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<\/p>\nThere\u2019s an old saying \u2013 attribution unknown \u2013 that asserts, \u201cif you remember the \u201860, you weren\u2019t really there.\u201d But a quartet of musicians from Edison, New Jersey does remember. And they distill those memories into a thrilling night of music, packing dozens of songs into a two-hour performance under the banner The British Invasion Years.<\/p>\n
The band traces its origin to the late 1980s. Co-founders Lee Scott Howard and Bobby M were playing restaurants and bars as a duo, but neither felt creatively fulfilled. \u201cWe realized that wasn\u2019t our future,\u201d says Bobby. \u201cWe felt we had more to offer; we wanted to do something special.\u201d<\/p>\n
He notes that simply playing a list of popular songs wasn\u2019t going to scratch their creative itch. \u201cWe wanted to develop something that was more that just getting onstage and playing a bunch of cover songs, with no rhyme or reason as to why we\u2019re playing them.\u201d Both men felt a strong affinity toward the music of their youth, the pop music of the 1960s.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So the duo devised an evening of music that would do more than entertain, creating a show with a natural flow and narrative. At first, the set list focused on the so-called British Invasion (in England they call it the Beat Era). \u201cThe Beatles kicked open the door,\u201d says Lee. Spearheaded by the Liverpool group\u2019s 1964 visit to America, a musical movement opened the floodgates to all manner of sensational musical artists. From The Rolling Stones to Petula Clark, from Freddie and the Dreamers to the Kinks, and on and on, there was a wealth of great music from which to draw.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut as we were researching,\u201d says Lee, \u201cwe noted that there was a lot of great music on the American side, too.\u201d Songs by the Monkees, Neil Diamond, Steppenwolf and others are beloved by the \u201860s generation and younger fans alike. So a British Invasion Years concert opens with pop music from England, segueing seamlessly into selections from American acts, and then wraps back up with late-period Beatles circa 1969\u2019s Abbey Road<\/i> album.<\/p>\n
The evening is tightly programmed. \u201cWe do 35 to 40 songs each night,\u201d says Bobby, pointing out that the rock and music from the \u201860s often takes the form of three-minute songs. \u201cSo,\u201d he says with a laugh, \u201cyou can get a lot<\/i> of songs into two hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
The presentation is squarely focused on the music, but accompanying visuals add to the overall feel. \u201cImages of some of the bands will appear,\u201d Lee says, \u201calong with other visuals that go along with the songs: fashion, style, toys, television shows.\u201d He notes that audience members recall those things very fondly, saying, \u201cI almost forgot about that!\u201d Younger audiences relate to the images, too. \u201cThey\u2019ll say, \u2018We\u2019ve heard that song in a commercial,\u2019 or \u2018We played that song on Beatles Rock Band.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with a streamlined, choreographed show that includes costume changes, there\u2019s room for a bit of spontaneity. \u201cWe might even take time to say, \u2018Here\u2019s a song by the Zombies,\u2019\u201d laughs Bobby. But a British Invasion Years concert is really about the music: \u201cWhen one song ends, we\u2019re rolling right into the next one,\u201d he says. And while the varied and rapid-fire set list is demanding, he and his band mates love doing it. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be physically and mentally ready,\u201d Bobby says. \u201cBut we\u2019re well-rehearsed and used to it. It\u2019s not a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lee says that the show is interactive. \u201cEverything we do is about the audience,\u201d he emphasizes. \u201cWhen they\u2019re smiling, laughing and singing along, that\u2019s the biggest measure of success. Because we know we\u2019re doing something right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bobby says that a British Invasion Years show is an opportunity for concertgoers to get their mind off of heavier things for a couple of hours. \u201cYou go back in time, and there\u2019s nothing to think about other than the joy of the music, peace and love,\u201d he enthuses.<\/p>\n
Many concert dates were postponed and rescheduled more than once because of the pandemic. Now in 2022, the group is enthusiastic to get the show back on the road. Bobby looks forward to seeing audience members with nostalgic tears in their eyes; that\u2019s something that happens a lot during the band\u2019s performances. He says that the band members\u2019 goal is to come off stage at the end of a show being able to say to one another, \u201cWe did our job tonight: to get people to have a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There\u2019s an old saying \u2013 attribution unknown \u2013 that asserts, \u201cif you remember the \u201860, you weren\u2019t really there.\u201d But a quartet of musicians from Edison, New Jersey does remember. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,44,51],"tags":[4776],"class_list":["post-22585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-live-shows","category-pop","tag-british-invasion-years","cat-41-id","cat-44-id","cat-51-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22585"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22587,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22585\/revisions\/22587"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}