Streetalk: How has Paul McCartney influenced you?

Crab Louie: I played music before I understood the Beatles. Once I got the Beatles, understood the musicianship, it was easily a redefinition of my approach to crafting songs, to instrumentation, to you name it. Even my bass playing. White folks never heard bass being played like that. It was nothing short of a complete overhaul of my understanding of how I should approach the instrument and engage the public. I prefer John Lennon as a songwriter, but I can’t help but show love for Paul McCartney. Favorite Beatles song: “Mother Nature’s Son.”

Lauren: He’s pretty much affected any modern musician. His involvement with the Beatles paved the way for all different kinds of experimental music. I actually play metal. He paved the way for people like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin and everybody after him. He’s pretty much the predecessor for everything. And I look at him for more than music, too, in terms of him trying to lead an ecological life. He’s a vegetarian. He’s really a great person, musically and ethically, too. Favorite Beatles song: “Eleanor Rigby.”

Kevin: His bass playing was so original. You will hear that bass melody inside the song itself. It’s melody inside another melody. Fantastic. In most songs, the bass is in the background. They’re the rhythm section. With McCartney, the bass makes a lot of those Beatles songs. The refrain with “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” it’s all the bass. In “Come Together,” it’s the sliding bass that really captures it. He just didn’t play a bass note, he put a whole melody right into the song. I always think how can I make a bass line really carry a song. Favorite Beatles song: “I’m Looking Through You.”