Tribute bands, meet Jack Summers

The tribute band I’m in played shows in November at the Big Easy concert houses in Spokane and Boise.  Resting backstage in our dressing room, enjoying complimentary fried chicken and beer, I had a chance to reflect on how far we’d come.  A year ago, give or take, this same band was playing in piss-soaked dive bars in Everett for no money.

We’re better now than we were then, but not that much better.   We owe our success to the people we’ve met along the way.  And the man who made this fall and summer so fun and lucrative for us was Jack Summers of Entertainment Services International.

Jack told me he got involved with a promoter 19 years ago and subsequently decided it was what he wanted to do with his life.  He said he handles all the venues west of the Mississippi, and currently works with The Guess Who, Rare Earth and lots and lots of tribute bands.

I asked him to tell me what he looks for in a tribute band he’d like to work with.  He said, “They have to look like and sound like the real deal.”  He also said they have to be reliable, arriving on time at the venue for equipment load-in and sound check.   “I want to book a band and know there won’t be any problems.”

He also said he wants bands that do not drink prior to shows.  I think two beers are probably OK, but that’s me.