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http://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/2015/09/09/mike-love-of-the-beach-boys-one-on-one-the-interview-part-1/#sthash.KrcPylSa.IUItY6gc.dpbs

Nice interview. 
What do you suppose this means? 
>>In fact, Michael Lloyd who is producing this Christmas single for us and who is in Southern California while we’re in a studio in Somerville, Massachusetts... <<

That's one of the best interviews I've read from Mike, even with the astrology stuff, but hey, at least that's the real him.

Great interview. Thanks for sharing, PF.

I like the fact that Mike acknowledges the greatness that is All I Wanna Do, possibly his finest moment from the 1970s. 

And he also gives Brian credit for Til I Die!!! 

Looking at the concert setlists this year (more than the usual 33 song sets), and reading this interview, it seems like our Mike is growing up.   :)

Haven't A-B'd them but does his early history account concur with the info in the book Becoming the Beach Boys?  Wonder if he's read it?

When is part 2?

Very good interview - Many thanks for sharing, and here's to Part 2

Great interview and also great questions to give thoughtful answers. I'm wondering about this new Christmas song. Will it be a Beach Boys single with Brian & Al or another solo release?

If part 2 doesn't mention "positivity," "Kokomo was#1," or "drugs," it may be Mike's best interview in years.

If he was like this more often, his reputation would be very different.

 :hat  THAT'S how it's done. :h5

Nice. :thumbsup

will listen now, but tell me, is there any mention of reunion, working together again, etc?  (You know what I care about),

thanks

Update: I agree--one of the very best interviews with no sign of tension or resentment. I don't like "it kills my soul" much either. No Hindu nor Christian could accept that statement literally.

I hope this indicates that some BB reunion work, album, show, individual song, is in the works.

The Professor.

PS: thanks for the link!

+1. It's a great interview since it doesn't get into all that stuff. It's almost as though someone who cares about him kindly advised him to speak wisely. And great about being proud of All I Wanna Do, as Mike should be.

If he keeps it up with interviews like these, it will certainly not be a bad thing. Drugs really, really don't need to be brought up by Mike anymore. I am crossing my fingers.

With drug references it too depends on the type of questions asked. This interviewer asked meaningful, thoughtful questions that received the same meaningful, thoughtful answers. I don't want to get too far ahead here, we haven't read part 2, yet. ;)

I would tend to doubt the “new Christmas” single is a Beach Boys track with Brian and Al. Would be lovely if that was true of course. I would assume he has the touring band helping him cut what can only be released as a solo single. Hopefully, they’re not just doing new overdubs for “Santa’s Goin’ to Kokomo.”

If he gets asked about drugs, he could always frame things in a somewhat positive context, and talk about how Brian overcame some major obstacles, and has remained productive (even if not always writing with Mike). Point is, it doesn't have to go down a negative route, even if he's baited with a question like that.  Here's to hoping.

Man that was a fantastic interview. Especially liked the question/answer about when Mike knew he had finally made it as a musician.

Can't wait for part 2.

I would say we don’t have to take the lyrics literally. I don’t think Brian is *literally* saying he’s a cork or a rock either.

I think “it kills my soul” is one of the most profound parts of the lyrics, it’s so cutting and direct.

I appreciate that Mike appreciates the lyrics, and hearing him actually pick apart a song in such detail is precisely the sort of thing I’d definitely like to see more of, as opposed to talking about “Cousin Brian’s drug problems.” I’d be curious to know *why* he doesn’t like that line, especially when he acknowledges that he understands what Brian was saying.

That was exactly my take.

Well, I was kind of thinking that he might do something similar to what Al did on Don't Fight The Sea. One can only hope.

Jude, I agree with you; the function of pure metaphor ("cork, etc.) is to be distinguished from the metaphor of death of the soul. The death of the soul is a stunning and bracing , confrontational image, though, as you intimate, it can also simply mean "it gets me down!".

So good to think about this wonderful song and to hear Mike on it. Thanks Jude; you are right and wise.

It appears the guys are in a kind of weird sort of state in terms of relations. There aren’t any lawsuits flying, but I think there are definitely still some politics at play. But it doesn’t *feel* like they’re in a place in terms of relations where Mike would ask Brian and Al to sing on a solo single and they’d jump at the chance. Regardless of whose fault such a weird sort of lukewarm relationship presently might be, I just don’t see that happening.

This new Mike interview is refreshingly interesting. But I don’t see a warm, budding relationship between his camp and the other.

These guys are always capable of anything, and they’ve literally been known to follow up lawsuits with collaborations, so anything is possible. But given recent interviews and the recent “Love & Mercy” soundtrack CD backroom politics, my best guess is we’re not at a stage of seeing Brian or Al sing on a Mike record.

A good BRI manager would of course point out that, if Brian and Al did sing on a Mike record, that a much stronger idea would then be to actually do a “Beach Boys” project at that stage.  

It was also nice to hear Mike not make a dig at Brian's band when he mentioned that Ike played with Brian a few shows before joining Mike's band.  That was the sort of place Mike usually throws an unwarranted dig.  Didn't happen this time.

I also was happy to hear him be proud of All I Wanna Do rather than only being proud of Fun Fun Fun, Good Vibrations and Kokomo.

the interviewer, Ken Sharp, is definitely a BBs guy and knows his stuff! Has good sense on what not to ask. Hope his ( Ken's) book sees daylight soon. 

I want a bgas book with the collection organized with pictures! ;D

I believe Ken Sharp did the 2000 “Goldmine” interview with Al (I think it was technically an interview Sharp did that was shopped to a few venues; I think “Record Collector” published a different edit of the interview). Sharp asked a lot of pertinent questions, and actually got into the then-current kerfuffle between Al and Mike. While it may have just partially been an interview technique of being sympathetic to the interview subject, Sharp’s questions about things like the cheerleaders/Mr. T and all of that seemed to imply Sharp agreed that the touring band became kind of a spectacle in the 80s/90s.

If the two parts of this Mike interview are of similar lengths, then the main bummer would be that Sharp didn’t get more time with Mike to do an even longer interview.

Lovely interview! It's always great to read/hear Mike's thoughts on some of the deeper cuts. He likes 'Til I Die and has named Wild Honey one of his favorite BB records in another interview. Guy has pretty good taste for someone who has a lengthy history of penning stuff like the lyrics to Summer of Love. Really enjoyed the more personal stuff here, like his recollections of having been interested in poetry from an early age on. Like him or not, he's a very interesting guy and in many ways he's hard to pigeonhole.

Maybe Mikes doing a 'Pisces Brothers' follow up?

'Capricorn Cousins'  :lol

Aquarius Amigos

For Christmas? Capricorn all the way!

You're right of course but I'm hoping for the full concept album!

People supposedly in-the-know were denying the possibility of a 50C reunion while it was actually happening already. So who knows.

Great interview, btw.

This is the kind of interview Mike needs to do more often. Very good read.

http://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/cover/

and not a mention of hanging with the Beatles and helping write Back in the USSR yet....though there is a part 2  ;D

"Super Stock Dart" is interesting. Always thought it was "Super Stock Dodge" which really does not matter much as either is technically correct.

That, or Jim Hirsch has done his research.

The kind of great interview one comes to expect from Ken Sharp.

He appreciates the band's musical legacy, respects each member for their own contributions, asks insightful questions, does not shy away from the more difficult material, and never fails to uncover new and interesting information.  I think the band members know they are speaking with a true professional journalist and enjoy opening up and discussing the deeper aspects of their careers.  One of the best interviews with Mike I have ever read.

Thanks, Ken.

Really looking forward to Part 2. 

Great interview ( minus the astrology in When I Grow Up. Think that's overanalyzing the lyrics there Mike) I would bet money you were not thinking astrological signs when you wrote that.

So you're both working for him?!?!?  :ahh :ahh

Mike's interview Part 2 is available: http://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/2015/10/08/mike-love-of-the-beach-boys-one-on-one-interview-part-2

 IF only everything he says didn't have to be related in terms of crediting himself.
Oh well, still lots of compliments  for others.  

Wondering now if " Alone On christmas Day" in the new Bill Murray movie will be performed by The Beach Boys/The Mike Love Band, or Phoenix  

One error-the meeting between Mike and Carl and the Beatles was August 1965 not 1964.  Aug 22 1964 the BBs were playing in Pittsburgh!

Thanks for posting! It was great to see him give a shoutout to 'Be Still' and 'Little Bird'. And I had no idea Mike worked on lyrics for 'Pacific Ocean Blues'....makes perfect sense now.

I really hope we see more interviews like this with all the remaining members. They obviously have so many memories and thoughts that us fans would love to hear.

You know, based on Mike's answer, I'd venture they said, and Mike heard, 1965, but mistyped 1964 when they went to publish. Kind of ties in with their typing Carl's name as Carol and Carla in two other spots...

More mahagarbage from myKe luHv-"I did this", "I wrote that", "I sang that". What an insecure, pretentious braggart.  ::)

For everyone interested in connecting the dots, here are a few dots.

Besides the interview posted in the link, Mike a few weeks ago said this while promoting the Australian tour:
"And we might debut our single "Alone On Christmas Day", which was a song I wrote back in the 60's, and the group Phoenix just found it and it's in a Bill Murray TV movie called "Very Murray Christmas". So They got me to record my own song."

Mike and the band were in a studio in Massachusetts back in August, doing a vocal session linked to Michael Lloyd in a studio in California. A Christmas song, according to reports.

"A Very Murray Christmas" lists the band members of Phoenix among the guest appearances scheduled for the Murray Netflix special, it's supposed to be a take-off on the old Christmas variety shows that used to run on TV.

Sofia Coppola is running the show, sort of a reunion of her and Bill Murray after her film "Lost In Translation".

Sofia Coppola is married to Thomas Mars, the frontman of the band Phoenix.

There are the dots.  :)