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Artist News
Mike Love denies firing Brian Wilson from reunited Beach Boys
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 9 October 2012
Mike Love has denied recent reports that he “fired” the other remaining original members of the Beach Boys in order to tour with the incarnation he had been working with prior to the recent 50th anniversary reunion.
As previously reported, both Al Jardine and Brian Wilson have expressed disappointment that Love plans to continue touring with the more recent line up of the band now that the original line-up reunion tour for the 50th anniversary is complete. In fact, Jardine has been asking fans to sign a petition against the move, accusing Love of opting to go back to a “money-saving, stripped-down version” of the band. Meanwhile Wilson told CNN: “I’m disappointed and can’t understand why Mike doesn’t want to tour with Al and me. After all, we are the real Beach Boys”.
But in an editorial for the LA Times, Love wrote: “Let me get right to it: 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”.
However, he continued, “This tour was always envisioned as a limited run … Brian, Al and I signed an agreement outlining the beginning and end of the tour. Then, thanks to glowing reviews, the support of our loyal fans (and the prodding of promoters), we amended our agreement to add 25 more dates. As the year went on, Brian and Al wanted to keep the 50th anniversary tour going beyond the 75 dates”.
“Like any good party, no one wanted it to end. However, that was impossible, given that we had already set up shows in smaller cities with a different configuration of the band – the configuration that had been touring together every year for the last thirteen years. Brian and Al would not be joining for these small market dates, as was long agreed upon”.
Returning to his other line-up of The Beach boys was therefore a business necessity he said: “It is not feasible, both logistically and economically, for the 50th anniversary tour to play these markets. It’s vitally important for the smaller markets to experience our live shows, as this is how we’ve maintained a loyal fan base for 50 years. You can’t sustain a fan base on a great catalogue alone. You must take your music directly to the people”.
He concluded by saying that, while the reunion tour has been an amazing experience, “The Beach Boys are bigger than those who created it”. That said, there doesn’t seem to be any suggestion that he might drop out of the touring line-up any time soon.
