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Beatallica
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Beatallica is a mash-up band that plays music made from combinations of songs of The Beatles and Metallica. A Beatallica song is typically a blend of a Beatles song and a Metallica song with a related title (e.g. The Thing That Should Not Let It Be, combining The Beatles' Let It Be and Metallica's The Thing That Should Not Be or And Justice for All My Loving combining Metallica's And Justice for All and the Beatles' All My Loving), though sometimes just a Beatles song will be used as a basis with modified lyrics.
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Encyclopedia
Beatallica is a mash-up band that plays music made from combinations of songs of The Beatles and Metallica. A Beatallica song is typically a blend of a Beatles song and a Metallica song with a related title (e.g. The Thing That Should Not Let It Be, combining The Beatles' Let It Be and Metallica's The Thing That Should Not Be or And Justice for All My Loving combining Metallica's And Justice for All and the Beatles' All My Loving), though sometimes just a Beatles song will be used as a basis with modified lyrics. The lyrics slip back and forth between the two songs—occasionally neither in lieu of original lyrics comically referencing Metallica, heavy metal music or the heavy metal community—while the scansion and melody are usually Beatles-based, the music is played metal style with some Metallica riffs and solos thrown in. Consistent quirks made in the lyrics also criticize glam metal much in the fashion that thrash metal fans would do.
History
The project was founded in 2001 by original guitarist "Krk Hammetson" and singer "Jaymz Lennfield". The EP A Garage Dayz Nite was recorded for the annual Spoof Fest concert held in Milwaukee, as a memento of that year's concert. A few dozen copies of the EP were handed out to friends. Later that year, one of those CDs made its way to Milwaukee resident David Dixon, who created a that included mp3s of the songs and named the band "Beatallica". The band was unaware of the webpage until Dixon finally met them in the summer of 2002, carrying a stack of fan emails from all around the world. Beatallica gave the webpage its blessings, and after further urgings from its internet fanbase, recorded the EP Beatallica, also known as The Grey Album, releasing it online on April 1, 2004.
Later in 2004, the band (including bassist "Kliff McBurtney" and drummer "Ringo Larz") started to perform at live venues nationally and internationally, with a stage show incorporating elements from both Beatles and Metallica performances. They also played as an opening act for Dream Theater; Mike Portnoy even joined the band on stage for drums on one occasion. Beatallica would go on to perform with likes of Motorhead, Testament, Kreator, Sepultura, LA Guns and play huge summer festivals worldwide, including Milwaukee's Summerfest, Germany's Earthshaker Festival, The Netherlands' Kings of Metal festival, and Korea's Busan International Rock Festival.
In 2007, the band's current lineup of Jaymz Lennfield (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Grg Hammetson (lead guitar), Kliff McBurtney (lead bass, backing vocals) and Ringo Larz (drums) went into the studio to re-record many of Krk and Jaymz' original songs and write some new compositions for their official debut Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band.
May 2008, marked the release of Beatallica's single; All You Need Is Blood recorded in 13 languages as a worldwide thank-you to the network of Beatallica fans known as Beatallibangers. The band added Belgium, Czech Republic, and Poland to the list of places they have toured.
September & October 2008, saw the release of both Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band and All You Need Is Blood in Japan. Both Japanese CD versions contain bonus tracks.
Legal problems
To avoid legal problems, the band maintained a strict non-commercial policy (all songs were available for free download) and shrouded themselves in anonymity (all names mentioned above are, of course, stage names but their real names were revealed in interviews and, hence, also appear in this article). Metallica were aware of the spoof band's existence and never threatened to take any legal action; Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett have all publicly stated that they enjoy Beatallica's music.
On February 17, 2005, a cease-and-desist notice was sent to Beatallica by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a company which holds rights to most of The Beatles' catalog. The notice states that the "music", "news" and "merchandise" sections of the official Beatallica website constitute a copyright violation and should therefore be taken down. In response to this, a petition requesting Sony/ATV Music Publishing to retract its threat of legal action was created. The band was saved from further legal action by Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, who offered to provide assistance with legal negotiations and also asked Metallica's longtime attorney to try to defuse the situation with Sony. Sony ultimately reached an agreement with Beatallica and their new label Oglio Records, and an official Beatallica recording was released in July 2007 entitled "Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band".
Members
- Jaymz Lennfield (referring to James Hetfield and John Lennon, respectively, real name Michael Tierney) - vocals, lyrics, songwriting, rhythm guitar
- Grg Hammetson (referring to George Harrison and Kirk Hammett, respectively, real name Jeff Hamilton) - lead guitar
- Kliff McBurtney (referring to Cliff Burton and Paul McCartney, respectively, real name Paul Terrien) - bass
- Ringo Larz (referring to Ringo Starr and Lars Ulrich, respectively, real name Ryan Charles) - drums
Discography
Until 2007, Beatallica's recordings were only available as MP3 and FLAC downloads.
External links
- - Official website
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- (mp3, recorded April 2005 at the Berkman Center)
- - Interview with Jeremy Brendan
- (PDF file)
- 'No Remorseful Reply: The Beatallica Interview'. Norton Holtz interviews Ringo Larz of Beatallica. to view it on 1up.com
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