{"id":495489,"date":"2026-02-28T11:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T11:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/495489\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T11:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T11:12:11","slug":"beach-boys-love-you-gets-live-premiere-in-l-a-with-al-jardine-band","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/495489\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Beach Boys Love You’ Gets Live Premiere in L.A. With Al Jardine Band"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIs the 1977 album \u201cThe Beach Boys<\/a> Love You\u201d a classic and essential part of this great American band\u2019s catalog, or a lark? It\u2019s so different from virtually every other album the group ever recorded over a nearly 50-year period, there will always be some split over that \u2014 maybe even internally, because even core member Al Jardine<\/a> says he wasn\u2019t that high on the record until relatively recently. But it\u2019s fair to say that if you are really, really, really into the recorded output of Brian Wilson<\/a>, there\u2019s an outstanding chance you have consumed whatever Kool-Aid is necessary to have joined the choir of fans who have been singing the praises of \u201cLove You\u201d ever since it came out and flopped. <\/p>\n

\n\tNow, it\u2019s getting its due and then some. Al Jardine and the Pet Sounds Band \u2014 which is essentially the group that toured with Brian Wilson as a solo artist for many years \u2014 have been doing tour dates where they\u2019ve performed most of the \u201cLove You\u201d album live. On Friday night, for the very first time ever, the ensemble will play the entire record, not leaving out a single track. Anyone who has heard them perform any of this material live will know it\u2019s well worth the pilgrimage\u2026 as is any set of theirs that\u2019s mostly limited to the core canon, given how faithfully they have been bringing any Brian song to full-fleshed life for decades before and months since the pop genius\u2019 death.<\/p>\n

\n\tBefore a different SoCal show recently, Variety caught up backstage with Jardine and one of the key architects of the Brian Wilson\/Pet Sounds Band, Darian Sahanaja<\/a>, who was known as a member of the L.A. group the Wondermints before he began training virtually all his passion onto the Wilson ouevre. Following is an edited version of that conversation.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the meantime, for anyone reading this before Friday night\u2019s show, it takes place at the United Theater on Broadway in downtown L.A. at 8 p.m. Tickets can be found here<\/a>. For an itinerary of other upcoming shows, in which a good chunk of \u201cLove You\u201d might still be played, check here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t(For those who can\u2019t make it to a show \u2014 or those who can \u2014 there is also a new boxed set out from UMe that focuses on the \u201cLove You\u201d album and its outtakes, along with material from right before and after that project. Read more about that collection in Variety\u2018s previous coverage here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\n\tAl Jardine: We should bring in some of the fellas in the band, because it\u2019s fascinating from their point of view. They\u2019re the ones that talked me into doing this \u201cLove You\u201d album. It\u2019s a pretty big deal. They call Darian the librarian. He\u2019s got all this stuff in the back of his head, and he wanted to do this in a bad way. And I thought it was a great way to put the band back together, after Brian passed. Well, even before Brian passed, we\u2019d been trying to get the band back together.<\/p>\n

\n\tDid it help, in reforming Brian\u2019s band, to have kind of an excuse to do something different than what you were doing when he was around?<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: Yeah, it gave us a focus a priority, this long-awaited completion of the idea to do the \u201cLove You\u201d album and bring it to the forefront of our activity, musically. The band hadn\u2019t worked since \u201922, and I just wanted to to get it back together. Thanks to Darian, we\u2019d been sharing this idea for quite a while, but for some reason, it just never happened while Brian was with us, even though it was a very personal thing for him, especially. Who knows why. But it\u2019s happening. [To Darian] I\u2019m so glad you convinced me, because we kept going back and forth. He said, \u201cIf you do this, if we accomplish this, people are gonna come out of the cities, they\u2019re gonna come out of the woods, Al\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDarian Sahanaja: Yeah, you were doubtful. I think you were kind of like, \u201cReally? People like that album?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: Well, it was very, very understated, and my participation in it was (just) as a vocalist, coming out of the woods in Big Sur to come down to do a session. It was a major thing in itself, just physically and mentally getting into the process of recording it, and it didn\u2019t sound like a Beach Boy album to me. It was great, but it seemed like more of a Brian project, which of course it was. It was dedicated to him by his brothers, and particularly Carl (Wilson). Carl was the de facto producer, really, and pulled us all together so that Brian would be at ease, writing these songs.<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: He was coming out of an era when he was sort of hiding out in his room and not really doing much. Well, there was that whole \u201cBrian\u2019s back\u201d campaign, right?<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: With \u201c15 Big Ones\u201d [the album immediately preceding \u201cThe Beach Boys Love You\u201d]. And he wasn\u2019t really entirely back. It was a big promotion that Mike (Love) put together with his brother, trying to make something out of nothing, quite honestly.<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: But the way you described how Brian put this music together and brought you guys in sort of in the late stage to sing on it, I don\u2019t know why, but I see that as a very similar \u2014 maybe in a completely different context \u2014to the way you did \u201cPet Sounds\u201d [in the mid-\u201860s]. Because in the same way, you guys were on tour, so it was very personal for Brian at the time. He put all the tracks together, and then the guys came into town and you laid down the tracks. I almost see that as a similar approach for Brian. \u00a0And that\u2019s why I consider \u201cLove You\u201d probably Brian\u2019s second-most-personal album, after \u201cPet Sounds,\u201d because basically, he wrote all the songs. I mean, even more personal in a way, because he wrote most of the lyrics. With \u201cPet Sounds,\u201d he had Tony (Asher as lyricist), as you know.<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: Of course, Mike and I did write a couple songs, but they pale in comparison to his personal stuff. It\u2019s just remarkable. And I admit I didn\u2019t really appreciate it, because we were in the hit mode. We were on tour all the time. We were like, \u201cWe gotta have another hit. We gotta have another single.\u201d And this wasn\u2019t about that.<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: \u00a0Well, that\u2019s why Brian is an artist. He takes risks, he does things\u2026 If they fail, they fail. If they\u2019re successful, they\u2019re successful.<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: I mean, I don\u2019t even remember singing some of this stuff. I don\u2019t remember singing on \u201cSolar System,\u201d for instance.<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: You are in that vocal stack.<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: Am I? Are you sure? You would know. He (Sahanaja) knows how to pull this stuff out. But who writes a song with that kind of context, about the planets? t\u2019s just beautiful.<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: Very sincere, very childlike.<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: You know, \u201cAirplane.\u201d Oh my God. \u201cAirplane\u201d is one of my favorites of all time.Now I\u2019m completely\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: Well, this was my favorite thing in the process of all this, is how he was skeptical at first, and just to watch him become reoriented with this music again and discovering it\u2026 maybe because the first time, it wasn\u2019t successful, so onto the next\u2026 I love seeing him getting really, really into the music and realizing, \u201cGod, these are really, really beautiful songs.\u201d And of course, in the wake of us losing Brian, it\u2019s just his soul and his spirit are with us\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: He\u2019s right there. He\u2019s right there.<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: That\u2019s how we feel on stage. Every time we play these songs. I\u2019m just like, ahhh, you can feel Brian\u2019s soul.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAl Jardine and the Pet Sounds Band at Cerritos Center<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tChris Willman\/Variety<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: The guys in the band carry these leads really well, and do it justice. You carry Carl\u2019s leads amazingly. How you do that? \u201cGod, please let us go on this way\u2026\u201d You won\u2019t believe that, his performance, how he carries the spirit of Carl. Dennis (Wilson)\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: I don\u2019t do Dennis. \u201cI Want to Pick You Up\u201d\u2026 I can\u2019t really sing that like Dennis. \u2026 To be fair, I\u2019ve met people who maybe are not big fans of the record for one reason or another, but I would imagine a lot of it is because the way it\u2019s executed is very raw\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: Well, the amazing thing, it\u2019s a synth-driven record, right? And your peers relate to that. Brian was in the forefront of all that stuff. He didn\u2019t use bass guitars on this. He had a Moog synthesizer [as the bass]. It was a different style of production than the Beach Boys were accustomed to. And he literally brought that world to us, and so I\u2019m sitting there with a guitar and going, \u201cWhat the hell am I supposed to do?\u201d So I really didn\u2019t relate in that sense musically to it at first. Now I get it, because it\u2019s so cleverly written.<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: With all the synths and really odd sort of production decision-making on it, I think it appealed to that next generation, especially going into the \u201880s and beyond, because it\u2019s got that synth-pop thing going on. But, typical Brian: he wasn\u2019t intellectualizing it at all. He wasn\u2019t calculating it. He was like, \u201cThis sounds good to me and I could do this. I can just grab a keyboard and play these notes, and there it is. I\u2019m happy.\u201d But the way it all came together in that sort of DIY approach, little did he know\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: But at the same time, he writes a song called \u201cRoller Skating Child,\u201d which is totally Beach Boys. That almost harkens back to the days. And \u201cHonkin\u2019 Down the Highway,\u201d those two that are like that, I could relate to, and I sing the lead on (\u201cHonkin\u2019\u201d). It just feels natural to me when you feel Brian\u2019s.ability to go backwards and forwards, or retro and future. Amazing. I learned a new chord, by the way, the other day, in my book. Did you know there\u2019s a sus4 in \u201cRoller Skating Child\u201d?<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: Is there?<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: That\u2019s what it says. I found a little book in my stack of memorabilia called \u201cThe Beach Boys: Volume One.\u201d It\u2019s got all the songs that we wrote, and \u201cThe Beach Boys Love You\u201d is in it, of all things. So, look at me. showing him some new chords.<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: I\u2019ve gotta take a look.I\u2019ll have to check that. Because Brian didn\u2019t like sus; he didn\u2019t like sustained chords.<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: Well, maybe the book\u2019s wrong, then!<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDarian Sahanaja<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tScott Dudelson<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen you guys are playing the \u201cLove You\u201d songs now, have you rearranged it to fit in a little more with the other classic Beach Boys stuff that doesn\u2019t sound anything like that, or are you trying to recreate the original synthy sounds?<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: It\u2019s one thing is to say recreating. Another thing is just to embody the spirit and feel of the record, the original sensibilities of the record, which was Brian\u2019s \u2026 It\u2019s like when we do \u201cPet Sounds.\u201d You can cut corners and simplify the chords and all that, but that\u2019s not what Brian wrote, and that\u2019s not what he came up with in the studio. So you can say, \u201cYeah, let\u2019s get the exact paint-by-numbers thing,\u201d but if you do paint by numbers but if it\u2019s not done with the right feel and the spirit of it\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: They nail it. This band, they nail it.<\/p>\n

\n\tPaul Von Mertens (multi-instrumentalist and musical director): I remember during \u201cPet Sounds\u201d (on a tour performing that entire album), we would even debate in rehearsal \u2026 There\u2019s a funny banjo entrance. You know, is that a mistake or intentional? \u201cNo, let\u2019s keep it because it\u2019s on there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: \u00a0And even one in this record. How about \u201cJohnny Carson\u201d? It\u2019s so clearly a mistake. There\u2019s this errant symbol crash that\u2019s completely not (right), \u00a0and we just love it, because, again, I picture Brian just going, \u201cPssssh, that\u2019s it! That sounds great. Keep it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: Well, how about in the third verse? Is it the third verse where he goes \u201cda-da-da\u201d and he does the resolve.<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: Yes, yes, you\u2019re right.<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: And Bob (in the Pet Sounds Band) plays it just like it! He plays the mistake, perfectly.<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: I gives it an out-of-the-box feel. It\u2019s just like, what? \u00a0But when you listen back to even the golden-era Beach Boys recordings of Brian conducting the studio musicians (in the mid-\u201860s), many times they\u2019ll play something and say, \u201cIs that right?\u201d And Brian will go, \u201cYeah, that\u2019s great. Just keep that,\u201d because he just loves the vibe of it.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAl Jardine and the Pet Sounds Band joined by Weird Al Yankovic and Eric Idle in concert in Cerritos, Calif, with Rob Bonfiglio.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tScott Dudelson<\/p>\n

\n\tIt feels like there might be different audiences coming to shows like this. There are some people coming who really just want to hear \u201cThe Beach Boys Love You.\u201d And then at most of these shows, there will be people who don\u2019t know the albu at all. Do you feel like there\u2019s kinda like two audiences that you\u2019re playing for?<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: Probably, I\u2019m sure.<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: \u00a0I don\u2019t know. In the spirit of Brian Wilson, I like the idea that we just forge ahead and be bold.<\/p>\n

\n\tVon Mertens: I think that the idea is partly to bring the audience along with us. I can remember on the \u201cSmile\u201d tour, we were playing a festival in Belgium, and it was kind of drizzling on a soccer field, and there were beer stands encircling the entire field where the audience was. We hadn\u2019t been playing \u201cSmile\u201d for very long. and we\u2019re playing this outdoor festival and people are sliding around in the mud. And I remember the whole band \u2014 Jeff (Foskett) in particular \u2014 was like, \u201cWe can\u2019t do \u2018Smile.\u2019 They\u2019re gonna kill us! They\u2019re gonna hate it.\u201d And finally we just like bit the bullet and said, \u201cOK, we\u2019re gonna do it and we\u2019re just gonna throw down like we always do.\u201d When we finished the set, we left the stage and the audience was singing that soccer chant that they do that\u2019s like an audio equivalent of a standing ovation. They were all going, \u201cOhhh-wayyyy-ooh,\u201d and we were like, \u201cOK. I guess, I guess it worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: \u00a0Exactly. I always believe that if the material is really good and it\u2019s performed well with love and care, it doesn\u2019t matter if an audience is familiar with the music. I think they walk away feeling like, \u201cWow, that was really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: But I do like the first note of the show\u2026 It\u2019s an anthem, \u201cCalifornia Girls,\u201d and as soon as you hit that first ding.<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: You\u2019re making me sentimental because, because our dearly departed guitarist, Nick Walusko, I remember when I met him in 1983. And Nick would always say, \u201cWhat Brian could do with just one note. Like the intro of \u2018California Girls,\u2019 listen, I know it\u2019s one note, but it\u2019s like a whole atmosphere in that one note.\u201d And I totally understood that.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow many members of the Brian Wilson Band have carried over to this band now?<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: There\u2019s 12 on stage. All of us.<\/p>\n

\n\tSahanaja: Almost everybody; one of us, Probyn (Gregory), couldn\u2019t do this tour because he was out with \u201cWeird Al\u201d Yankovic on that incredible, successful tour. So we have another fellow filling in for him named Emeen Zarookian, who plays with Micky Dolenz. It\u2019s been really fun. \u2026 Just to go back really quickly to the audiences: I love that this new music, us performing the \u201cLove You\u201d material, is just because of its kind of DIY approach in the synths, and we\u2019re getting a lot of young people coming out to the shows, and freaking out. We just see them chanting and jamming along and jumping and up and down. It\u2019s insane. It\u2019s great, because I know what they\u2019re excited about: Brian being Brian, which is somebody eccentric\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tJardine: The big sing-along is a tune called \u201cDing Dang.\u201d You know the album. It\u2019s 52 seconds long, right? But it gets the audience; they go crazy immediately with the biggest reaction, and they start going \u201cwoo\u201d with this, just carrying on like a bunch of kids. It\u2019s really a childlike experience. We add a little extra, actually, at the end. We actually have a chord change now. We will surprise you with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Is the 1977 album \u201cThe Beach Boys Love You\u201d a classic and essential part of this great American…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":495490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[64434,50268,38809,226685,88,216],"class_list":{"0":"post-495489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-al-jardine","9":"tag-beach-boys","10":"tag-brian-wilson","11":"tag-darian-sahanaja","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/495490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}