What would happen if The Beatles and Metallica were caught in a blender? It probably will sound a lot like Beatallica, the new band which mashes up tunes by the Fab Four and the San Francisco quartet. Their new album, Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band, hits stores today, July 10, and it features 13 mind blowing mash-ups. Tunes include "Blackened In The U.S.S.R.," "A Garage Dayz Nite," and "Helvester Of Skelter."
Beatallica, which is comprised of
Jaymz Lennfield,
Grg Hammettson,
Kliff McBurtney, and
Ringo Larz, started out earlier this decade forming to perform their clever mash-ups during Milwaukee's Spoof-Fest for April Fools Day. The band created a series of homemade MP3's that became a viral hit. Now the band has sharpened up some of those tunes and added some more songs for Sgt. Hetfields Motorbreath Pub Band. Jaymz said that they had to up the ante for the album.
Jaymz Lennfield On MP3s Vs Sgt Hetfields
"I think since the inception of the band we've actually paid more attention. You have to realize that from the first set of MP3s which took 14 hours to write, record, mix, and then put out on to little discs. 14 hours. Now, you're talking about a whole record, so Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band, not only does it have new tunes that are the most creative in regards to the live mash-up -- but you're talking about the old MP3s that have been redone, fully done, and actually have a lot more texture to them....mastered. Yeah, we actually got something mastered! (laughs)."
Vocalist Jaymz Lennfeld also talked about the challenge of writing songs for Beatallica.
Jaymz Lennfield On Creating Beatallica Music
"Well, really as far as a creative song process it's like any other band that creates music because you have to deal with things like flow and groove and time signatures as well as having fun and using the Beatle and Metallica entities, our own thoughts... In some ways, to me, it's a little bit more difficult because there are some structures to it. If you're a freelance songwriter or whatever you want to call yourself, there are no boundaries. Here you're kind of under the control of the original songs by The Beatles and Metallica. It's a fun process, and it takes just as much effort as anything else, that's for sure."
Guitarist Grg Hammetson said that it takes musically knowledgeable fan to truly appreciate Beatallica.
Grg Hammetson On Who Their Fanbase Is
"Well...and plus there's a high caliber to our fan base. They have to understand a lot of things just to get what we're doing. They have to understand the old-school Beatles and they have to understand Metallica just to get all the things we put into the songs."
Beatallica has the thumbs up from Metallica's Lars Ulrich, and the band is slotting in more dates for their tour. The band has been hailed by Anthrax's Scott Ian, Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy, and comedian Jim Bruer says, "This is better than chocolate meeting peanut butter. My two top bands ever, but now they're together! Beatallica makes my world perfect!"
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