Best of Cleveland 2016: Cover Band

Sure, any cover band worth its weight in guitar strings plays Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” or Abba’s “Dancing Queen.” But we’re adding another entry to the checklist: Appreciation for the songs it plays. That’s part of what The Sunrise Jones singer David Hamilton thinks makes his band special. “We play the stuff we love,” he says. While the five-piece group’s catalog ranges from Frank Sinatra to Bruno Mars, it shines on tracks such as a raucous version of Kenny Loggins’ “Footloose” and “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel. But hearing Hamilton’s screeching pleas on the Beatles’ “Oh! Darling” at the monthly Beatles Brunch at Music Box Supper Club has us checking it isn’t the Fab Four on stage. “We try to keep our tracks as true as we possibly can,” Hamilton says. “If you go see a band do a song, you want to hear that song, not somebody’s interpretation of it.” thesunrisejones.com