August 17th will mark the 50th anniversary of a set of gigs in Hamburg's redlight district played by a then-unknown group that's now kinda famous... the Beatles. In preparation, four indie rockers have joined forces to form a band that pays homage to the Beatles's early work. Nada Surf drummer Ira Elliot and Maplewood guitarist Mark Rozzo came up with the idea, and got together with Cat Power's bassist Erik Paparazzi and Guided by Voices guitarist Doug Gillard to start (re)making some music.
The band, called
Bambi Kino (after an "adult" cinema in Hamburg where the Beatles played), aims to resurrect the "sound, fury, and irresistible spirit" of the young Beatles, drawing material from their setlists and bootleg recordings from 1960-1962. They're researching pretty extensively, even intending to play songs that are known to have been played by the Beatles but were never recorded.
Bambi Kino played their first gig last month in New York, a preview for their string of shows August 17th through 20th at Indra Musikklub in Hamburg. They've recorded "
Some Other Guy," which you can hear now on
their Myspace, in mono using vintage instruments and minimal micing, and will release it next month on vinyl (side 2: "Falling in Love Again"), followed by a full album in the fall.
The first single is super true to the original, but the band says their wish is to pay homage to what the Beatles did for music, rather than "slavishly" imitate them with costumes and haircuts. Still, attempting to emulate the Beatles is a dangerous task with lots of room for criticism. So far, sounds good. -
selden paterson
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Bambi Kino on Myspace