The Smiley Smile Message Board

anyone heard these guys? they're really good...check out www.myspace.com/theheavyblinkers...they sound BW/Bacharach-ish...

well, you get the point...check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwlX8oo539U

Yes I have their "Better Weather" album. It's very good.

I've mentioned them before but even better(IMO) at the Bacharach style are BC Camplight

Richard, holy hell, thanks for this recommendation of BC Camplight.
Love the Blinkers, and now hearing clips of this guy's album is just perfect! You're the man!

Thanks for the BC Camplight tip! I will check them out!

I love Heavy Blinkers... I love "The night and I are still so young".... great album.

Aye BC Camplight are great. And they're comng over here to the UK soon (yay)

In fact on July 16th me and my band are supporting Snow Patrol and the promoter has booked BC for the after show party . Thats a win win situation!   ;)

I have the night and I were so young and I just can't get into it. Something about his voice ruins it for me

I can't get into it either. For me its the production. It sounds like they're trying to hard to live up to their influences without being anywhere near to them.

That goes for all these bands that claim to be Beach Boys and Beatles influenced. They suck.

Well that's what separates the real artists from the followers. Anyone can play guitar but not everyone can write a great song.

Dennis Wilson said that Brian was his biggest influence. But Dennis' songs sound nothing like his brother's in any way at all. He took inspiration and used it well rather than just following and copying.

That will be a LOT of bands then!

I'm talking about the bands that have emerged in the last couple of years. Especially since Pet Sounds and the Beach Boys became trendy.

The Beach Boys are trendy?

Any name-specific examples?

Only trendy amognst the "indie" music scene. E6's website has a little BW snippet on their front page where they ask if he knew that he has inspired all of their bands. He says no.

Well, I personally love the majority of the E6 bands I have heard.  I definately wouldn't say any of them are up there with  the Beach Boys, but there is some increadible talent in that group.  Most of it is much more interesting than what mainstreem music is offering up.

I also don't see where anyone gets off questioning anyones motive for liking the Beach Boys or Pet Sounds or whatever.  How can you say that these bands only try to get that similar sound becuase it's trendy?  Have you asked them or talked to them about it and had them personally tell you, "we just like it becuase all the hipsters dig it.  It's so trendy right now!"?  I would think we could all be excited that Brian and the boys are getting more exposure and appreciation rather than thinking we are the elite few who really "get it" while those other trend followers dig it becuase they think they are supposed to.  Sorry to go off on a tangent there!  I just get frustrated when people attack the motives behind someone's personal taste. 

I honestly didn't mean to sound like I was attacking anyone on here specifically.  Sorry if it comes out like that.

I'm not saying they're pretending to like the Beach Boys because its "trendy." I'm just saying, that right now its fashionable to be able to say that the Beach Boys are an influence. I don't think any band would have done that 15 years ago or any time since 1968 when the Beach Boys were declared unhip.

Obviously the Beach Boys aren't much of a band you can simply like -- say as in the case of Hanson.  :D

Most of us here have some sort of emotional attatchment to the group and their music. We know their story as if they were family and we know their music as if it were our own.

I'm sure that most of those bands who claim BW/BB as an influence truly are under the influence. The shame is that they don't live up to their influences most of the time. I agree with Cosmic Dancer that those bands do offer some different stuff than what the mainstream machine is churning out, but is it better than stuff we already have from the past?

I'd take "Friends" over every Of Montreal album even though I do enjoy their music.

I agree totally.  I would also take Friends over any Of Montreal albums.  I don't think that Of Montreal have approached that mega-status yet but I sincerely hope they, or anyone for that matter, do.  I just think to many people are so set in the old stuff that nothing will ever outdo it.  Pet Sounds is by far my favorite album of all time but I hope someday I can say that something else new will top it.  Do I think that will happen?  Probably not, but I am open to it.  So many people just aren't willing to give something new a chance.  I'm not really talking about any of you but I know plenty of elitist jerks like this.  Sorry I got so defensive!  Nothing bad was meant by it.

Right now I'm all ears for anything new. If you have any suggestions for new bands then I'd be glad to check them out. I've grown out of the major BBoys obsession and have been struggling to find another group to take their place in my stereo.

I might be a jerk but I'm not elitist.

I did 15 years ago, and you're right it didn't win us any friends at all  :lol So yes Iget what you mean

People used to say " Your vocals sound like the beach boys" and it was meant as an insult!
Hence I packed up making music in '96 and started again in '01 when all of a sudden The Furries and The Flaming lips were getting comparisons to BB's and it wasn't meant as an insult.

I feel if we take an auto-backlash approch to any "inspired by Beach Boys/Beatles/Brian Wilson" bands, we are missing out on some music which is good and essentially continuing on in the same vein. Mind you, I know that there are a few bands who now use that tag that  are definitely a bit wanky and elitist. You just have to be in tune to the ones who really mean it and bypass the ones that use it as hipster brownie points. If you listen to the actual music you can usually pick it.

I like the Heavy Blinkers because their music is sincere and heartfelt, and they write good tunes. They are a real indy band,  not "cool" wannabes. I think they are on the right track! The fact they made such a classic, well produced album (The night and I are still so young) on what would of been a laughable budget is commendable, almost like "Gideon Gaye" by the High Llamas.

Well, no one would admit to that anyway. I'd imagine it's more like, "All the hipsters dig it, let me check it out, ooh this is some good music, I dig, man"