Beach Boys’ Mike Love says new documentary mix of sadness, nostalgia

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A new documentary about the Beach Boys that features unseen footage and new interviews with the band is arriving on Disney+ this week.

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The film is a cause for celebration, the group’s singer Mike Love says in a video call from Los Angeles. But as he watched it, there was a tinge of heartbreak as well.

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“For me, it’s nostalgic, but it’s also a little bit sad because my cousin Dennis (Wilson) is no longer with us. He passed away in 1983. He had plenty of problems and he couldn’t surmount his problems. Then my cousin Carl (Wilson) died 25 years ago from lung cancer. These are first cousins, guys that were in the group,” the 83-year-old singer-songwriter says. “We lost those guys, but that’s the nature of life. We’re all mortal. Our beloved parents and grandparents preceded us — hopefully to heaven. So it was a little sad.”

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Meanwhile, Beach Boys co-founder, producer, arranger and chief songwriter Brian Wilson has a “major neurocognitive disorder” and is taking medication for dementia.

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But as he watched The Beach Boys documentary, Love found himself sucked into the story of how he and his cousins, brothers Dennis, Brian and Carl, along with their friend Al Jardine got together in 1961 and conquered the pop music world with their carefree songs about surfing, driving fast cars and chasing girls. 

At their start, the Hawthorne, Calif., natives became fan favourites thanks to their pop vocal harmonies and breezy rock ‘n’ roll energy. Brian elevated the group in the studio with his mercurial musical arrangements and creative choices that helped them evolve during the ’60s and ’70s as it ushered in what became known as the California Sound.

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As the film charts the rise and evolution of the Beach Boys during their first 20 years, Love, who was the quintet’s chief lyricist, said the narrative filmmakers Frank Marshall and Thom Zimny weave is an “uplifting” one.

“The power of the music to create happiness is amazing. The biggest blessing of my life is that I can still sing the lead on the songs … That partnership we created, my cousin Brian and I, with the lyrics and the harmonies, it’s like a reincarnation every time we step onstage,” he says, describing the vocal arrangements he and his bandmates first started producing more than 60 years ago.

After their meteoric rise, Brian suffered a series of nervous breakdowns in the ‘60s that forced him to stop touring with the group. But that didn’t prevent Love from continuing on. In fact, he says Brian’s decision to focus on the band’s recordings helped make them an act to be reckoned with on the road.

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“There were two Beach Boy groups. There’s the one we started out with, but when Brian decided that he didn’t want to tour, Glen Campbell came in for a few months and then Bruce Johnston joined us in 1965,” Love recalls. Backed by hits like Fun, Fun, Fun; Surfin’ U.S.A.; Don’t Worry Baby; Good Vibrations; Help Me Rhonda and countless other songs, the touring group elevated the band to another level.

“That took us all around the world. Even today, I’m on the phone several times a week (figuring out where we will play next). It’s fantastic.”

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In the documentary, Love says that competition in the music business was just as fierce when he was starting out as it is today. The Beach Boys and Beatles both duked it out with one another for chart supremacy, but rivalry made them both better bands.

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“Competition always makes you try harder and want to be better,” he says while smiling.

In a statement shared with Postmedia, Wilson says he’s “super happy with the way the documentary turned out.

“It really brought me back to those days with the boys, the fun and the music. And, of course, those incredible harmonies,” he says.

The film doesn’t delve into the bitter lawsuits between Love and Brian, or their more recent years, with the band continuing on with new players, including actor John Stamos on percussion.

Along with recent shows at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the Stagecoach Festival in Indio, Calif., and the Lovin’ Life Festival in Charlotte, N.C., the documentary served as a reminder of the timelessness of the Beach Boys’ songs and how they evolved with albums like Pet Sounds (1966), Smiley Smile (1967) and Surf’s Up (1971).

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Interviews with various members of the band are complemented by conversations with other artists, including Lindsey Buckingham, Janelle Monae, Ryan Tedder and Don Was, who speak about the Beach Boys’ lasting appeal. 

But gazing out at the crowds that still come to see him perform live every night reminds Love of the group’s longevity.

“There are thousands of people rocking out and singing to our songs. The power of that music to create happiness is amazing. And the words I wrote are being communicated with the musical tracks that my cousin Brian conceived of and recorded,” he says of their live shows today. “That effect is so positive and uplifting. The world today is so negative and filled with stress. Internationally and nationally, it’s this and that. We need more good vibrations than ever before … and we’re all about positivity and harmony.”

The Beach Boys hits Disney+ on May 24.

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