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Artist News
Brian Wilson responds to Mike Love: “It sort of feels like we’re being fired”
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 11 October 2012
Brian Wilson has responded to Mike Love’s recent editorial in the LA Times with, hey, an editorial in the LA Times. What fun.
As previously reported, Love last week addressed rumours that he had fired Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and David Marks from the reunited Beach Boys in order to tour with his other founder-member-lite version of the group. He wrote: “I did not fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I cannot fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I am not his employer. I do not have such authority. And even if I did, I would never fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I love Brian Wilson. We are partners. He’s my cousin by birth and my brother in music”.
But, he added, a series of smaller shows had long been booked in for the other incarnation of The Beach Boys, who he has been continually touring with over the years, and those commitments necessitated the end of the 50th anniversary reunion tour that had involved other founder members. Taking that line-up to such smaller venues wasn’t viable, he added, concluding: “Like any good party, no one wanted it [the 50th anniversary tour] to end. However, that was impossible, given that we had already set up shows in smaller cities with a different configuration of the band … It is not feasible, both logistically and economically, for the 50th anniversary tour to play these markets”.
In his response, Wilson wrote in the LA Times: “As far as I know I can’t be fired – that wouldn’t be cool. [But] what’s confusing is that, by Mike not wanting or letting Al, David and me tour with the band, it sort of feels like we’re being fired”.
He continued: “Mike kept saying throughout the tour, ‘The whole is greater than the sum of its parts’, and both Al and I agree, which made us all think that he wanted to continue. We originally started out with 50 shows, but the success and the demand kept growing and we obliged. No one knew in the beginning that this was going to be so rewarding and popular with our fans. Once we got cooking we were all stoked!”
Claiming that Love’s alternative Beach Boys tour meant the original-member-line-up had had to turn down shows at the likes of Madison Square Garden and The Hollywood Bowl, as well as a return to the UK, Wilson adds that he and Jardine are of the opinion that the fans get a better show when they are involved.
He concluded: “It’s Al and my opinion that all of us together makes for a great representation of The Beach Boys. While I appreciate the nice cool things Mike said about me in his letter, and I do and always will love him as my cousin and bandmate, at the same time I’m still left wondering why he doesn’t want to continue this great trip we’re on. Al and I want to keep going because we believe we owe it to the music”.
