Alastar plays a custom Kanile’a 8 string tenor ukulele with the popular group Beat-lele, an Oahu based Beatles tribute in which all members play ukulele and cajon. He is also a touring musician with the Beatles tribute RAIN, as George Harrison. A lover of many styles, he can be found playing a wide variety of music, from Reggae to rock, Irish and Hawaiian in and around Waikiki when he is home. He is also a member of RPG and Kupaaina, both local bands home grown on Oahu.
Alastar holds the special distinction of being the very first Kanile`a employee back in 1998. He also designed and built his Kanile`a `ukulele.
About Beat-lele:
Beat-Lele is comprised of four Beatle-loving musicians who hail from the island of Oahu. Having performed for numerous years as a Beatles tribute band in Hawaii, they decided to reinvent themselves and fuse the beautiful music of the Beatles with their passion of playing ukulele’s. There is no other musical group in the world we are aware of combining the timeless music of The Beatles to the soaring popularity of a simple ukulele with added percussion of a cajon.
With Sonny Aquino as “John”, Nolet Quiason as “Paul”, Alastar McNeil as “George” and Dennis Muth as “Ringo”, each band member sings and performs their respective parts as one would expect from the original recording. Beat-Lele spans the career of The Beatles from Love Me Do through their later years of Let It Be and Abbey Road and everything in between. Their impeccable attention to musical detail will make you wonder if you are hearing the actual recordings!
Over the years, the members of Beat-Lele have individually performed with seasoned musicians in Hawaii, the U.S. mainland and the Philippines. Up until recently, Alastar and Dennis performed at the historic Waikiki Sheraton Princess Kai’iulani Showroom with the Beatles tribute production of Fourever Fab and Alastar is a regularly touring member of RAIN! – one of the premier Beatle tribute bands in the world.
BEAT-LELE recently released their self-titled debut album produced by legendary producer/engineer Dave Tucciarone. BEAT-LELE was also honored to have been invited to the 2017 International Beatle Week Festival in Livepool, Englandwhere they performed ten shows over seven days to thousands of energetic Beatle fans from the world over. This past summer also had them performing for Roy Sakuma’s “Wildest Show in Town” at the Honolulu Zoo and at the Honolulu Ukulele Festival among other local venues. They are excited to share this harmonious blend of “island-style” Beatles music with Hawaii and everyone else across the universe.
For the 2018 Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards, Beat-lele was nominated for Most Promising Artist of the Year AND Favorite Artist of the Year. They also had the honor of performing on stage with the award-winning Halemanu.
KANILE`A OF CHOICE
Custom Tenor 8-string
