Julia Baird: Come Together…A Beatles Tribute
Interview by Nicole Holland
Each year, over 300,000 fans and 70 tribute bands make a pilgrimage to come together on Mathew Street in Liverpool for International Beatle Week to share their love of the The Beatles and their music. To capture this energy and spirit, Come Together…A Beatles Tribute, directed by Steve Ison and narrated by Julia Baird, was filmed primarily in Liverpool. The in-depth interviews, rare footage, stunning concert performances, and personal stories gathered from Tokyo to Stockholm to Las Vegas form an uplifting message and celebration of peace and love. The film will have its U.S. premiere on Monday, October 25th at 7:15pm at the Beverly Hills Film, TV & New Media Festival at the Laemmle Music Hall.
During this casual conversation, Julia Baird, who is currently Director of the Cavern Club, opens up about the film, her personal thoughts on Beatles tribute bands, their message of love and peace, and her brother, John Lennon.
IFQ: How did you come onboard as the narrator of Come Together…A Beatles Tribute?
Julia Baird: Steve Ison and I have a mutual friend in Liverpool, Jean Catharell. She is one of the big, personal secretaries of LIPA (Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts), Paul’s college in Liverpool. She’s very well-versed in all things Beatles. Jean said that her good friend was making a film and asked me if I would sit and do some talking. I agreed because of Jean, basically. I didn’t know how it was going to work out until I saw the finished product.
IFQ: What are your thoughts on how the film turned out?
JB: I love the film, but I hate myself in it. But then, I hate myself in anything! I think the film is a brilliant idea and beautifully done. Recently, we were at Beatle Week during the August bank holiday in Liverpool. It was shown for the first time there. I was in the hallway, with my books and things, talking to people as I do every year. Everyone was coming out saying, “The film is great! The film is great” The film’s reception was absolutely fantastic.
IFQ: Congratulations on the film’s success! Is this your first foray into film?
JB: [Laughs.] Yes, it certainly is!
IFQ: Before this film, were you familiar with any of the 8,000 Beatles tribute bands?
JB: I’d seen, over the course of years, many, many tribute bands, sometimes known as cover bands. Some of them try and cover exactly how the Beatles represented their music, and others veer off a bit. They take the core of the song and they veer off into their own little world with it. I love it all, because I think it is truly a tribute. When people say, “Oh they are only tribute bands, they are not the Beatles,” I say, “When was an orchestra not a tribute band, since they play Mozart and Beethoven? They are all tribute bands, aren’t they?” The Beatles are the modern classic. So yes, I know many of them personally, but of course, not all 8,000. I do make sure that I see bands if they are around. Some I love; some I don’t like so much. Some sound so like the Beatles, they could be the Beatles. Particularly in South America, where some band members are classically trained musicians. From all over the world, they are doing this thing. I’ve traveled to Sweden, Canada, and South America listening to these tribute bands. It’s just unbelievable; they are literally in all four corners of the Earth!
IFQ: I had no clue about all of the tribute bands until I watched the documentary. They are even in Japan…
JB: Apparently, they don’t speak any English whatsoever. Yet, they annunciate perfectly in the songs. Imagine us trying to do that in Japanese!
IFQ: Thinking back, when was the first time you heard of a “Beatles” tribute band?
JB: I really don’t know. I suppose if you really go back, when the Beatles were doing “Lovely,” “Please Please Me,” and “She Loves You”—groups, as they were called—were onstage in youth clubs playing their songs. They were cover bands, weren’t they? We just didn’t give them a name in those days. We didn’t call them a tribute band, or a cover band. We’d just say, “Oh, they are playing that Beatles song.”
IFQ: Did you initially dismiss the tribute bands and think “just another Elvis show”?
JB: No, never, because I am a great, classical, music fan. I’m well-aware that if I want to hear Beethoven, then I have to listen to a tribute band. I might choose my conductor and orchestra so that I enjoy it the most. But, nevertheless, I can never, never, never hear [the real] Beethoven, can I? So, I have no objection at all to any tribute bands because without them, we wouldn’t hear music where the author had died.
IFQ: As you said in the film, the Beatles’ message of love and peace came at a time when the world needed it the most, and it still does. If the Beatles were still together today, what do you think they would say to the world?
JB: The message couldn’t have changed, could it? We still haven’t got peace. In fact, the highlight of this year’s Beatle Week, when Steve was there, was on Saturday at the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool with the bishop. An audience of 2,000 came together for a celebration of love and peace. We had some of the same bands that were in Steven’s film. They were all reaching out with the message of peace and love. Even in the Antarctic, where there’s a Russian Orthodox church they sang “Let It Be.” It was recorded and played out over the cathedral. We actually had, courtesy of the bishop, a minute of silence for peace and love. It was very beautiful. The Beatles were still being used—the music, the words and the meaning. The reaching out was still being used for peace and love, and that was five weeks ago.
IFQ: What would John say?
JB: I think if John had lived, he would have been out there like Bono, Bob Geldof, and Mandela— like everybody who is out there with the peace and love message. I think John would have been in the forefront of all that. I can’t see him being any other way.
IFQ: What did you personally take away after filming?
JB: The essence and idea of the film, Come Together, is one, a great title, of course, but the fact that they brought all the varying tribute bands together in praise of the Beatles music and history.
IFQ: It’s a first of its kind, right? It’s never been done before.
JB: I think it is, even though so much has been done around the Beatles. I’m very honored to have been invited to take part in it.