Johnny And The Silver Beatles

Johnny And The Silver Beatles are a band who have always shone at the Convention. You might remember them from a 'Lazy Sunday Afternoon' at the Strawberry Fields Garden Party in 1998!! They are returning to Convention again this year so we thought it would be nice find out a bit more about them…and who better to tell us than Johnny Silver himself!!

Band history.
I founded 'The Silver Beatles' in 1993. Before then, I played in another Beatle Band but I was really unhappy with the line-up after seeing The Cavern Beatles (they impressed me that much!) I decided to form a new band, where each member should have to slip into the persona of the originals. In the early days of the band, every member also played in different bands and had studio projects - The Silver Beatles was more of a side project. As the enquiries grew more and more, the band name changed and The Silver Beatles finally became Johnny and The Silver Beatles. We eventually did concerts in our own country - Germany, as well as Holland, Switzerland, Spain and of course, England.

Beatle Fans.
Beatles fans react in different ways, some very young fans really think that we are the Beatles and are really excited and say 'whoa - I've seen you on the TV!" (ha ha - no!). Older fans often have tears in their eyes, remembering the glory times. Most of all fans like to dream and to sing along. We have never had any trouble at any of our concerts, and we are very glad about that. Our show provides peace, fun, humour, glad faces and lots of good rock 'n roll and quite a positive feeling. For some of the fans it's sometimes a very ghostly experience, especially in a great venue. Sometimes we do have the screaming girls and it's (almost) original (ha ha) sound system! So everybody that comes to see us live seems to re-live the 'mania' of the Fab Four and they still live up to their name as the role - 'Beatlemaniacs'.

Beatle Haunts in Germany.
Unfortunately the old clubs like the Star Club, Top Ten Club, the KaiserKeller and The Indra are no more. They are not in their old appearance or they have been destroyed. Some names are still existing like The Reeperbahn. We have also played in a number of the cities like the Beatles did like Hamburg, Munich and Essen. We have played Liverpool, the home of the Beatles and The Cavern several times! Now we are looking to play London. Liverpool Beatles Convention We really think that it's a great place for all the fans to meet up. Also to get new friends and have a week full of the best Beatles Tribute bands in the world, Beatlemania and to party! It's nice that so many nations join in the festival. It is certainly the biggest of it's kind and Liverpool is also the best city to celebrate the music of The Beatles. Lots of spiritual places and the good-humoured people of Liverpool and surely contributors to that fact.

Tell Us Why You Like John.
I'm a big Lennon fan of course and it's wonderful to see that his songs mean so much to the audience. When I sing them, I can also identify how the fans must be feeling as I sing in front of a large audience. In a way it's a bit different, because I am actually portraying the part of John Lennon, but I still feel every emotion that a fan in the audience is feeling. I am also amazed at people's reactions; sometimes it's very spooky when I hear fans call "John!" They are screaming at me, when I hear them getting really excited when I make throaty screams! Some fans even throw stuff onto the stage and after a concert a lot of fans show their sympathy and saying thank you for some roller coasting feelings. A lot of fans respect what I do and tell me their feelings for John. The feelings that I get from them, is all really 'for John' - I'm just a guy portraying him on stage. I'm a different person, for me there is only one 'John Lennon'. He was a man, adored by millions. He was once real.

About the live show.
Johnny and the Silver Beatles cover the entire Beatles career. From classics like 'My Bonnie' to rock 'n Roll numbers from the Cavern and Star Club Days. Then we go into the albums and cover many songs from the hit list. With full costume changes and different instruments we can also play special numbers like B-sides. We also change our costumes for each performance and they all blend in nicely. We usually play in front of audiences ranging from 800 to 1000 people, but when we are on television, here in Germany and the world, we have been watched by millions. (Without any advertising sometimes!!)

What do you think of The Word is Love?
It's a really good idea, it's very new and it's also a good thing. Fans who like to go to see Beatles Tribute Bands can now collect information about the best Beatle bands in the world! I give my thumbs up to you both and keep up the good work! (Thank you Johnny - we love you too!!)

The Silver Beatles 2000 Convention show.
We are going to do something very different this year. I'm going to do a Lennon solo gig, with another backing band. Our George, who is a great lead guitarist, is also participating. The play list will include special John songs, solo and from the Beatle days. We have decided to throw in some good rockers and ballads - it's a special set - some of it was chosen by the fans. I asked our fans about their favourites and it seems that some songs are very high in their minds. I decided to include In My Life, Don't Let Me Down, and Revolution just to name a few. I like to ask the fans opinion - it's important to me. I don't want to play only for my own fans. Most of the songs are very nice and are also my favourites too, besides my special likes of the Rock 'n Rollers.

Get along and see Johnny doing Lennon at Convention this year!! We'll definitely be there!!

Jo Rishton
TWIL Issue One July 2000