Was the whole "BeatallicA" concept brought out by an obsession with MetallicA? Or the Beatles?

JAYMZ--The concept wasn't an obsession at all, really. It was, to be honest, a bit of an accident. The mixing began while Krk and I were rehearsing for a Spoof Fest show here in Milwaukee. This is a festival in its 12th year where local musicians emulate and desecrate their favorites. We were doing Metallica that year and we got to listening to some Beatles riffs, as we often do. The similarities to us were, I suppose, apparent, at least in regards to songwriting and melody. We started messing around with a few ideas just for fun, put them on a c.d. and gave it away at the show. Only later did we realize that it had made its way onto the internet. The band had a name, as dubbed by our now webmaster of puppets, David Dixon, before we even new we had an existence as a band! We're now at www.beatallica.org.


Jaymz, incredible job doing James (Hetfield), was there intense studying done to nail down the vocals?

JAYMZ--There's always room for studying and improvement for any musician or artist. I never stop trying to increase my abilities on guitar or any other instrument I play. Voice is an instrument and needs constant fine tuning and taking care of. Hetfield has really become a singer, not only a vocalist, over the last 15 years. You can tell he's put his time into it. Also, one really has to know how to harness and release aggression efficiently so as to not ruin their vocal chords. Desire is only a piece of it. You need stamina, breathing technique, and being good to your throat for it to respond how you need and want it to.


I know that Lars came to your aid when Sony sent BeatallicA a "cease and desist" letter to stop the spread of you music online, What kinds of advice did he give?

JAYMZ--His advice was really more encouragement and being willing to direct us to the right folks to talk to. He offered up the services of Metallica's attorney, Peter Paterno. Both of them have been just great to us. We've actually received good advice and have a whole bunch of new knowledge thanks to a seminar at Harvard University we just did. All those lawyers surrounded by musicians makes for great conversation and discussion of the issues the recording industry finds itself in today. Things like downloading, the internet as a whole, file sharing, technology, and more....


Your sound recordings are great, I assume you recorded at a professional studio?

JAYMZ--Our engineer, Flemball Rasmartin, owns Bobby Peru's Recording Studio: bobbyperurecording.com. He's been a part of bands such as The New Loud and Highball Holiday and we've worked together on other projects besides Beatallica. His stuff is top notch and at the cutting edge of the newer digital technology that is out these days. He's been a big part of the band and loves to work with local and regional talent.


How many members make up "BeatallicA"?

JAYMZ--For the live band, it's Krk Hammettson on lead guitar and backing vocals; Kliff McBurtney on bass and backing vocals; Ringo Larz on drums; and me, Jaymz Lennfield, on rhythm guitar and lead vocals. But, as I mentioned, Dave Dixon and Flemball are a huge part of Beatallica's make up.


Rumor has it you are an occupational therapist by day, is this just a little escape from reality for you, or something more?

JAYMZ--Ha! I'm not sure what reality is anymore, I think! My job to me is something I still enjoy an awful lot. Sure, I could leave it and just be a musician. I play in 3 or 4 projects, not just Beatallica, and they all do well. You know though, musicians don't get nice things like insurance. Plus my therapist role is something I went to school for. I maxed out everything I had to get through it to get my therapy degree. I work in a great location where I can really be myself, have fun, laugh everyday, and have great relationships with my clients. I work quite a bit with elderly folks with dementia and physical maladies. Inner city folks to Sisters are on my caseload. It's a unique experience and only a very strong pull would get me to call it quits there. If that happens, then alright, I'd have to pursue it. But I can honestly say I enjoy my job and I think there are many people out there that can't say that.


I see you have gotten some national attention lately, how are things going so far? Would you say most of the responses have been positive?

Jaymz--Yeah, you know we didn't go to the media with the whole cease and desist story. It got onto boingboing and it just exploded. I've had folks from all over call me to get a word: MTV.com, Reuters News, NPR, just to name a few. It's been a world-wide story, which is cool. Rest assured, however, we don't look to rub anything in anyone's face over this. It's an issue that came up, is still somewhat apparent, and will affect our future. The responses have been very positive for several reasons. If one person doesn't dig the tunes, maybe at least they understand the sentiments of good will and use of technology. Some folks enjoy the odd combination. Some just enjoy the whole bombastic, cartoon-humorish sort of fun behind it all. It's best to us when we hear from people who say they've discovered or rediscovered either The Beatles or Metallica because of Beatallica. I just never thought I'd be in a band that has such a cultural pull!


How do you feel about newer MetallicA vs. their older style? Did you get a chance to see their movie Some Kind of Monster?

JAYMZ--I touched on some thoughts before about how Het has really honed his craft as a singer. Their songwriting has become very professional. I know a lot of "old schoolers" wont be into that. Sure I still have "Metal Militia" in my head on a regular basis! They are a different band now than what they were in 1983. I give bands most credit for persevering and being able to bring it live. You don't get any younger or more spry, and these guys have been doing the gig now for nearly 25 years--holy crap! I did see "Monster". I would've liked to have seen the reels of outtakes to maybe get some more answers to situations and conversations that were outlined in the movie. You just never totally know what went on with all that.


Besides Metallica and the Beatles, what other kinds of music do you dig?

JAYMZ--Well I play in a few Irish outfits, Reilly and Tynkr Boys, as my whole family is big into the Irish heritage. I'm a Shamrock Club member and my family has been involved in that and Irish Fest forever, it seems. I don't do the bagpipe thing, but I do play acoustic guitar, bass, bouzouki, harmonica. It's historical stuff, sad at times, rollicking at others. I really enjoy acoustic stuff and folks like Ben Harper or Lyle Lovett. I am a sucker for the 80's heavier metal though and am listening to "Don't Break the Oath" by Mercyful Fate right now as I type. Basically I like skilled songwriting. There are a few bands I like that have sharpened their wits over the years. Bands like In Flames or Soundgarden, . It's called "selling out" sometimes. When it's done well, I call it intelligence and understanding.


Michael Jackson owns the catalog to the Beatles songs right? Did he have a factor in any decisions? (I have a feeling that now he has more important things to worry about!)

JAYMZ--Actually from what I thought, Michael had relinquished rights back to Sony when he was recording a few years ago. Something about how costs were over budget and he put the Beatles catalog up as a sort of collateral. Not completely sure on the logistics of that but, to be certain, we've not received any sort of letter or communication from the Jackson camp. I don't think he had anything to do with the story. Sometimes I wonder if I'd like to hear from him about it, but then again, I don't think he's familiar with Beatallica.


Have you been approached by record labels?

JAYMZ--In the summer of last year we did receive an offer from a metal label in Europe. There was a certain problem though. They wanted us to perform Beatallica as just straight Beatles covers with no changing of lyrics or music. What's the fun in that?! The great thing about Beatallica is the combination of the two bands and our own addition of lyrics, interludes, key changes, time signature changes, etc... We're solid as to how we want Beatallica to be. We haven't heavily pursued labels or anything but, if a situation comes along that is good for us and the integrity of the band, we'd listen. We want to have freedom, as every band does. Sometimes, that comes with certain and specific prices. With the music industry in the state it's in, who knows what price Beatallica will pay? We've already been embroiled in things we think are unfortunate just for being who we are.


Do you have a live following? Is there a tour in the works?

JAYMZ--The folks here, regionally, have been really super cool. The shows have been great and we've met plenty of people from all over who have been on our minds. There are certain states that we get a lot of mail from, Texas, California, the east coast. Places in Europe like Germany and the U.K. have been awesome to us. Once the website goes back up, we'll have other shows to announce. We do have an email list people can sign up on. Go to beatallica@sbcglobal.net  to sign up. No spam here! We are in the works of scheduling some pretty cool things but we've been a bit cautious lately. We now know that live shows and merchandise wont be affected by the whole issue we've had. We are close to announcing some things but it's been tough holding our tongues.


On the track "And I'm Evil", did you do the Danzig impersonations too? That was fantastic!

JAYMZ--Yep, that was me. Thanks for that! Funny thing is, when I did the first takes of it, I sang it along the lines of The Beatles' "And I Love Her", really low and sort of subdued. Flemball simply asked me to "not sound so much like Hank Hill!" That was great! I came in the next week, after thinking about it more, and let it rip in one take. I guess I just needed the Danzig black soul in me to stew about a bit. We're planning on other stuff for tunes, and the website in general, that go along the lines of impressions. And, yes, I do a mean Hank Hill....


How much fun are you having with this project?

JAYMZ--It's just as amazing to me that Beatallica is doing what it's doing as it is fun. That's a lot of amazement and a whole damn lot of fun. And why can't rock or metal be fun? I think there's a large consensus, especially among American metal, that the music can't or shouldn't be fun. Not sure how or why that happened. I think we're all pretty fun guys, we do things not as a slam against anyone. Well maybe glam bands, but that's part of the fun! Sure, this is work. We're run and licensed as a business. Our recent business nearly took all the fun out of Beatallica. But we are so damn happy to play, it's sort of a reprieve from a sentence. It's also quite an eye opener to be part of a band that is involved with outfits such as The Future of Music Coalition and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. That's fun and an honor.


Where do you plan on taking this?

JAYMZ--I don't know. Where do you live, Darren? Can Kliff crash in your bathtub? We'll take it to places we haven't thought of yet, I have a feeling. The state of the music industry and the congeniality of some who are daring is lending itself to that thought.


I also know you have some new tunes ready to disperse, when can we expect to hear it?

JAYMZ--Yes, we do have a new tune done and we're pretty happy with it. It's been an enormous project for us as we recorded it in 12 or 13 different different languages. Folks from all over the world have become Beatallibangers and it'll be great to share our feelings with them very soon. We are in the midst of some discussion as to what is "provocation" upon releasing the new tune or any future full-lengths for that matter. We want to do Beatallica to the best of our creative abilities but we want to be safe about it. There's no need to relive some of the events of the past few months. If we could put it out today (April 13), we would. The email list at beatallica@sbcglobal.net will keep everyone posted on our doings and merch information can be given there until the website is back up. We are playing non-recorded songs live so, if you come to a show, you'll get some new Beatallica.


Closing statements?

JAYMZ--Really we just want to say thanks for being patient with us during these times. We are a very accessible band and we are bummed we need to be sort of elusive right now. We do feel those days are coming to an end though. We also encourage folks to come out to a show and stop to say hi. We never discourage pictures or video, as long as we can get a copy. Visit us at www.beatallica.org  and chime in on the bulletin board. It's a great forum and the Beatallibangers are just excellent. And thanks to you, Darren, for the interest and the time. It's important to have local allies and forge a relationship to keep the local scene as strong as it can be. Yoko up your ass!
 

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