S2 E13: Something About Before They Were Beatles with Alan Porter

In the latest episode of Something Will Happen, Melissa is joined by Alan Porter. Alan is a Beatles historian, author of the book Before They Were Beatles, and host of the podcast Before They Were Beatles. Alan also works as an advisor for the band Savage Young Beatles who will be making their Abbey Road on the River debut this May.

Alan shares a few early Beatles history stories about their early performances including how they would get paid for their shows with a Coca-Cola and beans on toast. He tells about the call to go to Hamburg and how Pete Best was brought in. He even shares his favorite “near miss” of how the Beatles might never have happened. 

Melissa asks Alan more about his book, and he shares how he got the inspiration to write it. While attending college in Liverpool, he kept hearing stories about the band. As he puts it, “everybody has a Beatles story.” Since so many of these stories he was hearing contradicted each other, he wanted to learn the real one. He talks of going to the Strawberry Fields in New York after having been to Strawberry Fields in Liverpool and how the personal journey of connecting the two places spurred him on to take his idea seriously and get to work on his book.

The two then discuss how he was able to continue the story where the book left off with the podcast Before They Were Beatles. They discuss how the book and podcast compliment each other and the variety of creative avenues to discover using the audio format of a podcast. He tells how his book leaves off with the band leaving for Hamburg and how he is working on a special 20th anniversary edition of the book with even more stories he has collected over the years. 

They finish up their conversation by talking about the Savage Young Beatles and how he has been advising them in the early Beatles years. He also tells us about a new series of the podcast that he is working on all about the many 5th Beatles. Click here for more information on Alan’s book and podcast!


Mentioned in this podcast: Savage Young Beatles





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Producers: Gary Jacob, Melissa Brumm

Editor: Emily Clopton

Theme Music: King Mixer



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Melissa Brumm