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| The Beagles perform at Woodstock in Seoul on Oct. 13. / Courtesy of Kim Jin-ha |
By Jon Dunbar
It is hard to intellectually argue that the Beatles is not the greatest band of all time. The Beagles, a canine-inspired cover band, performs Beatles songs here, there and everywhere in Seoul.
Yoo Jaeson (guitar), Johnny Kim (guitar), Hong Sang-jin (bass) and Bill Elliott (drums), come together over a love of the band.
"I guess the four of us came together because we share a love for the music," Yoo said. "The Beatles' music isn't as simple as it sometimes sounds; we have to play instrument parts, then sing vocal parts. Singing lead vocal is one thing; learning all the harmonies is another. But when the harmonies and the instruments hit together correctly? Oh, what a good feeling that is."
The Beatles' illustrious career runs the gamut from early skiffle-inspired music to the later psychedelic stuff. And for four guys in Seoul, operating a Beatles tribute band is no easy mission.
Guitarist Johnny Kim leads them in the early-era songs, when the Beatles just wanted to hold your hand, and the members have explored the very early days of the Beatles before Beatlemania took hold outside England. The newer stuff is harder to nail because the Beatles went from being a touring band to being more of a studio band as they got more psychedelic, according to the members.
"I love all the different eras, and I think the other guys do too," Yoo said. "Yeah, there are some songs that would be very very difficult to reproduce exactly on stage. But then again, I have some faith in our creativity to put on a performance that's not exactly like the recorded track, but still does sound compelling live. Tomorrow Never Knows, right fellas?"
"Seriously, for me, the Beatles cover so many different musical genres, and so it's really great for me to explore the different eras of their music," Hong said. "Of course, there are some songs that need to be skipped because they'd be too difficult to do on stage."
If you walked into a bar when the Beagles were playing, you might not catch on right away. While they love performing Beatles songs, the Beagles don't dress up like them, or try to act like them, or cover up their ethnic differences.
"It's strange to me how dressing up like one of the Beatles makes (other tribute acts) act like them on stage as well," Yoo said. "I have no problems with that, just not our cup of tea. Rather than do that, I think it's better just to be ourselves and try to use the music to stand out, you know what I mean?"
"Some people play golf, some people go scuba diving...we play rock n' roll," Elliott said.
"I have an awesome job, but like for anyone else, it can get stressful," said Yoo, an executive at a major cybersecurity company. "Playing rock 'n' roll with a bunch of other middle-aged guys actually brings a lot of balance into my life."
"If you can stir up feelings or even emotions from the audience, you've got a good show," Kim said. "But in order to stir up emotions with our playing and singing, a lot of discipline and practice is necessary."
The Beagles plan to keep working on their vocal harmony, taking the lead from their progenitor. They perform as part of HBC Fest, appearing at Phillies at 11 p.m. this Friday.
Visit fb.com/hbcfest or fb.com/thebeaglesrock for more information.
