MONA BAGATELLE SHENKER
From left, Glen Burtnik, Bob Burger, John Merjave and Joe Bellia of The Weeklings.
The Dome Rooftop Lounge at The Manor, a large restaurant and banquet facility in West Orange, began presenting live bands in November, and launches a series of monthly shows by The Weeklings on March 29. The show is sold out, but there are more coming up on April 19 and May 17.
After that, says singer-songwriter-bassist Lefty Weekling (Glen Burtnik), “We’ll see how it goes. If it goes well, we’ll keep it up.”
The band — also including singer-songwriter-guitarist Zeek Weekling (Bob Burger), guitarist Rocky Weekling (John Merjave
The title of Studio 2 refers to the room at Abbey Road Studios in London where it was recorded. It also happens to be the room where The Beatles themselves did much of their recording.
The cover of The Weeklings’ second album, “Studio 2.”
“It’s very much like all of the photos and all of the books that we’ve read,” says Zeek Weekling. “So it was kind of familiar, being there. There we were singing into these old microphones, and the signal processing going through this old, vintage gear, a lot of which was most likely used by the Beatles.
“On the one hand, we were just making a record. We’re professional musicians, and we were very serious about making a good recording. And on the other hand, we’re (Beatles) fans, and we were kind of tourists. But I’m really happy with how it all came out.”
Toby Hulbert, who is on the staff at Abbey Road, oversaw the recording, and Alan Parsons and Ken Scott, who both worked on Beatles records themselves, made themselves available for consultation.
“We didn’t know how we would be received at the studio, and what they’d be thinking about what we were trying to do,” says Lefty. “But they were 100 hundred percent behind it. They don’t really get that many projects of that type, so they pulled out all the extra gear for us. They pretty much rolled out the red carpet. It was more than we expected.”
Would they go back there again, to make another album?
“Zeek keeps saying that he wants to,” says Lefty. “It’s like when you’re a kid, and you get on a rollercoaster ride that you particularly love. You just want to do it again.”
“I don’t see why we wouldn’t want to go back, other than, there is some expense involved,” says Zeek. “But we’re getting more successful, so I don’t think that’s necessarily out of the question.”
Other New Jersey shows The Weeklings have coming up include The Record Collector in Bordentown, April 14; The Red Bank Beer, Wine and Food Fest, April 30; and The Theatre at Woodbridge Middle School, May 3.
For information, visit weeklings.com.
CONTRIBUTE TO NJARTS.NET
Since launching in September 2014, NJArts.net, a 501(c)(3) organization, has become one of the most important media outlets for the Garden State arts scene. And it has always offered its content without a subscription fee, or a paywall. Its continued existence depends on support from members of that scene, and the state’s arts lovers. Please consider making a contribution of any amount to NJArts.net via PayPal, or by sending a check made out to NJArts.net to 11 Skytop Terrace, Montclair, NJ 07043.
