The Fab Faux Present the 'Psychedelic Years'
http://baltimore.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=28423
May 29, 2008
On September 20th, The Fab Faux will celebrate their 10th Anniversary
with a performance of The Beatles' 'Psychedelic Years'. The
"PSYCHEDELIA!" concert, at New York City's historic Radio City Music
Hall, pays tribute to one of the most fertile and far-reaching
periods in the history of Pop music: Beginning with the "Paperback
Writer"/"Rain" single through the all-time classic Revolver and Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band albums; the groundbreaking "Penny
Lane"/"Strawberry Fields Forever" & "All You Need is Love" singles;
The Yellow Submarine sessions & Magical Mystery Tour EP; all the way
to "Across the Universe," The Beatles' creative output from 1966 to
1968 marked a sea change in the evolution of music as we now know it.
For those of us who never got to see The Beatles perform live, we're
fortunate to have five of the best musicians around – The Fab Faux –
dedicate themselves to faithfully recreating some of the most
extraordinary music ever written.
The 10th Anniversary concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York
represents additional milestones for The Fab Faux – their largest
headlining concert ever, and their largest New York concert-to-date
as well. It supersedes last-year's sold-out Sgt. Pepper's concert at
The Beacon, which garnered a wave of critical attention (see
coverage, below). "PSYCHEDELIA!" tickets go on-sale at Noon on June
7th. An exclusive American Express Pre-Sale begins at Noon on June
2nd, and will end at 10pm on June 6th.
The Fab Faux will utilize Radio City Music Hall's famed antique pipe
organ as part of their performance, and will also present a
psychedelic light show, projected onto three screens within the Hall.
The band will be joined by The Hogshead Horns, Crème Tangerine
Strings and Erin Hill on harp.
The Fab Faux brings together the talents of five of New York's most
respected musicians: Will Lee of Late Show with David Letterman,
Jimmy Vivino of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Rich Pagano, who has
performed with Rosanne Cash and Ray Davies, Jack Petruzzelli, who
tours with Joan Osborne and Rufus Wainwright, and Frank Agnello,
whose musical credits include Phoebe Snow and Marshall Crenshaw.
--------
Beatles + Radio City = Fab Faux "Psychedelia!"
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=18919
2008-05-29
The Beatles' Psychedelic Years to be Performed Live at Radio City
Music Hall on September 20th, as The Fab Faux Celebrate 10th
Anniversary with "PSYCHEDELIA!"
Late Night with Conan O'Brien Appearance Set for 9/12
On September 20th, The Fab Faux will celebrate their 10th Anniversary
with a performance of The Beatles' 'Psychedelic Years'. The
"PSYCHEDELIA!" concert, at New York City's historic Radio City Music
Hall, pays tribute to one of the most fertile and far-reaching
periods in the history of Pop music: Beginning with the "Paperback
Writer"/"Rain" single through the all-time classic Revolver and Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band albums; the groundbreaking "Penny
Lane"/"Strawberry Fields Forever" & "All You Need is Love" singles;
The Yellow Submarine sessions & Magical Mystery Tour EP; all the way
to "Across the Universe," The Beatles' creative output from 1966 to
1968 marked a sea change in the evolution of music as we now know it.
For those of us who never got to see The Beatles perform live, we're
fortunate to have five of the best musicians around - The Fab Faux -
dedicate themselves to faithfully recreating some of the most
extraordinary music ever written.
The 10th Anniversary concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York
represents additional milestones for The Fab Faux - their largest
headlining concert ever, and their largest New York concert-to-date
as well. It supersedes last-year's sold-out Sgt. Pepper's concert at
The Beacon, which garnered a wave of critical attention (see
coverage, below). "PSYCHEDELIA!" tickets go on-sale at Noon on June
7th. An exclusive American Express Pre-Sale begins at Noon on June
2nd, and will end at 10pm on June 6th.
The Fab Faux will utilize Radio City Music Hall's famed antique pipe
organ as part of their performance, and will also present a
psychedelic light show, projected onto three screens within the Hall.
The band will be joined by The Hogshead Horns, Creme Tangerine
Strings and Erin Hill on harp.
The Fab Faux ride a wave of critical acclaim as they celebrate their
10th Anniversary. Known for their spot-on recreations of the most
demanding Beatles music, The Fab Faux have recently garnered the
attention of some of the top media outlets in America.
A Front Page article in The Hollywood Reporter noted: "After nearly
10 years together, (they) find themselves in the midst of a
surprising leap from club fringe to center stage..."
The New York Times said the band tackles The Beatles' "most complex
studio work without breaking a sweat," and The NY Post praised The
Fab Faux as being able to re- create the sounds of albums "few would
dare play live."
From Associated Press to ABC World News Tonight, from The New Yorker
to Rolling Stone to NY Sun, critics have weighed in, and have
described the band as nothing less than "Brilliant" (AP).
The Fab Faux brings together the talents of five of New York's most
respected musicians: Will Lee of Late Show with David Letterman,
Jimmy Vivino of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Rich Pagano, who has
performed with Rosanne Cash and Ray Davies, Jack Petruzzelli, who
tours with Joan Osborne and Rufus Wainwright, and Frank Agnello,
whose musical credits include Phoebe Snow and Marshall Crenshaw.
The upcoming Radio City Music Hall performance will give The Fab Faux
the opportunity to remind New York fans why Rolling Stone Magazine
Senior Editor David Fricke described them as "the greatest Beatles
cover band..."
FAB FAUX TOUR DATES:
JUN 07 :: SPRECKELS THEATRE - SAN DIEGO, CA (SAN DIEGO DEBUT)
JUN 14 :: OHIO THEATRE - CLEVELAND, OH
JUN 28 :: COUNT BASIE THEATRE - RED BANK, NJ
JUL 12 :: WESTHAMPTON THEATER FOR THE ARTS - WESTHAMPTON, LI, NY
JUL 19 :: STATE THEATRE - EASTON, PA
JUL 26 :: HOUSE OF BLUES - ATLANTIC CITY, NJ
SEP 12 :: LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN - NBC-TV, NEW YORK
SEP 20 :: RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL - NEW YORK, NY
OCT 25 :: KESWICK THEATRE - PHILDELPHIA, PA (Performing the "White Album")
NOV 01 :: STATE THEATRE - NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ
The Fab Faux commemorated the 43rd Anniversary of The Beatles'
performance on The Ed Sullivan Show with a February '07 appearance
Late Show with David Letterman.
The Fab Faux's popular video for "I Don't Want to Face It" - part of
the Instant Karma project to help aid the crisis in Darfur -- is now
available on iTunes.
In 1966, a British reporter stopped Paul McCartney outside of Abbey
Road studio in London and asked him why The Beatles were no longer
touring. "If you never toured again," the reporter asked, "would it
worry you?" "Ah, I don't know," McCartney replied. "No, I don't think
so. Because we can't develop when no one can hear us. You know what I
mean? So for us, to perform, it's difficult. We want to do it, but if
we're not listened to, and we can't even hear ourselves, then we
can't improve in that. We can't get any better." Perhaps it was just
as well that The Beatles stopped performing publicly, given the
constant screaming and the limitations presented by the technology of
the day. Much of the music they recorded after 1966 couldn't be
re-created onstage anyway. "They had a disadvantage," says Frank
Agnello, who sings and plays guitar in the New York City-based
Beatles tribute band The Fab Faux. "Back then, they didn't really
have the technology to bring some of those studio ideas to the stage.
Right before the Sgt. Pepper sessions is where The Beatles decided to
become a recording band."
A 'Beatles Records' Tribute Band
Agnello's band focuses on the songs of The Beatles, but don't expect
matching suits, shaggy haircuts, or Liverpool accents. "Well, a lot
of the bands who play Beatles music, they go more for the theatrical
bent, and there's an acting component," Agnello says. "We concentrate
more on the records, I would say. In a way, we're a 'Beatles records'
tribute band." "On our level, it was to try to see if we could get
all these great textures that The Beatles had on their records," Fab
Faux bassist Will Lee says. "For instance, percussion parts, keyboard
parts, [and] doubling the vocals. When you do see a four-piece
look-alike band, you don't really get the satisfaction of hearing all
those great textures that the records have."
Attention to Detail
The Fab Faux's members are all full-time musicians and singers who
remain active in the music industry. Lee can be seen on late-night TV
as part of the David Letterman band, Agnello is an in-demand music
producer and sideman, and the other members are noted session men and
producers. With guitarists Jimmy Vivino and Jack Petruzzelli, and
drummer Richard Pagano, The Fab Faux is a collective that's about
attention to detail. That includes having a real string section with
it on "Yesterday." Or a real piccolo trumpet to play the famous solo
on "Penny Lane," or even a fire-truck bell in the same tune --
especially impressive considering that the band does all of this
while in live performance. The Fab Faux's collective talent makes it
possible for the band to take apart The Beatles' music, and then put
it back together again -- a process that Agnello describes as "really
nerdy." "We'll keep researching and alter stuff," Lee says. "It's a
never-ending tweakage on this music." Not everything The Fab Faux
does is about faithful re-creation. "Take, for example, 'Drive My
Car,'" Lee says. "It doesn't have an ending; it has a fade, as
records often do. Wouldn't it be great to bring to the stage what the
song would have sounded like had it continued on into a nice jam? We
have such good players in this band that it would be a waste not to
let somebody take a solo."
Meeting McCartney
Not long ago, Lee actually got a chance to play with Paul McCartney
-- and felt he had to come clean about The Fab Faux. "I approached
him," Lee says, "and said, 'Look, I know that you have a history of
low tolerance for Beatles [cover] bands, but I have to admit I do
have a little tribute band. We focus on the later stuff -- the stuff
that's harder.' So he kinda challenged me and said, 'Do you do
"Tomorrow Never Knows"?' "And I said, 'Oh, of course. That was one of
the first ones we learned.'" Because The Beatles stopped performing
before the band recorded Sgt. Pepper, it never had the chance to
perform its most carefully crafted music live. What The Fab Faux does
is take away that historical oversight and make it possible to hear
what could have been.
NPR MORNING EDITION, BY ASHLEY KAHN, 1/24/08
ABOUT THE FAB FAUX:
With a commitment to the accurate reproduction of The Beatles'
repertoire, The Fab Faux treat the seminal music with unwavering
respect, and are known for their painstaking recreations of the songs
(with emphasis on the later works never performed live by the
Beatles). Far beyond a cover band, they play the music of The Beatles
so impeccably that one must experience it to believe it. Imagine
hearing complex material like "Strawberry Fields Forever" or "I Am
the Walrus" performed in complete part-perfect renditions; or such
harmony-driven songs as "Because", "Nowhere Man", and "Paperback
Writer", reproduced not only note-for-note, but with extra vocalists
to achieve a double-tracked effect.
The musical virtuosity of The Fab Faux - in actuality five of the
hardest working musicians in NYC - completely up-ends the concept of
a Beatles tribute band. Far beyond being extended sets of cover
versions, their astounding shows are an inspired re-discovery of the
Beatles' musical magic, as The Fab Faux tackles the group's most
demanding material live onstage in a way that has to be experienced
to be believed.
Calling them, "the greatest Beatles cover band - without the wigs,"
Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke wrote, "the Faux invigorate
the artistry of even the Beatles' most intricate studio masterpieces
with top chops and Beatlemaniac glee." Approaching the songs with the
intent of playing them live as accurately in musical reading and in
spirit as possible, The Faux's breathtaking performances tend to
dispel all concertgoers' previous notions of a Beatles tribute act.
The Fab Faux are a labor of love that was born in 1998 when neighbors
Jimmy Vivino, guitarist/arranger for Late Night With Conan O'Brien
house band the Max Weinberg 7 and Will Lee (who's played with all 4
Beatles), bassist for Paul Shaffer's CBS Orchestra on the Late Show
With David Letterman kicked around the idea during an elevator ride
in their NYC building. Rounding out the line-up are lead-singing
drummer/producer Rich Pagano (Rosanne Cash, Patti Smith, Ray Davies,
etc.), guitarist Frank Agnello (Marshall Crenshaw, Phoebe Snow, etc.)
and ace keyboardist/guitarist Jack Petruzzelli (Joan Osborne Band,
Rufus Wainwright). All five principals contribute vocals, making the
Faux's soaring harmonies as resonant as their multi-instrumental
chops, which are further enhanced by the four-piece Hogshead Horns
(with Blues Brothers, Blood, Sweat & Tears and SNL band alums) and
Creme Tangerine Strings.
The Faux's high energy shows have generated serious buzz not only at
top NYC venues including The Beacon Theater, Hammerstein Ballroom,
and Webster Hall - with Beatles fans, movie stars and world class
musicians in attendance - but at major dates in Los Angeles, Atlanta,
Las Vegas, Park City, Utah (Sundance), Philadelphia and Toronto,
among other locales. They've headlined 4 of the last 5 years at
Liverpool's annual Beatle Week, playing before 35,000 Beatle fanatics
- while in England, they had the rare honor of recording an original
song at Abbey Road Studios - and also delighted the masses performing
live on the Howard Stern Show. Benefit and corporate dates have
included events for JVC, the N.B.A. and the Michael J. Fox Parkinsons
Research Foundation.
"It's not just a cover band," says the Faux's Pagano. "This is the
greatest Pop music ever written, and we're such freaks for it."
Imagine the instrumental complexities of "Strawberry Fields Forever"
and "A Day in the Life" performed part-perfect with an orchestra. The
lush, multi-layered harmonies of "Because," and "Eleanor Rigby" sung
note-for-note. The adrenaline rush of "Helter Skelter" and "Paperback
Writer," delivered spot on...
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