It’s a testament to the staying power of The Beatles’ music that, nearly 40 years after their demise, not only are they still relevant, but there is a small army of tribute bands performing their music around the world at any given time. Demand is such that there is always room for more. San Diego boasts such Beatles cover groups as The Baja Bugs, who perform the group’s earliest material, and Rockola, which has carved their own niche with live re-creations of the Fab Four’s albums. Covering the Beatles entire repertoire into the solo era is the band Help!, which performs at The Harp on Saturday, July 11. Help!, which features guitarists Dave Keefer and Dave Reynolds, bassist Ted Felicetti and drummer Gary Long, first got together in October 2006, ironically from the ashes of a short-lived George Harrison tribute group. For Felicetti, the reason for forming a tribute band to The Beatles is obvious. “They are simply the best band of all time,” Felicett said. “No one else will ever come close. Their music has turned into classic rock in the real sense of the word. These songs are like Beethoven or Bach now.” While bands playing original music can struggle for gigs, Help! plays roughly 120 gigs each year. They’ve just signed with an agency and hope to significantly increase that number. Felicetti said The Beatles are directly responsible for his desire to become a musician. As a child, he was one of the millions who caught their first glimpse of the Fab Four during the historic broadcast of the Ed Sullivan Show on the evening of Feb. 9, 1964. “I was enthralled,” Felicetti said. “I wanted a guitar right away, but my parents made me wait for six months.” He also saw The Beatles in person at Shea Stadium in 1966. “I didn’t hear them,” Felicett said. “It was just a roar of sound.” While the members of Help! wear costumes appropriate to the era of Beatles music, including the brightly colored Sgt. Pepper uniforms of 1967, Felicetti considers there to be a major difference between his band and other Beatles tribute bands. “We don’t do the accents or wear wigs or anything like that,” he said. “The jackets just add to the atmosphere of the whole thing, but we’re more about the accuracy of the music we’re playing. It’s important that if you close your eyes, we sound like The Beatles.” Though a few of the band’s instruments do match what The Beatles might have strummed in concert, that’s more coincidence than design. “I don’t want to get that technical,” Felicetti said. “It takes away from the fun for me.” Although Beatles songs are popular with all ages, he notes that older crowds tend to prefer the band’s moptop era, while the younger set goes for the late ’60s long-haired edition. “It’s because of the movie ‘Across the Universe,’” Felicettisaid. That particular musical featured Beatles covers and a Vietnam-era backdrop. “I’ve seen it before, where a song in a movie or television will spark something, and that movie definitely did.” He cites “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” and “Rocky Raccoon” as particular crowd favorites. Unlike most tribute acts, the group also occasionally includes solo material such as George Harrison’s “Give Me Love” or John Lennon’s “Imagine.” “That’s something we’d like to do more of,” Felicetti said. “But we wanted to get the catalog down first.” Though he spends most of his time onstage performing others’ music, Felicetti does write original music as well. “It’s for our next band,” he said. Felicetti also performs with Keefer in an unplugged cover duo, Acoustic Karma, but he said he’s more than happy to keep Help! the focus of his musical activities. “I’m way past the age where I’m looking to get famous through my playing. I just love doing it,” Felicetti said. Help! performs July 11 at The Harp, 4935 Newport Ave., at 9 p.m. The show is for those 21 and up and there is no cover charge. For more information, visit www.weplaythebeatles.com.