GERMANY: GERMANY'S BEATLE TRIBUTE BAND "THE SILVER BEATLES" APPEAR IN A BEATLES MUSICAL IN FRANKFURT

Record ID: 390653

  • Title: GERMANY: GERMANY'S BEATLE TRIBUTE BAND "THE SILVER BEATLES" APPEAR IN A BEATLES MUSICAL IN FRANKFURT
  • Date: 27th December 2000
  • Summary: 'ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN' EXTRACT FROM MUSICAL
  • Embargoed: 11th January 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: FRANKFURT, GERMANY
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9Z2QKY5362SG3J4L5HQZDW51M
  • Story Text: Three months ago Beatlemania hit the world yet again with the launch of their chart topping singles album '1'. In Germany, the fabulous four are still going strong. Beatles fans there can go and see the "Silver Beatles" - the German version of Paul, John, Ringo and George - in their new musical 'She Loves You'.
    The musical 'She Loves You' is the brainchild of producer and Beatles fan Werner Forster who decided to bring one of the most exciting chapters of modern music to life and present it to the German public - never tired of the Beatles.
    The biggest problem he faced was finding actors who not only looked like the Beatles but could also play like them. That's when he found the 'Silver Beatles'.
    "We, as the Silver Beatles, have played in this set-up for years, and we play the Beatles, this is George, I am John, and we were discovered in Liverpool at the Beatles' Convention, and the producer had clear ideas: the lads had to be able to impersonate the Beatles, preferably sound like them, preferably look like them, and we didn't have to prepare for that in any great way. Naturally, we had to learn our lines, a bit of text, but ultimately we were already prepared and ready to impersonate the Beatles", says Johnny Silver.
    They might look like the original Beatles and even play like them, but what about that very distinctive Liverpool accent? "The next song we'd like to do is from a film we made, it's a colour film. So we visited Liverpool several times, we play at the annual Beatles conference there; we have lots of friends in Liverpool. We are developing the language, the scouse accent a little, but in Germany we try to avoid the Liverpool accent, because it is too hard to understand for the Germans."
    Germans may not come to grips with the accent but it was their understanding of the Beatles' music that helped the school band from Northern England cut their teeth on the hard music circuit of 1960' Hamburg.
    "So I think the Beatles developed in Germany their style, so they played rock and roll, they had to play long hours in Hamburg clubs, so they developed their vocal style, with harmonising vocals. And they had to play real loud and maybe fast, so when they came back to Liverpool the people said, "Well these guys are Germans, they look different and they play different."
    Well, roll over Beethoven.
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