Half a century ago, a band of four 20-somethings from Liverpool, England, got tired of constantly touring the world to perform their billboard-topping rock ‘n’ roll songs, and so composed a studio album that would change rock history.
The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was an incredible new sound in 1967 when it was released. It’s a sound that has resonated through the decades and generations, to bands like Sgt. Pepper, a tribute group slated to perform on the Central Coast on Dec. 30.
The Lompoc Theatre Project—a nonprofit organization that’s raising money to refurbish and reopen the historic Lompoc Theatre—will host Sgt. Pepper for a benefit concert, the organization’s Fund Development chair Heather Bedford told the Sun.
“This is the first fundraiser event we’ve had where we’re trying to engage the public into the types of performances or events that might happen once the theater’s actually reopened,” Bedford said.
The Lompoc Theatre Project reached out to Sgt. Pepper specifically because 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the groundbreaking album, Bedford said. The group, which is based out of the LA area, has performed the full album nonstop this year, she said, and the organizers with the nonprofit wanted to be a part of the celebration.
Many Lompoc and Central Coast residents in their 50s and 60s grew up with the album, Bedford said, but The Beatles’ draw defies generational tastes as well.
“I think they’re just the type of band that resonates with everybody,” she said. “It has its own sound, its own vibe. You can tell right away when it’s a Beatles song.”
Sgt. Pepper includes several musicians well known in their own right. Tom Kolb is the lead guitarist for the group who is also a celebrated teacher at the Musicians Institute and an author of guitar technique books.
Bassist and keyboardist Dennis Neil Jones (a longtime friend of Kolb’s) began the tribute group in 2003 to pay homage to The Beatles and other British invasion bands. Jones is also an acclaimed lawyer by day, according to Sgt. Pepper’s website.
“Mastering The Beatles’ music and vocals is no small task and takes lots of practice,” Jones said in an artist statement on the website. “But it’s definitely worth it when I see how much people enjoy hearing, dancing to, and singing along with the music.”
Bedford said that the high-caliber musicians in Sgt. Pepper were a motivator to get the band to Lompoc for the benefit event. They’re the kind of traveling groups the Lompoc Theatre would host once it’s restored and reopened, she said.
The Lompoc Theatre Project will also dedicate the space to local organizations first and foremost, Bedford explained. The theater will be the “permanent home” of the Lompoc Pops Orchestra, Lompoc Civic Theatre, and Lompoc Valley Master Chorale, she said, which is what the funds raised at the Sgt. Pepper concert will help support.
“It will be the cultural hub of Lompoc,” she said. “We have lots of big plans for the theater.”
Managing Editor Joe Payne is a diehard fan of The Beatles. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 21-28, 2017.