PITTSBURGH (TNA) – In many peoples’ eyes, the Beatles are still the Fab Four, but that isn’t stopping them from getting a thrashing from four musicians from Milwaukee, who call themselves Beatallica.

If that sounds like Metallica, you’re catching on to the idea. The quartet reinterprets Beatles songs like "Sgt. Pepper," and "A Hard Day’s Night" by playing them like Metallica.

Bass guitarist Kliff McBurtney – the name itself a "mash up" of Paul McCartney and Metallica bassist Cliff Burdon – says Beatallica started up officially in 2001 as a jokey part of "Spoof Fest," an annual April Fools Day tradition in Milwaukee, where local musicians make fun of their favorite acts.

Beatallica thrashes the Beatles.

McBurtney and three friends decided to celebrate (or desecrate) the Beatles and Metallica by performing thrash versions of Beatles songs, but only expected it to be a one-time performance.

The band didn’t even call itself Beatallica. That was a choice made by a fan named David Dixon, who taped the performance and posted it on YouTube, where it became a hit with viewers.

McBurtney says the band was unaware of its online popularity until they met Dixon in 2002 and he gave them fan e-mails from all over the world.

The response was so overwhelming that, in 2004, McBurtney (real name: Paul Terrien) decided to thrash out a real band with fellow Beatallica members like lead singer Jaymz Lennfield (Michael Tierney); original guitarist Kirk Hammetson (Michael Brandenberg); and drummer Ringo Larz.

Hammetson has since been replaced with Grg Hammetson (Jeff Salzman), but the original concept of "mashing up" Metallica with Lennon-McCartney remains the same. In fact, Beatallica has just released its first full-length CD, "Sgt. Hetfield’s Motorbreath Pub Band," which features tunes like "Blackened The U.S.S.R," "Leper Madonna," and "And Justice For All My Loving."

Most of the Beatles songs performed by the band are post-1967 and McBurtney says there’s a simple reason for that.

"As musicians, I think we gravitate towards more progressive music," he said.

The response, so far, is favorable, especially in Germany, where the band has toured multiple times.

"The German metal scene is thriving," McBurtney said. "There’s more going on than in America."

McBurtney is impressed with the German response, especially the fan who personally brewed a "Beatalli-Beer," in honor of the band.

But while the response from fans thrills McBurtney, he’s even more overjoyed at the reaction that Metallica members like James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich have given the band – especially in 2005, when lawyers representing the Beatles sent Beatallica a cease-and-desist letter for alleged copyright violations.

Hetfield, Ulrich and guitarist Kurt Hemmett not only publicly announced their support of Beatallica, but Ulrich offered to provide legal assistance and even instructed his own lawyer to defuse the situation with Sony.

Ultimately, a deal was reached with Sony, and Beatallica helps keep the peace by making all its songs available for free download so as not to risk threats of violating valuable copyrights.

McBurtney hasn’t heard from the surviving Beatles ("Although I’d love to have a beer with either of them"), but figures the reason they have support from Metallica is because that band recognizes the group’s efforts at creating something new out of the familiar.

"We call what we do ‘a mash up,’ and we strive for the ‘intelligent mash.’ The weaving of the mash is very important."

Although many Beatles fans don’t like metal and many metalheads think the Fab Four are wimps, McBurtney believes the group’s efforts at combining the two have smooth things between fans between the two factions.

"We’ve turned Beatles fans onto Metallica and I’m sure Metallica fans are listening to their parents’ Beatles records," McBurtney said.

Still, McBurtney has one regret: Because the people that most appreciate the band are guys that work in music stores, Beatallica doesn’t have as many groupies as he’d like.

"There’s a level of musicianship here that doesn’t always attract women," he admitted. "Still, you go to our shows and there’s some nice scenery."

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