Invasion of the Cover Bands!

The Flaming Lips’ cover version of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, out on vinyl in April and disc in May, and the band is even performing it in its entirety live in Central Park, the Bonnaroo Festival and various other venues this summer.

But they’re not about to quit their day job for Floyd.

The Lips will leave that to these notorious tribute bands (like the notorious Dread Zeppelin, at right), for whom homage is a full-time job. And who have actually become big business in their own right, bringing reliable showmanship, smarts and popular song catalogs to paying fans looking to hear music they love in the flesh—even if that flesh is someone else’s.

Invasion of the Cover Bands!

[Scott Thill, Metromix]
Dread Zeppelin: Not all tribute bands play it straight: This Zeppelin tribute is magnetically led (pardon the pun) by a 300-pound Elvis impersonator named Tortelvis.

Dread Zep started out in the late ’80s feeding Led Zeppelin’s hard-rocking catalog through reggae’s rocksteady bounce, and have since covered other bands like Jimmy Page’s earlier group, the Yardbirds, as well as the legendary Bob Marley and, of course, Elvis himself.

For over 20 years, Dread Zeppelin have made cover bands cool and legit. They’ve performed with unhinged bluesman Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, appeared in films like “National Lampoon’s Last Resort” and released over 25 albums.

This article appeared at METROMIX