Brian Wilson - Jim Pewter Interview 1974 (audio)

[Mikie]

Either Steve Mayo or Bigass will probably have a scan of the article about the Pewter/Brian interview. Mine's stashed away someplace.

[Jim V.]

Hey seltaeb, where/when is that photo from the YouTube video from? Is that '74? He looks pretty big here.

[Nicko1234]

Here's the text to the interview:

JP: You wrote the lyrics to "Surfin' USA" didn't you?
BW: Chuck Berry wrote that song. It was called "Sweet Little Sixteen". When we first got going Mike was sort of a Chuck Berry fan, so we took Chuck's song and turned the lyrics into a surfing song.

What Brian actually said was, ` When we first got going Mike was sort of a Chuck Berry fan, so we took Chuck's song and he and I turned the lyrics into a surfing song.

Probably a good job for Brian`s team that Mike`s lawyers didn`t use this interview (to my knowledge) during the songwriting case.

[Mikie]

I always thought that the lyrics to Surfin' USA, at least the list of surfing spots in Socal, were provided to Brian by Jimmy Bowles, the brother of Brian's girlfriend Judy.

[MBE]

Yeah 1973-74  was the last time he could have been helped emerging unscathed as it were.

Nah, he was scathed and needed help well before that.  In 1974 he still had his clear voice. If he laid off the coke, hash, and cigs immediately, he could have saved his voice, but mentally, he was still pretty messed up.  Then in 1975 his voice went South forever.....

This Pewter interview was circulating amongst collectors on cassette back in the mid 70's.  Same with the Fornatale interviews.  There's a newspaper article somewhere with a picure of Brian with Pewter at KRTH radio in L.A. Brian showed quite a bit of weight gain even then (August '74).

There's a few more Beach Boys interviews out there from the 70's. Three that I know of just with Dennis. KOME radio in San Jose and two at radio stations in Oregon promoting POB. One in Seattle with two Beach Boys - The Beach Boys interview in Phonograph magazine was hilarious!

Well he was never completely normal. His issues existed as far back as 1963 as far as putting on weight and not wanting to be on the road. Marilyn confirmed this to me saying that while he mostly had good days then, there were bad ones too.

I meant unscathed as a singer, or neurologically (no Landy meds), or that he could have regained a lot of his old personality.

Which interview in Phonograph are you referring to? What made it stand out to you?

Brian by 1974 was very overweight and had become addicted to drugs, but I still think it was Landy that really changed him. What we have today is remarkable considering what that man did to him.

[MBE]

This is cracking- nice one.

Are you still going to upload the Dennis @ Brother interview you mentioned?

Yep. That one and a few others.

Btw, if anyone has any other 60's - early 70's BW interviews to contribute, let me know and I'll be glad to upload it.

Mike Eder - are you aware of any other audio interviews out there?

The only other clips I can find is the '68 car interview, & a short clip of Bruce, Danny Hutton & BW calling in to a radio station in England right around the time of the Surf's Up album release. Brian says all of one or two words, and the quality is absolutely terrible. Interesting nonetheless.

There is an Aussie or UK interview with all of them in 1964 that I think has been booted.  The 3 Silver Platter Service interviews are out there from 64-67. Brian did do other interviews pre 1976, it's just a matter of tracking them down. That Jack Lloyd fellow mentioned doing an interview with Brian in the late sixties for a history of rock series. Maybe he still has the tape. He says in the book Brian was in a very good and talkitive mood.

Wow. Does Jack Lloyd post here? Maybe I'll try to reach out to him. Would be awesome to find some previously unheard interviews from that period.

re: 3 Silver Platter Service interviews - I know of the Xmas one, the Hollywood Strings one.. which was the other? Is that the Smiley interview?

I think I have that UK '64 interview.

If so you have what I have of Brian interviewed pre 1976. I think it was C-Man who said he was in touch with Jack so maybe ask him if Lloyd has anything? He has some great pictures of the Beach Boys-Brian in his book

[Micha]

Interestly, Brian mentions Capitol putting out Barbara Ann as a single without the BBs knowing. Wasn't it established recently that it actually had been Brian's decision to put it out?

Perhaps you're thinking of Sloop John B being included on Pet Sounds?

Ummm... no. I'm thinking of this:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,4725.0.html
http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,10324.msg188232.html#msg188232

There was a link somewhere to a place where the story was told in much more detail, but I did not manage to find that.

[seltaeb1012002]

Hey seltaeb, where/when is that photo from the YouTube video from? Is that '74? He looks pretty big here.

I grabbed it from the Picture thread in the media section. (Took a while to find, but I knew it was in there). I believe the guess is that it was taken in LA in '74, being that he still looks fairly young & not quite as beat as he looked in '76.

[Steve Mayo]

Either Steve Mayo or Bigass will probably have a scan of the article about the Pewter/Brian interview. Mine's stashed away someplace.

yep..been posted in the media section under magazine scans for over a year. from bomp.....reply 121

[seltaeb1012002]

Either Steve Mayo or Bigass will probably have a scan of the article about the Pewter/Brian interview. Mine's stashed away someplace.

yep..been posted in the media section under magazine scans for over a year. from bomp.....reply 121

Wow. Thanks for posting that. Looking very 15 Big Ones-ish http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k154/dorphas/1976-77Bomp5.jpg

[Mikie]

There's the one from Bomp, but I clearly remember another article with a small paragraph under that picture where it said that Brian came down to be interviewed by Pewter, possibly in his bathrobe. And I think during the caption (or beginning of the interview) where Pewter said that Brian had walked out when the subject of the Heroes (and maybe Good Vibrations) era came up. I have the clipping somewhere. Either from Bomp or Billboard or Rolling Stone. I remember a copy of this small blurb and picture provided the cover insert for the cassette making the rounds.

[Steve Mayo]

yeah..i remember that one mikie. the bomp one is the only one i had that survived....

[hypehat]

Love his reaction when Pewter mentions The Beatles - 'GASP!'

[Solar System]

This is cracking- nice one.

Are you still going to upload the Dennis @ Brother interview you mentioned?

Yep. That one and a few others.

Btw, if anyone has any other 60's - early 70's BW interviews to contribute, let me know and I'll be glad to upload it.

Mike Eder - are you aware of any other audio interviews out there?

The only other clips I can find is the '68 car interview, & a short clip of Bruce, Danny Hutton & BW calling in to a radio station in England right around the time of the Surf's Up album release. Brian says all of one or two words, and the quality is absolutely terrible. Interesting nonetheless.

There is an Aussie or UK interview with all of them in 1964 that I think has been booted.  The 3 Silver Platter Service interviews are out there from 64-67. Brian did do other interviews pre 1976, it's just a matter of tracking them down. That Jack Lloyd fellow mentioned doing an interview with Brian in the late sixties for a history of rock series. Maybe he still has the tape. He says in the book Brian was in a very good and talkitive mood.

Here is an interesting interview from (my guess) early 1970's talking about Good Vibrations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtEt09-V90s

[Bean Bag]

Is Brian stoned, blazing or what?  He's tripping all over himself.  He's too ramped up.  Sad.   

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Here is an interesting interview from (my guess) early 1970's talking about Good Vibrations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtEt09-V90s

Is this a joke?

[MBE]

It's from 1997 Brian didn't slur like this in the early seventies and had a smoother voice.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I think that was the last interview where he was that talkative. I mean, a year or 2 later you'd be lucky to get more than 2 consecutive sentences before having to move on to the next question

[Chocolate Shake Man]

I think that was the last interview where he was that talkative. I mean, a year or 2 later you'd be lucky to get more than 2 consecutive sentences before having to move on to the next question

Good point.

Landy's work did some real damage to Brian, but there is lots of video throughout the 90s where Brian is quite articulate to the point where I'd suggest that there's more difference between, say this 1997 Brian and 2004 Brian and 1997 Brian and 1977 Brian. I might offer a theory: When Brian started to go out on tour more, he was being thrown way out of his comfort zone. This is not just a matter of being on stage but also having to be a far more social person, talking to both the press and the general crowd that surrounds the touring industry. In order to make it easier for him, I think he was probably trained, like a sports player might be, to give particular responses so that he wouldn't be thrown off when he got a question that he either didn't know how to respond to, or didn't know how to diplomatically respond in a media-friendly fashion. I think that very soon he got very comfortable with this training and it is difficult to find an interview after 2000 where he doesn't largely speak in cliches or using a highly rehearsed lingo.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I think too Carl's death had something to do with it.

One thing that stuck with me...I once read on this board that there's a (possibly apocryphal) story that relatively recently Brian was with some friends, just laughing and cutting up. Brian noticed a certain person came in, supposedly said something like 'Okay, time to go be "Brian Wilson" again' and immediately turn back into the Brian we're used to for the past decade.  I don't remember who posted that (or if it was even here), but that kind of stuck with me.

[pixletwin]

I remember reading that here too.

[EgoHanger1966]

I think too Carl's death had something to do with it.

One thing that stuck with me...I once read on this board that there's a (possibly apocryphal) story that relatively recently Brian was with some friends, just laughing and cutting up. Brian noticed a certain person came in, supposedly said something like 'Okay, time to go be "Brian Wilson" again' and immediately turn back into the Brian we're used to for the past decade.  I don't remember who posted that (or if it was even here), but that kind of stuck with me.

I don't recall reading that (would love to see the original thread if it was indeed posted here), but that's incredibly sad. Wonder if he puts on his current persona sometimes for personal amusement. Of course, he's entitled to act however he wants to act, but you'd love to see him open up and give more than monosybillac answers to certain interviewers and fans.

(in the 1997 interview posted above, he has a very Carl-like quality to him that you rarely hear during interviews).

[SMiLE Brian]

I think he partly does it because he was burned by the media promoting how messed up he was.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I think too Carl's death had something to do with it.

One thing that stuck with me...I once read on this board that there's a (possibly apocryphal) story that relatively recently Brian was with some friends, just laughing and cutting up. Brian noticed a certain person came in, supposedly said something like 'Okay, time to go be "Brian Wilson" again' and immediately turn back into the Brian we're used to for the past decade.  I don't remember who posted that (or if it was even here), but that kind of stuck with me.

I don't recall reading that (would love to see the original thread if it was indeed posted here), but that's incredibly sad. Wonder if he puts on his current persona sometimes for personal amusement. Of course, he's entitled to act however he wants to act, but you'd love to see him open up and give more than monosybillac answers to certain interviewers and fans.

(in the 1997 interview posted above, he has a very Carl-like quality to him that you rarely hear during interviews).

Brian... people claim he's manipulated by those around him, and always has been, and that's undeniable, at times in the past. But, he's also no mean manipulator in his own right, and that includes the put-on. He's been doing it for years and he's damn good at it, be it for his own amusement or because he finds a given situation - say, interviews or a gathering where he really doesn't want to be - tedious. Partly defense mechanism, partly for the yucks. And the man has the most awesome poker face.

And of course, there are the bad days when it's not a put-on. That's the really sad thing.

[juggler]

Jim Pewter interview is awesome...

"Can you imagine writing Pet Sounds in a train station?"