The Smiley Smile Message Board

Andy: At least I know that many musicians like us. My mother told me that she had seen chris Robinson from the Black Crowes on MTV and when he was asked with which band he'd want to go on tour with he inititally named us. We have Also written two songs with brian wilson shortly after the Ringo Starr album. Don Was - the producer of Ringos LP - had introduces us.

Mag: Could you explain that? It has been said that Brian Wilson has an LP finished which hasn't been released because the songs were too extreme?!

Andy: That's not so astonishing. Brian has gone through a lot in his life. When he writes songs he does it in order to deal with his life. The unreleased songs indeed were very strange and had absolutely no mass appeal. The only person that could relate to them was Brian Wilson himself. Sometimes he reminds me of a huge computer with a very small output. When we were in the studio with him he had outragous ideas but when it came to executing them it became extremely difficult to communicate with him. That is his biggest problem because musically he still is the same genius that recorded "pet sounds". We really witnessed that at one moment he jumped up and down enthusiastically and the next moment he wanted to go to bed. In opposition to most other guys who were around him and never dared to contradict him, we kept on pushing him. I like his music too much to let him produce something which is not really great. After the separation from his psychatrist Eugene Landy and his record company it's a complete new beginning for him into Brian Wilson nowadays.

Should be pointed out that the album referred to in that clip is almost certainly Sweet Insanity, not the Wilson/Paley sessions, and the "Andy" is not Paley but Andy Sturmer of Jellyfish.

Deadliest catch.

I never knew that Andy Sturmer of the most glorious Jellyfish had worked with Brian.

There was apparently a single attempt at a writing session -- they were brought together by Was. Sturmer and Roger Manning had a half-written song called I Wish It Would Rain which they brought to Brian, who came up with some new parts for the chorus. But then they said the song needed a bridge, hoping for Brian to contribute something, and he said "let's put the bridge from Surfer Girl in there", and then went for a nap. Manning later released a version of the song, without Brian's contributions, on a solo album.

My recollection (having not read the interview in some time) was that Sturmer and Manning assumed when Brian said "let's put the bridge to 'Surfer Girl' here" that he meant put something *along the lines of* or *in the style of* that bridge, but that what he apparently did was literally stick the bridge to "Surfer Girl" into the song.

My recollection (having not read the interview in some time) was that Sturmer and Manning assumed when Brian said "let's put the bridge to 'Surfer Girl' here" that he meant put something *along the lines of* or *in the style of* that bridge, but that what he apparently did was literally stick the bridge to "Surfer Girl" into the song.