The Smiley Smile Message Board

For those who attended the gigs, and were in a good position to watch him: what about Brian's piano playing? How much does he play? most of the videos I've seen (concert or tv performances) he isn't playing it or his playing is not audible. Is he playing the same amount of keys as his last tours?


The Newsweek article confirms that his instrument is not really a grand piano but a digital piano hidden inside the wood. But this is pretty common nowadays; even Jools Holland uses a fake grand on his tours.

He mentions in the Rolling Stone article how he's starting to get used to many aspects of the tour one of them includes playing the piano which he admitted he hasn't done so much on stage in a while.  I'd say he plays piano about 80% of the show...which is more I've seen him play in past solo tours.  His keyboard is hidden in the mix, buried under the three other keyboards on stage but it is plugged in.  Many times you can catch Brian singing a tune or playing around with chords in between songs---keyboard completely audible.

I saw them at the Hollywood Bowl, and Brian was hammering away at some chords during an a cappella section. I couldn't hear the piano at all. Must be buried very deep in the mix, at least at the Bowl (or, not at all).

When I saw them in Camden, he played a bit, but I couldn't hear it at all. When I saw him in 2009 in Glenside and Wilkes-Barre, he played piano during maybe 80% of the show.

Guess they just want him to pretend, so he has something to do.

Except that he's not pretending. He is actually playing. Whether or not he's in the mix is another question. We don't hear much from Al instrumentally either.

He's playing indeed!
I was right in front of Brian at JazzFest and could see his hands. Not to mention the captions on the big screens. He's playing the right chords and rhythms whether we hear it or not.

Anything that makes Brian comfortable on stage is fine by me. And this could mean much weirder things than playing rhythm on a piano that is low/unaudible in the mix.  ;)

My bad then, Dr. Lenny.

just gotta say it's so good to see Brian playing more keys. the big white baby grand is a classy touch, even if it's just for show.


leave the pantomime act to Mike, he's so good at it.  ;)

I'm sure all those guys have their instruments in their wedges.  It's a question of whether they're in the FOH mix, and that might vary from night to night.

Somewhere on youtube there is/was a video of a BBs concert in the Hague in 1980, and the camera guy was very close to Brian's monitor.  You could hear his piano loud and clear all the way through the set, and he sounds great.

What about Bruce's keyboard? When I see them on tv, he appears to be playing ...but then he starts waving his hands around, or handling his microphone....and I don't notice any keyboards suddenly dropping out of the mix..

Folks, when you have both Darian and Scott nailing the keyboard work on stage, you probably won't hear Bruce and definitely not Brian (Bruce's keyboard only comes up for Disney Girls).  Their instruments are perfectly audible only to them in their own monitors but they're going to be lost in the mix amongst the entire group's sound coming out of the PA.  So what's the point of having them?  A lot of musicians prefer to sing while playing an instrument.  It may not matter to them that they're not overpowering in the mix--as long as they can hear it and they're comfortable is all that matters.

While watching the band it's obvious that there are select people who are designated as lead men.  Scott Totten leads the way with most of the guitar work along with Probyn (solos of course go to Dave) and Darian and Scott take over the keys.  Whatever Bruce can contribute is mixed very low so as to not clash with Darian and/or Scott and Brian is mixed even lower than that so that he doesn't clash with all that's going on above him in the mix.  Al isn't even audible most of the time but we see that he takes guitar playing seriously.  They wouldn't be up there faking. 

Yeah, that's basically Bruce's approach for the Mike&Bruce tours; although then his keys were a little more audible. Anyway, Bruce's stage playing has worked this way since the early 80s, when he played electric piano. There's an old interview with Brad Elliott where he says his keys are not really needed on stage when they had Meros, Brian (and someone else?)

Shame that Brian no longer plays that pounding piano like he did on the early 80s. A different Brian, from a neurological point of view, of course.

Surprised we don't hear Al's guitar more.  He's playing Rhythm, but I guess he isn't turned up.

Nah, 'cause sometimes he was playing a completely different song or not playing at all.  

That's one of the things that makes his playing great! 
Brian wrote em, so he plays what he wants; it's not his fault if the other guys are playing the wrong stuff

At the show I attended (the 2nd NYC show), Al's guitar was definitely audible. It had a really nice spot in the mix that night.

I still think it's a shame that you go see The Beach Boys and all the playing is basically done by ringers.

 At this stage of the game, The Beach Boys are primarily a band of voices. Things might be different if Carl and Dennis were still with us, but it is what it is. Kudos to David Marks on the live shows; wish his guitar was more prominent on the new album.

I'd bet Brian's keyboard is more in the mix than Bruce's.

During the 8 June 2012 show, on several songs Brian was beating the sh*t out of the keys; couldn't hear him in the mix, but it looked like he did in Knebworth during 'Keeping the Summer Alive'.

Definitely heard Bruce's a little more at the Hollywood bowl, especially during "Disney Girls". Still, you can hear Darian and Scott above everyone else.

As far as the principals' instruments go, it's most likely that the sound guys mix the keys up and down as needed.  There would probably be a generally understood plan for each song, not just a set-it-and-forget-it approach for the whole show.  It makes sense for example that they'd cut his piano during an acapella section, especially if he has a tendency to just play through it.

I only really noticed Bruce's keyboard playing on Disney Girls, and it was set to a tacky, 80s DX-7 kind of sound, so good on them for mixing it low the rest of the time.

I have a feeling that is the setting that his keyboard is always on. It probably blends really well into the background without intruding on any other instrument--be it another keyboard or a guitar.  It's a very light/soft/benign kind of sound that doesn't have the harsh tonality if it were left on a regular "grand piano" setting which would probably clutter up the sound scape significantly considering there are just so many instruments being played at once.  That's another reason why I think Bruce is almost never heard--the setting he keeps it in blends in with the group and is only audible for himself.

I couldn't hear him either but yes, he definitely played a lot.  I thought it was interesting that during "Then I Kissed Her" he was using only his left hand, playing the repeating bass line.

Plenty of performers do the sort of thing Bruce does lately. Think of Paul Simon touring with his crack band, which is usually very large. He always has his acoustic guitar in hand, but doesn't contribute a ton to the overall sound. Just what would he do if he just had the microphone in front of him, you know?

Bruce never played when he didn't have to, he just likes clapping.

check out this video from 1971. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otj3g2LeZpM

Al's banjo is audible on California, Bruce's keyboard audible on Disney Girls, Brian's piano is there a little bit on some things, like Surfer Girl....other than that its pretty much David's guitar solos as far as any principal's instrument standing out in the mix.

You can hear Bruce's keys all over the current live Disney Girls.

Also, there's a video recording of a 1989 show without Carl. Hampton Beach, I think.
It was rainy, and during Barbara Ann one of the cheerleaders slipped on the wet floor and had to grab Bruce's keyboard in order not to fall. The cluster that was produced was easily audible, thus leading the world to know that Bruce's keyboard was actually working.

I think this is 100% correct. 

I did ask Alan Boyd once a long time ago if Bruce J. was audible at all on the Knebworth album, and he said that Bruce was indeed in the mix.  I was surprised at this because I couldn't pick him out.  There is a spot on one of the 1980 shows where he plays the little melodic run in the verse to "Good Timin'".  You can see him turn up the volume on the Wurli, lo and behold you hear those three notes, and then he turns it back down, poof, gone.  I've seen Al J. do the same thing in "Heroes and Villains," where he had a little part that was important to the whole sound, and the rest of the time, he was down.

So, like on Pet Sounds, then?  :-)

Cheers,
Jon Blum

look and hear brian's playing... around 20:20 it's a little bit audible :-O

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJJaeva9r_g

Bruce has been very audible in the Mike & Bruce shows since John Cowsill switched from keyboards to drums in 2007. Previous to that he used to take the keyboard solo in Rhonda, trigger the flute sample in Sloop John B, and little else that I could tell, but in the shows I saw in 2008 and 2011 his keyboard was in the mix and he kept the handclapping and mic pointing to bits when he wasn't playing an especially prominent part.

On the other hand, he also has no problem miming an instrument -- there was a corporate gig in the UK last year when he faked playing guitar because there wasn't room on the stage for his keyboards -- so he may well not be in the mix much or at all on the current tour, when there are so many keyboard players on stage.

I see your point, but at that time, they would contribute more instrumentally to the live show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDqBMh1FIvM - 0:11 and 4:07 (great performance by the way)

Video shows that although Brian's piano is on and audible, tis indeed low in the mix, maybe more at some shows than others.

Very cool.

I know for a fact that on "Do It Again" Brian is audible. Brian is the last to start playing and right when he sits down you can hear him hammering out the opening chords. But for the most part it's pretty low and it's really only noticeable when it stops and starts for the most part.

Does anyone actually know why Brian is low in the mix..

We know for a fact he's a quality piano player. He should get a spot now and then to tickle the ivories

Probably the same reason Bruce is so low in the mix as I wrote earlier on this page.  Both Brian and Bruce aren't really contributing much in terms of keyboards, they play so sparingly throughout the show that the keyboard is mostly there for them to accompany themselves as they sing.  With Scott and Darian taking the lead on all the major keyboard parts, adding Bruce and then Brian to the mix would significantly clutter up the overall sound way, way too much.  There is absolutely no need to have 4 keyboards all perfectly equal to each other in terms of volume.  They can't rely on Brian to be there with his keyboard throughout the show so there's no real point to bring him up in the mix.

Well, he does, on the intro to "Marcella".

I don't think that piano intro has been played during the reunion shows... at least not any I've seen/listened to/etc.