Talk about ‘Heroes and Villains’! Upon wrapping up their mammoth world tour and celebration of their 50th anniversary with a nostalgic retrospective at the Los Angeles Grammy Museum, one of music’s most celebrated bands of all time, the Beach Boys, have delivered conflicting reports on their future.
Notorious for tumultuous relationships between surviving members, the Californian icons have lived up o their reputation, as the future of the group remains uncertain.
Rolling Stone reports that following a Q&A session, that included a performance of classic hits including ‘Surfer Girl’ and ‘I Get Around’ amongst others, founding member Al Jardine went on record to say that the current incarnation of the group is “the real deal.”
Chief songwriter, Brian Wilson, backed up these claims announcing that he “wouldn’t mind getting together with the guys and making an exciting rock and roll album”, following up the success of June’s That’s Why God Made The Radio.
Meanwhile, original member Mike Love kept his lips sealed, before announcing the morning after his own plans to continue the Beach Boys tour, sans the boys.
Love, who legally controls the Beach Boys name, vowed to conduct his own tour, refusing to extend an invite to other co-founders of the recently reformed group, The LA Times reports.
Love, who has penned some of the group’s most enduring hits such as ‘Good Vibrations’ and ‘Kokomo’, maintained that he is being “protective” of the Beach Boys legacy.
“You’ve got to be careful to get overexposed”, Love says. In a curious application of this philosophy, Love has only carried over one original member of the group – Bruce Johnson – for the tour, despite retaining their iconic namesake.
Confusing not only the other members of the Beach Boys, but also Texan venue Nutty Jerry’s – who have since cancelled an upcoming Beach Boys show upon realising that it was Love’s incarnation, rather than the currently touring line-up which contains all surviving original members.
Wilson’s manager, Jean Sievers, told The LA Times that “Brian is very bummed” about his cousin’s attempts to once again splinter the Beach Boys name. While Wilson was enthused to be on the road again exclaiming “this reunion is blowing my mind” and that he would “continue touring with the Beach Boys indefinitely”, his cousin Love was less enthusiastic.
“The 50th Reunion tour was designed to be a set tour with a beginning and an end” stated Love before declaring how much he was looking “forward to performing live for Beach Boys fans everywhere” with his updated incarnation.
The news of their continuing inner turmoil comes only weeks after the Australian leg of their reunion tour.
As our Tone Deaf reviewer reported of the group’s successful Adelaide show, that “for a group that has had their fair share of drama, it was a delight after all this time to see the five members on stage visibly enjoying each other’s company and clearly on tour for all the right reasons.”
This loving family presented to punters was apparently all a façade, as Love seems set on continuing a legacy of mistrust and deceit amongst his former teenage companions.
