A self-professed “epic” Beatles fan, Eskimo Joe frontman, Kav Temperley, is on record many times discussing the dynamics of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr.
So when offered the opportunity to play one of four frontmen heading up the upcoming Beatles Back2Back live show, the decision for Kav was simple. “It was kind of a no brainer for me because I know all the songs, I know the lyrics. They’re written on my brain already.”
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Beatles Back2Back covers the ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ and ‘Abbey Road’ albums back to back and track by track – a format that fits with Kav’s view of The Beatles being an albums band. “Generally most people love Beatles albums and that’s what was so amazing about them,” he says.
“They made amazing songs but they were such an albums band. What most people do when they listen to The Beatles is [when a song finishes] they start singing the next song before it comes in because they’re used to listening to that stuff back to back.”
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ARIA Hall of Fame inductee Russell Morris, Southern Sons frontman Jack Jones, and English folk-rock singer Jon Allen will join Kav on stage to recreate the Fab Four. “The best thing about doing [tribute shows] is obviously everyone comes together with a shared love of The Beatles, but it’s also just really cool to meet new people and get on the road and play some songs.”
Divvying up the 30 iconic tracks between the four lead vocalists was made possible with a little help from vocal arranger, Lindsay Field. “He sent through a suggestion for everyone and then everyone kind of came back and said, ‘Can I sing this song instead of that song?’ and there was a bit of trading back and forth.”
Kav admits he is “stoked” to have landed the vocals for ‘A Day In The Life’. “It is probably one of my all-time favourite Beatles tracks and all-time favourite songs. It’s ridiculously amazing and mysterious and all the rest of it.”
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Kav grew up listening to The Beatles, and credits the revolutionary Liverpool musicians for making him the award-winning songwriter behind such tracks as ‘Foreign Land’. “When I was just starting to write songs, when I was maybe 15 or 16, I went out and bought myself ‘The Beatles Complete Songbook’, and I pretty much went through and memorised the whole book so I could play any of the songs.
“By the end of the book, I’d kind of set myself up to be a songwriter because The Beatles pretty much wrote the book on songwriting. From experimentation to good pop to everything in between.”
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Despite this familiarity with The Beatles’ catalogue, Kav concedes he is still challenged by some of The Beatles’ tracks. “One of the things that is difficult, especially on ‘Sgt. Peppers’, is they did so much mucking about with tape machines that some of the songs are really high up in your register, and I think that’s because they actually sped the tape right up, which made all these crazy drum loops and stuff fit in.”
A 15-piece band complete with horns and strings as well as an assortment of Indian instruments will accompany the all-star lead vocalists as they travel to Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney. “I get to play these amazing venues with a really kick-arse band who all have the perfect instruments for the songs. It’s pretty much every Beatles fan’s dream come true.”
The Beatles Back2Back Tour Dates
Sat 20 Aug - Melbourne Convention & Exhibition CentreSun 21 Aug - Adelaide Entertainment Centre
Thu 25 Aug - Queensland Performing Arts Complex (Brisbane)
Fri 26 Aug - Sydney Opera House
Sat 27 Aug - Sydney Opera House
Fri 2 Sep - Crown Theatre (Perth)
