Interview: Brian Wilson 2019

With a songbook that includes the likes of “Good Vibrations”, “California Girls”, “God Only Knows”, “I Get Around”, “Fun, Fun, Fun”, “Surfin’ Safari”, and “Help Me, Rhonda”, there can be no dispute that Brian Wilson is a musical genius.

This interview was done for noozhawk.com for Brian’s Wilson’s concert at the Arlington Theatre on 9/8/19, for which he’ll be highlighting songs off two Beach Boys albums – 1968’s Friends and 1971’s Surf’s Up.

And although these albums don’t get the accolades of 1966’s Pet Sounds (which Rolling Stone Magazine ranks as the second best album of all time) or the aborted follow-up album Smile which finally saw the light of day in 2011, there are a lot of great songs on Friends and Surf’s Up, and it will be a rare treat to hear these songs performed live. Selected Beach Boys hits will also be on the program. The openers for the show are The Zombies, who will play their album Odessey and Oracle.

While Wilson’s answers to the questions may be short, they still reveal some insight into the life and mind of one of music’s all-time greatest songwriters. This interview was done by phone on 9/5/19.

Interview: Chris White

The Zombies – the rock band, and for that matter the fictional undead monsters – are arguably more popular than ever. The band was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in recognition of their hit songs “She’s Not There”, “Tell Her No”, and “Time of the Season”, plus their acclaimed 1968 album Odessey and Oracle recorded just before they broke up.

Bassist Chris White wrote over half of the songs on Odessey and Oracle, and was the primary songwriter for the post-Zombies band Argent’s hit “Hold Your Head Up”. This interview with White was for a preview article for noozhawk.com for the 9/8/19 performance by The Zombies at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara, in which White and other original Zombies Colin Blunstone (lead vocals), Rod Argent (keyboards, vocals), and Hugh Grundy (drums) will perform Odessey and Oracle in its entirety. The Zombies will be followed by the genius songwriter Brian Wilson, who will perform selections from the Beach Boys albums Friends and Surf’s Up, plus other Beach Boys favorites. The interview was done by phone on 8/26/19. (Photo: Payley Photography)