The Long and Winding Road: Forming the WannaBeatles
As Told By WannaBeatles Bryan
The group was not a deliberate idea, but a serendipitous falling together of the right guys at the right time. Dennis Scott can be credited with first identifying the group and leading it. I’ve worked with Dennis steadily since the early 1990’s, usually on Saturday nights, wearing a tuxedo with a red bowtie, and usually playing wedding receptions.
One thing that drew us together was a mutual appreciation of the Beatles. Dennis liked to play “Here Comes The Sun” during those gigs. Later he added “Eight Days A Week” and “I Saw Her Standing There.” We enjoyed doing Beatles songs, and people enjoyed hearing them, but we had no illusions about doing more than a few of them, even though there were plenty we knew and loved.
A Little Help From My Friends
What kicked the idea into high gear was the appearance of keyboard whiz Jim Hayden, who had just moved to town in 2005. He played a few wedding gigs with us, proving himself as a very versatile player and singer. One night, after a gig where we had played a few Beatles songs, while we were packing up, Jim started playing other favorites, including some more challenging ones like “Strawberry Fields” and “Day In the Life.” His enthusiasm and vast performing chops sparked the idea of taking it further, and his keyboard opened up the sonic palette that brought a wide range of songs within reach. We realized that with Jim’s voice and keyboard we could easily cover a dozen or more Beatles songs without even rehearsing. The songs were already installed in our hearts and minds, and fingers too, for that matter.
Our other secret weapon was David Toledo, Cuban-born drummer, U. of Miami trained arranger, and experienced choral director. David had been regular on Dennis’s gigs for a year or so; he was a great asset, a naturally enthusiastic personality, with a fine tenor voice, and, for what it’s worth, a genuine Latin heritage, which would provide a recurring joke later in the game.
Liverpool in Cool Springs
Dennis had booked the four of us at a Mexican restaurant in Cool Springs, and suggested to the owner trying out a night of all Beatles material. Dennis assembled the set list and checked with us to see what we remembered. As we played the songs, we kept remembering others we knew and loved, so it felt like a treasure hunt to dive into that body of material. The audience liked it too, and the owner. We became a regular Monday night fixture during the fall of 2006.
Jim introduced us from the stage of the Mexicali Grill as if the lads from Liverpool had been translated into Spanish: he was Pablo, Dennis was Juan, I was Jorge, and our cute loveable drummer was….Gringo. The built in joke with Gringo meaning non-hispanic is that David, our drummer, is the only member of the group who actually is Hispanic. And yet, being the drummer in a band that does Beatles songs leads inevitably to a variation on the name Ringo, so there we were, both victims and beneficiaries of a hidden cosmic joke.
We Can Work It Out: rehearsing
Pretty soon we realized that we were swimming in the deep end without much practice. David was the first to suggest reherasing, and we all agreed. We began assigning vocal parts, figuring out whose voice was best for what part, and exploring the original records with more attentive ears to unlock their secrets.
There were four of us, like the original lads from Liverpool. We didn’t have a bassist per se, but Jim covered bass parts on the keyboard. Dennis used his MIDI guitar controller to play horn, string and harmonica parts. I could double on sax for other orchestral simulations.
We Hope You Will Enjoy the Show
During the spring of 2007 we were enlarging our repertoire and gaining confidence. Dennis launched a campaign to find us a name. An actress friend of his who had never heard us suggested the name WannaBeatles, and it felt like a winner. We continued to play the Mexicali and rehearse, and Dennis upgraded his marketing efforts. He set up a brief photo session in our black turtlenecks at Shuff’s Music in Franklin, where Jim worked during the day. We were interviewed by Peter Cooper of the Tennessean, and several articles and photos appeared in local papers last fall.
Then we got booked at Puckett’s, the former country store turned intimate hip music venue in Lieper’s Fork (names like Michael McDonald and Larry Carlton, icons of musical quality I learned to admire during my years in L.A. had performed there), and we went over well, selling out the place. Things were looking up.
David had another idea: writing our own songs, in the style of Beatles songs, and introducing them to the public as songs “from the vault,” i.e. songs the Beatles had recorded but never released. If we had enough original songs, we could make a CD of our own. It could be a gradual process of adding them to our set and seeing how they go over. As of November 2008, songs have been written, partially rehearsed and recorded, but not yet played in front of an audience. We’re waiting for the right moment.
We started a website and myspace page. For the website, Dennis took the original sound of Ed Sullivan introducing the Beatles, including the sound of screaming fans, and inserted the phrase “wanna” so that visitors to our website hear Ed Sullivan introducing “The WannaBeatles.” David meanwhile was handling the myspace page, where he managed to secure Ringo among our “friends.”
Getting Better All the Time
In January 2008, we appeared on WPLN radio’s “Live In Studio C,” which produced some nervous anticipation for that “moment of truth,” how we actually sounded playing and singing without any studio “fixes.” That experience was both exciting and humbling, the worst part being the last song, when we decided to do “Here Comes the Sun” in the remaining 3 minutes, without having time to tune the guitars. Typically, because that song requires capos on the guitars, we tune them before we start. But there was no time, so we launched in unprepared, and now we have a record of our moment of collective embarrassment. The absolutely worst note in the whole song was the very last note of the entire show, a guitar part that reaches down to the lowest string (imitating George Harrison’s original part), which happens to be the string that goes the sharpest when it’s under a capo.
All Together Now
Meanwhile, Dennis, as our resident Brian Epstein, was continuing to cook up good performing opportunities. We became regulars at Puckett’s (which has a second venue in downtown Franklin as well as their original in Lieper’s Fork), playing once a month and selling out. Dennis also scored us a bunch of high profile gigs, like Clarksville’s Rivers and Spires Festival, Metro Parks Concert Series (Crockett Park in Brentwood June 29), an appearance at Riverfront Park on July 4, and a show at TPAC with a dance school that’s staging a full-scale rendition of the Ed Sullivan Show. Our first “downtown” appearance was playing Sambuca, the upscale jazz club in the trendy Gulch area, which has become a recurring gig.
I'm Looking Through You
Things were moving along. We decided to invest in tee shirts to sell at gigs, black with white lettering. Soon after that came the bumper stickers. This was a big thrill for a bunch of middle aged guys: being in a band that finally reached a level of togetherness and visibility that warranted investing in our own tee shirts.
As Told By WannaBeatles Bryan
The group was not a deliberate idea, but a serendipitous falling together of the right guys at the right time. Dennis Scott can be credited with first identifying the group and leading it. I’ve worked with Dennis steadily since the early 1990’s, usually on Saturday nights, wearing a tuxedo with a red bowtie, and usually playing wedding receptions.
One thing that drew us together was a mutual appreciation of the Beatles. Dennis liked to play “Here Comes The Sun” during those gigs. Later he added “Eight Days A Week” and “I Saw Her Standing There.” We enjoyed doing Beatles songs, and people enjoyed hearing them, but we had no illusions about doing more than a few of them, even though there were plenty we knew and loved.
A Little Help From My Friends
What kicked the idea into high gear was the appearance of keyboard whiz Jim Hayden, who had just moved to town in 2005. He played a few wedding gigs with us, proving himself as a very versatile player and singer. One night, after a gig where we had played a few Beatles songs, while we were packing up, Jim started playing other favorites, including some more challenging ones like “Strawberry Fields” and “Day In the Life.” His enthusiasm and vast performing chops sparked the idea of taking it further, and his keyboard opened up the sonic palette that brought a wide range of songs within reach. We realized that with Jim’s voice and keyboard we could easily cover a dozen or more Beatles songs without even rehearsing. The songs were already installed in our hearts and minds, and fingers too, for that matter.
Our other secret weapon was David Toledo, Cuban-born drummer, U. of Miami trained arranger, and experienced choral director. David had been regular on Dennis’s gigs for a year or so; he was a great asset, a naturally enthusiastic personality, with a fine tenor voice, and, for what it’s worth, a genuine Latin heritage, which would provide a recurring joke later in the game.
Liverpool in Cool Springs
Dennis had booked the four of us at a Mexican restaurant in Cool Springs, and suggested to the owner trying out a night of all Beatles material. Dennis assembled the set list and checked with us to see what we remembered. As we played the songs, we kept remembering others we knew and loved, so it felt like a treasure hunt to dive into that body of material. The audience liked it too, and the owner. We became a regular Monday night fixture during the fall of 2006.
Jim introduced us from the stage of the Mexicali Grill as if the lads from Liverpool had been translated into Spanish: he was Pablo, Dennis was Juan, I was Jorge, and our cute loveable drummer was….Gringo. The built in joke with Gringo meaning non-hispanic is that David, our drummer, is the only member of the group who actually is Hispanic. And yet, being the drummer in a band that does Beatles songs leads inevitably to a variation on the name Ringo, so there we were, both victims and beneficiaries of a hidden cosmic joke.
We Can Work It Out: rehearsing
Pretty soon we realized that we were swimming in the deep end without much practice. David was the first to suggest reherasing, and we all agreed. We began assigning vocal parts, figuring out whose voice was best for what part, and exploring the original records with more attentive ears to unlock their secrets.
There were four of us, like the original lads from Liverpool. We didn’t have a bassist per se, but Jim covered bass parts on the keyboard. Dennis used his MIDI guitar controller to play horn, string and harmonica parts. I could double on sax for other orchestral simulations.
We Hope You Will Enjoy the Show
During the spring of 2007 we were enlarging our repertoire and gaining confidence. Dennis launched a campaign to find us a name. An actress friend of his who had never heard us suggested the name WannaBeatles, and it felt like a winner. We continued to play the Mexicali and rehearse, and Dennis upgraded his marketing efforts. He set up a brief photo session in our black turtlenecks at Shuff’s Music in Franklin, where Jim worked during the day. We were interviewed by Peter Cooper of the Tennessean, and several articles and photos appeared in local papers last fall.
Then we got booked at Puckett’s, the former country store turned intimate hip music venue in Lieper’s Fork (names like Michael McDonald and Larry Carlton, icons of musical quality I learned to admire during my years in L.A. had performed there), and we went over well, selling out the place. Things were looking up.
David had another idea: writing our own songs, in the style of Beatles songs, and introducing them to the public as songs “from the vault,” i.e. songs the Beatles had recorded but never released. If we had enough original songs, we could make a CD of our own. It could be a gradual process of adding them to our set and seeing how they go over. As of November 2008, songs have been written, partially rehearsed and recorded, but not yet played in front of an audience. We’re waiting for the right moment.
We started a website and myspace page. For the website, Dennis took the original sound of Ed Sullivan introducing the Beatles, including the sound of screaming fans, and inserted the phrase “wanna” so that visitors to our website hear Ed Sullivan introducing “The WannaBeatles.” David meanwhile was handling the myspace page, where he managed to secure Ringo among our “friends.”
Getting Better All the Time
In January 2008, we appeared on WPLN radio’s “Live In Studio C,” which produced some nervous anticipation for that “moment of truth,” how we actually sounded playing and singing without any studio “fixes.” That experience was both exciting and humbling, the worst part being the last song, when we decided to do “Here Comes the Sun” in the remaining 3 minutes, without having time to tune the guitars. Typically, because that song requires capos on the guitars, we tune them before we start. But there was no time, so we launched in unprepared, and now we have a record of our moment of collective embarrassment. The absolutely worst note in the whole song was the very last note of the entire show, a guitar part that reaches down to the lowest string (imitating George Harrison’s original part), which happens to be the string that goes the sharpest when it’s under a capo.
All Together Now
Meanwhile, Dennis, as our resident Brian Epstein, was continuing to cook up good performing opportunities. We became regulars at Puckett’s (which has a second venue in downtown Franklin as well as their original in Lieper’s Fork), playing once a month and selling out. Dennis also scored us a bunch of high profile gigs, like Clarksville’s Rivers and Spires Festival, Metro Parks Concert Series (Crockett Park in Brentwood June 29), an appearance at Riverfront Park on July 4, and a show at TPAC with a dance school that’s staging a full-scale rendition of the Ed Sullivan Show. Our first “downtown” appearance was playing Sambuca, the upscale jazz club in the trendy Gulch area, which has become a recurring gig.
I'm Looking Through You
Things were moving along. We decided to invest in tee shirts to sell at gigs, black with white lettering. Soon after that came the bumper stickers. This was a big thrill for a bunch of middle aged guys: being in a band that finally reached a level of togetherness and visibility that warranted investing in our own tee shirts.