It is a lovely afternoon as I sit with Tony Oldland from The Beachles. This was my first patio experience this year. Tony is a very approachable and friendly guy. As we warmed up to this little interview, I noticed Tony talking and waving to everyone. I started in the most obvious way and asked him to explain The Beacles. I thought this was going to be obvious, but I was wrong. Here are the points that Tony talked about.
The answer started with a guy up in Keswick, Mr Mad, who does the Rolling Stones. He was asked by another bar up there if he knew of a Beatles act. Tony was asked to work with other musicians to come up with the goods. He was excited to dissect all the different part of a Beatles tune. Since he and Mr Mad were playing together, Tony decided to call that show, A Mad day’s night, a tribute to the Beatles.
Tony originally was born in England and moved to Canada with his family back in 1964, the same year the Beatles came over, overshadowing Tony’s arrival.
After a successful gig, Tony thought to do a gig in Toronto for all his friends and invited local musicians to join in with this project. He was setting up the show at The Salty Dog and naturally The Beacles were born. They have been performing for the last year and a half, and see no sign of slowing down, because they pack the room in solidly.
BT – So which is the one song you love to play the most.
Tony – “The one that I played the longest, that is close to my heart would have to be, I’ve just seen a face”. “It was written by McCartney by himself and it’s based on basic country, but you can play it on acoustic guitar by yourself, at a campfire up north, even if your equipment fails at a concert you can just walk into the audience and hit that guitar to get some volume out of it. I have see McCartney do this live a couple of times and it just crosses all the age barriers when he play this one”.
BT – “On the flip side of the coin, is there a song you wouldn’t play”?
Tony – “Revolution 9, You know my name”. “My Bass player who is an award winning finger player does his version of All you need is love”. “It wouldn’t make my playlist; it is a bit too much fluff”.
BT – “What would your top 3 Beatles song are on your list today”?
Tony – “Hmmm, I feel like Sgt Pepper, and anything from Rubber soul and Revolver”.
BT – “Being a young band, how may Beatle tunes do you have in your repertoire”.
Tony – “Most Beatles songs are short , so on any given night we need between 35-40 songs for the show”.” The Beachles probably have about 60 songs”.
BT – “Besides the Salty Dog, are their other venues you play”?
Tony – “Yes we play around town and was invited to play the Beatles fest down in London Ontario last year”. “We also play up in Newmarket”.
BT – “Where do you see the band go from here”?
Tony – “I’m retired so I do this as something fun, the other guy, has a full time job and does this on the side. The other two are full time musicians, so I would like to get bigger gigs so I can keep them around, because they are such good players”. “We don’t look like the Beatles but we have the sound and the quality of musicianship to get better and player bigger venues”.
BT – “I think you are moving in the right direction, because I have been to The Salty Dog twice to see you, and both times the place was packed and I love the touch of you giving away gifts”.
Tony – “I started putting together of old 45’s in frames and the first one that I did, I did for my Dad on Father’s day. Now, you know what, bars don’t pay you a lot of money so most bands pass around a tip jar. I thought it would be nice to give back to our audience because they keep coming back. So instead of a tip jar, we decided to have a raffle for this stuff and our audience has a chance to take something home. I actually put a few of these items together and the idea took off. I added the idea of taking pictures of the winners and post them to our Facebook page. It adds more interest, because people who go to our page can see others winning, and that makespeople feel nice. You don’t have to just throw money in a tip jar.
With that said, I would like to add that this is a great way to spend an afternoon or evening. When you walk into their show, prepare yourself for a good time. The band is friendly; the people running the show are very helpful and nice. All you need to do is kick back with a drink or put on your dancing shoes and have fun with The Beachles! You just might win something …
To like The Beachles page and get more information go to… https://www.facebook.com/groups/1458683230816493/
Check out a few pics of The Beachles: