Mike Love: ‘I Did Not Fire Brian Wilson From the Beach Boys’
Mike Love says that “divisive and ugly rumors” that he sent Brian Wilson packing from the Beach Boys are all the result of a misunderstanding. “I did not fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys,” Love writes in today’s Los Angeles Times. “I cannot fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I am not his employer. I do not have such authority. And even if I did, I would never fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I love Brian Wilson. We are partners. He’s my cousin by birth and my brother in music.”
Love reiterates that the Beach Boys’ 50th-anniversary tour, which also included surviving members Al Jardine and David Marks, was “always envisioned as a limited run” and that none of the band “wanted to do a 50th anniversary tour that lasted 10 years.”
“It was meant to be special,” Love writes. “In fact, very early on, Brian was just going to join the tour for a few dates in big cities. We finally settled on 50 dates in 50 major markets.”
Positive reviews and demand from fans and promoters prompted the band to add another 25 shows, and Wilson and Jardine were keen to keep going after that. But Love says an ongoing reunion tour is “impossible” because of other Beach Boys shows he had already booked that started to bump up against the reunion dates.
“To avoid public confusion, and at the request of Brian’s representative, we had a press release sent out detailing the differences between the two Beach Boys tours and its varying lineups,” Lovee writes. “I was surprised that Brian and Al said they were surprised by this announcement. Some media outlets interpreted all of this as me firing the band.”
Despite the split of the reunited Beach Boys, Brian Wilson remains optimistic about recording new material with the band. “I wouldn’t mind getting together with Mike [Love] and the guys and making an exciting rock & roll album. . . I’m sure by early next year we’ll be ready to rock,” he said at a Q&A session at the Grammy Museum last month.