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BEACH BOYS FOUNDER BRIAN WILSON DISCUSSES NEW ALBUM NO PIER PRESSURE, GREENWICH TOUR DATE AND JOHN CUSACK-STARRING BIOPIC LOVE AND MERCY
Tuesday 19 May 2015
by Jim Palmer, leisure editor

Not many artists can claim to have as profound an effect on 20th century music as Brian Wilson. The 72-year-old founder member of the Beach Boys is responsible for some of the most sublime and influential pop ever written, from the pioneering California Sound of the band’s early work such as Fun, Fun, Fun and I Get Around to the band’s 1966 masterpiece Pet Sounds and groundbreaking songs such as Good Vibrations.

Brian Wilson was the creative force behind the Beach Boys’ innovation and this summer we’re able to celebrate both his past and where he is today. A biopic called Love and Mercy will be released on July 10 and his latest album No Pier Pressure is out now. He’ll also in playing Greenwich’s O2 on September 20.

Though he was not directly involved in the making of the film, Brian has seen it (twice) and given it his blessing. Speaking to News Shopper, he said: “I liked it a lot. I was portrayed very well by the actors and it was a very factual movie.”

Director Bill Pohlad, whose credits as a producer include 12 Years a Slave, has chosen to tell two distinct slices in Brian’s life. Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine) is Brian in the 1960s as he struggles to get his head around writing what will become Pet Sounds and dealing with emerging psychosis, while John Cusack (High Fidelity) is a broken Brian in the 1980s under the care of a shady therapist (Paul Giamatti) as he meets his future wife Melinda (Elizabeth Banks).

Brian said: “I thought they were great. Paul Dano did a great job portraying me in the studio and the music. John Cusack did a great job of portraying me with Melinda.”

Clearly the film tackles moments where great creativity, happiness and difficulty swirled among each other and while he admitted some parts were difficult to watch, Brian is positive about what it evoked. He said: “It brought back a lot of memories.

“It made me feel fantastic, are you kidding? They were the best times for me, they were very sentimental for me.

“I feel good (now). I was relieved -- I saw myself cope with that much bullsh*t.”

“It portrayed my life very well. Most of it was in my 20s and in my 40s.”

Brian counts his biggest achievement as a song that originated on the sessions for Pet Sounds but was not released with the album. “Probably recording Good Vibrations was my biggest achievement,” he said. “I still remember. It was a very big experience for me.”

None of which is to say, Brian has left his work in the past. He’s been constantly working throughout his career and is set to release his new album, No Pier Pressure.

The album was initially planned to be a follow-up to the Beach Boys’ 50th anniversary album, 2012’s That’s Why God Made the Radio, but morphed into a solo record. Brian said: “I recorded the 50th anniversary album with the Beach Boys and I had a few songs left over so I used them on my solo album.”

I asked him if he would have liked to have recorded it with his old bandmates. “I don’t think so, no,” he said. “I wanted to do a new album.”

While Mike Love’s vocals are nowhere to be heard, Brian has enlisted a line-up of impressive talent. His favourite was Zooey Deschanel, better known to many as an actress in the likes of New Girl. He said: “I had four or five guest artists and each one of them came down separately and I taught them the song and they got it real quick because they are very good singers.”

Still, there were some big name collaborations that did not make the cut. “We decided not to use Jeff Beck’s stuff and Lana Del Rey dropped out of the project,” he said.

And there is a nod to the Beach Boys, with former band members Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin appearing. Brian said: “I wanted to use them because they are good singers. My favourite song on the album is Sail Away by Blondie Chaplin.”

The trio will also be reunited on Brian’s tour, which comes to The O2 in September. “They sing just as good as they did 50 years ago,” he said.

But does he? “Not quite as well as I used to but I can still sing -- I have lots still in my voice.”

The UK has always been receptive of Brian and the Beach Boys – Pet Sounds did better in the UK charts than the US and they recorded a live album in London in 1970.

Brian said: “It should be fun. I like the audiences there. The British fans are more sensitive to music.”

And while Brian has written songs that generations have grown up loving, it’s reassuring that his own taste in music extends to an unexpected corner of Bromley, namely former Ravensbourne School for Boys student Billy Idol.

Brian said: “I listen to seventies and eighties music -- Billy Joel and Billy Idol.”

Brian Wilson’s album No Pier Pressure is out now and he plays The O2 on September 20. Get tickets from axs.com. Love and Mercy’s is out July 10.

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