Sitting comfortably in Dick Cunico’s recording studio, one can’t help but notice the vintage music mementos that pepper the room. An old mandolin hangs from the ceiling. Some brass instruments are perched on a wall. An old piano he dragged home from Los Angeles.

Perhaps most important, though, are these two: A Beatles poster and an oversized dinner plate sporting their likenesses and reproduced signatures.For Cunico, they are emblematic of a life and career forever changed by the legacy of the Fab Four.On Saturday night, veteran drummer Cunico returns to the Stargazers Theatre and Event Center in “Yesterday: The Beatles Tribute.” The band, which he joined as Ringo Starr in 1994, has played countless shows across the United States and the world.

“Yesterday” attempts to reproduce every sound and nuance of the Beatles, allowing fans to re-live memories of one of history’s most famous and adored bands. In addition to their regular live show, the tribute band performs classic Beatles songs in their POPS symphony series, for which Cunico did all the arrangements.“We’re nuts about the Beatles just as much as everybody that’s in the audience,” says Cunico, who also plays in an eight-piece group called Little Big Band, classic rock act Mountain Sky and his personal favorite, jazz fusion band 21/3.

A native of Salida, Cunico started learning the drums at age 12. The first song he learned to play was the Beatles’ Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single “Can’t Buy Me Love.”

His parents drove him around to shows and auditions. Before long, Cunico was enjoying modest success playing local gigs and school dances with his band. “It was a cool time,” he says. “There weren’t a million bands around back then.”Over time, however, Cunico grew increasingly frustrated with the lack of a major breakthrough in his career. He moved to Los Angeles, where he played in cover bands and filled in for no shows when needed. Along the way, he continued to hone his craft.“When I got out there,” Cunico says, “I discovered that I hardly knew anything. I got around all these great players. It inspired me.”Finally, in 1994, Cunico stumbled into the job that would go on to define his career. He heard that a Beatles-tribute band was looking for a drummer. Cunico knew nothing about the band, only that he loved Beatles music and that it sounded like fun. He turned out to be the only drummer to audition.”I was very excited about it from the get go,” he says. “I learned to respect Ringo more after I started.”Cunico learned how to be Starr on the fly, watching hours of video to study the iconic drummer’s body movements. He listened to every song over and over to catch each nuance. The process of trying to construct such a precise persona was a challenge, Cunico says.“I had some acting background, but it was still different for me because I consider myself a musician first.”In time, Cunico settled into the band and took pleasure in exciting audiences across the country, in venues both big and small. At the band’s peak in 1996, they played about 100 shows a year. The economy has showed the demand, he says, and today they play about 70.

“We entice them,” Cunico says of the crowds. “It’s not hysteria, but we get them going. You feed off of all that energy.”  Cunico has his favorite songs, of course. “A Day in the Life,” for instance. Or “Yellow Submarine” and “With a Little Help from My Friends,” because Starr sings lead vocals. (“I love to sing.”) He says he’s fond of the the band’s later and more experimental phase, the so-called Sgt. Pepper period.

“Drum-wise, it’s a lot more interesting.”

Ask Cunico about building a career out of mimicry and he pauses.

“When I first started doing this gig,” he says, “I thought ‘This is strange. This is really strange. I’m trying to be this other person and making a living at it.’“And then I started looking at the other side of it. The reality of it is that I’m going out there and taking people away from their troubles. People enjoy the show. I’m making people happy for a living, which is really a great feeling.“It’s just a blast,” he says. “Overall, I feel very fortunate. It’s the best thing that I’ve ever done.”

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