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A who’s who of talented musicians will play the music of the Beatles as the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center welcomes back The Fab Faux on Saturday, July 16, for two shows in one night.
The first show at 7:30 will have the band play the Beatles’ 1967 album “Magical Mystery Tour,” featuring classic songs such as “I Am The Walrus,” “Penny Lane,” and “Strawberry Fields Forever.” At 10 p.m., the band will take the stage again to play Beatles fan favorites.
The Fab Faux is a five-piece outfit formed in 1998 and stocked with a impressive line-up: bassist Will Lee, formerly of the CBS Orchestra seen on “The Late Show with David Letterman;” guitarist Jimmy Vivino, bandleader of Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable band as seen on “Conan”; drummer Rich Pagano, who has performed with Rosanne Cash and Ray Davies; keyboardist and guitarist Jack Petruzzelli, who has recorded with Patti Smith and Joan Osbourne; and guitarist Frank Agnello, who has worked with Phoebe Snow and Joey Molland of Badfinger.
“I had been playing with Will with the late, great [jazz-funk guitarist] Hiram Bullock in Europe,” Mr. Pagano said in a phone interview. “Will kept talking throughout the tour about liking my ‘Beatle-language’ and my drumming. He liked that I would round things off groove-wise, the way Ringo would, so halfway through the tour he said, ‘We should really start the greatest Beatle band ever.’ You don’t say no to a guy like that.”
From there, Mr. Lee brought in Mr. Vivino after working with him at the Rock the Rainforest benefit concert the same year. Mr. Pagano brought in Mr. Petruzzelli after working together on Joan Osbourne’s second album. Mr. Agnello came in after Mr. Pagano put him in touch with Mr. Lee from playing dual shows in Staten Island. But exceptional musical talent could get a prospective Fab Faux member only so far.
“Everyone had to have knowledge of alternate takes and bootlegs,” Mr. Pagano said, “so you had to have that deeper knowledge of the process of making Beatle records.”
“Magical Mystery Tour” is not often mentioned in the same glowing light as other Beatles albums, like its immediate predecessor, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” or “Abbey Road.” But Mr. Pagano says it deserves a second listen.
“It’s one of the best albums they made, full of great songs. It’s John Lennon’s favorite record because he loved how weird it was and it really did push the envelope for what psychedelia was. I think that record set out the blueprint for records by King Crimson and Pink Floyd. It’s a real dog’s breakfast of an album—it’s all over the place. I love the George Harrison part, I felt that it was when he really started to put his own stamp in the band.”
Some Beatles fans are divided between two eras in the band’s history: 1962 to 1966, and 1967 to 1970. The Fab Faux dabble in both eras, but there is difficulty with the former more than the latter.
“Will and I did ’66 to ’70 a lot 10 years ago, but now we love it all,” Mr. Pagano said. “The early stuff is actually more difficult to play because you have to have the youthful exuberance the Beatles had when they recorded those songs.”
All five members of the Fab Faux trade vocal duties, with Mr. Pagano covering many of John Lennon’s songs. The band will tour off and on until November and play a wide variety of the Beatles’ catalog. They’ll play a show performing the solo catalog of Mr. Lennon and Paul McCartney exclusively in New Jersey, along with the entirety of “A Hard Day’s Night,” in Massachusetts. The tour will conclude on November 12 at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, where the band will play songs produced and arranged by George Martin, the Beatles’ producer who passed away this past March.
For both shows, The Fab Faux will be joined by The Hogshead Horns and The Creme Tangerine Strings, the backing band meant to play the complex arrangements in later Beatles songs like “A Day in the Life” or “Lovely Rita.” While other cover bands have played these songs with the standard four- or five-member band format, Mr. Pagano said it helps the live experience to have a backing band. The Fab Faux even went so far as to record tape loops of sounds used in the more psychedelic songs for the live show.
“We want to make the experience and the music as authentic as possible,” Mr. Pagano said.
Mr. Pagano has great admiration for the original Fab Four, and for one in particular.
“Ringo taught me how to swing on a pop song and stay out of the singer’s way. He showed that drums don’t have to sound rickety.”
What’s more impressive to Mr. Pagano and the band is, despite the various new ways to consume music and the plethora of new bands entering the music scene, the Beatles remain relevant.
“I have a teenage son and every once in a while he and his friends, when they’re not listening to Rihanna or Kanye, are enjoying Beatle records. There’s something about the band’s formula that’s appealing to everyone and it never stops. I truly believe that there’s something in those chord changes and melodies that affects people.”
The Fab Faux will perform at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday, July 16, at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Tickets are $50, $75 and $95. Visit whbpac.org or call 631-288-1500.
Jon Winkler on Jul 11, 2016