It is the first Smithereens album to feature Severo "The Thrilla" Jornacion, who replaced original bassist Mike Mesaros in 2006.[5]
Background
In 2006, The Smithereens hadn't released an album in seven years since 1999's God Save The Smithereens. "There was simply no demand from record companies for a new Smithereens album", lead singer Pat DiNizio explained.[6] The band still performed live, and in May 2005 they were invited to perform at Abbey Road on the River, a Beatles music festival in Louisville, Kentucky.[7][8] The band had often performed Beatles songs as encores and were asked to do a whole set of covers at the festival. During the set the audience called out for Smithereens songs and the band realized that there was some crossover between die-hard Beatles fans and Smithereens fans. Soon after, DiNizio began to receive e-mails from fans who had attended the concert suggesting the band record an album of Beatles songs. The band was intrigued and decided to record an album of all-Beatles material as a way to reintroduce The Smithereens to their old audience.[7][9]
“I realized that to attempt to record songs from every phase of the Beatles’ career and have any sense of continuity would be almost impossible", DiNizio said.[10] The idea of a song-by-song cover of Meet The Beatles! took shape when DiNizio came across an article in the October 2006 issue of American Heritage magazine titled "1964 - When a New Age Was Born".[7] It talked about the Vietnam War, America dealing with the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the civil rights movement but also about Beatlemania.[9] "I believe Meet the Beatles is historically the most important rock-and-roll album ever released in America", DiNizio said. "It just started a cultural revolution that hasn't stopped".[7] DiNizio contacted Bob Frank, president at the band's last record label, Koch Records, and presented him the idea of "The Smithereens versus The Beatles". Frank loved the idea and signed the band to a new record deal.[11] According to DiNizio, the band immersed themselves in 1964 ephemera in preparation for recording, with objects like magazines, posters and the bobbleheads that made the cover.[12] With Kurt Reil of The Grip Weeds co-producing, the album was recorded in five days in November 2006 at The Grip Weeds' House of Vibes studio in Highland Park, New Jersey.[7]
"It was really successful", DiNizio said of the album in 2013, "it broke download records on iTunes – and it put us on the front page of the New York Times leisure section on Sunday, so [Koch Records] let us do a Christmas album, another Beatles tribute and the live album".[13]
