Making the Band, BW-style

[shadownoze]

Anyone have inside knowledge of how Brian's band was assembled when he began to play live in the late 90s? I'm familiar with the story of how he heard the Wondermints play at a tribute show and was impressed, but how were other players chosen. Who actually assembled the group? How did Taylor Mills get connected? Did Darian function as bandleader from the very beginning or did he grow into that role? Any info is greatly appreciated.

Mike

[Wirestone]

The band partially came about from Chicago-area folks who Joe Thomas knew and who played on the "Imagination" album sessions. The rest were folks the BW camp knew from the LA area.

Scott Bennett, Bob Lizik, Todd Sucherman and Paul Mertens all played on "Imagination," and all were invited to join the band. Jeff Foskett was the falsetto ringer, and was a former Beach Boys guy and Carl confidant. Brian requested the Wondermints, who brought along Probyn Gregory (who's never been an official member of the group).

Joe was the musical director, and he added DJ friend Steve Dahl to mime theremin and strum acoustic guitar. (Joe's actual musical contributions were short-circuited by some Wonderminty-goodness. Darian basically threatened to quit during the initial rehearsals if Joe tried to make the BW songs sound any more adult contemporary)

After the first few dates, Dahl went back to the radio. After a few more, Joe was dumped from the band. Also within the first year or so, Todd left to play with Styx (and after marrying Taylor). Jim Hines was in place by the Roxy shows of 2000 (he and Lizik had apparently played together).

A year or so after that, Wondermint Mikey D'Amico left. Andy Paley (the Andy Paley) came in for percussion duty. Mikey returned for a bit but eventually truly left and was replaced by Nelson Bragg (who knew the LA-Wonder folks).

Most recently, Lizik and Hines have departed/been forced out and replaced by a returning Mikey and new guy Brett Simons, a mostly jazz bassist who played on a Scott Bennett solo album of a few years back.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Excellent and concise summation. All i would add is that Taylor got the gig because Todd was the original tour drummer.

Joe Thomas played all the shows up to the 1999 tour of Japan, the 'official' explanation for his absence being that he disliked flying. As with other 'official' explanations concerning events pertaining to Brian's tours and band, it was of course a complete load of tosh. 

[Wirestone]

Also, the band was joined by various local orchestral groups on the 2000 Pet Sounds tour. The Stockholm Strings n Horns joined up for the debut of Smile live in London and traveled on the subsequent tour and appeared at the TLOS premiere shows.

[shadownoze]

Thanks, this is just the info I was looking for. So what was Taylor doing before? Other than...becoming...real purty?

[Wirestone]

From her official site:

Raised in Des Moines, the daughter of loving but strict Baptist parents, Taylor developed her taste for melody as a child. Her listening leaned toward pop and R&B, from the Carpenters to Roberta Flack – singers who tempered technique with personal shades of soul.
 
Taylor knew from the start that she wanted to pursue just one goal: to bring her talent for singing to its fullest possible flower. And so, as quickly as possible after high school, she packed up and headed to the nearest big city that seemed to offer a way to chase that dream.
 
She arrived in Chicago, knowing no one but made connections quickly.  Fresh from Iowa, she took her place in a 17 piece band among four more experienced backup singers, all of them grounded in black gospel and R&B.  "I listened like crazy and stole everything I heard from them," Taylor remembers, laughing.  This lead to gigs around the city with other bands including the award-winning jazz saxophonist, Steve Cole, whose Atlantic Records debut was number one on the jazz charts.
 
What Taylor learned set her up for the biggest break of her career. When Cole’s drummer, Todd Sucherman, heard that Brian Wilson was looking to hire a female singer for his touring band – specifically, Sucherman remembers, “someone who was pretty and could sing her butt off” – he knew that Taylor was the perfect fit.
 
That’s all it took to bring her to Wilson’s home outside of Chicago for an audition. “I didn’t know what to expect,” she says. “Even though I knew the ‘beachier’ stuff he’d done with the Beach Boys, I wasn’t at all aware of Pet Sounds, SMiLE, or any of the really great stuff that he’d created over the years.”
 
And so, while she might have expected to hear “Surfer Girl” coming over her headphones, she was asked instead to sing along to “Surf’s Up,” one of the most enigmatic, difficult, and gorgeous works in Wilson’s repertoire. “I’d never heard the song in my life,” she says, “but they let me take a few minutes to listen to it. I memorized what I heard and sang my part, and the music director was like, ‘Yeah, I think we want you.’”

[Wilsonista]

Her audition piece was Surf's Up?? They weren't going to make it easy were they!

[Pretty Funky]

Anyone else of interest audition for the Taylor role, or other band position, but was turned down?

[Wirestone]

Well, I seem to recall that Christopher Cross was considered for the Jeff Foskett role (he did it at the Imagination promo concerts in St. Charles), but he ended up devoting more time to his solo career.

And certainly there have been fill-ins who have come and gone. Gary Griffin has subbed for Darian fairly regularly the last couple of years, and Billy Hinsche has filled in as well.

But it seems like it was a pretty ad hoc group of people who were thrown together for a few shows in 1999. What's shocking is that the core of Foskett, Darian, Nicky, Probyn, Scott, Taylor and Paul (and until this year, Lizik and Hines) have stuck together for so long!