‘An experience … I will never forget”
While sitting at a table signing autographs and selling CDs and other memorabilia at the Fest for Beatles Fans in New York City in January 2014, Waynesburg native and rock bass player, Gary Van Scyoc, was approached by a man with a British accent.
“You must be Bill Heckle,” guessed Van Scyoc from the man’s accent and appearance after fellow musician, Steve Howie, tipped him off that he might be coming by.
Turns out Heckle, owner of the Cavern Club, where the early Beatles played a total of 292 appearances at the now-famous Liverpool, England landmark, was in town to attend the Fest, staged that year during the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ arrival in the U.S.
Heckle, who owns, in addition to the Cavern Club, the Cavern Pub, hotels and other buildings on Liverpool’s bustling Matthew Street, knew of Van Scyoc’s musical association with John Lennon and Yoko Ono and decided he wanted him to attend the 2015 International Beatle Week, an event held annually for more than 20 years in Liverpool.
To get him there, he handed Van Scyoc two airline tickets for him and his wife, Eva, good for a round-trip flight over the “Pond.” He also promised an all-expense paid, ten-day visit to boot.
The bass guitarist from Greene County had actually played the Cavern Club in the fall of 1973 as a member of John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Elephants Memory Band shortly after it closed for demolition during construction work on the Merseyrail underground rail line. At that time, the club moved directly across the street from the original, and Van Scyoc reckons his band must have been one of the first to play the new venue.
“Liverpool had changed a lot over the years since I was last there 42 years ago, and Matthew Street has become a popular and bustling tourist destination,” he said. “It has an even more electric vibe during Beatle Week.”
Packed with concerts featuring nearly 200 bands from around the world in 15 different venues, the big Beatle convention, also known as Beatle Week, included concerts by Donovan and Peter Asher of pop duo Peter and Gordon. During his stay, Van Scyoc, who was given tickets to everything for him and his wife, Eva, managed to “check out” about 20 bands.
“There were eight rooms full of bands in the Adelphi Hotel alone, where we stayed,” he said. “There were bands everywhere, and outside, Matthew Street was bustling with other musicians as well as puppeteers and jugglers. The city is one big buzz during Beatle Week that’s simply off the charts.”
With everything going on, Van Scyoc’s biggest thrill had to be playing a concert at the 3,500-seat Royal Court Theatre along with Joey Molland of Badfinger, Earl Slick, and Denny Seiwell, Steve Howard and Howie Casey from Paul McCartney’s Wings. None other than the Quarrymen, the skiffle/rock group formed by Lennon in 1956, opened for the Van Scyoc and crew’s concert.
“Jay recorded with Badfinger on Apple Records, and George Harrison produced the band,” Van Scyoc said. “Paul McCartney also wrote several songs for them, and their recording, ‘Baby Blue,’ was featured in the series finale of ‘Breaking Bad.’
“Earl played with David Bowie and for John Lennon’s last album, ‘Double Fantasy,’ his comeback album released shortly before he was killed,” Van Scyoc added.
Mark Hudson, who produced and wrote songs for Ringo Starr for at least ten years, organized the August concert, aptly titled “With a Little Help from My Friends,” taking on the premise “The Boys Who Knew the Lads” – the lads, in this case, being the Beatles.
During the two-hour long, sold-out performance, Van Scyoc also got to sing “It Don’t Come Easy” and “New York City,” which he recorded with Lennon in 1972.
“The five of us never played together before, so we spent ten hours a day for three days rehearsing from scratch the 20 songs we planned to do,” Van Scyoc said. “While rehearsal was a beautiful experience, it was also quite grueling.”
While Van Scyoc rehearsed with the band, his wife, Eva, toured Liverpool with Shannon MacDonald, described by the bassist as “the world’s foremost Beatles artist” whose artwork is displayed in every room of the Liverpool Hard Rock Hotel. They also got to attend the Donovan and Peter Asher concerts, events Van Scyoc unfortunately missed.
Something he did get to do with his wife was to take a tour of all the Beatles’ childhood homes, now restored with original furnishings and currently owned by the British National Trust.
“I got to go inside the homes and see John’s bedroom and where Paul ate breakfast,” he said. “It’s an experience Eva and I will never forget.”
Those familiar with Beatles’ hits might recall the names Eleanor Rigby and Father McKenzie. The Van Scyocs got to see Rigby’s grave in the old churchyard on the grounds of St. Peters Church in Liverpool, where father McKenzie is also buried.
“And we actually got to stand on the spot inside the church where McCartney and Lennon first met one another and shook hands,” he said.
At one point during Beatle Week, Van Scyoc mentioned to the current Cavern Club owner that he played the venue in 1973. Because he didn’t take ownership of the club until the mid-1980s, he was somewhat skeptical of Van Scyoc’s allegation.
Van Scyoc responded by saying he could provide documentation of the band’s performance in an article written by Mike Evans in an October 1973 edition of “Melody Maker” magazine, roughly the British equivalent of “Rolling Stone” magazine.
After the club owners read the article, they sent Van Scyoc a message on Friday, Sept. 25, informing him that they planned to engrave his name in one of the 1,000 bricks saved from the demolition of the original Cavern Club and have it placed on the new club’s “Wall of Fame.” It is an honor that includes having his name added to the back of the official Cavern Club T-shirt, along with the previous honorees.
“If all goes well, I may be returning to Liverpool next year to attend the inductee service,” he said.