Brian Wilson, who will perform at the Chevrolet Theatre (formerly the Oakdale) on Aug. 17, is one of the greatest popular music talents of our time. A notorious recluse during a long period after the Beach Boys reached the heights of fame in the early and mid-1960s, he has been the subject of many comeback rumors over the last three decades. But his recent completion of Smile and his current world tour validates that he is truly back. Wilson recently performed at the Live 8 concert in Berlin and will be releasing a Christmas CD in October.
I also found him to be a sweetheart of a man. Our original interview date was postponed after my 2-year-old daughter dislocated her arm. When we reconnected, the first words Wilson uttered were, “How’s little Victoria doing?” We’ve been thinking about her over here, and I tried to send some good karma across the ocean to her.” I caught up with Wilson by phone from Madrid, where he was in the middle of the European leg of his current Smile tour.
Hartford Magazine: Looking back, it was a pretty good move to spend your meal money on renting instruments when your parents were out of town on Labor Day weekend in 1961.
Brian Wilson: Yes, because we wrote a song called “Surfin’,” and the rest, as they say, is history.
Your brother Dennis said the biggest high he ever had was when you all heard your record “Surfin’” played for the very first time on the radio. He said that nothing could ever top the expression on your face at that moment.
Yes, I was thrilled to death.
Did the competitive environment that existed in the studio during the early years between you and your father, Murry in some way prepare you for the “production race” with the Beatles in the later years?
Yes, my dad built a fire under my ass to get me going on making some good music.
You once said that you found “it possible to spill beautiful melodies in moments of great despair.” On the evening of the day of President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 you were inspired to go into the studio to produce one of your most beautiful songs, “The Warmth of the Sun.”
Well, I felt really bad about JFK, we all did. So, I wrote that song on his behalf. I thought people would identify with that song.
Early in 1965 you decided to stop touring to focus on the recording studio. At this time your musical arrangements became much more complex. What inspired that change?
Well, I wanted to grow and better my music. I heard the Beatles’ album Rubber Soul and it turned me on. I wanted to make a great album.
Your ideas on vocals changed at that time. You were quoted as saying “I love the human voice for its own sake, but I can treat it with some detachment, and make it another musical instrument.” What was the philosophy behind that?
Well, when you sing one note, and then put another note, the same note, on top of it, it gives you the sound I was after. The vocal then sounds like an instrument.
You mention sound, Phil Spector was a huge influence on you at that time. What was it about his studio process that made such an impression on you?
He taught me a lot about recording. I liked his drums and the echo of his guitars.
Bob Dylan said “Brian Wilson, that ear, he’s got to will it to the Smithsonian.” You’re almost completely deaf in your right ear. How were you able to overcome that?
Well, I can hear really, really, really good with my left ear!
You’ve said that “California Girls” represents the Beach Boys’ greatest recording, and that the introduction to that song is the favorite piece of music you’ve ever written. I understand you wrote that in a half-hour?
Yes, it took us a half-hour to write that one. I started playing the chords and got the melody in 15 minutes, and we got the lyrics in 15 minutes too.
In 1990 Paul McCartney said of your 1966 album, Pet Sounds: “I just bought each of my kids a copy for their education in life. I figured no one is educated musically until they have heard that album.” That has to be the highest praise.
It sure is, and the album deserves it too.
Given the intertwined history of the Beach Boys and the Beatles, is it any wonder that you and Paul were born only two days apart?
Well, we’re very close. He and I are very close friends now.
You went from making the perfect album in Pet Sounds to making the perfect single with “Good Vibrations.” You called “Good Vibrations” a pocket symphony, explain that.
Well, there are like six or seven different sections to it. It makes it almost like a symphony.
Speaking of symphonies, with Smile you said you wanted to make a “teenage symphony to God.” What did you mean by that?
That is the essence of Smile. We wanted to make a symphony to God, to make people happy and jovial.
You think laughter is important, don’t you?
Laughter is good in life. It feels good to laugh.
Tell us about the sandbox you brought into your house during the Smile sessions and the recordings that came out of that.
Well, we put a sandbox in my dining room, and we sat at the piano with bare feet in the sand. We wrote “Heroes and Villains,” and “Surf’s Up” and songs like that. The sand gave us the feeling of being on the beach, which inspired us spiritually.
Composer Leonard Bernstein, who was very complimentary of your work, once said, “Maybe five percent of pop music is good, the rest is trash.” What do you think of pop music today? Does anybody impress you currently?
No. In fact I’m sorry to say that, but hardly anybody at all.
Your brother Dennis said “Smile is so good it makes Pet Sounds stink.”
Well, I agree with that. I think Pet Sounds was not quite as good as Smile.
Ultimately, Smile wasn’t released for a number of reasons back in 1967. What was the primary reason it never came out?
Because it was too advanced for people, too ahead of its time.
You once said: “Finish Smile? You might as well try to raise the Titanic.” The re-recording of Smile was incredibly courageous on your part. Was it a healing process for you to go back and finish that material?
It was therapy for me, it was a healing process. It was therapy, and I’m glad we finished it.
On Feb. 20, 2004, you played Smile in its entirety at London’s Royal Festival Hall in front of a live audience for the very first time. What was that moment like?
Well, when I first got to the theater I was very, very nervous. But then Paul McCartney came backstage to visit me at intermission. He told me he loved it, and that made me feel good.
You’ve said “Music takes away fear, it adds strength, it is life supporting.” Do you still live by that today?
It sure does, and I sure do.
The genius label, as it applies to you, is undoubtedly deserved, but has it been a burden at any point over the years?
No, I’m very proud to be a genius. I really am.
Tom Petty said, “I don’t think it would be out of line comparing Brian Wilson to Beethoven, or to any great composer for that matter. I know that his music is good as any music you can possibly make.”
I think that’s possibly true, and I think it’s nice of him to say that.
Elvis Costello said that he recently heard “Don’t Talk, Put Your Head on my Shoulder” played on the cello, and that it sounded just as beautiful and sad as it does on the record. He said that this was proof that if all the record players in the world broke tomorrow your songs could still be heard hundreds of years from now.
I agree with that. These songs are good enough to be around for a long time. It feels good to know after I’m dead and gone, that the music will live on for many years.
Are there any plans for you to get back in the studio after the current tour?
Yes, I think in September or October we might begin making another album.
Your current band (the Brian Wilson Band) is fantastic both in their playing and harmonizing. How did you come across them?
I met them in a nightclub in 1997, and they were playing Beach Boys songs. After the show I told them that I’d like them to be my backup band and they said yes.
You will appear at the Chevrolet Theatre here in Wallingford, CT on Aug. 17. In addition to playing Smile in its entirety, will there be any surprises in store for your fans that night?
Maybe, I can’t tell you what they are though. You’ll just have to come out [laughs].

HM vice president and general manager Chris Renstrom, who is nearly as passionate about pop music as he is about sports, wrote the cover story on Mick Fleetwood and Fleetwood Mac for HM’s June 2004 issue.

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