Uncut’s “Ask Mike Love”
You Kane, You Commanded, You Conquered:
Quote from: Pablo. on March 18, 2017, 10:53:50 AM
Although my question about "Columnated ruins domino" wasn't included on "An audience with..." (I managed to ask a question to Ringo a couple of years back) the article is way much, much more interesting than your typical Mike Love interview.
Sample:
Few artists have been
bootlegged like The Beach
Boys. Are there plans to put out
any of theSunflower sessions,
or theLandlockedor the
Adult/Childrecordings?
ZoranTuckar,Zagreb,Croatia
I have fond memories of the things
we did onSunflower. But the company
that owns our masters, they’re always
looking for ways to put out editions, so
who knows? Sure, any well-known group
had a core of people absorbed in knowing
everything about everything. The people
into the archival things, they know which
songs were recorded by the guys in the
band and which ones were recorded by the
Wrecking Crew, and so on. There’s a lot of
lore and history and technicality involved
Could you scan the whole article?
Pablo.:
I can post the whole q&a in that "columnated" way, if it's not too obnoxious... (I have a pdf)
Adult Child:
That would be appreciated if it's not too much work.
Pablo.:
Due to popular acclaim (?):
"I’ve never let
myths and fallacies
overwhelm me"
AN AUDIENCE WITH…MIKELOVE
MIKE Love has returned to
his Lake Tahoe home from
The Beach Boys’ latest
run of Australian dates to
find it has been snowing.
“I’ve had this property since 1981, but I’ve
never seen this much snow,” he says. “It’s
unbelievable. We’re not down on the lake,
we’re at a very high elevation – 1,000 feet
up – and there must be 20 feet of snow on
either side of my driveway. We have snow
ploughs going just so we can drive in and
out. Our road over the mountain, Mt Rose
Highway, was closed for a few days, so we
had to take all kinds of circuitous routes to
get anywhere.”
The idea of a Beach Boy battling with
such volumes of snow is a strange
one – especially considering how
many of the band’s earliest hits
were predicated around the
pleasures of sand, sun and surf.
But Love is sanguine, despite
the inclement weather. He is
looking forward to the band’s
forthcoming European dates,
including shows at the Royal
Albert Hall in London in May.
“Apparently, they’re sold out, which
is wonderful,” he says. But the fans
in England have always been so
incredibly wonderful.”
Will your much bootlegged
unreleased solo LPs, First Love,
Country LoveandUnleash The
Love, ever come out?
Kevin Cooper, Bolton
Some of those bootlegged things
are partially finished, maybe not
100 per cent. Funnily enough, I’ve
been working with [producer]
Michael Lloyd. Just after we do
a couple of concerts with the
Pacific Symphony in Southern
California, Costa Mesa, we’ll be going into
the studio with my band members [The
BeachBoys]. Hopefully, we’re going to
finish up some of the things I started
many years ago. There might be a song
that pops up offFirst LoveandCountry
Love, but more likely we’d work on the
songs contained onUnleash The Love.
Can you describe a typical day
of the time you spent at Rishikesh,
India, in February 1968, alongside The
Beatles, Donovan and Mia Farrow?
William Daymond, Wellington
It would be difficult to call any day in
Rishikesh a typical day! I had my birthday
there, March 15. John, Paul, George and
Donovan all got together with their
guitars and wrote a song. It was dedicated
to Maharishi’s teacher, Guru Dev, but it
ended up being a Beach Boys-style song,
“Happy Birthday Mike Love”. George
gave me a painting of the Maharishi’s
master, painted by Maharishi’s uncle.
That was a birthday party. There was
music, fireworks, sweets and cakes! It was
anything but typical. Then there was the
timePaulMcCartneycametothebreakfast
table with his acoustic guitar playing
“Back In The USSR”…
“Warmth Of The Sun” is one of your
and Brian’s most beautiful songs.
Can you tell us about writing it?
Shireen P, via email
Usually, Brian and I would sit down at
the piano together. He would have a
melody or a chorus and we would take the
primary hand in doing concept
and lyrics. For ‘The Warmth Of
The Sun’, Brian had just moved
into his rental house, the family
home had become too intense
– living under Murry Wilson’s
rule. There was such a haunting
and emotional, almost mystical
feeling about the whole writing
session. The feeling I got was the
loss of a love. The next day, we
were woken with the news that
President Kennedy had been taken
to hospital. We recorded it about
a month later. We were so shaken
and touched by [Kennedy’s death],
I think that found its way onto the
tape recording.
Tell us a story about Al Jardine!
Keith Jones, Kent
I remember going to his mum’s house.
We were looking for extra money to rent
equipment to do our first session for the
song “Surfin’”. We actually sang “Their
Hearts Are Full Of Spring” by the Four
Freshmen – who my cousin Brian was
obsessed with – to Alan’s mother, who
opened her purse strings after hearing us
sing that song. We still do that song today.
So I think Al played a really integral part,
from the beginning, by prevailing upon
his mother. That was pretty sweet!
How did the Fat Boys collaboration
come about?
Gary Cottier, Plymouth, UK
There was a fella named Eddie Haddad –
a Hawthorne High School graduate, like
Brian, Carl, Dennis and Alan. He aspired
to a musical career, but he got more into
management. He happened to know
the Fat Boys’ manager, who was a Swiss
feller. We were in Houston and we met
the Fat Boys and their manager and said,
“Why don’t we do a rap song? We’ll do role
reversals. We’ll do the Kangol caps and
the chains and the boombox, and they’ll
do the surf boards down at the beach.”
They were so big, they sank the surfboards
into the sand! We did the art part in Times
Square. It was hilarious. It was a No 1 video
for a month solid on MTV.
Have you read Brian’s book?
Peter Sharply, Leeds
No, I haven’t. Do I intend to? I don’t think
so. I’d rather just sit and have a chat with
Brian and hang out, like we did in the old
days when we were writing together. I
haven’t seenLove&Mercy, either, but the
one thing I do know is that my character
in that film was portrayed as objecting to
some element of an instrument on “Good
Vibrations” – which is made up. I was 100
per cent positive about “Good Vibrations”.
I came up with the chorus and wrote all the
words. I was mischaracterised.
How closely was
Dennis involved with
Charles Manson?
Rick Salmon, Epsom
There were things
that were told to me
by Dennis, just before
the Manson murders
at Cielo Drive. Terry
Melcher had been
leasing that house.
He left and went to
Europe for a short
time. When he came
back, he slept in his mum’s place at Beverly
Hills – Doris Day being his mother. But
Dennis, Charlie and Terry had driven up to
that house prior to Terry departing. Dennis
tried to get Charlie a record deal, as Dennis
felt Charlie had some interesting songs. He
wrote some songs with him and, much to
Charlie’s chagrin, remodelled a song and
we did it on TV [“Never LearnNot To Love”].
One time, it was just Dennis and I in the
studio at Brian’s house. I said, “Dennis,
why are you so uptight?” He said, “I was
just out at the ranch and I saw Charlie
take an automatic and blow a
black cat” – meaning a human
being, a guy, an AfricanAmerican
fellow – “in half
and stuff him down a well.”
It was a diabolical time.
You are openly a
Trump supporter.
Are there issues you
disagree with him on?
George Faulkner, via email
I don’t have anything negative to say about
the President Of The USA. We did attend
the inauguration. That was a moving
experience. I understand there are so
many factions and fractious things going
on – the chips will fall where they may. But
Donald Trump has never been anything
but kind to us. We have known him for
many a year. We’ve performed at some of
his venues at fundraisers and so on. If he
said something that was phrased in a way
that was not so great, then like anybody
else, I’d say, “Why did he say that?” But
I’m not second-guessing him.
Did you ever meet Walt Disney during
the filming of The Monkey’s Uncle?
Shaun Phillips
I did not. But we had a lot of fun doing
that film. I remember doing the Monkey’s
Uncle – which was my form of the Monkey
– with Annette [Funicello]. I guess
we were getting down a little too
much. See, Elvis was banned in
Boston and, when he playedThe
Ed Sullivan Show, they wouldn’t
show him below the waist. We were
getting a little intense with our
monkeying for Disney!
Few artists have been
bootlegged like The Beach
Boys. Are there plans to put out
any of theSunflower sessions,
or theLandlockedor the
Adult/Childrecordings?
ZoranTuckar,Zagreb,Croatia
I have fond memories of the things
we did onSunflower. But the company
that owns our masters, they’re always
looking for ways to put out editions, so
who knows? Sure, any well-known group
had a core of people absorbed in knowing
everything about everything. The people
into the archival things, they know which
songs were recorded by the guys in the
band and which ones were recorded by the
Wrecking Crew, and so on. There’s a lot of
lore and history and technicality involved.
Has TM made you a better person?
Peter Fors, via email
It has allowed me to gain deep rest
and relaxation and given me the
energy, clarity and positivity to
go forward in life. When you’re
attacked by people… maybe
things are said about me that
I never did – absolutely myths
and fallacies – I’ve never let them
overwhelm me. It’s given me the
strength to put them in perspective.
Who was the best surfer among you?
Richard Zim, CA
I’d say Dennis. Sure, I had a board. Alan
Jardine and myself used to go surfing
in high school and afterwards. Bruce
Johnston still surfs to this day.
“I don’t have anything
negative to say about the
President Of The USA”
MIKE LOVE
Inset below: Donald
Trump, who has
“never been
anything but
kind to us”
InThe Monkey’s Uncle: (l-r) Al Jardine, Carl
Wilson, (star of film)
Annette Funicello,
Brian Wilson, Dennis
Wilson and Mike Love
The Beach Boys’ European tour dates
begin on May 18 at the Royal Albert
RB/REDFERNS; REX/SHUTTERSTOCK
Hall, London
Peadar 'Big Dinner' O'Driscoll:
Same old....guess you can't really expect a 76 year old guy to come out with anything new at this point in his career but would think a magazine of the calibre of Uncut would get a few better questions in. Good to hear the Beatles 68 story FOR THE VERY VERY FIRST TIME ;D
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