An Interview with 1964 - The Tribute

1964 The Tribute, from Ohio, USA, are one of the worlds most popular Beatles Tribute Acts. It's with great pleasure that we can announce that the band will be playing our shores in August, at this years Annual Beatles convention - held in Liverpool. 1964, have been booked to play at one of The Beatles most famous landmarks - The Cavern Club, and to mark this one-off event, the band will be making a live recording of this special concert on the 28th August! So make sure you get your tickets early and vocal chords at the ready!! It promises to be an unmissable show! We here at The Word Is Love are also looking forward to 1964's visit - 'It Won't Be Long, yeah!'
In this, the first of a two-part interview, the boys talk about how 1964 evolved and the early days.

What was life like for you before The Beatles came along and what music did you listen to?
Mark: I was eleven when The Beatles hit the states and up to that point, I played piano, drums and sports. All the Motown stuff was popular here as well as the early pop and surf music. We listened to Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, The Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, The Hondells, The Four Seasons. I was actually playing the drums when The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.
Gary: I was a sports nut before listening to The Beatles, I played Baseball, Basketball, Football and Track from grade 3 to end of High school grade 12. I was listening to a lot of Motown bands such as Smokey Robinson, and The Miracles, The Temptations, James Brown, Stevie Wonder etc. My mom always said that I sang before I talked as a child so I guess singing was there too.
Jimmy: Actually, life was very depressing for me before The Beatles came along. I was depressed because of President Kennedy's assassination. My favorite song of that time was "It's My Party" by Leslie Gore. When the new edition of "Life" magazine came out with a story on The Beatles, and how they were to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, I was really intrigued. I counted the days because I thought they looked so cool with their hair couldn't wait to hear their music on February 9th.
Greg: Elvis, Jerry Ice, Nat King Cole, Everley Brothers.

How old were you when you first encountered the music of The Beatles and why was it such a memorable event?
Mark: I was eleven, I remember it was a school night, Sunday, and on school nights I had to be in bed by 8pm, which is the exact time the "Ed Sullivan" show started. My Dad let me stay up to see their first performance, but before the second performance I had to go to bed. I was bummed. Everything about them was different. There looks, their sound, the way they carried themselves. They were humorous in away but not offensive. All four guys were naturally charismatic. Those are some things you hardly ever see in any groups.
Gary: I was 13 in the fall of 1963, and I remember hearing "I want to hold your hand" on the radio of my Dads car. AM radio at that time it was a very different sound than anything being played around then.
Jimmy: I think I kind of answered that in the first question, but my age was 11. I told my parents that night February 9th that I wanted to learn to play the guitar. That was I would say a big influence on me.
Greg: I was 12. I had already started playing the drums. My mom called me up from the basement to see them on Ed Sullivan.

Did you feel that you were hearing something different and seeing something special?
Mark: Yes. It was clear something very powerful was going on.
Gary: Yes they had a very different sound than what was playing on AM radio at the time.
Jimmy: Yes, Yes, Yes,
Greg: Definitely different. I didn't know quite how to take it but I knew it was a very special and groundbreaking.

What did you make of "Beatlemania" and most importantly, were you part of it?
Mark: I didn't scream, but I was among them. "Beatlemania" was like a hurricane. Everything seemed to whirl around them. Even waiting to hear they're next utterance, album, single etc…. And their wake in everything British came to U.S. Tons of great fashion and culture.
Gary: I thought it was great, and it really did change the world. Haircuts, suits, boots, from music to fashion a real revolution.
Jimmy: The hysteria was great and I was definitely a part of it. I used to wear the needles out playing the records, and learning the chords to the songs.
Greg: Because I was a musician I didn't really get into it that way although their music was a part of my fabric as it is today my/our culture.

Musically do you think that The Beatles were ahead of their time and studio technology?
Mark: I think that their chemistry was what carried them above other groups. It still works even today. The power in most groups, normally center around one or two people, but in the case of The Beatles it truly depended on the input of not only the four "Beatles" but also producer George Martin. I don't think they were ahead of their time in the begriming, but gradually they stretched all of the boundaries and became the group all the others were compared to.
Gary: I think that George Martin was. The Beatles were like other bands recording at the time. But George Martin had a keen sense of creating a sound that became their signature in the beginning. Then I think The Beatles at about "a Hard Days Night" really started wowing the industry with their talent.
Jimmy: Very much so, they changed the formula of song written their studio techniques were always trying to find new ways of recording sounds.
Greg: Quite. They had everyone in the business scratching their heads trying to figure out what they were doing.

What point did you discover you had the ability to play an instrument and who influenced it?
Mark: My family was musical and I am sure my taking to it was a natural extension of that. My parents sang in the church choir. My sister played and taught piano. My three brothers and I all sang, as did my sister. I guess I was really the first one to take this interest just further than a hobby.
Gary: For me it was at the age of 11 or so. My Mom and Dad bought my first guitar with green stamps and I worked liked crazy to learn some songs. Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul and Mary were my beginning tunes to learn as they always had guitar chords on the albums, inside the sleeves! Very cool!
Jimmy: Eleven and The Beatles inspired me.
Greg: I was 11. My father had a bar/restaurant with a dance hall on the second floor. I used to watch and I especially appreciated the musicians/sax player who showed the audience magic during the breaks. My father noticed and took me to the bandstand during one of the breaks. He asked which instrument I'd be interested in. I chose the drums. I took lessons on a practice pad, than a snare drum, then my first set and I've been making working from that point on. It took me 6 months before I had my first gig.

Can you remember the first Beatles song that you learnt to play and how did it feel?
Mark: "I want to hold your hand", was the first "Beatle" song I learned to play. I was a drummer then so, I learned it on the drums. I remember wishing my blond hair were dark so I could wave it around while I played like Ringo! It was a blast!
Gary: It was probably "Love Me Do" basic chords… I had that "G" chord down. I was proud of that.
Jimmy: My guitar teacher was showing me the chords to Beatles songs every week I had a lesson. The first song he showed me the chords to "B Moon", which he told me happened to be the chords to "This Boy" by The Beatles.
Greg: I saw here standing there and it felt great because I always looked at their tunes as being a challenge. Their sound is so unique.

How did 1964 The Tribute meet and who first saw the bands talent?
Mark: Gary and I had known each other through musicians in Akron, Ohio. We went to different schools together. His Mom and My Mom were both friends. We had played together and had always performed "Beatles" songs, but, never in a look a like band. For as long as I have known Gary people have told him he sounds like Paul McCartney. The hardest part was convincing him to learn to play bass guitar left-handed AND wear a wig.
Gary: We were 4 guys from Akron, Ohio, and friends at that. All of us knew each other from other bands and I knew of Mark from high school, as I had classes with his brother Dave. Mark and I go back the furthest to 1970 or so. We started in the band in 1984 in September and within a month or so we knew the group were going somewhere. Great Harmonies… voices are the key. The line up was Mark Benson as John, Greg George as Ringo, Tom Work as George and I played a right-handed Paul. Never played bass guitar until this band, and a year after or so, I taught myself to play the bass left-handed. Been lefty for 15 years now.
Jimmy: When I joined I realized how talented and dedicated the guys all were. More than any of the other musicians I had worked with in the past, as far as detail and authenticity. I am not an original member. I joined in 1993, until then I was performing in the Beatlemania show, which I had been doing since 1978.

When was it that you realized that, as a Beatles band, 1964 had that something special and it needed to be heard all over the USA, and the world?
Mark: I think it was gradually brought to my attention by the fans. I always felt there was a certain sound we had struck
Gary: About September 1984!
Greg: From its inception I had faith in the band. I was actually considering finishing my degree in Psych, and playing in bands on the circuit just for fun. Ever since then, I have finished my degree but continued to enjoy spreading such positive music.

Don't miss part two of this fascinating interview in the next issue!

Joanne Rishton with 1964
TWIL Issue Four May 2001