Rolling Stone - Beach Boys Play Tour - Jeff replaces Christian Love

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

I find this fantastic!

The Boys are tight and seem to be having loads of fun actually!

The Brian in-the-studio stuff is priceless. I love when Brian describes "In My Car" as something that evolved very quickly into a great work of art

Damn Brian was a handsome cat!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZylusEw-68

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

I find this fantastic!

The Boys are tight and seem to be having loads of fun actually!

The Brian in-the-studio stuff is priceless. I love when Brian describes "In My Car" as something that evolved very quickly into a great work of art

Damn Brian was a handsome cat!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZylusEw-68

Oops! I posted this in the wrong thread!!!

Actually, not completely! Odd seeing Foskett in strict "backing guy" mode. (aside from an exception or two)

[Emdeeh]

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/weekender/2014/05/beach-boys-to-return-in-october/

Note whose photo the article uses... The photo could be from C50, but that looks like the BW band in the background.

[Cyncie]

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/weekender/2014/05/beach-boys-to-return-in-october/

Note whose photo the article uses... The photo could be from C50, but that looks like the BW band in the background.

Anyway … the touring version of the band (which does not include the legendary Brian Wilson) will feature guitarist Jeffrey Foskett (right), who, according to a news release,  is being introduced as the band’s newest permanent member, despite having only played with them since 1981.

LOL at this.  Not quite accurate, but still pretty funny.

[SMiLE Brian]

I wonder if Jeff will join M&B and Stamos in the partying ways.

[HeyJude]

On the one hand, Al being on Brian’s new album, recording with him in the last month or so, and his son joining Brian’s band, coupled with Al having played with Brian last year, would seem to point to a strong possibility of Al at least playing with Brian again this year.

Why ? You might just as well say both Alan's sons singing in California Saga indicate he'd play with them at some stage... or that Alan & David playing with Mike twice this year means they will again this summer. My guess is that the latter is far more likely than Alan joining Brian on tour.

Al toured with Brian last year, playing at nearly every Brian gig.  Al is on Brian's new album most likely, and was recently recording with him. Brian will most likely be promoting that album while touring. Al's son, a regular collaborator of Al's, is now in Brian's band. My only suggestion is that that data suggests it's not bats--- insane to say that points to a possibility of Al playing more gigs with Brian. That's all.  Al playing all last year with Brian and currently recording with him is a bit more than one gig with Mike. Now, I'd probably lean towards Al not appearing on Brian's tour, and I laid some evidence for and against these possibilities in my post (only the "on the one hand" portion regarding things indicating Al playing with Brian was excerpted above). My gut feeling is that Al may well not appear on tour with Brian this year. (I'll outline these reasons below). But it's just being obviously argumentative to ask "why?" in light of these layers of indicators of the *possibility* of Al working more with Brian.

The "trend" this year is towards Al not working with Brian (live, anyway), although this is based on the small amount of evidence consist of: not playing two gigs with Brian, playing one gig with Mike, and just a general lack of information. The fact that Al hasn't blabbed in some interview about Brian tour dates is actually something that weighs more heavily in my mind towards him not playing this year with Brian. That, as well as Brian possibly booking modest size venues, are two indicators. I don't weight Al recording with Brian too heavily towards them touring together, because comments from Al as well as Jeff Beck (and Matt Jardine) seem to indicate Brian calls these guys in to record stuff but doesn't tell them anything about the actual plans for the album. Both Al and Jeff Beck have mentioned variations on "I have no idea what's going on with the album."

Of course, if there's a bunch of "inside info" we don't know about, that's another story of course. Now, some of those inside stories also alleged Mike didn't have a fantastic time working with Al on C50, and now he's playing a gig with him and possibility collaborating.

The general trend seems to be that things can be fluid, and unpredictable. The strongest piece of evidence, actually, that Al won't work with Brian on tour this year is that it makes too much sense for him to. When it all converges, with Al having appeared on Brian's album, being ready to go and lacking much else to do apparently, and now with Matt in the band, it would make *total* sense for Al to jump on board. That's why I could easily see the Brian camp having some other crazy idea. Keep Brian solo, he's promoting his movie, etc. Hopefully Al will at least lobby to get the "Al" character more lines in the new Brian movie than "Al" had in "Summer Dreams" from 1990.

[Smilin Ed H]

Hope Jeff doesn't try the Scott Totten move on some young chick!

[startBBtoday]

Is Darian definitely still playing with Brian in 2014? His Facebook lists 1999-2013 with Brian Wilson's Band.

https://www.facebook.com/darian.sahanaja/about

Is it at all possible that Brian is wrapping up his touring career?

[KittyKat]

It will be interesting to see who will be in Brian's band for the summer dates.  Though perhaps not conclusive, since it's only two dates. Also, didn't Brian's buddy Ray say that Darian is working on the biopic soundtrack? That might keep him in the states. Brian may not know yet who's in his touring band for later in the year, except for Matt Jardine.

[Pretty Funky]

My only hope is that Brian is ok. If he is retiring from the road then more power to him, but is his health dictating this? I'm a bit concerned about some of the comments. AGD saying he would be "astonished" if there was any kind of Brian/ Beach Boys recording project in the future does sound very worrying, and not in a personality conflict way.

Hope I am very wrong here.  

[the professor]

I know a band that could use BW, if only his "management" would let him play with them.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

s Darian definitely still playing with Brian in 2014? His Facebook lists 1999-2013 with Brian Wilson's Band.

https://www.facebook.com/darian.sahanaja/about

Is it at all possible that Brian is wrapping up his touring career?

Did not know that. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if he is either wrapping up touring, or touring with a smaller setup.

[Niko]

I don't think Brian would tour with a smaller setup. It's always seemed to me like the big ensemble of musicians is comforting to him.

BW deciding not to tour anymore makes sense as an explanation for the employment thing. If that's the case I'm sure he'll keep doing some shows, but not enough for the band to consider themselves 'employed' by Brian.

[HeyJude]

I don't think Brian would tour with a smaller setup. It's always seemed to me like the big ensemble of musicians is comforting to him.

BW deciding not to tour anymore makes sense as an explanation for the employment thing. If that's the case I'm sure he'll keep doing some shows, but not enough for the band to consider themselves 'employed' by Brian.

Didn’t Brian do a small tour several years back (around 2006 or so perhaps?) with a scaled-back band? He’s certainly open to it; I would imagine it would just depend on what type of material he’s performing. If he’s doing PS or Smile, he would need a bigger band of course.

As for Brian "retiring" from the road, let me first say that I’m not some fanboy living in denial refusing to admit Brian’s age. He’s aging at a seemingly more rapid pace from year to year. I could easily see him scaling back from touring or retiring.

But even setting aside the notion that if he were retiring from the road they would probably do a big announcement and try to make his “final” shows a big to-do, I’m still kind of confused as to why anyone would assume he’s 100% done touring. He has two European shows booked, two US shows (which seem quite likely to just be two shows among some sort of US tour that otherwise hasn’t been finalized or announced yet), and made mention in his statement a bit back that he “asked Matt Jardine to tour with” his band. If Brian was near retiring and/or just playing a half dozen gigs and then retiring, I would tend to doubt he’d bother making a big deal about asking someone to “to tour with his band”, rather than just asking someone to sit in on a few shows to round out his touring days.

As for Darian possibly being done with Brian’s band, I suppose that’s possible. But Brian also mentioned in the blurb talking about Foskett and Matt Jardine that Matt was “busy working with Paul and Darian.” So it seems Darian is still working with Brian in some capacity. We obviously don’t know if this case of being “busy working” entails studio work or rehearsals/tryouts for live gigs (we know Matt did a bit of studio work awhile back for Brian; so he could be doing more), but this statement certainly implied to me that Paul and Darian are acting as defacto musical directors/band leaders, whatever you want to call them.

[Awesoman]

Is Darian definitely still playing with Brian in 2014? His Facebook lists 1999-2013 with Brian Wilson's Band.

https://www.facebook.com/darian.sahanaja/about

Is it at all possible that Brian is wrapping up his touring career?

Something definitely seems to be up if Brian's band mates are jumping ship.

[KittyKat]

Facebook is partly a way to network for jobs. If he's not doing anything right now, he might want prospective employers to know he's not on tour with Brian Wilson. That doesn't mean that Brian can't or won't call him back for the fall tour.

[HeyJude]

Is Darian definitely still playing with Brian in 2014? His Facebook lists 1999-2013 with Brian Wilson's Band.

https://www.facebook.com/darian.sahanaja/about

Is it at all possible that Brian is wrapping up his touring career?

Something definitely seems to be up if Brian's band mates are jumping ship.

Brian mentioned in his recent "Foskett Statement" that Matt Jardine was busy working with "Paul and Darian." I suppose it's possible Darian is working the studio with Brian but will not be touring (I'd still say that's more likely not the case, but who knows?). Either way, I don't think Darian has jumped ship if he's busy working with Paul and Matt.

[HeyJude]

Facebook is partly a way to network for jobs. If he's not doing anything right now, he might want prospective employers to know he's not on tour with Brian Wilson. That doesn't mean that Brian can't or won't call him back for the fall tour.

Also, I'm not sure fixating on the "2013" notation on Darian's page is advisable. Maybe he just last updated that blurb last year, and instead of saying "1999-Present", he simply put the current year. These guys, even when active on these pages, don't always update everything.

I realize websites are much more static and passé these days, but here's a bit of what the front page on Foskett's "New Surf" website shows:

"Jeffrey is also working on several other projects including Brian Wilson's "Lucky Old Sun" this year." 



 

[Cam Mott]

Somebody could just ask him.

[startBBtoday]

Is Darian definitely still playing with Brian in 2014? His Facebook lists 1999-2013 with Brian Wilson's Band.

https://www.facebook.com/darian.sahanaja/about

Is it at all possible that Brian is wrapping up his touring career?

Something definitely seems to be up if Brian's band mates are jumping ship.

Brian mentioned in his recent "Foskett Statement" that Matt Jardine was busy working with "Paul and Darian." I suppose it's possible Darian is working the studio with Brian but will not be touring (I'd still say that's more likely not the case, but who knows?). Either way, I don't think Darian has jumped ship if he's busy working with Paul and Matt.

Even if Darian hasn't "jumped ship," it's certainly notable that Jeff did (to get back on topic and all). There must be a pretty good reason that Jeff left for the "enemy" after all these years, and based on AGD's posts, it doesn't seem to be because the Beach Boys are turning into one big happy family once again.

Personally, while I'd love to see new music from The Beach Boys, it's not reasonable to think it's going to happen again. We're extremely lucky we got the 2012 album.

I also don't mind seeing The Beach Boys without Brian. I bought tickets for one of the band's New England shows once I found out Jeff joined the group, and I probably would have gone even without him being added to the fray.

The Beach Boys have been touring without Brian Wilson since 1964. I'm crossing my fingers that Al and David hop on for the show I'm going to, but I'll be happy if they're not there, too.

[Mikie]

The Beach Boys have been touring without Brian Wilson since 1964.

That is incorrect.

Plus, listen to the audiences' applause on the recent live disc and tell me who gets the biggest ovation during the introductions of the band.

[Nicko1234]

The Beach Boys have been touring without Brian Wilson since 1964.

That is incorrect.

Yep, it`s 1963! 

[send me a picture and i'll tell you]

Re this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-Ndp9xItZg&list=UUYSLKpmPGeiyCI_qmtm8LtA&index=1

Great mix, free of board echo. Mike's backing vocals are nice and prominent in the mix.

The Beach Boys, in their usual non-C50 state, are a cooler, leaner, more straight-tone blend. On In My Room, Mike and Jeff really blended well (sep. In My Room), and anchor the harmonies. Now that Jeff's voice is all over TWGMTR and everything in the C50 tour, his voice adds authenticity and familiarity to the MB band. This is the best I've heard the MB band's vocal blend sound. Never thought I'd say that, but they sound fantastic.

Brian's band has a generally warmer vocal blend, and Brian blends much better with them than he did 10-15 years ago, because of how his voice recovery really took off after 2004. Foskett never really fit the blend at any point, valuable as he's been in many ways. Matt Jardine in Foskett's place will be the icing on the cake.  

I really think this fixes the vocal shortcomings of both bands. And personally, I would now actively seek out tickets to MB, rather than being relatively ambivalent.

[Cabinessenceking]

The Beach Boys have been touring without Brian Wilson since 1964.

That is incorrect.

Plus, listen to the audiences' applause on the recent live disc and tell me who gets the biggest ovation during the introductions of the band.

he was the name, but after 1964 never the voice of the beach boys.

[Rocky Raccoon]

So what will Brian's band be for his few shows?
I guess it would be:
Matt Jardine - Guitar, Vocals
Scott Bennett - Keyboard, Vocals
Paul Mertens - Saxophone, Musical Director
Mike D'Amico - Drums
Nick Walusko - Lead Guitar
Bob Lizik - Bass
Nelson Bragg - Percussion, Backing Vocals
Probyn Gregory - Guitar, Horns, Backing Vocals
Possibly Darian?  Either way, that's still a pretty great band.