The Repeatles

The Repeatles formed in 1997 when Jan Leonard (guitar) and Arne Brox (bass) teamed up to perform 'In My Life' at a friend's wedding. The two new buddies turned out to be complete Beatlemaniacs and decided to form a band. Pete Beck (guitar) was drafted to what was dubbed Plastic Soul, and a few unplugged gigs followed, but the lack of a proper rhythm section became apparent. The trio needed drums, so Jan asked his old mate from his punk days, Steve Kling, (in 80's Jan was in Strindbergs while Steve drummed in Japop, both great bands with considerable following in Sweden at the time). Anyway, that was it. The new four-piece was re-named The Repeatles and the line-up has never changed.

Rehearsals duly commenced in an abandoned switchboard room at the rear of a public underground garage in the middle of Stockholm. Nobody ever knew they used it, and no one claimed any rent! However, one night the band had to evacuate in a hurry after hearing that the entire block was up for demolition to make room for a shopping mall! Anyway, luck like that can't last forever, and a new HQ was soon found (no freebie this time, unfortunately).

Songs were picked, randomly at first, but a pattern soon emerged; "Wouldn't it be great to do the entire A Hard Days Night album in one go!? How about the Rooftop Concert? Or why not The Hamburg Days Revisited?" When the repertoire consisted of around 50 songs it was show time. Lots of parties and club gigs followed, and have kept coming in ever since. Normally a Repeatles gig is made up of three or four sets in as many hours, depending on the venue.

Today the Repeatles play around 200 songs of which most are British pop from the sixties. That means that the Repeatles - strictly mathematically - could play for some twelve hours without repeating themselves! Best not tell that to Bill Heckle, guys. He's likely to take you up on the challenge!