A Little Help from Friends

A drummer for the Beatles from 1960-62, Best was one of the most popular members of the group but, for one reason or another, was kicked to the curb shortly after he and John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison had signed a deal with Parlophone records.

Best was crushed, but picked up the pieces and moved on.

Today, he heads the Pete Best Band and is a headlining act Sunday through Tuesday at The Fest for Beatles Fans at The Mirage.

Also set for the festival are Peter & Gordon, who had 10 Top 40 hits, including four written by Lennon & McCartney; actor Victor Spinetti, who appeared in the Beatles’ films "A Hard Day’s Night," "Help" and "Magical Mystery Tour"; Denny Laine, Laurence Juber and Denny Seiwell, members of McCartney’s band Wings; Mark Hudson, record producer for Ringo Starr as well as Aerosmith, Bon Jovi and Ozzy Osbourne; and Larry Kane, who accompanied the Beatles on their 1964 and 1965 U.S. tours.

Various reasons were given for Best’s exit — among them, he wasn’t a good drummer; he missed some gigs; and his popularity with the female fans was too much for the other, supposedly jealous, Beatles to handle.

"There’s been so many misconceptions and conspiracy theories," Best said in a recent phone interview before a concert in Sellersville, Pa. "Whatever the reason was, I’m not privy to it. It doesn’t worry me anymore. I stopped thinking about it years ago. I would have become bitter if I hadn’t."

If it hadn’t been for Best and his mother, Mona, the Beatles as we know them might not have succeeded.

In the early 1960s, the group, called the Silver Beatles at the time, was hired by Mona to play a club she had constructed in the basement of her home in Liverpool. The Cavern later became famous as the place where the Beatles hit it big, but it was the Casbah where it really began.

Mona even helped manage and promote the group.

The Beatles, who had just lost two drummers, Tommy Moore and Norman Chapman, had seen Best perform with another group, the Blackjacks.

Badly needing a drummer before they left to perform in Hamburg, Germany, McCartney asked Best to join the band but told him he had to audition first.

"They had already seen me play, they knew my style," Best said. "When they said I had to audition, I started laughing. No one auditioned in those days."

After playing several numbers they all knew, the group went off in the corner and talked it over. He got the job.

Beatles manager Allan Williams "said to me later, ‘They made you audition in case you wanted more money.’ That was the last thing on my mind," Best said.

Thanks to their two trips to Hamburg and the long hours — six or seven each night — they spent playing in clubs there, the Beatles hit their stride.

"We became the best rock ‘n’ roll band in the world," Best said. "When we came back to Liverpool and were told to play an hour, we laughed. We put all that energy of six or seven hours in Hamburg into one hour. That’s when other bands started to copy the Beatles."

Part of the credit probably should go to Best, who brought a hard-pounding style to the drums that was out of the ordinary in those days. "We played as loud and as fast as you bloody well could," Best said. "I was a big fan of Gene Krupa. I tried to make the drums more of a solid wall of sound. A lot of bands changed their style."

The band changed in other ways. The group hired a new manager, Brian Epstein, and eventually was signed by Parlophone.

As Best remembers it, producer George Martin came in at the end of the demo session to "find out what it was about."

One of the theories about Best’s exit has it that Martin wanted to record the group but with a session drummer. From there, the other Beatles took it that Best wasn’t good enough to be their drummer. It’s only a theory, and one with a big hole in it — it was common for producers to bring in a session player initially, at least until the band’s drummer got the hang of recording.

Whatever the reason, Epstein gave Best the bad news.

It was devastating, at least on the day it happened. "The damage was done. It was cut and dried," Best said. "There was nothing I could do, really."

Best joined the British civil service, where he worked for 20 years, and continued his music career on the side.

In recent years, though, Best has gotten a bit of payback. Ten tracks he played on were included in the first "Beatles Anthology" discs, netting him some nice royalties.

And there are the tours with his band.

At The Mirage, Best will play a "Best of the Beatles" program of old tunes the Beatles covered in the beginning and some Beatles originals as well.

Also at the festival will be Perry Cox, who will premiere his latest edition of "The Beatles Price Guide for American Records"; Neal Glaser, owner of Celebrity Arts, will exhibit Lennon’s drawings, McCartney’s paintings and Ringo’s computer art; special appearances by cast members of Cirque du Soleil’s "Love"; Robin Leach, who covered the Beatles’ 1964 and 1965 U.S. tours; and Gary Sohmers from "Antiques Road Show" appraising fans’ Beatles memorabilia.

Children 12 and younger will be admitted at half price, and children 5 and younger will be admitted free.