**SPECIAL WEEK-LONG MUSIC MANTRA** Featuring FAB FOUREVER [Today: Introductions and JODY TENNANT (aka PAUL)]

Okay, you guys. I have such an amazing treat for ‘The Gift’ readers! You all know how much I love the Beatles, their music and the tremendous influence they’ve had on me throughout my life (you know…I may have mentioned it once or twice…). Even more meaningful to me is the positive influence they’ve all had on my children. My love and respect for this incredible group of musicians made me skeptical of others who tried (and often failed) to perform their music. I guess you would have called me a ‘Beatles Tribute Band snob’. LOL! That was, of course, until Fate had me check out the PHENOMENAL Beatles Tribute Band, RAIN. They were who made me realize these bands are here to pay tribute to Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr (YAY!! Sorry…I’ll get myself back in check…) and the unforgettable contributions each of them has made to music, to music lovers and to generations to come. And guess what? WE here in Canada have our very own Beatles Tribute Band called, THE FAB FOUREVER!

I am absolutely thrilled to have these four lads join us here on ‘The Gift’. Aside from all being incredibly talented, they’re also all so passionate about music and the environment and probably the wittiest and most hilarious bunch of guys I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with for a long time. They are touring a few places in Canada in the next few weeks and generously stopped by for a short chat. Lucky us…and lucky YOU!! And the best part is we’ll have them here all week long! We’ll feature one of the lads each day then end the week with my Chynna’s Rapid Fire round with all five of them.

So, without further ado, let me introduce to you Jody Tennant (Sir Paul), Kevin Davey (John), Jean-Luc (George), Paul Kaszonyi (Ringo) and the uber-talented Blake MacKay who handles keyboard and percussion (I call him the ‘George Martin’ of the group. LOL!).


CHYNNA: Welcome to ‘The Gift’ guys! Thank you SO MUCH for stopping by! Why don’t we start with having each of you introduce yourselves and share a bit of your background with us. You start, Jody.
JODY: I was born here in the Lower Mainland of BC, Chilliwack to be precise I was the oldest of four children. I had a great childhood. My parents were quite young and were hippies (or so it seemed to me). So I had long hair as a wee one, and was mistaken for a girl quite a bit. We moved alot. I don't think that we were in a house for much more than a year, so we were constantly having to make new friends. I was never a musician growing up. I was into sports. All sports. I played Baseball, Soccer and Hockey. But mainly hockey. I got up to Senior AAA hockey so that was it for me. Ah school. I mainly liked having friends at school. I was in French Immersion so I learned a bit of French, which helps when you have to sing 'Michelle'. You know I liked school a bit. But was never really good at it. I didn't like sitting at a desk for that long. My teachers always seemed to like me as well, they just thought I could've made more of an effort. I also seemed to get into trouble a lot at school. I don't remember why, but our vice-principal had my parents’ number on speed dial, and I'd usually visit him once a week.

CHYNNA: Jody, my principal had our phone number on speed dial too. Didn’t visit him much, though, because I would have actually had to have been there in order to visit him. ;) Thanks for sharing all of that with  us. Kevin?

KEVIN: I was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. My dad was a musician and I used to watch his band play and rehearse and always wanted to be a musician. I got my first guitar at age 5 but it was more or less a toy. For years my favorites musician was (don’t print this) Barry Manilow. I loved his stuff. It wasn’t until December 8th, 1980, when I woke up at the age of 9 (almost 10) hearing on the radio that John Lennon was shot and killed. I wasn’t sure who John Lennon was except that he was from the ‘black and white days’. My father loved Buddy Holly and The Beatles, so I had heard of them many times but never quite knew who they were. After the announcement the station played “Starting Over”. I loved the song and instantly wanted to know everything about the man who wrote it. I got heavily into the Beatles and at age 15 began playing guitar and writing my own Beatlesque type songs. The Beatles were a huge influence on my as a musician and a writer, especially the music of John Lennon.

CHYNNA: Awesome, thanks! I remember the day John was killed vividly. That moment intensified my love for him and the Beatles too. [Oopsys…I forgot to edit out the Barry Manilow info. My bad! ;) ] Your turn, Jean-Luc!

JEAN-LUC: I like yogurt.

CHYNNA: =| Um...I think I’m going to have to ask you to be less wordy or you’ll make this a SUPER long interview (LOL!). Okay, Paul. Go ahead!

PAUL: Well, I was born and raised in Abbotsford B.C and currently hang my hat there, I’ve been playing music for most of my life and I’ve been “Ringo” in the Fab Fourever since September 2009. I also enjoy sunsets and long walks on the beach.

CHYNNA: ::writing in her notebook:: ‘….sunsets and long walks on the beach…’ ;) Blake?

BLAKE: I was born in the UK, grew up in Toronto and Singapore and just moved here from Calgary. I've been playing keyboards for 26 years and have a little studio at home where I'm lucky enough now to be able to make whatever kind of music I feel like and can imagine. The Fab Fourever uses all of that plus my evil bus driving skills so I love it.

CHYNNA: Geez, they make you wear the Tour Bus Driver hat too? I hope you’re getting paid the big bucks. ;) Too funny you guys. Okay! Let’s start with…Jody! Like with many of us, you were introduced to the Beatles from your parents. Tell us about your earliest memories about those times and how you were touched by their music.

JODY: I was first introduced to the Beatles music when I was four or five. My sister (who was a year younger than me), and I would sneak down into the rec room and put on my parents records, for which we were forbidden to touch. I remember there were a few records that we liked Electric Light Orchestra, Queen, The Doors but mainly we'd put on this one with a bunch of people in black, with a brick background and a spotlight on them - Paul McCartney and Wing' Band On The Run. This record mesmerized me. I remember my parents telling me about it then and the Beatles. So from that moment on they were in my consciousness. The next album I liked was the White Album, but the one that really hit me was Rock N Roll Music Vol 1. I bought that for my dad for his birthday, but I ended up listening to it non-stop. In fact I think I wore it out and soon was looking for more and more Beatle music. I first heard And I Love Her on the school bus going to school and knew it was them, and then became obsessed with finding out more. I made a paper maché puppet of Paul. Played a tennis racket guitar (left handed), and even grew my hair into a Beatles mop-top.

CHYNNA: Very cool! And I’d love to see that Paul paper maché! You play ‘Paul’ in the tribute band Fab Fourever. I read in your bio that you got to meet him in person! Incredible! Please tell us about that. Is that what inspired you to create the band? Did you search out the other guys who joined? Was there a cast call? Did you guys meet by Fate?

JODY: You know Paul and Linda were an inspiration to my wife Helen and I. We thought that they were amazing human beings. We'd always wanted to see him perform live and had an opportunity in 2002 in Toronto where we brought our 2 year old with us to the show. She had an 'I Love Paul' shirt on and during the show he ended up talking about her and to her. We couldn't believe it. We crossed paths with HIM. He discussed US! So when we found out he was coming to Seattle in 2005 we had to go, and somehow found a way. We had my mom make up some Sgt Pepper costumes for all of us. We had two children with a third on the way. Our third child was born a month before the show but developed some serious complications after birth and ended up in hospital, so we had to put the show out of our mind (we almost named him McCartney). Thankfully he was soon on the mend and we decided we wanted him to come with us to the show. Paul saw us up in the stand during one of the encores and was waving to us and blowing kisses. Once again we couldn't believe it. A security guard was told to bring us down to the front row where Paul came out for one final encore of Sgt Pepper's reprise and the End, right in front of us, and seemingly to us. Then the photographer asked us to follow him back stage where we met HIM! Paul McCartney.

He was so nice to us, and just a gentle soul. He shared hugs and kisses with all of us, even me. And also had a giggle or two with the girls, and then he had to hop on the bus and he was off. We just looked at each other and hugged and laughed and smiled all the way home. We were euphoric. That feeling has lasted until this day when I think of it. Yeah that is what inspired me to really learn the bass, a few months later I saw an ad that someone was looking for other "Fake Beatles" for this band and I gave him a ring, and we started this thing off. Here we are today with you.

CHYNNA: Awww…Jody. What an amazing story. Thanks so much for sharing. Paul is truly a generous soul. What I found so impressive is that you are a self-taught musician! (As a girl who had to practice piano many, many hours, I am jealous. LOL!) So, did you learn to play music from ear or did you learn by jamming with others? Tell us your journey to left-handed guitar awesome-ness!

JODY: It's funny, but even today being called a musician to me is uncomfortable. I consider myself a phony. I never did lessons, and in the beginning the guys had to have a lot of patience with me. We'd be in rehearsal and one would say, "It's in G", and I would have no idea what they were talking about. What's a G? When I first started I would listed to the record on a small set of earphones with a big set of earphones over top with my bass running through trying to figure it all out.

I'm not a jammer. Not even now. I can't do it. I like to know what songs we are going to be adding to a set. I'll go home and practice it, to get it right and then come to the studio with it down. Paul's bass lines are so creative and unique that to jam them would take away from the song. So it's just hours of playing bass. Now with ipods and amplugs it makes it that much easier to practice in silence, so I don't wake up the family. Learning to play left-handed wasn't that difficult, as I'd never learned to play right-handed. I wouldn't say it was natural, but now I couldn't go back. Learning the acoustic guitar has been challenging. When the guys said, “We want to do Yesterday, I was concerned I couldn't get it. I mean I couldn't play one guitar song all the way through and now was going be playing a song on guitar, solo on stage. It freaked me out. But I just went home and learned it, and now it is second nature (Although I still can't play any other songs, except for Blackbird, Mother Nature's Son and Rocky Raccoon. LOL).

CHYNNA: Jody, it takes incredible talent to do what you do. Seriously. There are folks who are out there with record deals who have zero talent and here you are not only learning these songs from ear but doing it spot on. That’s such an amazing gift. You have UBER talent and you tell those who don’t think so to come see ME! ;) Another impressive, and difficult, talent is training the singing voice to resemble another singer’s voice, especially a singer who is so well-known and loved. But you’ve accomplished that with your impression of Sir Paul. What did you do to nail his voice and mannerisms as well as you have?

JODY: Yeah I guess that is true, but again, I've always sung the Beatles. And when I sang the Beatles I was always Paul. So I really don't know what my own singing voice sounds like. Even when I sing the kids to sleep at night, I might be singing Rainbow Connection and it is in my 'Paul' voice (unless I'm singing with my Kermit the Frog Voice - which is similar to my Get Back voice LOL).

CHYNNA: That’s hilarious! I’d ask you to sing as Jody for us now but we have an audio issue. LOL! But if you sing as well as you as Paul, I’m thinking your natural singing voice rocks too. =) Do you have any other musical inspirations?

JODY: Apart from all four Beatles (which are my inspirations) I really like Simon and Garfunkel, Blue Rodeo, ELO, basically anything from the 60's and 70's. My children have tremendous musical tastes as well and I'm starting to like a lot of what they listen to now, like Taylor Swift, but I wouldn't call them inspirations. But mostly listen to music from the past.

CHYNNA: Yeah, I’m a big fan of 60’s and 70’s too. My kids love Beatles, Gary Wright, Jazz (eg: Harry Connick Jr. and Michael Bublé) and similar styles. They aren’t into the girl/boy band stuff yet. I’m interested to see what they get in to. Beatles fans are very devoted to the guys, as you know. Describe for us how it feels being up on stage performing, looking out at those people—young and old—singing, dancing, or screaming. Do you guys ever ham it up or play along with the audience when they’re getting into the whole scene?

JODY: Yeah it is an honour to bring this music to the fans. Being able to bring this music to people who may never have got to see the Beatles play live, or to a generation of fans who weren't around when they existed is a thrill. Words can't express it. I love the Beatles, and I love the opportunity to bring this music, this feeling the music gives to our audience. I go to a lot of Beatles Tribute band shows. I like to see the details. I like to see that they use the correct guitars, that Paul is left-handed, and that each member sings the part that their 'Beatle' sang. Most times I walk away disappointed, and I don't want that for our fans. I've seen many a Beatle show where the 'Paul' sings all of the songs, or the 'John' sings most of the songs with the Paul just bobbing his head around foolishly. I really dislike these and it gives the wrong impression of who the Beatles were as cultural icons and rock gods. Do we ham it up? Yes we do, but always while trying to stay in character. If John had done it, or would've done it - green light. I really like playing the role of Paul, because he often addressed the crowd and really engages the crowd on stage, so that is me.

CHYNNA: I love your response because I feel the same way. A lot of the reason I was against the Beatles Tribute bands at first was because the authenticity was lacking in the ones I'd seen. Bands like yours, Fab Four or RAIN have the same passion as you guys: guitars, movements, the witty kidding around The Beatles did. You can tell this is important to you guys too and that’s why you have such a strong following. Now, you guys are currently touring, right? What is touring like for you guys? It must be so difficult being away from family and friends for so long. How do you cope with it all?

JODY: Touring has its challenges. Being away from family is the hardest part. My children are very sad when I have to leave for out of town shows. But this band has become a family as well. These are really good people. They make me proud wherever we go. Our road crew are tremendous people as well, and they are one with the band. We spend many a long drive together on our Yellow Busmarine (which isn't Yellow yet, but soon), and we engage in spirited conversation, sing-a-longs, sometimes there is silence when everyone is tired, and we like to stop a lot to have snowball fights. The road isn't that glamorous as I thought it would be. We basically get into a city, set-up gear, sound check, eat dinner, get into costume (and character), perform, meet the fans, tear everything down and load it into the bus and trailer, go the hotel sleep, wake up and drive to the next city to do it all again. There is not a lot of time for anything else like sight seeing, or visiting with friends and family who might live in the area, unless they come to see us before the show, or after for a brief visit.

CHYNNA: You know, I think it really helps when a band, and their families, are so close. It makes things a little easier, right? But I can only imagine how difficult it must be for you to leave your precious beauties. (LOL @ “Yellow Busmarine!!) Your generosity with meeting with your fans is so amazing. Good for you guys! Not all bands—big or just starting out—do that. =) Do you have any upcoming gigs you’d like to share with us? Where can we find you online?

JODY: We've go a couple of shows up in Alberta that we're really looking forward to at the end of May (May 27th and 28th) up in Calgary and Edmonton. It's our first foray into those cities. We're at the Century Casino at both places. And for more information about the band we can be found online at http://www.fabfourever.com/. We hope to see you at one of our shows, and maybe get a chance to meet you afterwards. Thank you all for coming out to our shows and really enjoying what we do. It is a privilege and an honour.

CHYNNA: You are amazing, Jody, thank you so very much for being here today. Okay, everyone that's it for today! But be sure to drop by again tomorrow when we'll be chatting with KEVIN DAVEY who plays John.