Frontman and guitarist Jaymz Lennfield of Beatles/Metallica mashup experts Beatallica recently discussed the merits of his band as he limped along Convention Center Avenue in New Orleans. A victim of an early morning sack in the hotel lobby from the band’s other guitarist, Lennfield said Beatallica has plenty of fun on the road, but they take their music dead seriously.

“We use Beatallica as a measuring stick for not only expressionism but education into what the musical culture is,” Lennfield said as he prepared to ice an injured foot. “You have these genres that you’re trying to fuse, and they’re not really genres, they’re demographics. Our demographic ranges from 14 to 74, and it’s about how you are bridging the gap between people. I think that’s one of the great parts of the band.”

Lennfield said Beatallica started as a “happy accident,” a 2001 April Fools Joke on a Spoof Fest show in their native Milwaukee.

“The idea was ‘What would Metallica do on April Fool’s Day?'” he said.

Beatallica recorded an EP, “A Garage Dayz Nite,” and handed out a few dozen as a memento for the show. Later that year, the EP landed in the hands of a Milwaukee resident who, unbeknownst to the band, created a web page for the group. It went viral before going viral was a thing.

“He showed us all this mail in response to our songs,” Lennfield said. “It was from all over the country, and we also got mail from prominent musicians that we all loved — The Pogues, Living Colour, Dream Theatre. They were all saying, ‘What is this? Please make more!’ ”

Beatallica’s seamless and humorous take on combining two of the most popular bands in modern culture made the band a hot commodity. Songs like “A Garage Dayz Night,” “Hey Dude,” “I Want to Choke Your Band,” “Blackened in the U.S.S.R” and “All You Need is Blood,” among others, caught the attention of Metallica themselves. Beatallica was soon touring the world and sharing the stages with the likes of Motorhead, Testament, Sepultura and the aforementioned Dream Theater. Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich even helped the band when Sony/ATV Music Publishing, a company which holds rights to most of The Beatles’ catalog, sent the band a cease-and-desist notice. Ulrich had Metallica’s longtime attorney diffuse the situation, and Beatallica reached a friendly agreement with both Sony and Metallica on the licensing and release of its music.

The band will perform Tuesday, June 6 at Buzzbin in downtown Canton with Phoenix metal parody artists Okilly Dokilly, a band that plays heavy music themed around animated Simpsons character Ned Flanders.

Lennfield talked about the band’s music, its challenges as a parody act and meeting Metallica ahead of its Canton appearance.

Q. What’s the biggest similarity between The Beatles and Metallica?

A. “The progressive of the music. When ‘Master of Puppets’ came out compared to when they recorded ‘Kill ‘Em All,’ you’re talking two and a half years. It’s a pretty short window of time. ‘Master of Puppets’ was a very progressive metal album. There was a really short window to progress into that. Then you look at the Beatles, and between 1964 and 1966 the progression that they made, you could see the steps they were taking between ‘Rubber Soul’ and ‘Revolver’ into ‘Sgt. Peppers’ into ‘The White Album,’ those are very short time frames that they’re doing that. I think both bands get underestimated for the progression of what they did within their recordings and their songwriting.”

Q. What was it like meeting Metallica?

A. “It’s not a really super scary or intimidating relationship. They’ve all been really cool. We have a very friendly agreement on images and copyrights and that sort of thing. They helped us out and were very generous will all of that sort of thing when they didn’t really need to be. We talk to people all the time about the misconceptions about what Metallica has done for this band and what they have not done to this band. That’s probably the more important thing. People have this idea that they came after us and didn’t want us to do this. Nothing could be further from the truth. Anything those guys done has been out of the goodness of their hearts.”

Q. Are the copyright restrictions tough to get around sometimes? Does it make it more challenging to make a living in Beatallica?

A. “The people in this band all do other things musically, so we never went into Beatallica saying ‘We’re gonna come into this and make a lot of money.’ Anyone who wants to do that with any musical project can (expletive) themselves. You should be going into whatever musical project that you want to do by saying, ‘This is something we think is important,’ or ‘This is something we’re feeling that we want to express.’ If you go into it to make a lot of money and (expletive) chicks, I have no interest in you. To not have the primary focus not be on the expressionism and the art of the band, I think that’s ridiculous.”

“That being said, with Beatallica, it’s not just the fact of writing and recording the music, you need to get cleared. We’re kind of at a disadvantage compared to other bands. The cutting of the red tape is just as much of a time issue as anything else. But it’s part of the fun of being creative and not being pinned down.”

Q. What’s the rest of the year look like for the band? Any new releases on the horizon?

A. “Totally. We’re doing new material on the tour. One thing we like to do, especially with the Metallica catalog, is saying ‘Hey, we’re not just using the songs that are written from 1989 and previous. We’re using the entire Metallica catalog. We’re using stuff off the new album. You have to be current and writing in real time.

We just had a meeting with our label folks on our way out to the West coast. Things are spinning. I can tell you that. The clamoring for the band is high. It’s just a matter of time before we have something new and we hit the road again (after this tour). Our live shows are always a fun time. We’re all super friendly folk and we love hanging out. That’s never an issue with this bunch. Maybe I’ll get our guitar player to have a little friendly violent fun with you like I had this morning! (Laughs)”

Reach B.J. at 330-580-8314 or bj.lisko@cantonrep.com

On Twitter: @BLiskoREP