SiriusXM‘s The Beach Boys channel has announced that the surviving members of the band’s classic lineup will reunite for an on-air Q&A session hosted by director Rob Reiner. The discussion is to be aired on August 10th. The segment will see classic band members Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, and David Marks, as well as longtime member Bruce Johnston, reunite for the first time since their 50th-anniversary reunion tour in 2012 to discuss the band’s legacy.
The conversation is sure to be an interesting one. While the music of The Beach Boys has always radiated “good vibrations,” the relationships between the group’s members have been fraught with tension and outright vitriol for years. In particular, cousins and founding members Brian Wilson and Mike Love have been perpetually at odds over the handling of the band’s brand, including who is allowed perform under the Beach Boys banner.
Love is currently in the midst of a tour with “The Beach Boys,” a lineup in which he is the only original band member. Wilson—billed as Brian Wilson, not the Beach Boys—has also toured performing the Beach Boys’ catalog extensively in recent years, including a massive world tour celebrating the 50th anniversary the band’s 1966 studio masterpiece, Pet Sounds.
Back in 2012, while The Beach Boys 50th-anniversary tour was still underway, Wilson expressed surprise when he heard that Love had already booked more shows as The Beach Boys with a lineup including Johnston, but no other original members. “I wasn’t aware that Mike had some shows in South America,” Wilson told Rolling Stone. “News to me.” As Al Jardine noted to Rolling Stone in an earlier interview, “You’ve got the Love band, who’ve been together for years and have developed a style. Brian’s band has been going for a long time, too – so we’ve been coming from three different places.”
The apparent confusion caused some immediate friction with Love’s aforementioned dates. A performance by Love’s outfit at Winnie, TX’s Nutty Jerry’s was canceled by the promoter to avoid any potential backlash over misleading advertising. As the venue said in a statement, “The group that was scheduled to perform at Nutty Jerry’s is not the same lineup as the current ‘Beach Boys 50th Anniversary’ tour. As a result, Nutty Jerry’s did not feel that we could advertise the show as the ‘original’ Beach Boys. Nutty Jerry’s regrets the misunderstanding and any inconvenience to our loyal customers.”
With so much history between these old cohorts, both good and bad, this SiriusXM on-air discussion is sure to provide some fascinating insight into the state of the Beach Boys in 2018 and beyond.
[H/T Relix]