Beatallica Bassist: Metallica Are 'Our Saviors'

Patrick Douglas of the Great Falls Tribune recently conducted an interview with bassist Kliff McBurtney of Milwaukee-based Beatallica, a satirical mashup act whose hilarious schtick marries the songwriting prowess of The Beatles to the deep-throated rock growl of Metallica.

Originally, the group was simply musicians Jaymz Lennfield and Krk Hammetson spoofing Metallica songs to entertain a crowd at a metal festival in Wisconsin.

"We do this annual event here in Milwaukee called Spoof Fest where local bands emulate and desecrate their favorite national bands and Jaymz and Krk were doing Metallica," explained Kliff McBurtney. "After many warm beers one summer night, they decided 'hey, wouldn't it be nice to do a tribute to The Beatles?'"

The group put together a CD of recordings as a joke, which got in the hands of physics professor David Dixon, who then posted the songs on his Web site to share with his friends.

"He was our previous Webmaster of Puppets. He actually called the project Beatallica," said McBurtney of Dixon.

Through sheer word of mouth and Internet buzz, the songs began circulating. Soon, Sony Records caught wind of the project and quickly issued a cease and desist order against the musicians to stop playing BEATLES material. The problem — they weren't actually a band and weren't technically playing anything.

"(David) called up Jaymz and put it to him that he was now in this band called Beatallica and had fans worldwide and there's a major corporation that wants to sue him," McBurtney recalled. "Jaymz had no (idea) about what was going on with this."

Thanks for the info to Blabbermouth.net.

Comments

[Decembero]

Does everyone sue everyone for everything in America? Thats what many ppl in the UK believe, though just taking it lightly and laughing about it....

But its actually TRUE! Thats hilarious! The amount of stories even in UG (which isnt really news, but yeh) which contain someone sueing someone else is alarming.

[not_dead_enough]

Shame...coz this band is nobody's saviours.

Combine two opposite good bands and you get a band that sux.

[Room On Fire]

I don't understand...what is the point of this article? Beatallica isn't anything new.

[Neloangelo818]

seriously i been listening to beatallica since around 1997.

[brian_s]

Decembero wrote:

Does everyone sue everyone for everything in America? Thats what many ppl in the UK believe, though just taking it lightly and laughing about it....

But its actually TRUE! Thats hilarious! The amount of stories even in UG (which isnt really news, but yeh) which contain someone sueing someone else is alarming.

Thats greed my man, greed.

[deadlyMETAL]

Beatallica is a joke, I tell you, a JOKE!!

[cheese_weasel]

deadlyMETAL :
Beatallica is a joke, I tell you, a JOKE!!

Y'know that's what is meant by a satirical band, right?

[zerodeck]

why is everyone so tense these days and so greedy

[metallinutter]

where does it mention metallica being "saviours"?

[BumSnack]

The bassist never once says in this article that metallica is their saviors. This article just tells the history of Beatallica. Whats the point of this?

[Mihyaeru]

very good point

totally misleading article heading shame on u ug shame on you

[Inahrima]

I love beatallica, but that article was pretty pointless.

Checked

[sammcl-15]

"deep-throated growl"

BAHAHAHA!

[Raizer Sabre]

i remember reading somewhere that lars actually likes this band and helped them out with their cease and desist order a few years ago lol

[Mask_Of_Sanity]

I'm pretty sure 90% of UG knew the story of Beatallica by now. There's been so many articles on them. This one wasn't really necessary. Ah well. What can you do?
-anDy

[HeavyMetalRockr]

Yeah this article is pretty pointless unless i read something about them turning into little bitches about their music like metallica and maybe then ther'll be some real news..

[GimmeToro]

What is it with everything being labelled as satire at the minute? They might be a spoof band, they might be parody, but that doesn't equal satire.

Anyway... I've heard of, but I've never actually heard beatallica, what do they play? Is it actual beatles songs or songs which sound like beatles songs? In the style of metallica? Enlighten me.

[xalyssam]

beatallica.. that's creative
too bad i've never heard of you

[rokknrollldude]

this article is only to make up the fake article ripping metallica they put up yesterday

[DamageMachine]

What I love about UG is how I always see about 2 articles every week about Metallica, and come on, first the shit article yesterday and now this one, wow.. wow

[perilouspete]

xalyssam wrote:

beatallica.. that's creative
too bad i've never heard of you

too bad they've been around for 10 years, you're even more behind the times than ultimate guitar (if that's possible)

[the_bi99man]

Raizer Sabre wrote:

i remember reading somewhere that lars actually likes this band and helped them out with their cease and desist order a few years ago lol

They combine the lyrics/music of Beatles and Metallica songs, then re-name then somthing that combines the 2 songs original names. I've never heard them myself, but it sounds like it could be interesting for a while.

Either way, UG is really, really, really sucking ass as far as news goes these days. I don't trust a word they say anymore.

Yeah, when they were fighting Sony's cease and desist order, Lars paid for their lawyers.

GimmeToro wrote:

What is it with everything being labelled as satire at the minute? They might be a spoof band, they might be parody, but that doesn't equal satire.

Anyway... I've heard of, but I've never actually heard beatallica, what do they play? Is it actual beatles songs or songs which sound like beatles songs? In the style of metallica? Enlighten me.

[the_bi99man]

the_bi99man wrote:

Raizer Sabre wrote:

i remember reading somewhere that lars actually likes this band and helped them out with their cease and desist order a few years ago lol

They combine the lyrics/music of Beatles and Metallica songs, then re-name then somthing that combines the 2 songs original names. I've never heard them myself, but it sounds like it could be interesting for a while.

Either way, UG is really, really, really sucking ass as far as news goes these days. I don't trust a word they say anymore.

Yeah, when they were fighting Sony's cease and desist order, Lars paid for their lawyers.GimmeToro wrote:

What is it with everything being labelled as satire at the minute? They might be a spoof band, they might be parody, but that doesn't equal satire.

Anyway... I've heard of, but I've never actually heard beatallica, what do they play? Is it actual beatles songs or songs which sound like beatles songs? In the style of metallica? Enlighten me.

wow, they came out scrambled... I hope you guys can figure out which line was replying to what, and so forth.

[deNJi_RoCks]

Metallica rocks.

Beatallica seem to suck.

[Mr.Garreth]

Shit!!! Will you people please stop bitching!?!

[KingSquall802]

Metallica is also my saviour

[Saintanger20]

I like Beatallica. At first I thought Beatallica would suck. I was at Sam Goody and saw their album and thought I might as well give them a try. I was taken aback at how much Jaymz sounds like Hetfield. Beatallica, YOU ROCK!