Unread Carl Wilson Interview from 1982

[branaa09]

https://www.guitar.com/node/2633    Carl even admits to playing on Fun, Fun, Fun  as well as Brian playing the rolling Bass Line on for that song but, doesn't say on what instrument. Take that Wrecking Crew only believers! Great read check it out!

[bgas]

It's not unread anymore

[branaa09]

Good One Bgas!

[The Shift]

Very nice read, many thanks for posting.

[Cool Cool Water]

A great interesting read, thanks for posting.

[filledeplage]

https://www.guitar.com/node/2633    Carl even admits to playing on Fun, Fun, Fun  as well as Brian playing the rolling Bass Line on for that song but, doesn't say on what instrument. Take that Wrecking Crew only believers! Great read check it out!

Thank you, branaa09 - that was excellent. 

[D409]

"These kids would buy these huge Marshall amps, crank them up and those simple little melodies would just roar."

Marshall amps ?

Correct me if I'm wrong but surely the sound of Dick Dale and other contemporary surf pickers would come from California's own Fender amps and reverb units ?

[Gerry]

Yes bgas, another witty, urbane comment.

[Bill M]

Good One Bgas!

I'm still laughing

[guitarfool2002]

"These kids would buy these huge Marshall amps, crank them up and those simple little melodies would just roar."

Marshall amps ?

Correct me if I'm wrong but surely the sound of Dick Dale and other contemporary surf pickers would come from California's own Fender amps and reverb units ?

You're right, either Carl misspoke or it was a typo. The kids playing surf guitar in this era who could afford them were playing Fender. And among Fender amps, the volume powerhouses were either the Twin, or the piggyback Dual Showman, the Showman being a high wattage amp that was created by Fender (according to legend) after Dick Dale kept blowing out the normal output Fender amps at his shows. So they created a higher wattage amp that could handle the volume levels and heavy picking attack that Dale was using.

I believe the higher output design of the Showman was one of the elements that inspired Jim Marshall's later high-wattage designs, along with requests from players like Pete Townshend who were coming to Jim with requests similar to Dick Dale's with Fender for a higher wattage amp that wouldn't blow up so fast on stage.

But until 1966, I'm pretty certain there were few if any Marshall amps being used in the US. Eric Clapton's "Beano" album with Mayall helped popularize the Marshall sound with his JTM-45 combo Marshall and Les Paul all over the Beano album, and then there was Townshend with The Who and later Hendrix filmed dry-humping his Marshall stack on the Monterey Pop stage in June 67. After that, it was Marshall and rock and roll guitar forever.

But no kids playing surf in the states in the early 60's had a Marshall, of that I'm pretty sure. 

[DonnyL]

Is this from the same interview?:

http://troun.tripod.com/carl.html

[bgas]

Is this from the same interview?:

http://troun.tripod.com/carl.html

 

Very Nice!!

[Emdeeh]

Thanks!

[feelsflow]

Is this from the same interview?:

http://troun.tripod.com/carl.html

I'm sure some of it is.  What branaa09 linked could only be a short part of an interview.  Thanks for getting the thread started branaa09.

There is a pdf titled Surf Music:   http://teachrock.org/media/essays/surf_himes_with_maia_edits_2.pdf
that has a Bibliography - one of which is from the Washington Post, 10 June 1983:  A Beach Boy on His Own.  The one you link of Carl's bits - from Musician September 1983:  The Life of Brian.  He lists his personal interviews with Dick Dale, Mike, Al, Van Dyke, Brian and Carl, but not the dates he did them.  Geoffrey's Guitar.com interview was used in the revised/expanded Back to the Beach:  A Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys Reader (2002), that Kingsley Abbott first put together in 1997.

Geoffrey was writing many Beach Boys articles.  And good to see someone cared enough to try to get exposure for the band in those years.  Another good one is a Musician magazine feature (April 1981):  The Beach Boys' Schizophrenia.  There's even one called "Fun Fun Fun" Carl Wilson's Life as a Beach Boy from Guitar.com (1982), that seems to have been published 14 July 2000 listed.  Whatever Guitar.com is, they couldn't have been putting anything on the internet in 1982.  Maybe that's what was used in the Beach Boys Reader book.  I don't have that to check.  But it is very cheap, so might pick up a copy.  I have many of the Musician magazines (used to collect those).  A really good one (and easy to get on ebay for $6.73) is from August 1985 - a cover story by Timothy White:  The Bizarre Riddle of the Beached Boy. ...that is not about Carl.

[Ian]

Not to mention my book with Jon Stebbins which quotes from this interview and lists it in our extensive bibliography. I get the sense a lot of people missed the book

[Rocker]

Is this from the same interview?:

http://troun.tripod.com/carl.html

Thanks for posting this! And also thanks to branaa09 for the other interview!

I asked Jerry Schilling [Carl's personal manager] if his wife Myrna might like to write some tunes with me. [Myrna had been one of the Sweet Temptations]. So I took a cassette player, a guitar and a tiny amp over to their house, and we just started making up tunes. It was very easy and natural. She has a very pure sense - very gentle and yet funky.]I asked Jerry Schilling [Carl's personal manager] if his wife Myrna might like to write some tunes with me. [Myrna had been one of the Sweet Temptations]. So I took a cassette player, a guitar and a tiny amp over to their house, and we just started making up tunes. It was very easy and natural. She has a very pure sense - very gentle and yet funky.

It's "Sweet Inspirations", not "temptations". Be sure to check them out in this video of a somewhat Brian/Beach Boys-related song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBODkYmKBTU

[Robbie Mac]

Is this from the same interview?:

http://troun.tripod.com/carl.html

I'm sure some of it is.  What branaa09 linked could only be a short part of an interview.  Thanks for getting the thread started branaa09.

There is a pdf titled Surf Music:   http://teachrock.org/media/essays/surf_himes_with_maia_edits_2.pdf
that has a Bibliography - one of which is from the Washington Post, 10 June 1983:  A Beach Boy on His Own.  The one you link of Carl's bits - from Musician September 1983:  The Life of Brian.  He lists his personal interviews with Dick Dale, Mike, Al, Van Dyke, Brian and Carl, but not the dates he did them.  Geoffrey's Guitar.com interview was used in the revised/expanded Back to the Beach:  A Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys Reader (2002), that Kingsley Abbott first put together in 1997.

Geoffrey was writing many Beach Boys articles.  And good to see someone cared enough to try to get exposure for the band in those years.  Another good one is a Musician magazine feature (April 1981):  The Beach Boys' Schizophrenia.  There's even one called "Fun Fun Fun" Carl Wilson's Life as a Beach Boy from Guitar.com (1982), that seems to have been published 14 July 2000 listed.  Whatever Guitar.com is, they couldn't have been putting anything on the internet in 1982.  Maybe that's what was used in the Beach Boys Reader book.  I don't have that to check.  But it is very cheap, so might pick up a copy.  I have many of the Musician magazines (used to collect those).  A really good one (and easy to get on ebay for $6.73) is from August 1985 - a cover story by Timothy White:  The Bizarre Riddle of the Beached Boy. ...that is not about Carl.

White reused this superb piece (and his 1976 profile for CRAWDADDY) in THE NEAREST FARAWAY PLACE.