Beatles Tribute Bands

The history and music of the Fab Four
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brammy
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Post by brammy »

http://www.bootlegbeatles.com/

These guys seem pretty good, although its another unfortunate case of a righty Paul.

Image Image

How come they seem to be able to use "The Beatles" on the drumhead without getting attacked by the lawyers?
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winston
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Post by winston »

Because it say's The Bootleg Beatles. That's probably why.
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wayang
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Post by wayang »

The phrase 'blood from a turnip' leaps to mind...

If these guys had the money that Apple Computers does, they'd be up to their 'mop tops' in litigation...
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brammy
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Post by brammy »

I dunno about that... Bands have been forced to omit the use of the word "Beatles" but a cash grab wasn't the motivation. For instance "1964 The Tribute" used to be called "1964 as The Beatles" until the got a call from the lawyers.... from the Apple lawyers I would imagine.... but changing the name was sufficient, there wasn't any effor to extract money from them.... copyright protection yes, cash grab apparently not.

Do we have any legal beagles here who can shed some light on this issue?
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Scastles
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Post by Scastles »

Kent, I believe, the reason the band wasn't squeezed for cash is because none of the Beatles, or Apple, own rights to the Beatles music, only their original recordings. Remember, Michael Jackson owns the published rights. But they, or Apple, do own the name.
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Post by alanz »

Some pals of mine played a Lake Arrowhead, CA summer music festival 4 years straight (ending last summer) as a Beatles tribute band. Their approach was to execute the songs as close to the recording as possible. They played all eras, didn't dress the part(s), didn't sing in fake Liverpool accents, didn't try to emulate the four guys stage mannerisms or between-song patter and blew the house away every year. They drew the largest crowd by a factor of at least two every year.

And they always had at least 5 players on stage at any one time (2 guitars, bass, drums, percussion) and most of the time at least 6 (add a piano). It took 7 of them to get the more complicated stuff, like Penny Lane or I Am the Walrus (to play multiple orchestral parts or trigger samples or whatever), although they did do one gig with "only" 6 once.
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wayang
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Post by wayang »

Sounds cool, Alan...it seems to me I recall Ronn saying that The Eggmen sometimes add a keyboardist, but maybe they just shift around to cover the parts. Some clarification, Ronn?

Apart from that, all this serves to remind me that I need to scrape that 'Jackson 5' logo off my bass drum head...
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studiotwosession
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Post by studiotwosession »

Apple comes nowhere close to Elvis Presley Enterprises for either trying to shut down, and/or nickel and dime, everyone and anyone who does anything even remotely related to the King.

The irony of course is that other than his Image, Elvis created very little in the way one property one can claim ownership of.

A few years ago some smart guys who also happen to be Elvis fans rented a train car and hired 12 Elvis Impersonators in order to sell tickets for a train ride to Memphis (not sure if they called it the Mystery Train but EPE can't claim ownership to the tune or title.)

But EPE shut them down nonetheless. I thought it showed how tatty anything related to Elvis is.
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wayang
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Post by wayang »

And yet I remember reading that the IRS reports that there are around 10,000 professional Elvis imitators out there working. That's a hunk o' burnin' plagiarism, fer sher...

I suppose if one died on one's toilet, the surviving family members would instantly be sued by EPE...can't have any 'Pretenders to the Throne', can we...
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Scastles
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Post by Scastles »

10,000, eh? I think I've run into some of them, but they don't know they're impersonating anyone.
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wayang
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Post by wayang »

Uh, thankya...thankyaver'much...
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studiotwosession
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Post by studiotwosession »

Kinda funny this came up the days Japan's #1 man toured Graceland and did a little hip swivelling of his own.

I hope he got down the road a bit to the really, really cheesey shops and bought some of those silver sunglasses. I went about a dozen years ago with some friends and one knew to hit those places for stuff to bring back to friends.

TCB, baby.

I wonder if the Feds are keeping count of all these Fabs bands.
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lennonon
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Post by lennonon »

Yes Dane, wonderful points. I don't think ANYONE on this board goes to see a Beatles tribute band for the wigs, suits, bad accents or silly history lessons.

Certainly it is the music that gets people out on a wet lawn on a Thursday night with more rain threatening. I would have thought THAT was self-evident and to pick it apart as some sort of shortcoming is a bit like hitting the batting practice pitch over the short left field porch.

Nonetheless - these "tribute" folks invest a great deal of time and money in acquiring these wonderful instruments and polishing a performance and it is they who put themselves out there as a RECREATION of a very enduring IMAGE, not just a sound. To say I'd like to see a decent "tribute"band or that "Paul" wears his bass too low is merely evaluating these groups by the very things they define themselves by. An accurate recreation of something that obviously - OBVIOUSLY -does not exist anymore. To find fault with that seems a bit disingenuous.

When these "tribute" bands pull it off, they can be immensely entertaining. And no, NOT just for the timelessness of the music. That is a GIVEN and no one would waste a second watching 50 year old guys prance around in wigs if it weren't. But I do recall seeing Strawberry Fields in the late 90's, when they rocked and being entranced by the symmetry of the band - the magical arch from Paul's lefty Hofner to John's Rickenbacker on the other side of the stage of the Rock-n-Roll Cafe. If you've never seen it done well, in person, you're missing out.

It's entertainment, though. I realize that.

If I want to hear note for note perfection and not care about the "look and feel" component of The Beatles, I just go to the village and see The Fab Faux whenever possible. And if they don't play very well that night, I criticize them based on that and not how low Will Lee wore his bass.
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brammy
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Post by brammy »

Everyone is right...

Playing for the music and not the look is great (ie: Eggmen).

But also Michael (with the cool last name) makes a great point.... when the recreation guys pull it off it can be wonderful. However they are taking a big chance because if done poorly it can be extra horrible indeed.
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lennonon
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Post by lennonon »

Agreed Kent. EXTRA horrible indeed.

You should ask my wife about how cool the last name is...
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