You might reasonably assume, with two separate factions of Beach Boys on tour right now, that relations would be inevitably strained between Brian Wilson and Mike Love.
Love begs to differ.
“With he and I, I don’t think there are any issues whatsoever,” Love says in this WXBR clip. “There are other issues that have been invented by other people. But as far as my personal relationship with Brian, he and I always get along.”
Wilson, Love and fellow surviving Beach Boys members Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks assembled for a huge reunion album and tour last year in celebration of the group’s gala 50th anniversary. But when the scheduled dates ended, Love and Johnston continued on as the Beach Boys, while the remaining trio re-assembled for their own tour.
Wilson has been quoted as saying that another reunion is unlikely. If so, then the remaining members appear to be headed in two distinctly different directions.
Love’s Beach Boys are playing smaller venues like casinos and fairs, while Wilson and Co. are playing larger halls. But Love says that’s by design. Running a leaner production, Love says, allows his band the flexibility to play everywhere people want to see the Beach Boys.
“Brian has an excellent band; he really does,” Love says, “and it’s a pretty big band. It’s almost like an orchestra-sized thing. He and Al have known each other since high school days, and David Marks — he’s a damned good guitar player. So, they’re going and doing what they do, and we’re doing things the way we do it — often times in smaller venues. But see, when you have such a large band, and when you have such a big production, it limits you as to what size venues you can do, and where you can go. So, I like doing it the way we do it — and have done it for many, many years. We wish them well.”
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No, there’s no issue at all. Wilson, Jardine, and Marks are the REAL Beach Boys and Mike Love’s incarnation is the Beach Boys in name only. 😉