You are in the Special Features section - Interview with The Bootleg Beatles

Here, Digger talks to Neil Harrison (aka John Lennon,) from the world's premier Beatles tribute band, The Bootleg Beatles. They have established themselves over twenty-six years, and have played The Royal Albert Hall more times than any other band. Filling concert halls wherever they go, they faithfully reproduce the look and sound of the original Fab Four to the point where they have received 'official approval'.........................

 

Digger: How do you cope with the hoards of frenzied young girl fans?

Neil: Sadly, many of our female admirers would probably not be categorised in the 'young' bracket, though we do get some! It's not so much knickers thrown on stage these days as corsetry!

Digger: Do the European audiences behave differently to the British ones?

Neil: Some parts of the UK  tend to be typically reserved (except Glasgow!) whereas many Europeans countries know how to let their hair down and go for it from the off.

Digger: Have you ever had any recognition/feedback from any of The Beatles or anyone in their inner circle?

Neil: George Harrison and Paul McCartney have seen the band. George spent quite some time with us at a celeb party we were playing. He famously said 'You probably know the chords better than I do' and 'Where's the Bootleg Brian Epstein 'cos he's got all the money'! Paul , who saw us playing at The Queen's Golden Jubilee said jokingly he was gonna come and heckle us. George Martin has also seen us a number of times and been very appreciative.

Digger: You played on the top of the old Apple building in Saville Row 30 years after The Beatles did. What did that feel like and what was the reaction?

 

 

The Bootleg Beatles play atop Saville Row

 

Neil: That was one of the most memorable Bootleg gigs ever as no other band has, to date, played up there apart from the real ones and us. A real privilege you might say. The day was nerve wracking in the extreme because there were world press and TV cameras everywhere but the reaction in the surrounding offices and on the street below was every bit as spontaneous as it had been on 'Take One'...in '69. People were dancing on the rooftops. Traffic stopped in the street  and the Council even threatened to turn off the power... (obviously they'd read the script.) Brilliant!

Digger: It must be great being able to play some of the best songs ever written. Are there any songs that you don't play?

Neil: Revolution 9.

Digger: Which songs are the most difficult to reproduce on tour?

Neil: Some of the early songs in high keys are often difficult to achieve night after night  but generally I would say the songs involving orchestra are the hardest to reproduce. The more players you add the more difficult the mix and venues can never offer you perfect acoustic 'studio' conditions so you have to work with what you've got. Songs like 'Strawberry Fields' or 'A day in the life' for instance are almost impossible (and were never intended) to recreate live, as the mixes were so complicated.  Nevertheless we have a bloody good stab at them. 

 

 

The Bootleg Beatles having a good stab

 

Digger: What are the best and worst things about being The Bootleg Beatles?

Neil: Best - Travelling, paying the mortgage every month,  recreating some of the finest pop classics in history and not  having to get up at the crack of dawn and commute to work every morning.
Worst - Not having a music career in your own right. You can do a certain amount of stuff in parallel with the Bootleg Beatles, but at least four months of the year are taken up with Bootleg Beatles business and touring.

Digger: Are you planning on trying an invasion of America at some point?

Neil: See next question...

Digger: Is there any venue you would still like to play that you haven't done?

Neil: The Hollywood Bowl. Carnegie Hall. Shea Stadium...Candlestick park etc...

Digger: You have been going for 26 years, over three times as long as the originals. Are you going to stick together, or will you all fall apart in a bout of messy litigation?

 

 

 

Neil: We can't afford litigation, messy or otherwise, so we'll probably stay together just like the Stones with Oxygen Tents, osteopaths, and blood transfusion equipment at the ready side stage!

Digger: What are your favourite Beatles compositions and what is their lasting legacy to the world?

Neil: 'You're gonna lose that girl' - The Beatles at their peak and a song still not tarnished by overplaying. It's a great all-round vocal performance with the characteristic Paul/George answer-backs to John's melodic lead. And the crafty key change in the middle - all culminating in the epitome of fabness...
Eleanor Rigby - A George Martin/Paul McCartney collaborative stroke of sheer genius. I remember when it first came out. It was so utterly unexpected and a quantum leap from anything that came before. 
Their lasting legacy is a catalogue brimming over with the most potent and versatile pop music of all time. They stretched all the boundaries of the genre and nobody thus far, with all of today's technology, has come anywhere close.

 

 

 

Digger: Is there a fifth Bootleg Beatle, and if so, who is it?

Neil: Our keyboard player Billy from Preston.

Digger: If you had known how successful the Tribute band format would have been, would you have copyrighted it?

Neil: Would that be possible? If so ... Absolutely.

 

 

 

   

The Bootleg Beatles 

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My big thanks to Neil Harrison and to Raj Patel

For further information and further reading:

www.bootlegbeatles.com