Somewhat painful Bruce Johnston interview in a Dutch magazine
ontor pertawst:
Exactly, this journalist doesn't care about reduced access to Bruce Johnston so he printed it. He's not doing a book, he doesn't need more from them, he doesn't want to stay for a weekend in Mike Love's guest house. He's not going to run into them socially every weekend in public like the insular LA/NYC media worlds... Plus he was personally mocked in a tacky way by two folks who thought they were reaaaaal clever and "kicked his ass." Off course he's not going to go back and write a puff piece.
Bruce will continue being Bruce, I wonder if that poor bastard of an employee gets fired over something dumb like this, tho.
shelter:
OK, this is the full article, I translated it from Dutch. Forgive me for any bad translations.
Source: Nieuwe Revu No. 29, 2012
'That interviewer is a dick'
Aging Beach Boy curses at Nieuwe Revu
The Beach Boys celebrate their 50th anniversary this year with a new album and a reunion tour. Does that make band member Bruce Johnston happy? No, there are no good vibrations. What was supposed to be a sunny talk about surfing and California Girls, ended in quite an unexpected way.
It all started so nice. Bruce Johnston calls from California and asks if it isn't dinner time here. We answer that we don't mind delaying dinner for him, and Bruce laughs out loud.
There's still nothing wrong when he answers the (admittedly) cliché question how it is to be back. 'It's no different from when I'm not with these guys, because Mike Love and I do about a hundred performances a year as The Beach Boys. So we tour constantly, whether it's with or without Brian Wilson, David Marks and Al Jardine. My voice is always warmed up.'
Johnston doesn't want to speak of a reunion, he rather compares the situation to that of the Rolling Stones. 'They also get together every now and then. Just because they're happy to still be successful. So I'm always ready, that's the good part of the story.'
Again there's that loud laugh. Is there also a bad side? Now Johnston reacts a bit irritated for the first time. 'Should there be one? What are you looking for?'
Nothing at all.
'OK, then let's continue.'
The new album That's Why God Made the Radio sounds familiar, sometimes a bit too sentimental and nostalgic, ends nicely melancholic, but never gets truely brilliant. But of course we couldn't expect that anymore from a few pensioners in Hawaiian shirts. Johnston, who turns 70 this month, doesn't intend to reach a new audience. 'I hadn't thought about that yet. The recordings were a piece of cake. Singing is what we were born to do. Even if there wouldn't have been a microphone, we'd still be singing.'
Founded in a time of optimism, the early sixties, The Beach Boys made the soundtrack for a happy world in which the big consuming began and everybody started babybooming. How different is the world in which That's Why God Made the Radio came out, with it's implosion of the real estate market and high unemployment rates? Just don't tell Johnston that the new album was made as a remedy for the recession. 'Why would I do that?' he asks with a mixture of surprise and resentment. 'Go buy Sound of Summer if you want to be cheered up. I'm not trying to make anyone happy or sad. I'm not trying anything at all. I just do what I've always done in the studio: I sing.'
But aren't these depressing times, Bruce?
'For who? Not for me. I live near my surf spot in Santa Barbara, I do everything exactly the same way I did it fifty years ago. I play piano every day, I sail, I have tons of friends. We've always had unemployment, that's nothing new. This is just a Beach Boys album, not a record to save the planet. I don't have enough ego for that, to think that I can do something like that. I'm just a tiny dot in the big picture. I've got my own charity for clean water, that's my humble contribution. Many people in arts unfortionately use their position to preach. They often become instant experts on all kinds of issues. Maybe I sound like a spoiled child that lives in his own protected little world. That's not true. But I only know about music, and I'll leave it at that.'
All clear, so we let the subject rest. For now, that is, because after the interview Johnston will return to it in a rather agressive manner.
Bruce Arthur Johnston was born Benjamin Baldwin, on June 27, 1942. He joined the band in 1965 as the replacement for future country star Glen Campbell. The Beach Boys were already a household name by then.
Bruce may not be part of the original line-up, he did play in role in pop music history. At a young ago he was already in a band with Phil Spector. Later he wrote I Write the Songs, a Grammy-winning massive hit for singer Barry Manilow. And in 1979 he sang backup on Pink Floyd's The Wall. The past ten years he's been writing for tv and movies. And still, the sole Johnston composition that was recorded for the new Beach Boys album, She Believe in Love Again, didn't make the cut.
But before we can ask if the re-formed band is entirely a Brian Wilson show, Johnston interupts us.
'Brian is great and he gets more and more fun out of touring again. We already released She Believes in Love Again in 1985. Now we recorded it again because I wanted to improve it. But do you think that I mind that it didn't make the album? No, I stand above that.'
Johnston praises the new album, which he likes a whole lot. He tells how quickly it was recorded (in two months), and how het was mainly recorded with real instruments. In response perhaps to the flop Summer in Paradise (1992), one of the first albums that was mainly recorded using Pro-Tools software? Johnston, slightly mocking: 'You interviewers think too much. We're not as clever as you guys. Things in this world just happen. We don't plan Einstein-ish formulas. By the way, I did like Summer in Paradise.'
Well, journalists. Johnston will probably never understand them. We can't always blame him. The Beach Boys were for some time "not done", but now it's OK to consider them to be brilliant again. Their classic Pet Sounds (1966) has been on all the lists of best albums ever in recent years. 'Well, I've been having that discussion for as long as I can remember. I recall a review from 1968 that started with the line "The washed up band The Beach Boys...". Yeah, back then already. But I can't really recall a specific revival.'
He would have declared anyone insane in 1965 if they would've told him that at seventy he would still be touring. 'Do you know what changed my mind? When I got older, I realized that I still surfed, cycled, sailed, ran, all the things I always used to do. I'm just like my dog, who has no idea that he's already 104. My biggest heroes, who opened my eyes, are B.B. King and Tony Bennett. They also just go on. Than I thought: why not me? It's that simple. I was afraid that I would start to sound like an old man, but by keeping my vibrato tight I prevent that. What also helps is that Mike, Al and I never used drugs or alcohol. Never.'
The only cd that Johnston bought this year was Duets II by crooner Tony Bennett. 'The first song on that he sings with Lady Gaga, and she's amazing! She's trashy, flashy and cool, but through the years I think she will become very elegant. And her beautiful voice will be surrounded by orchestras. It will be really exciting to witness that happening.'
Which raises the question: what does the 70 year old Beach Boy think of today's pop music? 'Are you kidding? I love it, of course! If I would be young, I would be right in the middle of it. I would wear Bruno Mars's jacket that he had on at the Grammy Awards and do all those dance moves. And if I would be a woman, I'd be Adele. There's no difference from when The Beach Boys started fifty years ago. Talent is talent. I may have my rinkles, my music doesn't.
Then the Capitol Records contact person breaks off the conversation by saying that time's up. Bruce and him say goodbye and so do I. I wait for the "click" but it doesn't come. I hear the two do some small talk, about EMI being taken over, apparently under the impression that the journalist is no longer there. Then Bruce Johnston says to the Capitol guy: 'Hey, were you listening to the interview?'
Capitol guy: 'Yeah, of course.'
Bruce: 'The guy is a dick!'
Capitol guy: 'Haha.'
Bruce: 'Those Europeans are so... So indoctrinated by socialism. They don't realize that they just hate success. He tried to push me in a social direction the whole time. I figured him out, you know. So I kicked his ass for ten minutes, with a smile on my face.'
Capitol guy: 'That's why we always listen to the interviews, so we can interfere when people ask indecent questions. But it sounded like you two had a good time.'
Bruce: 'We did. But he tried to drag me into some negative story about our country. And that pisses me off!'
Then they hang up. A bizarre ending to what seemed like an innocent conversation. An incident from earlier that weeks explains a lot; Johnston, unaware of being filmed with a mobile phone, called president Obama a 'socialist asshole'. There aren't any wrinkles on his music, but in Johnston's mind America is still in a cold war with the Soviet-Union.
urbanite:
Don't get the cold war against the Soviets comment.
Doo Dah:
Thank you Shelter. Information is power.
I'd love to hear Bruce on Howard Stern's show. After several Pacifico's, I'm sure he'd let out his inner-Bruce.
EgoHanger1966:
Thanks for posting, shelter.
Glad to see we weren't jumping to conclusions...the interviewer's questions were not belittling nor rude - though it clearly seems Bruce took offense to the "are there any bad things about the reunion?" question. So what? That's a fair question. He could have said the travel, luggage, closely-booked dates.....but, no. Not every reporter has to be fishing for gossip. This guy clearly wasn't.
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