The Uncoverable Song - Happy Hour Send Alive Network Into An Absolute Rhapsody!

When Happy Hour asked Alive Network to help improve their promotional materials, little did the band know what they had let themselves in for. We challenged the band to take on Queen's iconic "Bohemian Rhapsody", a track most artists wouldn't touch with a bargepole! What's more, we wanted them to film a video in homage to the original as well…

Why did we do this?

Happy Hour are one of Alive Network's elite wedding bands, but even for this high experienced group, it's difficult to truly reflect their style and personalities through standard marketing materials alone. It's pretty much impossible for potential customers to see a function or wedding band live before they book (as most professional bands only perform at private events), and for the same reason, live video recordings are very difficult to arrange.

At Alive Network we already offer selected artists quality options for creating promo materials that properly represent their professionalism, from studio quality audio to professional photoshoots and designer websites. Yet still some customers struggle to really appreciate just how good bands like Happy Hour really are.

That's where a landmark track like "Bohemian Rhapsody" can help, as Rich Hearn, Head of Artist Management and Development at Alive Network, explains.

By challenging the lads to take on a iconic song and aim for the exceptionally high standards of the original, we've created a great showcase for the musical talents and exceptional energy of Happy Hour. We wanted to give Happy Hour something exceptional to strive towards, and we are astounded with the results the boys have achieved. Happy Hour have absolutely no plans to release this as a single, we simply offer it as something for potential clients to watch, enjoy and appreciate that these guys are really good at what they do and would be amazing to hire for any party, wedding or corporate event!

The challenge of recording this track came as a major surprise to band leader and founder Richie Cooper.

We knew we should really go to town and push ourselves musically for our 2014 promo materials, to maintain our position as one of the UK’s most frequently booked wedding bands, but when they suggested Queen’s "Bohemian Rhapsody", we nearly fell over! It was a terrific challenge, with the operatic vocals pushing our harmony vocals to the extremes. Luckily, our lead guitarist Andy is also a choir leader for 'Rock Choir', so he helped us create an arrangement which really worked for our voices, and which stands up well alongside the original track!

Tom Bishop, the recording studio engineer who recorded "Bohemian Rhapsody" with Happy Hour, was exceedingly impressed with the band’s professionalism and musicianship in the studio.

The guys worked their socks off to capture an authentic sounding version of the song, without the need for any auto-tune or pitch correction - it's very rare to record any band without applying a little vocal tuning polish these days! Keeping the track 'true' to their talents was a large part of Happy Hour's thinking in recording this track, and we're all really pleased with how great their version of this classic song sounds.

Happy Hour are available exclusively through Alive Network for your wedding, function or private party - click here for details!

~ Official Video Launch Date ~
Friday 31st January @ 15:00

* Check out a few photos from the video shoot below