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Author Topic: Brian Wilson Band personnel question  (Read 2007 times)
voxnut
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« on: February 21, 2007, 10:30:52 PM »

Hey all-

I kinda came late to the party. I was aware of Brian touring again from '99-on, but for various reasons I didn't feel compelled to see him until the Smile tour. I was nosing around and didn't realize that in the beginning Mike D'Amico was part of the band. If it's not a taboo subject, does anyone know when he quit and why and what he's up to nowadays? Is there any talk of the Wondermints doing anything again or has that train left the station?

Thanks-
Dean
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chris.metcalfe
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« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2007, 03:45:33 AM »

He wrote some of the best songs on 'Mind if we make love to you'. Would be a shame if he and the band are no more (figuratively speaking).

I thought the party line was that he went to spend more time with his family. I suspect they thought Nelson was a more dynamic stage presence, which he certainly was!
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Jim McShane
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« Reply #2 on: February 22, 2007, 05:37:41 AM »

He wrote some of the best songs on 'Mind if we make love to you'. Would be a shame if he and the band are no more (figuratively speaking).

I thought the party line was that he went to spend more time with his family. I suspect they thought Nelson was a more dynamic stage presence, which he certainly was!

Mike D'Amico lives in Florida, and did leave due to personal issues. He has a young child and he felt he needed to be home more after his child was born.  And living in Florida made rehearsing a big problem too. That was why he stopped touring with BW, there was nothing sinister about it at all that I'm aware of.

Mike is a very accomplished musician, and even more versatile than Nelson in that he also plays guitar and bass as well as all the percussion. As far as stage presence, while he's not quite as animated as Nelson I've also heard him described as the "cute one". So he seems to have some special appeal to some of the women in the audience.

Watch the "Pet Sounds Live" DVD, and you can see a great example of how good Mike was on percussion. In the video the clip of the song "Pet Sounds" was shot when Andy Paley was touring in Mike's spot. For less complex/energetic/demanding percussion Andy did fine. But Scott Bennett had to take the second percussion part (is there anything he can't do, the guy is amazing!) in "Pet Sounds" - whereas Mike handled it very well when he was with the band.

I agree with the second post, he wrote some great songs - Cellophane (from "Bali") and the trio of songs from MIWMLTY are great too - I love "Something I Knew". As far as the 'Mints doing more work together - boy, I hope so! But Darian was quoted as saying the the 'Mints currently "exist more as a concept", I guess that means they simply can't get their own stuff done with all the other work with BW and Darian's work with Disney complicating the 3000 mile distance between band members.
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voxnut
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« Reply #3 on: February 22, 2007, 07:56:39 AM »

Thanks for the reply. I always sort of feel awkward when asking about lineup changes within a band, because I'm afraid that there is some unspoken element about looking for juicy gossip, but it's more of a natural curiosity of how/why things developed the way they did. I didn't know if Mike left to pursue his own music or got tired or touring, or what, so I was just curious.

It would be interesting to see if the 'mints do something more in the future. Regarding Nelson, I was nosing around on the links on the BW Myspace page and there are links to the other projects they've been involved in and Nelson's solo record sounds like it's worth getting. He also plays drums in a band with Robbie Rist (the name of the band escapes me) that seem to be a pretty good, straightforward power pop band.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to reply-
Dean
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Wilsonista
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« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2007, 12:51:08 PM »

are in a band called The Mockers.

http://www.myspace.com/themockers


Insanely great pop-punk.  Rist is tragically underrated as a musical talent.
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adamghost
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« Reply #5 on: February 22, 2007, 12:55:17 PM »

Robbie just got a ton of ink in this month's SPIN...check it out.  The vibe of the article is ever so slightly snarky, but he does get his due as a musician.

To my knowledge, there was nothing sinister whatsoever about Mike's departure, but I do think him living in Florida is one of the impediments to more Wondermints stuff coming out.  They don't want to do anything without him.
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