Hey, this is Paul Martin and Ray the Roadie for the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. What's up, Ray? I don't know. I feel like I want to hold your hand.

Really? That's nice. I just thought maybe we could come together. I see.

Okay. So you're doing Beatles references. Why is that? Because we're talking to a unique group of Beatles tribute entertainers.

Okay. There's four gals who do a show called, they call themselves the Beatles. Oh, the Beatles.

The Beatles. They do all Beatles music. I don't believe I've ever heard of an all-gal group doing that.

It's an all-girl review, right? It is. It is. Very cool.

Sounds like fun. It is. I mean, that's some of the best music in the world.

Who doesn't like the Beatles, right? Who doesn't? Exactly. Probably the Rolling Stones at the time and all the other bands didn't like them. But nowadays, yeah, everybody loves the Beatles.

Yep. And they've influenced numerous musicians. If it wasn't for the Beatles, I don't think Rock and Roll Chicago podcast would even be here.

Probably not. You're probably not. Yeah.

Since we don't get a chance of ever appearing on Ed Sullivan. So shall we start this little train rolling? No, that's, that's more of a. Sure. Sure.

Let's, let's, I'm trying to think of a Beatles song that I can reference. Well, let's just see what they have to say. Let's learn about the Beatles.

Let's do it. Hello everyone. And welcome to our show today.

Today we're speaking with the Beatles. That's right. It's an all-girl, all-girl Beatle band.

And we've got Christine and Amanda and Erica and Jen. How are you doing girls? Hey guys. Very, very well.

Thank you so much for you guys. Good. Good.

Good. Thanks for joining us today. And so, so tell us a little bit about how you came up with the idea of putting this together for yourself.

Well, being a lifelong Beatle fan and being partnered with a Beatle maniac, Frank Canino, we were with a group of friends and we were just talking about projects, you know, we were with friends that all had other projects going on, but I said, wouldn't it be like the best thing in the world if we did like a female Beatle tribute? Because we were talking about the power of the Beatles. It's just, it just doesn't matter if it, nothing matters. If you're a Beatle band, if you're doing Beatle music, people will come, you know, it's like a field of dreams.

You build it and they will come project out. People will come and enjoy it. So it started that way about a year and a half ago from the concept, you know? Okay.

So then what would that involve? Okay. We would have a band, but they could also do tracks. You know, do we want the girls to play instruments? Well, like eventually we would want that, but it's, it's been growing.

It's a work in progress. You know, we're really happy where it is now, but there's a lot of room for growth. And we've been talking about, you know, maybe starting with a couple songs, you know, the girls playing a, you know, love me do or something on the instruments, but, but it is, it's a theatrical production.

You know, it's not a band, you know, we're a show. Starts with the early Beatles. We talk a little bit, we give a little bit of history.

There's some choreography, some staging, you know, we do costume changes. We go into the kind of the pepper era up until the end. And in a nutshell, that's it.

On the roof of a building or something? Could happen. I'm ready. So it's more of like a show performance rather than a band playing, right? Well, we, like I said, we could have the band backing us or we can do the whole show with tracks either way, but our, we're a show, we're a theatrical production.

You know, we, I can see us eventually in theaters, you know, just hold out audiences all over the world. But, you know, for now we're doing the, you know, park districts and casinos, occasional clubs, you know, just to kind of get our bearings. And what part do you play, Christine? I am Paul McCartney.

I see. And who plays who? Ladies. I'm George, so I get all the best songs.

Amanda is George, okay. I'm Jen Zayas and I play the wonderful John Lennon. Well, let me guess what Erica does.

Yes. Ringo. That's right, Ringo.

How did you guys come up with this? Is your favorite Beatles or how did you decide who was going to be who? No, my favorite Beatle is John, but talking with, you know, Frank, we got to bring him in here for this, but he's like, you know, we need, so we need a Paul McCartney that can, you know, do a Good Golly Miss Molly and then a Yesterday or something. And he's like, you, you got to do the Paul. So we started with that.

The next thing was I needed a George that could just do the difficult harmonies and just be, you know, have the wonderful leads as well. And I, I knew Amanda, her and I, you know, we've had our two bands have crossed paths, you know, we've never gone out together, but I'm like, I think, I think Amanda Wolfe would be just, she'd be able to sink in that George part, no problem. And that's how we got, I mean, I sent her a message and just like, just, I don't know if you're half interested in a project like this.

And right away, she's like, yes. I mean, we got really, really lucky with that. Then we needed to sub Johns.

We've gone through like a couple of Johns who've just had busy lives, you know, busy bands, whatever, but we needed a sub Jen. She came in and just killed it. And we, we kept her.

I have no life, so it's fine. I was available. I have the time to obsess over John and that's how, that's how it goes.

But that's the obsession is just so cool. Like just being able to talk to you and have all those little things, you know, all that stuff. That's awesome to have that kind of information coming back at us.

And then we held an audition for Ringo and we had all kinds of people sending videos and coming in. And, uh, this girl came in and she sang a couple of songs, you know, we were very stoic. We're like, okay, well, we'll let you know.

And she left the room and Frank and I were very quiet. And I looked at Frank and I said, I think I love her. That was it.

Erica was in. Yeah. Very good.

And I was over the moon just to see a casting that was, uh, look for a low Alto tenor range because that never happens. Really, really strong voice and just this fantastic personality. So.

So I know Christine, uh, you obviously play in another band. You've got experience playing and performing with Rosie and the Rivets. Um, but what about, what about your other girls? Have you, have you done any acting? Have you done any acting or any, uh, any.

Oh my gosh. Let's let's start down the line. I see Amanda first in the, in the line.

Yeah. Yeah. I, um, I always said like my, my first life was theater.

I used to do a lot of like sore front Chicago musical theater and which doesn't pay very much. And so then I started, uh, then I started singing. I, I started singing with one band, which is a big band, the Alan Gresick swing shift orchestra, big band, um, Thursday nights at the green mill.

And then out of that met a lot of people started singing with a six piece band called the flat cats, which is all like twenties through fifties stuff. And that's really how I met Christine because we're, we're very much in the same kind of scene, same world. So, um, started doing that and just been singing with the bands for, for several years now.

It's been a long time since I did any theater, but, um, yeah, so that's, I met Christine and cross paths and she eventually asked me about doing George. So the flake heads are still playing. Yeah.

You know, it was a little less for a couple of years there, but yeah, we're playing right now. It's more private stuff, but we, uh, yeah, we're still, we play a lot of, um, we've always done clubs and hotels and that kind of thing. Private parties.

We do like, um, dance club, ballroom dance, uh, club nights, stuff like that. But yeah, we've been sort of all over the Chicago land area for, for a while. I've been with them for over 10 years.

Yeah. Um, I grew up doing theater. Um, and I went to school for musical theater and have been performing kind of all over the country for the last five or six years and, uh, settled in what came back to Chicago.

I'm from the Chicagoland area. Uh, so came back during pandemic times because the tour I was on got canceled and, uh, yeah. And then I was just here and saw a casting call and thought, Hey, I've never really been in a band and was pleasantly surprised that it was more of a theatrical production than just a band, not just a band because bands are amazing.

But, you know, I was excited to see that it had a theatrical aspect to it because I'm, I'm a music theater geek through and through and, uh, song and dance courses through my veins. Me too. I'm a, I, I have my, I have a degree in musical theater.

I would started in theater myself and, um, and, uh, you know, started there. And I did a lot of, uh, a lot of the musicals that I did were based on the American songbook book, uh, like a lot of Cole Porter musicals, Rogers and Hart. So that kind of evolved for me and just doing more jazz and, and, and, uh, American songbook and, um, vocal styling singing.

So that's what I did for many years. And then I was in a, uh, a band called Samba Bamba in the Chicago area for many years. And I'm in a band now, Mr. Lucky, and I have my own trio and band as well.

So, um, I get, I, we, I think we all, we all do a lot of different types of music. And I, I have done a lot of Beatles music over, over time in my, um, in my jazz and lounge career, I must say, because Beatles songs work in every style. Let's just say it.

They work everywhere. So including elevator music, right? Oh, it's great. And you can rock it.

You can swing it. You can waltz it. Yeah.

So, uh, so it's been, it's really exciting to do this because, um, you know, if I, if I had to go on a desert Island and somebody said, you can only do one band's music for the rest of your life. And it's the Beatles. I'd be like, great, great.

It's so diverse. Where do I sign up? Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

So it's really exciting to be part of this. So do you play guitar as well or no? I do. I play, well, let's say I, I, yes, yes.

Well, I'd be playing in this band. Well, as Christine said, there's about, we're working on a couple of songs, so yeah. Yeah.

I play guitar and ukulele and, um, and I don't know if the ukulele will come into the Beatles, but I think the guitar will at some point. And, uh, uh, I'm really looking forward to that. Um, Jen, was that, was it John Lennon when they asked him, do you play the, they were saying, you know, what do you play, Paul? I played the bass, you know, Ringo, I played the drums.

I think it was John that said I played rhythm guitar and also I play the fool. Does that sound right? Okay. That's what I needed to just say just now.

Why didn't I say that? I play rhythm guitar and I play the fool. Exactly. That's exactly right.

You said don't even get me started. Oh, I wish I had my ukulele up here. I've been in my studio.

I love it. We're going to have to do some jamming, Paul. You know, George Harrison was obsessed with the ukulele.

He was George Harrison was obsessed with ukulele and he used to have like five in the, in the truck of his car. He'd bring them out and give them out as gifts. He was obsessed with Wow.

I actually didn't know that. I am not surprised though, because he was such a consummate. He was obsessed with just, um, all the, all the string and all the instruments, all the string instruments, consummate player, consummate player.

But you know, here's what, here's something that I didn't, and here's something that I was learning in this documentary today. Um, I knew that Paul played the piano really well, but I also didn't realize that he played the piano really early on. And he played the piano kind of from the beginning and he didn't even, he's was in on guitar.

And then when, you know, they had all these people in Stu Sutcliffe, you know, the sexy one who was in the base, he, he, he was not even intending on necessarily playing the guitar, which I find crazy because I love, I love his picking style. He's got a beautiful trumpet and he decided to stop playing the trumpet because he wanted to sing. And so he played the guitar and then George and John, you know, they needed a bass player.

So he learned to play the guitar because the other two weren't, weren't going to. So that's amazing to me. What's amazing.

And John really wanted to be a painter and was, you know, and painted his whole life and really wanted to be a parent, more talent in their, in their little fingers. Do you know what I mean? They were just so multi-talented in so many ways. Yeah.

So Erica, you play, you play drums at all or no? So in our show, I play tambourine, claves, cowbell, lots of hand clapping. But I actually, when I was younger, when I was in like middle school, I grew up in an African drum club. So I, that was my first experience with drumming and my brother played drums in high school.

So, you know, I always used to watch him, but I actually, my primary instrument besides voice is cello. So I grew up playing cello since I was in third grade. Wow.

Oh my gosh. I, how can we get a cello in there somehow? Oh my gosh. Now I'm just thinking.

I do. I was going to say, I, I, I'm a little wrong. He did at one point play a Beatles medley on the cello that had Eleanor Rigby and Strawberry Fields.

And it was, it was a beautiful, we were a little quartet, but. Yeah. I was trying to think of a sign that would work with, with, with the cello and I'm sure, I'm sure.

Eleanor Rigby. Eleanor Rigby. Yeah.

Well, long, I mean, when you get George Martin, when you start getting him, all the strings that were added, Long and Winding Road. Yesterday. Yesterday.

Oh gosh. They're just all going to escape me, but there's, you could put strings on any of them, but they're, they use strings a lot if, or at least their, their version of strings in so many of their beautiful tunes. Although Long and Winding Road, was it Long and Winding Road or Let It Be? Or both you guys, Christina, or both were they, were it was Paul McCarty that they thought they didn't, were not satisfied with the way that it was presented on the records and wanted to do.

Which one was it? Long and Winding Road wasn't even a George Martin. That was. Was that Spector? Spector.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Overproduced. I think they felt like it was overproduced.

Even though I'm, I love, let's not, I'm not knocking Phil Spector because I love the Wallace out. I love Phil Spector too. His production, I didn't knock, no pun intended.

He's a bit of a, he had some violent tissues, let's just say, but. We won't go there. Exactly.

Exactly. Exactly. Right.

Right. But I know, I remember, I remember, especially with Let It Be, they were, they were not satisfied kind of with, they wanted things to be much more pared down than they ultimately were on some of the tracks. Isn't that correct? Am I wrong? Yeah.

If I remember. Yeah. That's why they liked, just had so much fun with One After 909.

It's just, you know, songs that just took them back to the day. Right. Right.

So, so going down the line then, did we discuss, did you play any instruments? Oh, my instrument playing? Well, my first instrument was violin. I also started in third grade and my twin sister and I, Erica, would play violin and cello duets. So, you know, my, my violin playing is a, is a little rusty, to put it lightly.

I'm feeling a little Rigby coming on right now. Let's, I'm going to get, we're going to get a ink in there too. What about a day in the life? Yes.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I do play a little guitar. My best instrument is piano. I'm not a genius, but that would definitely be my strongest instrument, which I started in fifth grade shortly after.

Amanda also plays the melodica very well because we played together in one of our bands. So one of our other, Amanda and I have been in a Christmas band, a Christmas, a Christmas group together, trio. Yeah.

Acapella with now with instruments for the last 12, I think 12 years now. So that's how we know each other. Yes.

Yes. Yes. A Christmas trio.

Yeah. So, and oddly enough, we don't do, we don't do simply having a wonderful Christmas. We don't do simply having a wonderful Christmas time.

And so this is Christmas, which is, so this is Christmas is like in my top five favorite Christmas songs and I, I never get to do it. So I think we have to add it this next year. Is it, do we have to add it to the Beatles? Are we going to have a Christmas number in the Beatles? What? Right.

Good idea. Yeah. Christmas show.

Sure. Yeah, exactly. That would be fun.

So speaking, speaking of songs, what, what, what are some of your favorites to do? Oh, well, I love together doing paperback writers. One of my favorites, cause we all sing on it. There's a lot of harmony on it.

It just, we did it. It clicked together really well. Erica to Amanda sound.

I get, John gets the easy part on that, you know, that's all I got to do. So they, they really, which is really fun because then that here, all the other harmonies coming in around me. It's really, it's beautiful.

What about, what about some of the, the, the, the, the songs that went with women's names in them or girls name? Because there's a lot of them besides Michelle. There's Anna and Julia. We don't change genius.

We just, we don't we do them as written. Yes. We are girls singing about girls that the Beatles loved or a John's case.

His, his mom and some of the Julia, some of the songs are working out, are working out great. One of Ringo's songs is boys. And it actually makes a lot more sense.

One of my favorites too. Yeah. Yes.

Mine as well. Love that. Oh my God.

We're so, we're so happy girl. What's one of my favorite songs I love, um, in the show probably met. What do you guys think I'm going to say? What did you think I was going to say? Well, I know you love doing come together with me, right? That's another one of my favorite.

Okay. We, I love doing come together. Cause it's, it's, uh, George and I get to do, uh, George, I AK Amanda, um, and do that together on that one.

And I do actually love doing that song. It's, um, that was, uh, I just, I, I just, I actually love the lyrics in him because they are, um, even though they are so weird, they're so weird. They, they make sense.

You can see what you can say, see what he was referencing in them with, especially the last verse where he's muddy water and early warning is all the blue singers. And, and, um, uh, it's, it's, I just want to, I just really want to handle on what, what John was, what drugs John was using. Here's what I know about that song.

He was, uh, asked to write it for a politician. And so all he knew for sure is that he, what he wanted to say was come together. Yeah, that was the, that was the main, you know, the main point of it.

So, so when he first started singing, it's like, it was just where it's so grooving up slowly, you know? So it was just, uh, things that he wanted to say in the beginning, but, uh, some, some words that just worked that fell off his tongue came out of his mouth. The, he liked the way they sounded. Um, but the, the main point that was come together, it was for a politician and that whole thing fell apart, but the song was so cool.

And the, the feel for it that, you know, he kept it. Well, and don't you think from watching some of, from watching, I think, uh, get back to the documentary about them and just from seeing, seeing their footage over the years, a lot of, it seemed like a lot of Paul, John and George, and a lot of, especially John and Paul, a lot of their writing, a lot of their words that they did, they would have filler words. Yes.

They would just spit out and keep singing over and over again. It was a very specific kind of songwriting where they get a groove, they get a melody and they just keep spitting words out. And I think come together is one of those songs where it stayed.

A lot of them just stayed. He's like, I like the way these sound. I'm going to keep them.

And, you know, he's got Ono sideboard and walrus gumboot. Obviously he's talking about, I'll be talking about Paul McCartney and obviously he's talking about, you know, Yoko Ono at that point. But so there's references there, but, um, yeah, a lot of their gobbledygook stayed in their lyrics.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think, I think just sometimes when you're writing a song or something, you get a feel for some words.

Some words may not make any sense, like you said. But they're still good. Right.

Right. Right. Until you use them until you get the right words, until the right words come out.

Exactly. So speaking of Yoko Ono, you know, you guys don't do any Yoko, do you? Oh, no. I am not.

Hey, I, John Lennon, I, after watching and reading books about him and seeing, he was, he was deeply, deeply in love with her. And she was a huge advocate of him and has continued to be a huge advocate of him. So I, my opinion about her has actually changed over the years.

I, you know, I love John's solo career too. He did beautiful music. I actually, as a child did own Yoko Ono's solo album.

I don't know. It was a, it was a, it was pretty big for a while. Double Fantasy.

Remember, you guys remember the, that was, that came out when I was a, when I was a very young child. And for some reason I got it as a Christmas present. And so I was really into that record.

I was into her solo record. I, you know, when you're, you know, when you're six and seven, there's no accounting for taste for that one. But so I, I, I think he made a lot of beautiful music when she was in his life.

His solo career is great. And he, and when he was at the, I didn't realize how much of her life he was in when, when they were writing all of Let It Be. I didn't realize she was so such a huge part of that too.

I didn't know. So, um, it's a lot of great music there on his part. And she was very quiet.

I thought she, you know, I thought she, I thought she was very quiet. So I do have to say that the documentary Get Back, if you get a chance to watch it, she really didn't say much and interfere in anything. They didn't have to.

She was just annoying. Right. She was just there.

She was just there. But at least you didn't interrupt him. I think her being there was problem enough.

Like this is not your and her time. It seemed. He's sitting there playing the guitar.

He's sitting there playing the guitar. She's leaning at him and leaning up against him and just, and just being an annoyance, I think. But it seemed to be that he wanted her there.

That's fine. We want her there. You know, he wanted his woman there.

Um, wonderful guitar playing on John and Paul's part and that the way they riff together and just when they, when they were, they had such a lexicon of music. I think one of the things that I think, I don't know if it was because they played together at the clubs for so many, you know, these seven hour gigs when they first started out, they got so good. And I know they stopped touring that when they stopped touring after two years, right.

For, for, for, they were together 10 years. And I think for the last six years, they didn't tour. Correct.

Something like that. Uh, because of the, because the sound system, you know, the sound at the time did not, they just could never hear themselves over the screaming and it wasn't, you know, hourly worth it for them. Um, so I, you know, just to see them play together and the lexicon of music, music, the language they had with each other and how the facility and how easily they could pull up tunes and riff off each other and harmonize together.

And, and the four of them, it was, it's, it was, they were a great band. When was the first time you actually heard the Beatles? How old were you? Oh, gosh, I'm sure I, I mean, my, my mom sang when I'm 64 to me when I was, when I was a kid. Yeah.

That's, that's hard to say. I was definitely young. I had, I had a couple of uncles that were like Beatles fanatics.

And when I was a little kid would take me to the Beatle fest and, um, you know, so I don't know, probably when I was like five, something like that, but maybe even earlier, but it wasn't my parents. My parents loved the Beatles, but not, not fanatically. So, you know, like they had, well, they had Beatles records, which now belong to me are in the other room, but cause they don't listen to records anymore.

But I, I don't remember hearing it from parents, definitely my uncles. It was probably long after the Beatles had already broken up, right? Oh yeah. For me, I was, I was, um, five and there was a little girl across the street who I went over and, uh, she had her, probably her parents record collection, but it was the album help.

And I don't remember hearing what it was, the picture of John Lennon in the straw hat. And I pointed to him and I said, I'm going to marry him. I just, I fell in love with John Lennon, probably before I heard us, you know, single song, just that man in that straw hat.

I'm going to marry. Um, my, my, my wife would have said the same thing. What was that? My wife says the same thing.

Is that right? Yes. Yes. He was very striking.

I mean, I was little, I mean, I can't find that I did know about my parents, all those fanatics. Um, I mean, they liked them enough, but I feel like when I was growing up, I only ever heard white album and maybe Abbey road. Nice.

We didn't, I, I did not get exposed to the vast majority of Beatles songs until I was like, and in high school who actually just saw one of our shows who is beyond a Beatles fan and is very adamant about telling everyone that she's named after a Beatles song. She was sweet. Right.

She's very, your friend's very nice. Very nice. He did know every single word to every song we did.

Yeah. Yes. Yes.

So she, she is probably the one that really pushed me to explore more Beatles. Um, and then it was just like, you know, it was always around because I was always around music people and there was always someone who liked the Beatles, but I didn't like listen through all of the Beatles until, until probably after I graduated college. So everybody eventually comes to the Beatles somehow.

That's right. How about you guys? Yeah. Well, I was, how about you guys? I was exposed to the Beatles, uh, when they ran the Ed Sullivan show.

Yeah. 1964. How exciting.

How exciting. Yes. I heard them before.

You didn't actually see it. Did you actually see the show? Yes, I did. Oh, you both did.

Oh my gosh. You guys must've been really young though. You were very young.

You were your kids then. I was, I was 10 years old and nine years old. That must've been really exciting.

Yeah. But did you like them in the way? Because they were, they were so, they were, did you like them automatically? Because they were so like girls were so gaga over them. What did you like their music? I mean, cause they were bringing the mercy beat sound.

Yeah. Yeah. I liked them, but I had just gotten a guitar for Christmas.

That's just a Christmas before that. So I remember my dad showed me a few chords and then, and I seen the Beatles of course, and then it pushed me over the edge, you know, to pick up guitar and start playing guitar. Love it.

Love it. How about you Ray? I heard a lot of their songs on the radio before they even came to the country, you know, they're playing it and stuff. I liked it.

I just sounded good. And then when they got here, I thought, okay, that's gonna be kind of cool. And we got to see them at Sullivan.

It was, I never realized what, what significance that night would be, but it was cool to see them even before they were here. I liked them. That is so cool.

My, I know my mom saw them once that, um, I think it's socks park. That would have been fun. Did you guys, did you guys now, if you, did you have older siblings that were, or did you, what did, what did you think when, because one of the things I love about them is that they evolved so much.

Their sound completely changed. I actually like from, like I always say, I'm rubber souls on. I like, I like, I like the latest.

I like the stuff from 66, 67 on. And, uh, so what did you think about their evolution? Did you like them? Did you like the music that you heard initially, or did you like them as they evolved or did they get too weird for you? Or, well, I like the stuff as it was early on, but, but the first, but the Beatles album that I got, my sister bought me a Sgt. Pepper's, uh, for Christmas. I got that.

I got that for one of my birthdays too. Yeah. And Sgt. Pepper just, uh, um, I thought it was very unique and very, very creative.

Yeah. I liked the early stuff too. And then when they started evolving at first, I didn't understand what was going on because they went from one sound to this kind of strange sound changed a lot.

Yeah. And then eventually I came to like it. I was like, I really liked that.

And so I, I pretty much from start to finish, I like it all. It's, it's interesting because it's interesting because coming to the Beatles after all of the evolution, you know, after they've been broken up, like for me, I don't, I don't remember hearing one album and then another album specifically. It's like, I would hear Lucy in the sky with diamonds and then love me do.

And then like them doing Besame Mucho and then one after 909, like just such a variety of stuff. And, you know, like, and including really early stuff, which I loved, but so it was such a, like, for me, it was like the Beatles could do anything because they did so much. It was like, oh, that's the Beatles and that's the Beatles.

And that's the Beatles too. It was just so, I just thought they were amazing from the get go because it was all so different and interesting and like things that I never heard and still don't necessarily hear like one band doing that same, not same, but that amount of variety, you know. Do you girls concentrate on one era of music or you said you, you changed from.

All of us, you know, I just realizing, as you said that, Amanda, that like, that I didn't realize how much the Beatles to music that their trajectory is influenced sort of, well, obviously it's so, you know, obviously modern musicians, but musicians that really have a lot of diversity because so many people today they'll do a, they'll, they'll combine jazz and country and rock. They'll do everything. And the Beatles, the Beatles really did that first to me.

They were, they did because they had every style. They ended up doing every style of music in their career. They did jazz songs, they did pop songs, they did swing, they did country, they did waltzes, they did folk, everything, rock, you know, blues.

Yeah. And going back to your question, like we, if we have a show where there's a natural break and we have the time for that, then we do like our, our early sixties look. And then our later well, like our earlier look fifties and then later like Sergeant Pepper or flashier look.

So, and that's how the music is arranged too. Right. We do the earlier, we tend to do the earlier stuff in the first set 60, what was 63 up till 65.

And then we switch over and do sort of the Sergeant Pepper era on up after we get our groovy costumes on. And that's kind of a fun way to set it up. We just, there's, we get, that's when you'll hear Lucy in the sky with diamonds and that's when you'll hear hello, goodbye and, and come together.

Yeah. All that stuff. Yeah.

Here comes the sun. Are these just fancy outfits or are they replicas of what they wore at that time? They're a nod to the costume. So there's the color block, you know, where Paul in a Sergeant Pepper outfit had a pink and blue.

I can't even remember whatever, whatever. So, you know, so each, you know, Amanda being George would wear the colors that George wore. So not, not the, not the shiny Sergeant Pepper costume, but the color and just a nod to.

Yeah. So it's not, it's not obvious. Like there's a lot of stuff.

I think that we do that, that a very, a true blue Beatles fan would be like, Oh, I see what you did there. And it might go over other people's heads, including the colors we're wearing kind of thing. Now, some of you, several of you seem to have a very, very great knowledge of the Beatles and some stories behind it.

Do you tell stories as you go along? Like stories of a certain song coming up or whatever? So we have a script and we'll, we'll start at the very beginning. We'll talk about the Odd Sullivan show. We'll move on.

We'll talk, we'll bring Ringo in for a song. We'll talk about, I want to say about that George song, but I don't know if we do it anywhere. This, the show is evolving so much.

I can't even remember what are we doing? We're adding, we're adding day tripper and, um, one after I don't know, one after nine or nine other songs leaving. So this will be changing, but there's a script and nods and there are, you know, discussion. We talk about certain songs and there's some songs we just go from one to the next.

There's no, there's nothing to discuss. It's like, boom, it's, she loves you. It's, you know, I want to hold your hand or whatever it is.

Our goal is to take the audience on a journey to get them. If they're not familiar with the and, uh, and the conditions under which some of the songs are written and where they're, where they were used. And then if you're our huge Beatles fan to, um, come and visit old friends and join us and have a great time reliving beautiful reliving Beatles music, but in a new way, because it's four women singing it and, uh, having a good time.

But it is, it is, it's a work in progress. Uh, some things work, some, we think this is like a really important point to say, you know, this, uh, this song, you know, whoever, whoever, Chet Baker, whoever was the influence, whoever, you know, and then we're talking, we're talking, nobody's paying attention. Okay.

We'll take, we'll strike that from this, uh, the script. So it's, it's ever changing, seeing what works, what people are paying attention to, what's important. It is fun to see what people respond to too, because we do a lot of hits, but we also do some lesser, a little bit lesser known Beatles songs.

Like I sing for you blue, which is definitely not, not in everybody's top 10 Beatles songs, you know? Um, so it's fun. It's fun to watch and interesting just to see like what songs bring people on the dance floor, which songs have people like, you know, holding their lighters or phones, I guess. Um, you know, which ones bring them out.

Right. Agreed. Yeah.

And, and for you blue, um, when we talked about that one, um, we thought about your voice specifically and we were like, you know what, I mean, if anybody, it might not be the world's most perfect or favorite George Harrison song, but Amanda's just going to sing this so freaking beautifully and perfect. Oh, that's nice. Putting it in the show, you know? That's sweet.

Yep. Agreed. You sound very pretty on it.

Thanks ladies. George for the inspiration. Yeah, but we try to get the song, but there's a, there's a, um, a huge peppering of the songs that you will know and love.

And, uh, you know, we encourage, yeah, we encourage people to dance and sing along and have a great time with us. Um, cause it's Beatles music and who doesn't love it. So how many shows have you guys done? So I'm going to say that, um, maybe, what do you think, Frank? What did we do? 12? Yeah.

Yeah. 12 shows. Um, with this cast, um, what have we done ladies all together? Three together.

All together. I think, cause I've done four total. I thought I'd done two.

I think, I think we've just had two with Jen. Yeah. Now this, this, this group too, but we've done, um, I don't know, 12 from the beginning to inception about a year and a half ago.

So, uh, what have you got coming up? We have, uh, in April, April 29th, we'll be at a Club Arcado in St. Charles. I don't know how far this podcast goes. However, we are doing worldwide worldwide.

Then in that case, uh, Friday, April 22nd, we're at Rhythm City Casino in Iowa. Oh, in Davenport, Iowa more specifically. So those two shows coming up in April, we're excited about.

So if people are looking for the Beatles, where can they find you? Check us out at the Beatles.com. Uh, we have Facebook, we have a website, we have an Instagram page. B-T-E-L-L-E-S. B-T-E-L-S.com. And so people are like, are you called the B-T-E-L-L-E-S? What is that? The B-T-E-L-L-E-S.

Like hard time figuring out what that is. Yes. I have a friend that always calls us the B-T-E-L-L-E-S.

I'm like, that's not, that's not. Oh, I like it. We're not the mini Beatles.

I like that kind of like that. That's good. But it's a good laugh anyway.

We're much more glamorous than beatlets. We are. Yeah, it's kind of like chicklets.

Oh, yeah. There'll be another girl group up the checklist. I'm sure.

Yeah. I wonder, you know what? There's got to be a girl group called the chicklets. It's they probably did.

It's bubble gum, bubble gum rock. Exactly. That's exactly right.

It's got to be there. Is it there should be? That's just a bubble gum pop for sure. Just everybody out there.

Ray, the roadie came up with that. I own the rights to it. Please contact Ray.

The right mark that. Oh, thank you so much for having us. No, thanks for coming out tonight.

We appreciate it. Thank you. Janius.

Thanks, everybody. And we'll be seeing you out and about soon. Oh, I hope so.

We as you will check us out online. Come see us. Come together, everybody.

So it's a Beatles that cam. Yes. And in the Beatles on Facebook, right? Yep.

Okay. And Instagram. Yep.

Very good. Correct. Yes.

Thanks for joining us today, girls. Appreciate it. Yes.

Thank you very much. Thank you for having us. Good luck.

Good luck and continued success. Thank you. So that was the Beatles of Christine and Erica and Jen and Amanda and better known as the Beatles and they'll be playing coming to a theater or show or casino near you soon.

I'm sure very soon. They'll be at the club Arcata on April 29th. Yes, and I'll be in Davenport, Iowa at a casino there.

I forget which one you said but an April 22nd, so they're starting to bring their show to the masses and yes, so it'll be you can go see them as for a day a day in the life of the Beatles a day in the life. You're correct. Sounds very exciting of a female version of John Paul Ringo and George.

Yes. Yes. So so thanks for listening everybody and we'll see you next week.

It's another exciting episode of the rock and roll Chicago podcast. And while you're at it, check out the road to rock.org, which is a home page for the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66 in beautiful downtown Joliet, Illinois home of our studio. That's right.

And then and then check out our rock and roll Chicago podcast dot com and you can find out listen to all the all the different entertainers and musicians and what have you that we've interviewed. That's right. There are quite a few of them out there.

Yes, sir. Until then, we'll talk to you next week. Bye bye.

Rock and roll Chicago podcast does not own the rights to any of the music that's played on this podcast. The music is used to promote the band or musicians that are interviewed.