Aussie rockers come together on Abbey Road

Abbey Road’s iconic cover photo of The Beatles on the zebra crossing outside EMI Studios in London is 50 today.

The iconic , Abbey Road album cover photo of John, Paul, George and Ringo on the zebra crossing outside EMI Studios in northwest London.

Beginning with the deep bass groove of Come Together and ending with a short, secret track that followed a triumphant statement named The End, the album marked the last time The Beatles recorded together.

Yet Abbey Road — whose ­iconic cover photo of John, Paul, George and Ringo on the zebra crossing outside EMI Studios in northwest London was taken 50 years ago today — is a work that still resonates strongly.

To celebrate five decades since its release, members of four of Australia’s top rock acts are banding together to perform its 17 tracks, from George Harrison’s majestic Something and Paul McCartney’s stirring Oh! Darling to Ringo Starr’s playful Octopus’s Garden and John Lennon’s eclectic I Want You (She’s So Heavy).

“We’ll play the record in its ­entirety, which is really challenging,” said Mark “Kram” Maher, drummer and singer with Spiderbait. “Side two, in particular, is ­almost an orchestral piece of work. It’s mega.”

Darren Middleton (Powderfinger) left, Davey Lane (You Am I), ‘Kram’ Maher (Spiderbait) and Mark Wilson (Jet) at the cave rehearsal studio in Abbotsford, Melbourne. Picture: David Geraghty.

The Antipodean Rock Collective, or ARC, also features Powderfinger guitarist Darren Middleton, Jet bassist Mark Wilson and You Am I guitarist Davey Lane. The four are backed by a keyboardist, third guitarist, second drummer and singer Linda Bull. The eight-show tour begins in Perth on Sunday and ends in Wollongong on August 23.

After playing Abbey Road in full, the ARC will explore key ­musical moments that led to recording the final album in which all four Beatles participated.

“It represents an end of the band, and they’re going out on terms that are very positive; ­almost like a celebration of what they’ve managed to do, rather than commiserating over what they won’t get to do again,” Maher said.

“I was just fascinated … and thought, well, if we start in 1969 and work all the way back to the start, maybe we’ll learn something about how they got there.”

While rehearsing ahead of the tour, Maher has been pondering the durability of various art forms.

Compared with films and paintings, he said, “Music is a very special one, because it stands up to so much repetition. You can listen to this record — or any great song you love — so many times in your whole lifetime. Not only do you not really tire of it, you grow to love it even more. It becomes part of the culture of your own self.”