March 26, 2025
In this feature of Backstage at the Egyptian, Marty Scott of the Liverpool Legends returns and talks with our Marketing Intern, Lia Martinez, to answer a new set of questions. In this interview, he shares what makes their performances here at the Egyptian memorable to the band, his natural gravitation to George Harrison’s vocal style that helped form this tribute group, and what motivates him to maintain his music career.
Lia: Which performance held at the Egyptian Theatre was your most memorable so far?
Marty: I don’t know that there was one that is the most memorable. We always have a good time. I think this is maybe our fourth or fifth time playing there now. it’s about as close to home as we get because two of us grew up in Chicagoland and we’ve never get close to home hardly at all for whatever strange reason we’re always everywhere besides Chicago so for us the Egyptian is kinda like coming home. my mom comes to the show and I’ve got like my old friends from school and stuff, because it’s really as close as we get. The Egyptian has become sort of like our home show so it’s always a bit like coming home. They’re all great because of that reason.
L: During last year’s interview with us you mentioned you wanted to perform at The Grand Ole Opry. Since then, have you had the opportunity to perform there? Has another venue risen to the top?
M: We haven’t, you know, it’s still on the top of my list. We’re a little bit closer to playing the Ryman and the Grand Old Opry, although Ringo just played the Grand Old Opry so maybe that door will open now that an actual Beatle has played there, you know. They’re pretty dead set on country only there, so for us to do the Grand Old Opry we might have to, I don’t know, change our style a little bit, we’ll see.
Yes, Royal Albert Hall in England. We did Carnegie Hall. We did the Rose Bowl. We’ve done some really important venues, but Royal Albert Hall would be special so someday, we’ll see.
L: When and how did you first realize your voice sounded like George Harrison’s?
M: I don’t know, so when I was a kid, I was in a group and we weren’t a Beatles group, but we played a lot of Beatles songs and I just sort of gravitated toward the ones that were George. I don’t know why. I think because I couldn’t really scream like John Lennon. John and Paul were pretty powerful singers with big ranges. George I don’t know if there was a George song it just was always the one I sang. I think it’s because I naturally kind of had that in me so even before this is, when I was playing drums like my whole life I grew up playing drums so singing with the Beatles George thing, even back in those days when I was playing drums, I would be singing whatever tunes were George’s. I don’t know, it just kinda happened automatically.
L: Have there been any effects the band has recently added to your shows that have increased exuberance from yourself and/or the audience?
M: I mean we’ve toyed around. I have a friend of mine who has a show called the Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular and we’ve been talking about doing like a Sergeant Pepper Beatles laser spectacular show, but we haven’t put that together yet. Our show, it’s all narrated by George’s sister, but it’s still pretty old school. It’s mostly still just kind of rock ‘n’ roll and everything’s live. But like I said, we have been talking about doing some kind of laser show down the road, but it hasn’t materialized yet.
L: What are some motivators that have encouraged you to continue being a member of the Liverpool Legends over the years?
M: Well for me, it’s really the most fun career that I could actually ever imagine having you know. We are Beatles fans just like the people that come see the shows you know so for us to get to play all our favorite songs all over the world, it’s just been such a great gig to have. We get to make people happy, we get to, you know, turn people’s lives around from the time they walk in the theater till the time that they leave. Hopefully by the time they leave, they’re much happier than they were when they came in. That’s really what we try to do, is bring that to the world and honestly, I can’t think of another job in the world that would be as fun as the one that I have right now. Wherever, if we’re in a new town, we’re out exploring and meeting the people from the towns and a lot of these places. Like in DeKalb, we come back every year so we make friends there and it’s kinda like seeing your family every year. We try to stop in these cities every year and build a relationship with the local folks. When we play in DeKalb now, we stay at the same Airbnb we’ve stayed at now for four years in a row and we don’t even use Airbnb anymore, the lady just opens her place for us. So it’s just a lot of things like that, where those are things that motivate me because I’m a people person. The things that we do and get paid for, it amazes me every day that we get paid for doing this cause it’s such a fun thing to do that I would do it for nothing.
