Passion for music
NEW BREMEN — With the Summer Concert Series drawing to a close, one final show will be played on Sunday featuring music from perhaps one of the most iconic bands of all time.
The Reatles, a Beatles cover band consisting of uncle and nephew duo Matt and Jordan Ranly, will play at Crown Pavilion in New Bremen.
Both from Cassella and graduates of Marion Local, the duo have a lifelong passion with music, both playing in various bands throughout the years before finally teaming up nearly three years ago.
“Over the years, Matt and I have been talking about doing some Beatles-type music and the stars weren’t aligned. Then finally at a Christmas party two and a half years ago, I walked up to Matt and said, ‘Let’s try it. Let’s see how it goes,”” said Jordan, who now lives in Plain City and is an engineer for Honda.
He said he thought the two would only play a couple of shows together but it’s turned into much more than that.
“It was pretty much a hit from the beginning and I think after we did our first couple of shows, we thought we could make this a little more regular,” he said. “We still try to keep it to once or twice a month because of other obligations, but it’s been a lot of fun.”
The band’s first performance was at 17 West in New Bremen, playing to a sold-out restaurant during a Wednesday night show.
“Every table was booked ahead of time and people were excited,” said Jordan. “Matt’s been doing music there solo for some years, and with Matt being in the EZ Rider all these years, that certainly helps draw a lot of people and he’s well-known for his music. There were a lot of people there that appreciate Beatles music and when you play nothing but Beatles, there’s a lot of people that dig that and it’s kind of cool.”
Since that show, the band has played a slew of others, locally and down around Columbus and Bellefontaine.
Before the Reatles, both of the Ranly’s were in
volved in various bands including Jordan who played with his brothers Jared, Jesse and Justin in the band JayAre from age 13 to 26.
The Reatles is only part of their current music project, however, as each plays in other bands now as well.
Jordan plays in Ranly Nixon Acoustic and Matt is part of The Vice Presidents.
But both of them agreed
that The Reatles is one that they’re most passionate about.
“With the passion we
have for the Beatles, I always
thought, ‘You can’t half-ass this one. If you’re going to
do The Beatles, you gotta do
it justice and you gotta do it right,’” said Matt, who lives in
New Bremen and has worked
at Crown for over 30 years. “We try real hard to make it pretty authentic and the way they do it. I’ve worked way
harder at this than anything else I’ve ever done before.”
“The Beatles stuff with
Matt is something you can really get behind and really pour your heart and soul into,” said Jordan.
“For me, practicing for The Reatles, I’ve practiced harder and spent more time trying to learn more songs exactly right and really work on harmonies and make sure our singing is dead-on. I’ve spent more time with The Reatles than I ever have with any other band in the past. With The Reatles, it’s more of being true to the music.”
Being true to the music is
something they’ve worked hard on as they want to do justice to a band they’ve spent their whole lives listening to.
“Jordan’s dad and my oldest brother — he grew up in the 60s so I grew up with The
Beatles in our house all the
time from my older brothers,” said Matt. “My oldest brother was born in 1951 so he went
through that period in his formative teen years. He had a passion for it and he passed it on to me and all my brothers. And it’s trickled down to the nephews, especially Jordan. For me, it’s just a lifelong obsession with them. I just love the music.”
“As a kid, when I was growing up with music, we idolized our uncles,” said Jordan. “Matt and a couple of his brothers would be singing
the Beatles’ songs and playing
and there’s just so much good music.”
Passion for The Beatles’
music is something that Jordan says he’s passed down to his children.
“All four of my kids, obviously I’ve brainwashed them, but all four of them love the
Beatles,” Jordan laughed. “It’s fun to see. The Beatles are
timeless. Every age group, I think forever, is going to have some connection with The
Beatles.”
The duo have diligently
been working their way
through The Beatles’ music catalog over the last few years, with Jordan saying he and Matt are up to roughly 110 songs that they’ve learned and mastered.
“We’re not even halfway through their catalog,” said Jordan. “We typically play 50, 55 songs in a show, so we’re always at the point where we’re starting to forget songs that we learned and we have to go back and re-learn songs. It’s
just kind of, with the Beatles,
there’s just so much opportunity learning songs. We do them justice the best we can, but with Matt and I, there’s two voices and they had four voices, so we have to get pretty creative on how we try to replicate their music. It’s fun to try and come up with that.”
With just two guitars, with Jordan playing acoustic and Matt on the bass, being creative has been key.
“’It’s a different sound. It
sounds more melodic than a lot of other people because we’ve got a bass driving it a little bit and it’s
really different,”
said Matt.
“Matt’s playing the true Paul McCartney Hofner bass, which is his famous bass guitar if you can
imagine what that looks like,” said Jordan. “That sound is unique and I think if it was two acoustic guitars up there, it just wouldn’t ring true to a lot of people because there’s so many songs where Paul McCartney’s bass lines are
just different and unique and
melodic. It really makes a difference when you add that bass line to the song so that’s kind of neat.”
As for their favorite songs to play, both Matt and Jordan had tough choices to make.
“I really like playing “Norwegian Wood.” I think it’s just a beautifully written song,” said Matt.
“The one I notice every time we play where people stop talking and listen is “Nowhere Man,” said Jordan. “There’s a really good harmony in that song and Matt has some good bass lines on it. It’s just a really nice song.”
On a more serious note, Matt said the time he’s spent learning and performing The
Beatles’ music, has been one
of the most rewarding aspects of his music career.
“Of all the bands I’ve been in, this is the one that means the most. This is the pinnacle
of my musical career. Being
able to try and recreate The
Beatles for me is way beyond all the other stuff I’ve ever
done,” he said. “That’s where my passion lies.”