The vintage rock band plays SpeakEZ Lounge on Wednesday before crossing the pond for its first European performances. Read the story, check out the video from a recent radio gig.
An Early Rock Niche: Morgan May Moellemian and The JetBeats have turned heads with their sound and look. (Photo/Daniel Terpstra)
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Guitarist and singer Morgan May Moallemian has long been enamored of early Beatles music and the Fab Four’s sweaty, raucous performances at Liverpool’s legendary Cavern Club in the early 1960s.
Energy, Melodies, Harmonies: The JetBeats on the Orbit Room stage during Jake’s Music Festival. (Photo/Daniel erpstra)
Now, he and his bandmates will actually play the Cavern Club stage.
As part of their first U.K. tour later this month, Grand Rapids’ The JetBeats will rock the Cavern Club twice – on May 19 and 20 – as well as playing shows in Wirral, Manchester and at Liverpool’s Latham Hall, where The Beatles performed a dozen times in 1960 and 1961.
Before that, fans can give The JetBeats a rousing sendoff for this European voyage when they make their SpeakEZ Lounge debut at 8 p.m. Wednesday as part of the Local Spins Wednesdays series.
“That’s a bucket list item right there,” Moellemian said of the upcoming Cavern Club shows. “We’re super excited about this.”
Moellemian – who formed The JetBeats about four years ago and now fronts the third lineup of the band, with Ben Erhart on bass, Dan McCoy on drums and AJ Dunning on lead guitar – first contemplated the idea of playing overseas at the suggestion of David Bash, organizer of the International Pop Overthrow Festival, who insisted the band’s vintage style would go over well in Liverpool.
BRINGING THE BRITISH INVASION SOUND BACK TO THE U.K.
“We wanted to do it last year, but couldn’t make it happen. Obviously, it’s expensive to take the whole band over there,” Moellemian said, noting he floated the idea again with the band’s new lineup. “When I came to practice and asked these guys, they said, ‘Yes, let’s go!’ It’s going to be kind of like a vacation for us.”
With leather jackets, narrow ties and an all Vox backline that Moellemian boasts “not only looks great but gives us that gritty ‘60s sound,” The JetBeats stand out in West Michigan as not only a band that plays classic Beatles covers – and other British invasion gems – but also cranks out its own, original material steeped in the beat music/Brit pop style and sonic vibe of the early ’60s. The band has released two EPs, including last year’s “Mach ’64,” and hopes to start on a new album later this year.
Sounds Like ’64: Morgan May Moellemian (Photo/Daniel Terpstra)
Of course, it’s tantalizingly ironic that a band influenced by early British rock would help reintroduce their take on that music to a U.K. audience.
“I’m a huge Beatles fan, a huge British invasion fan,” said Moellemian, who purchased his first Beatles album at age 10 and was hooked. “I just keep finding guys who like it. It’s just exciting. Its kind of like a cross between a rockabilly feel and a pop feel – just energetic and I‘ve learned how to write in that style. Actually, I can’t get out of it now.”
He said that milieu even emerges when he tries to pen music for another band project that leans toward contemporary power pop. “I’ve had problems writing for that band,” he said, “because everything I write, ‘No, this still sound like ’64.”
It’s a retro sound that even appeals to younger audiences who’ve never been exposed to the early ‘60s catalog, as evidenced by an anecdote Moallemian likes to tell about a 21-year-old fan who approached the band after a Chicago performance.
“He comes up to me after the show and says, ‘Man, I really like you guys. What kind of music is that?’ He just had no idea,” recalled Moellemian. “He just liked the energy and the melodies and things like that, the harmonies. … We have this sort of niche going.”
VIDEO: The JetBeats, “C’mon, C’mon” (Local Spins on WYCE)
PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE with The JetBeats
Jumping at the Chance: The JetBeats head to Liverpool later this month. (Photo/Daniel Terpstra)
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