When guitarist Mark Benson brought three musician friends together to perform a Beatles tribute show, their plans were extremely short-range. “Believe me, none of us thought it would last past lunchtime,” he said.
In September, the group, called 1964 ... The Tribute, will mark its 20th anniversary, outlasting the original Beatles by about a decade. Group members thought the demand for Beatles impersonators would be limited to reunions and baby-boomer bashes, but they have been playing 150 to 200 shows a year for audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
Among their most popular venues are college campuses, Benson said, where kids who weren't even born when the Beatles broke up in 1970 know all of the band's lyrics, chords, and gestures.
“We were really surprised how popular this was,” Benson said. “We even won awards for best new artist - and here we were playing songs that were 30 years old.”
The group's goal, Benson said, is “to show audiences what it was like to be at a Beatles concert between 1963 and '66.”
That includes paying attention to every detail, from the Beatles' famous moptop haircuts to their winklepicker boots, vintage guitars and amplifiers, and, of course, every musical note, tone, and tempo.
Gary Grimes had a particularly tough task: He's a right-handed musician, but in order to impersonate the left-handed Paul McCartney, he learned to play the bass the opposite way.
Drummer Greg George also had to switch hands, although with drummers it's not as noticeable.
“Ringo is a naturally left-handed person,” Benson said, “but he played a drum set that is set up for right-handers. Our drummer is left-handed and learned to play on a left-handed set, so he had to learn to play right-handed.”
Benson, a guitarist, portrays John Lennon. The band's fourth member, guitarist James Pou, impersonates George Harrison.
“For the first six months, we looked great but nobody was dancing,” Benson said with a laugh.
Once they had it right, the musicians had to fight the urge to vary the songs or to put their own stamp on the music.
“We watch videos of ourselves once a month,” Benson said. “It's natural for anyone in the arts to sort of progress in some direction. Change is something that is constant in art. Our challenge is not to change.”
Among the Faux Four's career highlights was a 1994 performance in the Beatles' hometown of Liverpool at the Cavern Club, from which the band launched its career.
“We re-created the Beatles' entire Cavern Club performance. It was incredible to play there,” Benson said.
Another memorable moment was selling out Carnegie Hall in January.
“I'm still pinching myself on that one,” Benson said. “Sid Bernstein, who brought the Beatles there originally, was at our concert and told me that the way he got them into Carnegie Hall was by listing them as a string quartet.”
Last year, the impersonators released a two-disc, 28-song set of its Beatles covers called “All You Need Is Live.” Fans can follow the group's tour schedule via its Web site, www.1964thetribute.com.
1964 ... The Tribute will be in concert tomorrow night at Centennial Terrace, 5773 Centennial Rd., Sylvania, with doors opening at 7 p.m. Opening will be the Toledo Hurricanes Reunion and the Don and Don Show. Tickets are $26.60 in advance and $29.50 tomorrow at all Ticketmaster outlets.
First Published July 11, 2003, 11:20 a.m.
