For one Gainesville band, a day in the life involves a walk down Penny Lane, past the strawberry fields, across the universe and back in the U.S.S.R.
The Shoddy Beatles, made up of Eric Atria on bass, Travis Atria on guitar and vocals, Chris Hillman on drums, and Collin Whitlock on keyboard, originally formed as a side project in June 2005 while Morningbell, a band three of the members also belong to, was taking some time off from touring.
"We were really bored, so we decided to get a band together and call it the Shitty Beatles," Eric Atria said. "We really fully intended to never play again after that."
The band was re-energized after the Civic Media Center approached the band to play at a John Lennon/Beatles tribute concert. The rest, as they say, is history.
"At first, the Beatles was just a fun thing, but over the last year it's become a beast unto itself," Atria said. "It's really become something of a phenomenon."
The Shoddy Beatles bases its sound on two things: authenticity and staying with the laid-back vibe. The band isn't reaching for stardom, Atria said, because it's happy with the way things are now.
"We're not going to take it on the road, we're not going to make T-shirts," Atria said. "We have the privilege of being able to borrow these songs, and we're just going to play them the way they were meant to be."
The band relies on word-of-mouth for most of the promotion of its shows, which eliminates the possibility of touring, and the band doesn't want to play more than twice a semester. Atria said the band was originally formed as a way for the members just to play music, which is the way they want it to stay.
"It's just one of those things where it's not our baby," Atria said. "With Morningbell, you have all those extra things and a lot of extra work. With the Beatles, it's kind of nice to just sit up there and play."
The Shoddy Beatles play a wide range of classic Beatles songs, from "Sgt. Pepper" to "The White Album," and they try to stay as close to the original song as possible, he said, because the songs are so great the way they were originally played.
"When we started, we wanted to do our very best to play the songs as they are," Atria said. "These are the songs most of us learned to play our instruments on, and I think we all have a strong link to the way they sound."
The Shoddy Beatles are playing Saturday at 10:30 p.m. at Common Grounds with Umoja Orchestra. Doors open at 9 p.m., and tickets are $5 for people over 21 and $7 for people under 21.
