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Author Topic: 2014 Ernie Knapp Interview (1981-82 Beach Boys Touring Bass Player)  (Read 10877 times)
Ian
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« Reply #25 on: June 06, 2019, 07:56:21 AM »

Friday show was taped April 3 1980
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HeyJude
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« Reply #26 on: June 06, 2019, 08:11:18 AM »

Friday show was taped April 3 1980

As far as I remember, Dennis was very much still on the outs as of April, and didn't return to the fold until the European tour in June. So I'm curious why they would have had a drum and separate percussion set up for the Friday's show unless they planned on either Dennis or another drummer being there, and/or someone else being there as a percussionist backing Bobby. But I don't recall any percussionists or drummers playing with the band in 1980 other than Dennis and Bobby. Kowalski didn't re-enter the picture until late 1981 apparently.

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c-man
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« Reply #27 on: June 06, 2019, 08:24:32 AM »

I highly, highly doubt they did any gigs in '81-'82 without a percussionist/backup drummer...in fact, probably not since the early '70s. They always did a few songs without Dennis, either because he refused to play them, or because they felt a different skill level was needed for those tunes. At the 7/5/81 Long Beach show, I think there were only two songs performed without Dennis ("Lady Lynda" and "Long Tall Texan"), plus they did one with Dennis on piano ("Help Me, Rhonda"). But even more than that, they would've needed a backup in case Dennis was too blitzed to play - which, even with bodyguards protecting him from himself, still obviously happened fairly often (read Ian's book).

On the other hand, Bruce once told me about how HE had to jump behind the drum kit mid-song at one show in Lake Tahoe, because Karen Lamm was in the audience flipping her middle finger at Dennis, who then abandoned the drums to dive into the audience after her. Surprised that Bobby or Mike K. didn't, but Bruce said he did.

There were definitely a few songs on even the 1980 tour, after Dennis rejoined, that he didn't play, including "Lady Lynda", "Keepin' the Summer Alive", "Cottonfields/Heroes and Villains", and of course "Rhonda" in order to play piano.

Certainly, "KTSA" and probably "Lynda" were songs they needed more elaborate drumming on (especially the former), so that explains those.

Dennis, by 79/80 especially, needed a backup at the ready. I was just curious how quickly Kowalski was brought in once Figueroa was out. It makes sense that it would probably be right away.

A weird side note on the "Dennis's backup" thing I've always been curious about is the band's appearance on "Friday's" in 1980. I believe they taped it in March, while Dennis was still kicked out of the band. But weirdly, they still have Bobby Figueroa's percussion set up even though it wasn't used because Bobby drummed on all three songs. Were they planning at some point for Dennis to make a one-time appearance? It makes even less sense because even if he had been present, he probably wouldn't have drummed on two of the three songs, since they were new album songs. Did the band ever bring on a second percussionist for that year or so between mid-1979 and mid-1980 when Dennis was out and Bobby drummed full time? Did they even have a percussion set-up on stage during that time?

To answer the last part - yes, at least in part...they had the tympani set up for roadie Tony Leo (and later a young Matt Jardine) to run out and pound toward the end of "Wouldn't It Be Nice".
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All Summer Long
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« Reply #28 on: June 06, 2019, 07:07:21 PM »

I highly, highly doubt they did any gigs in '81-'82 without a percussionist/backup drummer...in fact, probably not since the early '70s. They always did a few songs without Dennis, either because he refused to play them, or because they felt a different skill level was needed for those tunes. At the 7/5/81 Long Beach show, I think there were only two songs performed without Dennis ("Lady Lynda" and "Long Tall Texan"), plus they did one with Dennis on piano ("Help Me, Rhonda"). But even more than that, they would've needed a backup in case Dennis was too blitzed to play - which, even with bodyguards protecting him from himself, still obviously happened fairly often (read Ian's book).

On the other hand, Bruce once told me about how HE had to jump behind the drum kit mid-song at one show in Lake Tahoe, because Karen Lamm was in the audience flipping her middle finger at Dennis, who then abandoned the drums to dive into the audience after her. Surprised that Bobby or Mike K. didn't, but Bruce said he did.

There were definitely a few songs on even the 1980 tour, after Dennis rejoined, that he didn't play, including "Lady Lynda", "Keepin' the Summer Alive", "Cottonfields/Heroes and Villains", and of course "Rhonda" in order to play piano.

Certainly, "KTSA" and probably "Lynda" were songs they needed more elaborate drumming on (especially the former), so that explains those.

Dennis, by 79/80 especially, needed a backup at the ready. I was just curious how quickly Kowalski was brought in once Figueroa was out. It makes sense that it would probably be right away.

A weird side note on the "Dennis's backup" thing I've always been curious about is the band's appearance on "Friday's" in 1980. I believe they taped it in March, while Dennis was still kicked out of the band. But weirdly, they still have Bobby Figueroa's percussion set up even though it wasn't used because Bobby drummed on all three songs. Were they planning at some point for Dennis to make a one-time appearance? It makes even less sense because even if he had been present, he probably wouldn't have drummed on two of the three songs, since they were new album songs. Did the band ever bring on a second percussionist for that year or so between mid-1979 and mid-1980 when Dennis was out and Bobby drummed full time? Did they even have a percussion set-up on stage during that time?

To answer the last part - yes, at least in part...they had the tympani set up for roadie Tony Leo (and later a young Matt Jardine) to run out and pound toward the end of "Wouldn't It Be Nice".

I was going to say I remember c-man talking about Tony Leo playing on WIBN in this time.
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HeyJude
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« Reply #29 on: June 07, 2019, 07:51:35 AM »

I suppose keeping the percussion set up on stage even when Bobby was drumming full-time could well be explained by someone coming up to add the tympani on WIBN. But it sounds like Tony Leo (nor Matt Jardine) were actual full-time backup percussionists. So it's sounding like during that year-ish gap between May 1979 and June 1980, Bobby didn't have a regular percussionist backing him (in the same fashion that Bobby was percussionist under Dennis).
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« Reply #30 on: June 07, 2019, 05:09:29 PM »

I suppose keeping the percussion set up on stage even when Bobby was drumming full-time could well be explained by someone coming up to add the tympani on WIBN. But it sounds like Tony Leo (nor Matt Jardine) were actual full-time backup percussionists. So it's sounding like during that year-ish gap between May 1979 and June 1980, Bobby didn't have a regular percussionist backing him (in the same fashion that Bobby was percussionist under Dennis).

Is it possible Tony Leo and/or Matt Jardine (because I don’t know when Matt began working on the road with the BBs) played for the entire show?
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« Reply #31 on: June 08, 2019, 07:19:00 AM »

I suppose keeping the percussion set up on stage even when Bobby was drumming full-time could well be explained by someone coming up to add the tympani on WIBN. But it sounds like Tony Leo (nor Matt Jardine) were actual full-time backup percussionists. So it's sounding like during that year-ish gap between May 1979 and June 1980, Bobby didn't have a regular percussionist backing him (in the same fashion that Bobby was percussionist under Dennis).

Is it possible Tony Leo and/or Matt Jardine (because I don’t know when Matt began working on the road with the BBs) played for the entire show?

No. Not the Dennis-less shows I saw in '79 and '82, and not according to an ESQ interview with Matt. There are also lots of still photos and a bit of video from those days, all depicting Bobby or Mike K. on the drums with no auxiliary percussionist. They probably kept the tympani onstage expressly for the ending of "WIBN" (although there's also a 1980 stage shot of Brian playing it). Maybe they kept the rest of the percussion rig onstage in case Dennis happened to show up, sober enough to play the gig, in which case Bobby or Mike K. would move over for him.
« Last Edit: June 08, 2019, 07:34:21 AM by c-man » Logged
Jay
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« Reply #32 on: June 08, 2019, 11:35:06 AM »

I really want to see that picture of Brian playing the tympani.  Grin
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All Summer Long
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« Reply #33 on: June 08, 2019, 08:59:31 PM »

I suppose keeping the percussion set up on stage even when Bobby was drumming full-time could well be explained by someone coming up to add the tympani on WIBN. But it sounds like Tony Leo (nor Matt Jardine) were actual full-time backup percussionists. So it's sounding like during that year-ish gap between May 1979 and June 1980, Bobby didn't have a regular percussionist backing him (in the same fashion that Bobby was percussionist under Dennis).

Is it possible Tony Leo and/or Matt Jardine (because I don’t know when Matt began working on the road with the BBs) played for the entire show?

No. Not the Dennis-less shows I saw in '79 and '82, and not according to an ESQ interview with Matt. There are also lots of still photos and a bit of video from those days, all depicting Bobby or Mike K. on the drums with no auxiliary percussionist. They probably kept the tympani onstage expressly for the ending of "WIBN" (although there's also a 1980 stage shot of Brian playing it). Maybe they kept the rest of the percussion rig onstage in case Dennis happened to show up, sober enough to play the gig, in which case Bobby or Mike K. would move over for him.

I stand corrected.  Wink

I really want to see that picture of Brian playing the tympani.  Grin
Me too!
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Jay
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« Reply #34 on: June 08, 2019, 11:52:55 PM »

I've never known Brian to play anything other than bass guitar or piano/keyboards during a concert.
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« Reply #35 on: June 09, 2019, 12:58:02 PM »

I've never known Brian to play anything other than bass guitar or piano/keyboards during a concert.

For all I know, it could have been the soundcheck, or maybe him just fooling around while walking on or off stage. On the other hand, he could have maybe played it on something like "Santa Ana Winds", where he likely wasn't doing anything else for the song, or possibly even "WIBN", if Tony Leo was unavailable for his normal moment of onstage glory. Someday I'll find it, scan it, and post it here.
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« Reply #36 on: June 10, 2019, 06:43:46 AM »

I've never known Brian to play anything other than bass guitar or piano/keyboards during a concert.

I think the idea is that if there's a pic out there of Brian playing a tympani, it's not an indication that he was a regular percussionist during any shows. It would just a random case where he played them during a song.

The band played many, many shows during the late 70s and early 80s (and most other eras of course), so I'm sure there a bunch of weird one-off things that happened on stage. David Marks popped up at shows during the 80s and 90s. Guests were called up on stage. Mike played percussion with Bobby Figueroa. Bruce played drums on a song. "God Only Knows" got passed around from Brian to Bruce to Jeff Foskett all *during* one performance of the song because nobody could sing it. I've seen pics of Mike in 1978/79 singing an entire show with *no* hat.

I'm sure we'd all be skeptical that *Mike* sang "Good Timin'" live on TV in 1979 if reports and footage didn't exist.

Brian was doing this in 1978:



So even in a more subdued state in 1979/80, I could imagine him tooling around on a tympani on a song.
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« Reply #37 on: June 10, 2019, 02:55:35 PM »

I've never known Brian to play anything other than bass guitar or piano/keyboards during a concert.

In the early days, when it was just the five of them, didn't Brian play drums when the hard-working drummer came up to sing The Wanderer?
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« Reply #38 on: June 10, 2019, 07:34:59 PM »

I've never known Brian to play anything other than bass guitar or piano/keyboards during a concert.

In the early days, when it was just the five of them, didn't Brian play drums when the hard-working drummer came up to sing The Wanderer?

Yes and Jon Stebbins has said that when Brian wasn’t there, David Marks played drums.
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« Reply #39 on: September 08, 2021, 12:15:34 PM »

Following up on this a million years later, I just recently stumbled across (or re-stumbled across) a local news station clip featuring the BB's 1982 Jack Murphy Stadium gig (May 2, 1982). I grabbed a few screencaps. It does confirm that Ernie Knapp was there on bass for at least that one gig once Carl returned "full time":





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