Mark Lewis (Founder, Manager, Original Keyboardist) – As themanagerial and creative mind that transformed Rain from a 1970s southernCalifornia bar band doing Beatles covers into an ultra-professional group, MarkLewis recruited the excellent musicians who would gel into Rain's long-standingline-up. He traces his love of the Fab Four to the Sunday night of February 9,1964 when his generation was smitten by The Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”Originally called Reign, the band gained national fame, changed its name toRain and cut the soundtrack to the made-for-TV movie “Birth of the Beatles,” thanksto Dick Clark. An accomplished pianist at 13, having studied since age 5, hebegan his career playing the Farfisa organ in teenage rock bands around hisnative Los Angeles. It was Mark, the original keyboard player with Rain, whoworked out all of the musical parts and sounds that enabled Rain to bring manysongs that The Beatles themselves never performed live, to life.
Describe your reaction when you first saw The Beatlesperform? The first time I saw the Beatles perform was on their firstperformance on “The Ed Sullivan Show." I was actually watching "WaltDisney" on the living room TV when my mom came in and said I should tuneinto Ed Sullivan. I was taking piano lessons at the time, and I figured my momwas trying to get me to watch Liberace or something as inspiration to get me topractice more. Even though I was only 12 years old at the time I was very muchinto music, and I used to collect records (45’s) and listen to music all thetime. I remember watching the performance, and being totally blown away. I wentout and bought the "Meet The Beatles" album the next day. It was rarethat I came up with enough money to actually buy an entire album. I remember beingamazed at everything about the Beatles. Their look, the way they talked, andespecially their sound. Upon closer examination of the album, I realized thatthey wrote their own music, played their own instruments, and they all sang.The girls in the audience were going nuts for them. I remember thinking,"that seems like a good job." RAIN has been performing together longer than The Beatlesdid. How did RAIN first come together and how has the show evolved over theyears? Rain, originally spelled “Reign,” was formed with theintention of becoming an original recording act. We played Beatles music forfun, and never thought of it as a tribute act. In fact, at the time, in themid-1970s, there was no such thing as a tribute band. Like thousands of otherbands, Reign wanted to write their own songs, and put out hit records, but inthe meantime we needed to make a living, so we used to play in bars, and do Top40 dance music. This was in the middle of the disco era, I might add.
I met two of the guys when they joined a Top 40 band that Iwas in that used to play around the L.A./Orange County area. We went on theroad together, played each other some of our original music and became friends.When we got off the road we decided to form an original band, but in themeantime we decided that if we were going to play other people’s music it wouldbe music that we really loved, eg. The Beatles, and we found that we had aspecial talent at really duplicating the sound. I was really amazed how wellthese guys could sound like the Beatles vocally. We were approached by abooking agent that was looking for an act that could sound like the Beatles tofollow up a successful Elvis imitator that he managed. He met us. Next thingyou know we were playing at various nightclubs on off nights (Monday, Tuesdayor Wednesday) for no guarantee, but if anyone showed up we could keep whatevermoney came in the door. Well guess what, when it was promoted right, peopleshowed up, and we made some money and played music we loved. I figured this wasa cool way to make some money for a few months. Here I am 35 years later. Theoriginal guys in Reign, which became Rain, eventually quit the band in order togo off and to do their original music, and never were to be heard from again. Ikept Rain going. Eventually met up with guys that are currently in Rain, andwho happened to be really great musicians, and had a true love for The Beatles,and here we are touring the world, and starring on Broadway. Well that's the CliffsNotes version anyway.
How do you think The Beatles influenced popular music? The Beatles influenced popular music on every level one canimagine. They made it cool to play your own instruments and sing. They wrotegreat songs with great lyrics. They all sang, and sang great. They lookeddifferent. They talked different. They said things that meant something intheir lyrics. They always put out albums that sounded different from thepreceding albums. They experimented with sounds, and different styles of music.They had multiple songwriters. You can go on and on with how they influencedpopular music. Basically, you can say that The Beatles did things, theneverybody else copied them.
Do you hear influence of classical music in The Beatles'music? One can hear the influence of many styles of music inBeatles music, including classical music. I consider the Beatles to be theclassical music of our day. Just like traditional classical music, I believethe music of The Beatles will last forever, and there will be bands doing whatRain is doing today a hundred years from now. That's how 'classical music'becomes a 'classic'.
When did you first start playing music? I started piano lessons at five years old. My mom playedpiano, my father sang, my older sister took piano lessons from my aunt, who wasa piano teacher. So I started at a very early age.
If you could collaborate with any musician who would it be? Unquestionably, Paul McCartney. If for no other reason, justto meet the guy. However, I don't think he'd need to collaborate with me.
What was the best concert you ever attended (besides TheBeatles)?
Jimi Hendrix at the Hollywood Bowl.
Other than Beatles tunes, what music is on your iPod? I actually have very diversified taste. You'll find a littleof everything on my iPod. Besides Beatles you'll find classical music includingBeethoven, Gershwin, a lot of Elton John, Steely Dan, John Coltrane, LedZeppelin, Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell, Greenday, Yes, and Genesis. The thingabout being a Beatles fan is that The Beatles covered a lot of different stylesof music in their short history. “She Loves You, “A Hard Day's Night,” “Sgt.Pepper,” “Helter Skelter,” “Yesterday,” “Strawberry Fields,” “In My Life,” “LetIt Be,” “Something,” – you can go on andon. To love The Beatles is to love many styles of music. Because they did itall. RAIN: A Tribute to the Beatles will be playing May 18-19 at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center for three performances only. For more information, visit foxcitiespac.com.
Credit: Interview provided by RAIN: A Tribute to the Beatles
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder