For a Northwest Beatle’s tribute band, Créme Tangerine has gained international attention.
Although the five-member band limits its performances to Washington, Oregon and Idaho, in January 2009, Apple Records, the Beatle’s label, wanted to recreate the Beatle’s famous last concert on the rooftop of Apple in London with a local Beatle’s band, but it couldn’t be done because the building’s roof was rotting.
Créme Tangerine decided to recreate that historical concert on the roof of Pike Place Market to lift everyone out of the January blahs — and the beginning of the recession. The video went viral and has been seen around the world. In fact former Washington State Governor, Christine Gregoire proclaimed Jan. 24 “Créme Tangerine Day.”
Now every Jan. 24 they perform the rooftop concert at Pike Place to benefit the Pike Place Foundation Food Bank.
Together now for 10 years with a few roster changes, Créme Tangerine will celebrate the milestone at Amantes in Issaquah Friday, Nov. 22. The band likes to play Amantes because the owners, Kevo and Monica Baklaian, are big fans of rock-n-roll, and it is one of only a few venues on the East side that have live classic rock.
“Summer was super busy, so we chose Amantes because it’s intimate, they have great service and food, and great crowds,” said Jeff Lockhart, the drummer and one of the band’s founding members. “They’re doing a really great thing for the community.”
Since it’s a small venue, the show is sold out, but Créme Tangerine will play there again Dec. 20.
“In a club setting you’re in the moment together (with the audience) and for our 10th we thought it was perfect,” Lockhart said.
In addition to Lockhart, Créme Tangerine consists of Byron Prather on lead vocals and guitar, Chuck Dorsett on keyboards and vocals, Tim Mushen on guitar and vocals and Warren Kinser on bass. All of them have day jobs. Lockhart is a professor at Northwest University in Kirkland, teaching music industry business and recording art technology, Prather is the global production manager for Microsoft.com, Dorsett is in IT for the State Dept. of Transportation, Mushen is the CEO of Clock Tower Media and Kinser is a developer at Clock Tower Media. With rehearsals and family lives these are very busy guys.
The band started with Lockhart, Dorsett and Mushen jamming together. They all had a common connection in the Beatles, so the three of them decided to learn to play the entire “The White Album,” the epic two-disc record which was released in November 1968. It took them a year to get the entire album down, note for note. A buddy in another band asked them to open for his band, so they did, performing only songs from the “The White Album,” because that’s all they knew. At the time they called the band “Mother Superior and the Warm Guns,” but as its popularity grew, changed the name to “Créme Tangerine,” because the name is more “marketable and G-rated.” Both names reference Beatle lyrics or titles.
Créme Tangerine is a lyric in the song “Savoy Truffle,” on “The White Album.”
“The shows kept getting bigger,” Lockhart said. “We were like Batman — businessmen by day, rock guys by night.”
Now the band can do 80 percent of the Beatle’s catalog — no small feat. The band does studio work for other local musicians that need a studio band since there is a market for musicians in this music-rich area. Créme Tangerine also performs classic rock favorites by the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, AC/DC and Queen. They roll out the heavy stuff when they perform at Sounders and Seahawks games to pump up the crowds. But it always comes back to the Beatles.
“I never get tired of it,” Prather said. “The melodies are amazing, the lyrics are amazing; I never get tired of the music — it always amazes me.”
Prather remembers playing at Amantes once before, and seeing 10 to 13-year-olds singing the music. It’s timeless, and no matter what age, people seem to know the music. Lockhart remembers a 12-year-old boy coming up to him telling him he did a song wrong — that “John did it this way and you did it that way.”
Indeed, Lockhart and Prather don’t believe anyone will remember Justin Beiber or Miley Cyrus 100 years from now, but 500 years from now the Beatles music will live on.
“Something in the Universe brought these four people together and they pushed all the boundaries,” Lockhart said. “What they did was profound.”
When the band was only two years old, Lockhart took his then young children and his wife to Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, where, astoundingly, Sir Paul McCartney was signing a children’s book he wrote called “High in the Clouds.”
“It was like a Willie Wonka experience – I got the golden ticket so we got to meet and talk to Paul for five minutes,” Lockhart said.
He was stunned. He didn’t tell McCartney about Créme Tangerine, in fact he said Sir Paul focused his attention on Lockhart’s kids asking them about school and so on.
“He’s 71 and is still making music that is vital,” Lockhart said.
He loves McCartney’s new CD, “New,” which is receiving rave revues. All the members of Créme Tangerine were in attendance at the huge McCartney concert last summer at Safeco Field.
A story about Créme Tangerine would not be complete without mentioning the charitable work the band does. One of Prather’s favorite concert venues is the historical Bing Crosby Theater, where they performed to benefit World Relief of Spokane.
“Everyone knows Beatle music, so it works well with charitable causes,” he said.
The band rehearses on Mondays in Lockhart’s garage turned rehearsal studio.
“We come into rehearsal really stripped down, and just try to get through everything, but when we play live, we have all the gear,” Prather said.
Créme Tangerine will focus on Beatle music at Amantes because all the guys who have ever been in the band — 10 all together — will be there. If you want to see them at the Dec. 20 show, reserve space now.
This coming summer is the 50th anniversary of the Beatle’s invasion of Seattle, so on Aug. 21 Créme Tangerine will perform at Seattle Center’s Mural Amphitheatre at 7 p.m. to commemorate that historical visit.
