It is mid-afternoon June 7th, and I am seated in the lobby of Andy Williams Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri. Across from me are Marty Scott and Dave Tanner, the George Harrison and Paul McCartney of Liverpool Legends. Their two-and-a-half hour set, covering Beatles songs from their Cavern Club days all the way to their final show at the Rooftop concert, has just ended, and the excitement is still buzzing around in my head. I sit down across from them to uncover some of the answers behind the history of Liverpool Legends. . .
Tell me about how the band started.
Marty: Well I started the show. I had met George Harrison’s sister just a couple months after George passed away. And I was singing at a Beatles convention. And she was a guest of honor at this thing. And, weirdly enough, we hit it off, and she thought that I was brought to her - she's spiritually goofy, you know. And we became really good friends for a little while, and she brought me to meet Paul McCartney right away, and all these crazy things were happening. And then we decided to put the show together. She wanted to do something that she could be proud of and if George was still alive, that he would maybe like, and that was it. We started, we had some auditions, and found the four lucky characters. And that's how it started.
Dave, how did you join the band?
Dave: Well, I'd been playing Beatles with some other friends in another band around Kansas City. And one day, Marty popped up on my Facebook and asked me if I was available to fill in a few dates that they needed.
Marty: And we liked him. I was like, ‘Look at him, he’s perfect!’
Dave: And so I came down and we auditioned a little bit and that's fun, you know. He took me around Branson, and he showed me some of the stuff. So you know, I came down and took in a couple of shows. And he asked me if I could do it. Started learning a little bit at a time, like a week here, a week there. And it kind of grew after that.
Why a Beatles tribute band out of all bands?
Marty: No, you know, why? I had a friend, the guy who used to play John Lennon, who was a big influence on me and a little older than me. So when I was a kid, he was just - he lived and breathed the Beatles. And I think he just thought I look cool, because I had a haircut. And he brought over a bunch of Beatle records. And he was like, ‘Hey, listen to these guys!’ And he had a band. And so we started playing together. This was before we dressed up like the Beatles and all that, but he just influenced kind of everybody around his life; he's influenced them to be a Beatle fan. And so that's how I personally.
Dave: When I first started coming down, he was the guy that I was learning from as well. So he got me really excited about a lot of things, too.
Do you guys have any like rituals to get in character to play the Beatles?
Marty: We have a ritual before. It's not to get into character. It's just kind of for good luck. We all get in a huddle and we yell ‘Catfight!’, which is just a long story. And then we all have these little secret handshakes. Each one of us has a different one with each other. It's really dorky, but we do it, and we've never missed a show. We get in a huddle, we do this thing. And then we have the secret handshakes for each guy. It's a ritual, but it's not about being a Beatle. It's just about kind of having a good-luck show.
Dave: That’s very good. Sometimes, a good soundcheck helps, a good vocal warm-up, and then when you're actually putting on a uniform, that's best. And then you're there.
Marty: And, I might have a glass of wine before.
It’s like without the superstition, you don’t want to take the risk if you don’t do it, and something happens.
Marty: Right, it’s superstitious.
Dave: We’ve been seconds from having the curtain go up. It’ll be like, ‘Real quick, everyone in’. Yeah, we’ve been that close before. Usually, it’s, you know, 10 minutes before.
So, you guys have shared a bit personally about how you got into The Beatles. But is there any more to that side of it?
Marty: I mean, for me, it was literally this guy. At the time, I was listening to Led Zeppelin and other music. And then he was a big influence because he had this band and it was the first band I ever saw. I was like, in high school, you know? So for me, it was that.
But for Dave, probably somebody saw this guy and went, ‘Hey, he’s left-handed, and he can sing high.’
Dave: People were reminding me of that throughout that I was, you know. But my high school and college years were punk music and alternative, heavy metal and all kinds of stuff like that. And then I saw a Beatles tribute group in costume. And I just went like, ‘Light-bulb! Bam! I’m left-handed; that guy’s left-handed.’ And I started trying to learn.
That goes back two years now. I'm really grateful to Marty here for everything. Just to come in and feel like being part of something that’s bigger than me. Like none of us can do it on our own, so we need each other in a lot of ways. But just to be invited in to be a part of this has been really special to me.
When I saw you guys about three years ago, you guys were playing at a different venue. How did you guys come about for this venue?
Marty: Well, that one got torn down. First, it got sold by somebody who just came in and made this incredible offer. And the guy was like it was a lot of money. And we took it all. And so we were kind of getting ready to just be a roadshow and play places, like Chillicothe. And then somebody had just purchased this theater, this family called the Redmons, and they have been fans of ours for a long time. So, I got an email out of the blue saying like, ‘Hey, you guys sound really interesting; come on back to Branson: we got this theater, we love to have it’. And I went like, I love this theatre. I mean, if you've been to the other theatre, you see this is different, you know. So I've always thought, you know, when Andy was alive, he built the best theatre. And he knew what he was doing so, it was appealing. So it was that simple. We weren't expecting it. It was completely out of the blue, and only because the family is super nice. And they’re fans, and this theatre is amazing. You know, there’s nothing like this in these towns, like this is on the level of Carnegie Hall or something.
How did the pandemic affect the band?
Marty: We were unemployed for 14 months.
Dave: So, when news was coming around about Covid in the very early part of 2020, we had a very busy schedule on the books. In fact, in February 2020, we went over to Ukraine and did five shows in Ukraine. And we got home from Ukraine - our flight was on the 9th or 10th of March when we got back to the United States. We got home March the 10th, and on about the 13th, all of Europe started shutting down. We got out of there with three days to spare! And then our schedules just went nonexistent. Everyone canceled for over a year.
Marty: I went to go live with my mom for 10 months, which is pretty great. That was the best part about it was I got to hang out with my mom. I never have time to. We sat around for 10 months and played Nintendo.
Dave: Recorded some music. Marty plays drums on some of the “Passerine Dream” songs. I think six of them.
Marty: I’m still waiting for my paycheck.
Dave: I’m still playing three shows, trying to make up for it.
It sounds like you guys have recovered pretty well, though, because you got the new theatre.
Marty: We did. When things started opening up in like May of 2021, we’ve been busy ever since. You know, when something gets taken away from you like that. . .we’re enjoying it more now than we ever have.
Dave: Some of the weird logistical things were of the shows that were canceled and pushed way forward on the calendar. There was some weird crazy driving all over. It was supposed to be a little more concise than that. We ended up driving all over the place in 2021, especially in the fall. We put a lot of miles on, making up the shows that had been canceled. We had to go in all different directions. It’s been normal now.
Marty: More than normal now. We’re working like 7 days a week.
Well, since you brought up that you play drums - what instruments can you play?
Marty: I mean, for me, like my main instrument has always been drums. My favorite instrument is drums, but I mean I play drums and guitar mostly. And a little bit of bass, a little piano. Little bit of ukulele. Little bit of sitar. But my favorite is drums, which is why I’m thankful that Dave kind of resurrected me when he started making his record. I was like, ‘You know, I’ll play guitar on it, that’s fun. But drums is like yeah!’ It’s fun for me.”
Dave: Yeah, it was a good pick. I consider myself a bass player. 99% of what I think about and want to play musically is related to the bass. But, you know, I play a little bit of guitar.
Marty: Dave is like a true bass player, too. Like most bass players, a lot of them are guitar players that are somebody who needed to play the bass in the band. But Dave is a bass player.
Dave: I only ever wanted to play bass.
Marty: And it’s noticeable when we play it. Most everybody else who's ever played with us has not been that way, like they'd been the guy who was a guitar player. You might be right-handed and now you’re playing lefty and it's not really a bass player. So it makes a huge difference in the way the band plays because he’s a real bass player, the first one we ever had.
Dave: I’ve enjoyed it. It sure helps with the Beatles material.
Marty: Just helps with any band.
Dave: Yeah, it’s part of the rhythm and texture of the songs, especially the Beatles. Beatle bass is so fascinating to me ‘cause it's all over the place, it's all different, and then to try to sing over it is a whole other thing.
What do you like most about playing music?
Dave: What I like most about it . . . that answer might change or evolve depending on the day or, or whatever the show. Playing shows - this is where I'm at right now because I'm doing a lot of solo work, the reward of playing the show and kind of pulling it off each song or each set or each day or each gig, just being able to pull it off. It's very self-motivating and you want to do a good job, you want to sound good, you know, do a good job for the audience. So that's my headset right now. Music in general is like I don't know my answer might change a little bit depending on who I'm listening to. But music can be medicine, it can be motivation; it can be escape; or it can also be a reality check. I don't know, it just depends what day you catch me. But right now. I'm in show mode. So shows, shows, shows.
Marty: I mean, I'm gonna go a different route and just say it's a really cool way to make a living that isn't like 9-5. You know, it's weird. Like, for instance, I have a dentist and I hate going to the dentist my whole life. But I finally found a dentist here. He's like rock and roll guy, he’s got long here. He's like totally cool. All over his office is like Bob Dylan and the Beatles, and he was just like a rock and roll dentist, and he's cool. And he's really like, I can't tell you normally I hate dentists, but this guy I actually kind of like going there. He's cool. And then when I see him, it's like, he's good. And he's like a good looking guy; he drives like fancy cars, and he makes a bunch of money. And he's like, he looks at me, and he's like, “Say man, I’m so jealous of you. You got it made.” And I'm like, “What are you talking about?” This guy looks like, you know, rock star. He's got his own offices. And he drives a Ferrari or something - not a Ferrari, but something. And he's like, “What do you mean? Well, you beat the system. You don't have to work 9-5, and you don't have to, you know, answer anybody.” And I'm just like, “Yeah, that's right. That's true.” Like, only dentist I've ever gone to that kind of makes you feel good about yourself.
But he's right. It's like, our lives are a little bit different, that we can sort of most - you know, besides like, right now we're just super busy because of this. And we're trying to do road shows. And we got ourselves into a little bit of some months where it's like, it kind of feels like 9-5 actually.
But normally. . .we get to have pretty fun lives. And playing music is fun. So there's that and you get to play with your friends. So there's that. And then also, you don't have to, you know, work at Walmart, which is not always fun. You know, or for some people it might be, but for me, no.
I don't know what else I would do without this. I could be a shoe salesman with like, “Oh, what size are these? You look like a 7 and a half”, but I don’t know what I could do. So that's it for me.
Dave: If it wasn’t for this company, or the Beatles tribute world, I don’t know if I would be playing in any other tribute. Or like trying to make my main living playing music whether it’s original music or some other cover songs or some other tribute. You know, the Beatles tribute is the career for sure. And if that became different someday, I’m not going to be fighting my way to get onstage with any old band because it’s so hard out there for a lot of people. So we’re a bit fortunate that way, that the Beatles seems to be a universal force. It’s not going anywhere, or at least we hope it’s not going anywhere, except up.