The Beach Boy's Back In Town

Awaiting the phone call from Brian Wilson I’m reminded of the scene in Apocalypse Now where Martin Sheen’s Captain Willard reflects on his forthcoming confrontation with the renegade US officer Col. Kurtz, a man whose methods, according to the CIA, “have become unsound”. The same has been said of Brian Wilson, the creative genius who founded the Beach Boys in the early ’60s. Wilson penned some of the finest music of the 20th Century, influencing The Beatles among countless others, before succumbing to a combination of stage-fright, depression and substance abuse, particularly LSD, that eventually led to his dismissal by his fellow band members in 1982. Prior to his departure he had suffered frequent mental breakdowns and cataclysmic food and drug binges, as well as the death of his father Murry in 1973 and the break-up of his marriage in 1978.

In 1984 Wilson, now living as a virtual recluse and making no music whatever, was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and a manic depressive. Overweight, incoherent and alone, it was a far cry from the boy genius who had written such timeless classics as ‘Good Vibrations’, ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ and ‘God Only Knows’. Like Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett and Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green, Wilson looked set to become one of popular music’s lost souls. Sightings of him were rare though rumours of his erratic behavior were rife. It was said that he had built a sandbox in his studio in which he placed his piano, in order to feel closer to the sea.

Brian Wilson first met the psychologist Dr. Eugene Landy in the 1970s, but it was the mid ’80s before Landy’s discipline of excercise, diet and therapy began to pay dividends. Though the pair have since parted company, Landy being ordered by US courts to stay away from Wilson, the psychologist can be credited for encouraging Wilson to produce the 1988 album Brian Wilson. That album, his first in over a decade, was well received by the critics but didn’t enjoy chart success, peaking at No. 50, despite the appeal of the Beach Boy-esque ‘Love And Mercy’ and the Phil Spector-like ‘Little Children’.

Wilson continued to write and record, occasionally contributing to friends’ projects like Van Dyke Park’s Orange Crate Art album or singing with daughters Carnie and Wendy on The Wilsons. In 1995 he re-married and in 1998 released the album Imagination, hailed as an epic return to form. The subsequent world tour with backing group The Wondermints has seen Wilson perform to sell-out crowds as well as being joined on-stage by luminaries such as Neil Young, REM’s Peter Buck, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Sheryl Crow and Ex-Pumpkin Billy Corgan. On February 1st he brings his show to the Point Theatre.

On the other end of the phone, his assistant informs me that Mr Wilson is somewhat tired and can only speak for 15 minutes. He then passes the phone to Brian Wilson whose voice is soft and almost shy as he answers some questions hesitantly, at other times becoming almost elated.

STEPHEN ROBINSON: Are you enjoying the experience of touring?

BRIAN WILSON: I am, I really am. And I never thought it could be this much fun until just this year.

SR: You’ve been joined on stage by some of the biggest names in music who hail you as an influence. Do you enjoy the fact that you’ve been an inspiration to other artists?

BW: Yes, I do.

SR: What kind of music influenced the young Brian Wilson?

BW: Chuck Berry was my idol. That whole Rock ‘n’ Roll thing with the boogie guitar, that was great. I used that sound in the early Beach Boy’s songs and also some of Phil Spector’s ideas and sounds. There’s some Four Freshmen in there too. It was really just a combination of those different influences that gave the Beach Boys their unique style. And it was fantastic when people said it was like nothing they had ever heard before.

SR: Do you believe that The Beach Boy’s were the archetypal American band?

BW: Well, at the time we were just having fun. But in terms of the sound it seemed to me to be important to preserve our own style. I liked a lot of other bands but I was conscious that I didn’t want to sound like anyone else. I wanted to be unique.

SR: You wrote Pet Sounds, now regarded as probably the finest popular album ever made. Can you tell me a little bit about making the album?

BW: I thought it was time that we introduced some more emotion into our music, I wanted to go deeper. It was a time for expanding and exploring, to try to get some new stuff going. And with studio techniques too. I also looked into myself in order to expand lyrically, to make social statements.

SR: It was after Pet Sounds that you began to experience problems in your personal life. Was that to do with the pressures you felt to better that album?

BW: It was a very crazy time and I think the sane part of me was writing the music but the crazy part of me suffered. I was obsessed by the competition, I felt the need to be better than other groups of that time, and to preserve a unique sound and vision. Basically I wanted to beat the Beatles and I felt very competitive about that. And I knew that I was producing music that was as good and even better in my mind but it was a crazy situation and I felt possessed by a drive to be better than anyone else. And I love the Beatles and I was sad to hear about the passing of George Harrison. We didn’t talk very often but we had a good time when we talked. But the reason I stopped touring was to concentrate on writing music in the studio that was as good as it could be and it would be ready for my brothers and my cousin and my friend when they came off the road. All they would have to add were their voices. And I had to make a decision as to whether or not I was going to tour or stay at home and write.

SR: There was a long period of time in the ’70s and ’80s when you weren’t releasing any music whatever. Can you talk about the reasons behind that?

BW: Well, I was having some problems in my mind that made it difficult to focus on writing, on creating good music. I just couldn’t get any songs written. But I can’t talk about that period in my life because it was a very unhappy time for me. I don’t like to remember that period. I’d like to move on.

SR: What sort of music do you listen to for pleasure?

BW: I enjoy listening to music, Dave Lee Roth, Phil Spector. Mostly Phil Spector because of the record ‘Be My Baby’. I learned a lot from that record. The echo on the drums, the way he mixes the guitars and the piano, that taught me how to make those kinds of records. But I don’t think you have to create music yourself in order to be affected by it. I think everybody hears music in the same way.

SR: While many people might believe that a degree of emotional pain is necessary in order to create music, the opposite seems to be true in your case. Your latest album Imagination was written shortly after your marriage to Melinda and your subsequent adoption of two children. Has becoming more emotionally secure inspired your creativity?

BW: Creativity can occur in the presence of emotional security. Security keeps you cool and then you can go ahead and create music which is pretty fantastic. But it’s up to the person themselves not to let outside influences hurt them. And my manager is a great help and encourages me in the right direction with a little push from time to time. But I don’t hear the music in my head, I only hear it when I’m at the piano or in the studio. So we work to a schedule in the studio and operate to a carefully mapped-out plan.

SR: You’ve also returned to writing lyrics. Do you find that a different discipline to writing music?

BW: I like writing lyrics. I’ve got this new song

now called ‘How Can We Be Dancing After All These Years’ which goes on “How can we be dancing after all these tears/ Hey everybody, won’t you help to make the season bright”. I like that one.

SR: Will we hear that song when you visit Dublin?

BW: Yeah, maybe. But we’re also doing a lot of older stuff, from Pet Sounds and other earlier songs ’cos that’s what people like to hear I guess. I heard my band The Wondermints play Beach Boys’ songs and asked them to come on tour with me because they sounded so good. I’m looking forward to playing in Dublin. It’s going to be a fun show.