E-Mail This Article to a Friend Beatle zania Beatallica ruins the cover band racket BY MATT ASHARE

CAPE COD, MA — Surrounded by his Beatlejuice band mates and a small group of supporters, a visibly agitated Brad Delp, the one-time Boston frontman, told supporters that he had more than a bad feeling about the upcoming performance in Cambridge by the Wisconsin band Beatallica. "Back when I was a kid, Beatlemania set a high standard for Beatles cover bands," he told the thinning crowd. "It is my strong belief that, if Tom Scholz would return my calls, given 10 or 15 years he and I and a bunch of studio musicians could record much bigger and better sounding versions of ‘Hey Jude,’ ‘Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds,’ and another six or eight Lennon/McCartney tunes. Alas, all I’ve got is these guys," he said, gesturing at his backing group. "But I have done my very best to remain true to the original compositions wherever and whenever my Beatles cover band have performed, even when they let us do weddings and Bar Mitzvahs."

Indeed, Delp pointed out, just last year Beatlejuice were invited to play at the finish line of Boston Marathon — although, as one protester noted at the time, "They’re just doing it for the money. And they don’t even look like the Beatles. At least those Beatlemania guys dressed up. Psychedelic-era Ringo was my favorite. And, have you seen Rentalmania? They do the whole Rent soundtrack from beginning to end? It’s great. And they dress the part too . . ."

Much like the dreaded Dread Zeppelin before them, Beatallica, Delp said, are engaged in a dangerous and disturbing practice that’s "ruining the business" for serious tribute groups like the infamous Doors tribute Crystal Ship, the notorious all-female Nirvana band Princesticide, and, of course, Beatlejuice. "They change a lyric here, a title there, pretty soon they’re re-arranging songs, and before you know it they’ve turned the whole racket into one big joke," he lamented. "It makes it hard on the rest of us to do this tribute band thing with a straight face."

There are those who also believe that Beatallica have muddied the waters, so to speak, by attempting to be two bands at once. As Delp pointed out to a few remaining supporters last week on the Cape, "It’s just plain confusing. I mean, are they the Beatles or are they Metallica? It’s just not fair to the person who might love the Beatles but hates Metallica. What am I supposed to tell my kids when they say, ‘Daddy, why did it take so long for Boston to put out that second album when it sounded exactly the same as the first album?,’ or, ‘Daddy, why do you play in a Beatles tribute band when you don’t even look like John, Paul, George or Ringo?’" These, a reporter agreed, were questions no God-fearing father should ever have to answer.

Reached for comment at their offices in the penthouse suite of the otherwise vacant new Napster building in San Francisco, Beatallica’s Jaymz Lennfield, Kirk Hammettson, Kliff McBurney, and Ringo Larz were asked for a rebuttal of Delp’s remarks. There was a long pause. Ringo blinked. Jaymz swallowed. "Who?" Kirk finally asked. Upon further questioning the band admitted they’d never heard of Delp, Beatlejuice, or the band Boston, but were very familiar with the City of Boston and, once a few bars were hummed, they nodded vigorously at the song "More Than A Feeling." They went on to suggest that Delp check out "I Want to Choke Your Band," the first single from their sophomore album, Beatallica.

Beatallica are no strangers to controversy. Last year, after rehearsal tapes surfaced on the Internet of Lennfield and Larz questioning Hammettson’s sexual orientation, the foursome began an intense course of band therapy with a filmmaker/psychologist to work out "the artistic issues that have kept us from beginning work on the follow-up to Garage Dayz Nite." They were also recently in court to file a restraining order against producer and so-called fifth member Sir George Rock, who allegedly tried to tip the group’s tour bus onto McBurney, and has been photographed, bass in hand, groveling at the feet of Lennfield and Larz on numerous occasions. As if that weren’t enough, Metallica frontman James Hetfield recently threatened to charge Lennfield with copyright infringement, larceny, and other crimes related to a robbery at Hetfield’s Hollywood mansion. The details in that case are somewhat murky, but a spokesman for the Metallica frontman confirmed that Hetfield’s voice was stolen last year. Police are said to be interested in questioning a singing purple octopus as a possible accomplice to the crime.

Delp, however, says he doesn’t care about all that: he just wants his Fab Four back, sans metal, for the next generation of kids who worship their parents’ record collections. "Is this the kind of role model we want out there, playing clubs that I can’t even get a gig at, representing tribute bands across the nation?," Delp asked a few young men who’d gathered to see what the ruckus was about. After a short pause, one man, who did not give his name, spoke up: "Do they really have a song called ‘I Want to Choke Your Band’? That’s hilarious." Delp pondered this, then turned to the reporter. "When are they playing the Middle East again?"

Beatallica play December 5 at the Middle East, 472 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge | 617.864.EAST.