BEATALLICA: JAMES HETFIELD And LARS ULRICH Have Been Nothing But Cool To Us

BEATALLICA, the Internet sensation who combine the work of THE BEATLES with the sound of early METALLICA, recently spoke to the Ear Candy webzine about the inspiration behin the band's formation and the group's future plans, among other topics. A couple of excerpts from the interview follow:

Ear Candy: On your website is a quote from Kirk Hammett of METALLICA: "I think it's cool when people do shit like that. Reinterpret our music and fashion and things. It's not flattery, it's just fun for me." Has there been any other feedback from the other [METALLICA] members? What about the remaining BEATLES? I imagine that Paul McCartney won't like it for the simple fact that he hates the RUTLES!

BEATALLICA: "Yeah, James and Lars have both commented publicly on us and they've been nothing but cool to us. You can see some of their quotes via our website in the news section or if you download a press kit. METALLICA was just here in August and Ringo Larz' [BEATALLICA drummer] sister in law was a massage therapist for them. Of course, she wore a BEATALLICA shirt and got some looks of surprise from Hetfield! To have the boys on your side is awesome as we don't mean The band, or its practices, to be a slam on METALLICA in any way. I'm sure they know that and, hell, they're pretty busy being METALLICA to worry about us. Though some bangers out there still insist that we are METALLICA just horsing around!

"As far as THE BEATLES, nothing from either Paul or Ringo. I'm not sure what they'd say. We love that band and would love to hear from them someday. But hey, if any of us were marrying models half our age and still out rocking the world, we'd have other things to attend to..."

Ear Candy: I was just wondering — it takes a bizarre mind (like mine!) to come up with the mix of THE BEATLES and METALLICA! Who came up with the BEATALLICA idea? Tell me a little about what you originally set out to do and if it turned out like your original concept?

BEATALLICA: Really the idea of BEATALLICA, and the naming, was on behalf of Jaymz [Jaymz Lennfield, BEATALLICA guitarist/vocalist] , Krk [Krk Hammettson, BEATALLICA guitarist] and D^2 (webmaster of puppets). There's a festival in Milwaukee called Spoof Fest, where musicians get together to emulate and desecrate their favorite bands. One year, METALLICA was done by Jaymz and Krk, before they were known as Jaymz and Krk. On the way to rehearsal, Krk heard 'For No One' by THE BEATLES and mixed the progressions with METALLICA thoughts on his mind. Jaymz did the same, only lyrically. What started as a whim quickly became an obsession with more and more songs. A recorded disc of songs was obtained by D^2 and he put up a website. It simply went nuts! He was the one to actually call the project 'BEATALLICA'.

"The focus of the band has obviously changed from being a side project to becoming an internet sensation to becoming a working live band. Musicians for bass and drums were added to complete the live puzzle. As far as songwriting, it's Jaymz and Krk bouncing musical and arrangement ideas off each other. The Kliff and Ringo characters do contribute and we really like the idea of having somewhat of a democracy, or at least an open forum for ideas on how to structure songs. Now the band's future is something we hadn't initially dreamed of but we do now. Our intent is really to play live all over the place and we're working on hitting many places. The live show is really starting to 'come together'!"

Read BEATALLICA's entire interview with Ear Candy at link textthis location.