Seeing what looked like the little person Gene Simmons from the Kiss tribute band, Mini KISS, or another tribute band Tiny KISS, going into Viacom in New York City today (Halloween) got me to thinking. There are so many cover bands. Very big in Europe. Getting bigger here.

Mini Kiss on the Jimmy Kimmel Show singing New York Groove.

One of my favorite cover bands is The Musical Box, a French Canadian group who cover Peter Gabriel era Genesis. They recreate the Foxtrot tour and Selling England By the Pound tour in full period drag. The SEBP show is an interesting experience and a fine facsimile for anyone who wasn't going to concerts in the mid-seventies. The sound is a little soft -- not full rock and roll amplification. The trade mark Gabriel between song patter is hysterical given that it is done very straight with an Inspector Clousseau accent.

Also covering the same period is Regenesis, who recently lost their bass player, who was also running their website, as you can find out from this link! Their recording "ReGenesis Live" is actually a mix of live and studio covers.

Other working bands include G2, Genesis in the Cage, and Face Value.

Lots of bands cover Genesis songs. Well, I don't know about lots, but I do recall in the late 1970s seeing the Simon Townshend Band (Pete's brother) cover "Squonk" from the Trick of the Tail album.