Beat The Meetles!
An interview with Michael Stanley Pedersen of Beat The Meetles!

Was this the bands first visit to Liverpool?
No, it was not the first time in Liverpool. We're are all active musicians outside Beat The Meetles, e.g. earlier this year our lead-guitarist (Hank B. Harrison) went with one of the top-names in Denmark 'Marie Frank' to Liverpool for a show-case, actually at De Courbertin's. Last time I (Elvis Lennon) went to Liverpool was as a kid with my parents, as a huge (already then) Beatles-fan to see the hometown of this fantastic band! I remember we went on a Magical Mystery Tour, where I was very impressed that we actually (when riding the bus) saw Paul McCartney's uncle (Many years later I realised that a new uncle was pointed out on every trip!)

So it was very different to return to Liverpool to actually play with a Beatles Tribute Band in the famous Cavern Club. To play at the Cavern Club in Liverpool I believe is a big thing for all musicians, as not only the Beatles but great bands like The Zombies (one of my 60's favourite bands), The Kinks also played there, and it is probably the most famous 60's club!!

So playing at the Cavern Club was one of the highlights of the trip. Actually we had with us Danish National television (DR-2) who followed us (as the premium Danish Beatles Tribute) to Liverpool and also shot a lot of our live-performance in the Cavern Club. This led to a programme called 'Beatles Forever' which was broadcast October 20 2001, Saturday night at 20.00 on DR-2.

How did you find it, from a bands point of view, performing at Beatleweek?
Normally when playing gig's in Denmark or Scandinavia we bring our own backline, sound-engineer, light-engineer and crew, and use the right Beatles gear, like VOX, Ludwig drums etc. Playing at the convention it is not an option to bring your own gear due to the very short interval in-between the bands. So at these gigs we only brought one crew member (guitar-tech). We actually expected, at least at the Cavern Club, that proper gear would be available. Our experience was that YES gear was available, but not the right gear; at the Cavern Club only one VOX AC-30 was available, which was so HOT that it basically did not work. The P.A. did not sound too well and we had almost no monitors! Of course this is very authentic, probably very similar to when the Beatles played there, but from a bands point of view it would be preferable if the gear could be checked up better at the Beatles week.

At De Courbertin's we had to control the P.A. from the stage, which is definitely not the most optimal way to provide a good sound for the audience. Actually on the P.A. mixer it said: 'Use the pre-set, then you will probably be alright, and GOOD LUCK.' At this gig we played the later Beatles material, using extra mics and keyboards and having only 15 minutes to get it all sorted by ourselves and produce a good P.A. sound is almost impossible. The person responsible for the bands at De Courbertin's was one of the bar-men!!!

Can you tell us your favourite Beatleweek moment?
The best gear experience we had at the Beatles week was on the Cavern Club Back stage, performing with '1964 - The Tribute', where the gear and P.A. worked very well.

Did you manage to visit any of the famous Beatle sites while you were there?
We had a very tight programme at the Beatles week; 7 gig's in 5 days and the TV-crew with us as well, so we only managed to see the Beatles museum. And then we meet Astrid Kirchherr, and we could not help buying a signed poster from her, getting photographs taken etc. We are all great fans of Astrid. After our last gig at the Cavern Club Back Stage, we had to get a beer at the Beatles Pub 'The Grapes'.

Did you see any other bands? Who were your favourites?
We saw other bands as well, we especially liked one of the Brazilian bands, (I do not remember their name right now), who performed the later Beatles material, 'Let It Be' and 'Abbey Road'; they were very tight and great musicians!! We also enjoyed '1964 - The Tribute', they perform extremely well and are very nice guys.

Nina Douglas with Michael Stanley Pedersen
TWIL Issue Six November 2001