedtime.). According to Malkoff, the Li’l Gn’r website (www.lilgnr.com) now gets thousands of hits each day, and Malkoff is fielding offers to perform on TV talk shows as well as requests from hardcore Guns N’ Roses fans asking when the pint-sized Axl and Slash will be playing Portland, L.A., London, even Tokyo.

Tribute bands do, after all, have that built-in audience. Most people gravitate toward the music of their youth. Seeing a tribute band is the closest they’ll get to seeing the original if it’s broken up. And if the original band is still together and playing concerts? A tribute band is still a good option. The band may be just a facsimile, but it typically shows the band at its peak, playing only the hits, and for a lot less money than the original and in a smaller venue, where fans get a better view.

“The music’s great, you’re 30 feet from the stage, the ticket price is reasonable,” says Dave Hewitt, entertainment director for the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, which regularly hosts tribute bands. “It’s like a rock concert, only it’s not the real band.”

According to Hewitt, tribute bands are popular because “it’s a nostalgia thing.”

Cheap Chick, the all-girl tribute to ‘70s band Cheap Trick, plays all the band’s hits from its heyday -- “Surrender,” “Dream Police,” “Aint That a Shame.”

“Sometimes, I’m like, ‘You people realize these are not our songs?’ ” says Judy Cocuzza, the band’s drummer. “Sometimes you want to say, ‘Hey, wake up!’ I guess people just want to hear those familiar songs.”

For Cocuzza, who’s also played in original bands, including local indie-rock fave Betty Blowtorch, it’s satisfying to look out and see so many people singing along.

“In L.A., you have to practically light yourself on fire to get people to clap their hands,” says Robin Beacham, who plays Trick’s bug-eyed guitarist. “To see them dancing and singing along, that means you’re really hitting a nerve.”

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On the tribute trail

So you missed Oingo Boingo in its heyday, or weren’t even alive for the Smiths. Or maybe you just want to see what happens when four girls give “Back in Black” a go. No problem. Here are some upcoming tribute shows:

MARCH 5

The Sweet and Tender Hooligans (the Smiths)

Henry Fonda Theatre,

6126 Hollywood Blvd., L.A.

(323) 464-0808 or www.henryfondatheater.com

Doors 8 p.m.; tickets $14

Dead Man’s Party (Oingo Boingo)

Galaxy Concert Theatre, 3503 S. Harbor Blvd., Santa Ana. (714) 957-0600 or www.galaxytheatre.com. Doors 6 p.m.; tickets $15

Atomic Punks (Van Halen) Canyon Club, 28912 Roadside Drive, Agoura Hills. (818) 879-5016 or www.canyonclub.net.

Doors 6 p.m.; tickets $15

MARCH 10

Fallout (The Police)