How 1969 The Tribute Uses Lutefish to Stay Together When Life Gets in the Way

Life doesn't slow down for musicians. There will always be jobs, families, travel, deadlines, and responsibilities competing for time. But with Lutefish, 1969 The Tribute can stay connected between rehearsals to keep the music moving forward.

1969 The Tribute is a Southern California tribute band built around one incredible year in music history: 1969. More than just a cover band, 1969 The Tribute makes the audience feel like they’ve stepped into a concert experience from that era. It is part concert, part time machine, and part celebration of a year when music was changing fast, featuring massive cultural moments of the year, including Woodstock, the Moon Landing, Isle of Wight, and the Vietnam era.

But with bandmates spread across Southern California, from Idyllwild to Riverside, getting everyone in the same room for rehearsals is a challenge. With two band members living in the mountains, their central meeting point is about an hour’s drive for four of the five musicians, when weather and traffic permit. That challenge led the band to Lutefish.

Jey Gifford first noticed Lutefish at the 2025 NAMM Show and returned in 2026 with the band to see it again, but not everyone was immediately sold. In fact, Gifford admits he was the most skeptical member of the group. Like many musicians, he had heard promises about remote collaboration before. Most solutions worked well enough for meetings or file sharing, but actually playing music together in real time was another story. That skepticism disappeared during the band's first rehearsal with Lutefish.

"I had serious doubts about both the sound quality and latency," Gifford recalls. "After completing a simple level check and playing together as a band, I couldn't believe how responsive everything felt. For the first time in a remote environment, I could hear every member clearly and play naturally. I just didn't have to think about it."

Today, Lutefish has become an important part of the band's workflow. Rather than replacing in-person rehearsals, it helps make better use of them. The band regularly uses Lutefish to learn new songs, refine arrangements, work through transitions, and troubleshoot sections before stepping into the same room. The goal is to make in-person rehearsal the place where the music comes together, not the place where everyone is hearing things for the first time.

"One of the things we have really enjoyed so far is all the time we do not have to spend traveling, setting up, breaking down, and then traveling home again," Gifford says.

Distance is only part of the challenge. Like many working musicians, every member of 1969 The Tribute is balancing music with full-time careers, family commitments, businesses, and other responsibilities. This makes their rehearsal time so much more valuable. 

That efficiency is especially important as the band prepares for a busy schedule of live performances featuring multiple unique shows and constantly evolving setlists. With careers, family obligations, and long drives competing for everyone's time, finding opportunities to rehearse threatened to slow the momentum of the band. 

"Instead of spending half the night figuring out who comes in where, we can spend that time making the band sound better and tightening the full show experience. For a tribute show, those details matter," Gifford explains.

The flexibility of remote rehearsal has also created unexpected advantages.

"One of my secret tricks is that, while the band is still rolling in Lutefish, I can briefly pull myself out of the mix to repeat a lead phrase, work through a harmony part a few times, or stop my assistants (cats) from climbing all over my gear, then jump right back in," Gifford shares. "That is impossible in a normal in-person rehearsal, and it has turned out to be surprisingly valuable. Each of us can fix little things in real time without bringing the whole rehearsal to a stop."

For 1969 The Tribute, the biggest benefit of Lutefish is having a way to keep creating together despite busy schedules, long distances, and everything else life throws their way. The music keeps moving forward.

Whether you're balancing a busy touring schedule, coordinating rehearsals across multiple cities, or simply looking for a better way to stay connected with your bandmates, Lutefish helps musicians spend less time traveling and more time creating. Join 1969 The Tribute and a growing community of artists, bands, teachers, and songwriters who are redefining what's possible with real-time remote collaboration. Visit Lutefish.com to learn more.

Connect with 1969 The Tribute at 1969thetribute.com and @1969thetribute on social media, and keep an eye out for their Christmas song called "Christmas Like It’s 1969" releasing this fall.