It’s dinkum Beatlemania for SA
For the last few years Charters and his band members have studied every move of the Beatles, on and off-stage. It’s their attention to detail that separates them from the hundreds of other Beatles tribute bands across the world.
“There are many Beatles tribute bands in the world, but they don’t do what we do,” says McMullen.
“From our costume changes, to our video screenings, to our movements and mannerisms, we try and give our audiences the closest experience to what the Beatles were really like.”
McMullen said they knew they had to be a class above the rest if their tribute band was to succeed.
“When we decided to start up a tribute Beatles band, we knew we had to have our own special angle because there were just so many Beatles tribute bands around. So we thought to ourselves, what is it that we can do differently from other tribute bands?
“We noticed that many of the other Beatles tribute bands were far too serious… and that takes the fun out of everything. So we thought, why don’t we have a lot of fun with it?”
Charters and his group spent months researching the band, reading books, watching interviews and videos, and learning every movement that the band made to perfect their performance on stage.
“To give you an example, I had to master how to play bass with my left hand as McCartney plays bass with his left hand ,” said Charters.
Harper, who plays Ringo, said: “I worked hard for weeks on end just to learn how Ringo bobs his head while playing the drums. You would think that it’s a simple thing, but it took me 10 000 hours to get his head bob right.” Speaking about their upcoming performances here, they said they were looking forward to playing for their South African fans.
“We were in South Africa for 3½ months in 2009, and had a superb time. We did about 60 shows and the fans were out of this world, so we’re looking forward to doing it again.”
All of The Beatles’ most treasured hits from the 1960s will be performed live in their original key and on replica Beatles instruments, with unseen attention to detail creating the sincerest Beatles sound around.
The two-hour show will include Fab Four classics such as Can’t Buy Me Love, All My Loving, Please Please Me, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, She Loves You, Day Tripper, Nowhere Man, Help, Yellow Submarine, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Hey Jude.
“We noticed that there’s extra love for Hey Jude among South Africans so we’ll make sure that we perform that in all of our shows.”
The band also spoke about their love and admiration for the Liverpool rock group. “I got into the Beatles through my older brother and parents.” says Charters.
“I’ve been playing their songs for 10 years, so you get an extra appreciation for what they did when you try to mimic them, especially McCartney. He had a great voice.”
Asked if he felt like McCartney himself, having played the icon for 10 years, Charters quipped: “I don’t have his money, so no chance.”