©Mark London.

Although several noted musical figures have been quoted as coining the phrase, the fact remains that "talking about music is analogous to dancing about architecture." In other words, it can often be an exercise in futility. However, for the last 37 years, talk is just about all that pop music fans have been able to do about a long-lost Brian Wilson album called SMiLE. In fact, for many of us, unraveling the mythology behind SMiLE had become nothing short of an obsession. We were like the JFK assassination theorists of rock 'n' roll.

From a personal perspective, SMiLE had become the holiest of grails to my tight-knit circle of tape- and CD-trading compatriots — many of whom I go back with some two decades. We each concocted our own hypothesis as to what SMiLE could, would, and should have been. I vividly recall heated late night debates that dragged into the dawn concerning how Brian had clearly surpassed The Beatles' Sgt. Peppers' Lonely Hearts Club Band in terms of making a cohesive "concept album."

I am admittedly the poster child for the premise that teenage geeks without dates do have a lot of spare time. My friends and I exchanged surreptitiously obtained tapes containing luminous, yet conspicuously incomplete musical fragments and ideas from Wilson's aborted masterpiece. We knew that SMiLE had been given the catalogue number T-2580 by Capitol Records and that Van Dyke Parks' friend Frank Holmes had been commissioned to create artwork for both the outer LP jacket, as well as a 12-page booklet, which had never been done before (the new art is by Mark London, who has been working with Brian since he began performing live again in 1999). For years, as we tried to make some sort of sense out of the seemingly disparate pieces of information and rumor, more questions surfaced than answers. Did any of the hundreds of thousand of SMiLE LP jackets and booklets manufactured by Capitol Records survive? What was the real running order of the tracks? Did Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks music really make buildings burn down in Los Angeles? Was it true that the pair wrote the whole album within the isolation of an Arabian-style tent and sandbox in his Bel Air mansion?

Was it SMiLE that drove Brian to completely abandon the Beach Boys incessantly touring road show — which he did in 1965. Our collective ego-driven youth demanded we find answers. One fact that we all could agree on is that at some point in 1967, Brian inexplicably abandoned the SMiLE project and shortly thereafter began a highly publicized personal and professional descent — from which be only began to re-emerge in late 1995.


Putting SMiLE into historical perspective is a bit easier. Brian conceived the album as a follow-up to his universally acclaimed magnum opus Pet Sounds. Unlike a majority of the music that Wilson had made previously with The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds was a highly personal song cycle that had less to do with the physical world of surfing and hot-rod automobiles and more to do with thoughtful and decidedly esoteric ideologies. This outwardly sudden and swift departure from the band's proven and successful formula did not sit well with some band members. Despite the lack of full support from his band mates, Pet Sounds was immediately embraced as a cultural touchstone. In retrospect, it became apparent that this was the point at which popular music became art. What had once simply been suitable for sock hops was now to be savored and discussed in a manner previously reserved for literature or classical music. Despite the radical departure, Brian, along with lyricist Tony Asher, scored a trio of their most significant songs to date with "God Only Knows," "Wouldn't It Be Nice," and a modernization of the traditional folk song "Sloop John B."

Brian Wilson performing SMiLE live. ©Sue Levinson.

Even after completing Pet Sounds, Brian continued to develop his novel methodology of spontaneously creating alongside the musicians in the studio. In short, it was the antithesis of how most pop and rock platters were being made at the time. Rather than have the musicians learn a whole song and then record it, Brian began to modularly link various sections together, which would last anywhere from a few bars to a few minutes. Once these disparate pieces had been completed to his satisfaction, he would then string them together to form what he described at the time as a "pocket symphony." The initial post-Pet Sounds results yielded the chart-topping "Good Vibrations." The song not only rocketed to #1, more importantly it gave Brian the confidence he needed in order to take the process to the next level.

By all accounts, the artist was on an unprecedented roll of creativity, surrounding himself with equally ambitious and supportive musicians and non-musical associates during the conception and creation of what would become known as SMiLE. But somewhere along the line, Wilson lost faith in the project and, in order to maintain peace — most particularly with his oft antagonistic first cousin and Beach Boys co-founder Mike Love — Brian scrapped the entire venture.

Although initiated as far back as 1966 — and subsequently leaked via a plethora of bootleg records, tapes, and more recently, CDs — the fact is that SMiLE was not really born until September of this year when, out of nowhere, it was released. For many, the seemingly sudden and unquestionably unexpected delivery begged the somewhat existential query:

"Just how exactly did something that has never really existed before become one of the most highly lauded works from one of the most important living figures in the history of popular music?"

Interview with Darian Shanaja, Musical Director of The Brian Wilson Band
Prior to the band's sound check for that evening's performance of SMiLE in Atlanta, Georgia — one of only 23 stops on the North American leg of the tour — CrutchfieldAdvisor sat down for what turned out to be a very revealing and candid conversation with one of the primary components in making SMiLE a reality. Darian Sahanaja is a Los Angeles-based musical wunderkind. As devotees of neo power pop might be aware, not only is Darian the current musical director of the Brian Wilson Band, but he is also the co-founder of his own merry band of West Coast sunshine rockers, The Wondermints.

Darian Sahanaja (left), musical director of The Brian Wilson Band, and Lindsay Planer (right). ©Lindsay Planer.

It was an honor and one of the admitted highlights of my two-plus decades as a music journalist to have spent the afternoon of October 16, 2004 with Sahanaja — the man referred to by Brian's wife Melinda as "the unsung hero of the SMiLE project."

Darian walked us through the euphoric highs and hellish lows that he personally experienced with Brian as they worked in unison to make SMiLE more than just a virtual reality. Although his own grounded sense of modesty prevents him from admitting so — without Darian, SMiLE may well have continued to be an unrealized piece of American folk lore.

Lindsay Planer: How did you get involved in working with Brian originally?

Darajan Sahanaja: In essence it was the combining of two sets of musicians. There was a group from out of the Chicago area that had worked with Brian on the 1998 album Imagination under the direction of Joe Thomas, and a Los Angeles contingent consisting of myself and the band I am in, The Wondermints. We had to basically "pass the audition." I'm not even sure that Joe was even impressed with us. He was used to top session players who come in and read the notes off the page in a snap. We were more about actually feeling Brian's music and I don't know if he really understood that aspect. I really don't even know if Joe knew what he was getting himself into when he was attempting to form a road band to accompany Brian.

LP: Was it Joe Thomas' idea to take Brian on the road?

DS: I am not sure, but my sense is that it initially had to do with being able to promote the Imagination album. Joe is a businessman and I am sure it was worked out in the usual fashion — between Melinda, Brian, and Joe. I really have to commend him for having the vision, courage, and faith to put Brian out in front of a modern audience. When we were first putting a setlist together, they wanted to include a healthy sampling of songs from the new record. But after all, this was Brian Wilson, the founder and soul behind The Beach Boys — you can't really get around that. So, to include some primary Beach Boys' numbers and a few hidden gems was part of the plan.

LP: Was the music given any degree of interpretive modernization?

DS: Funny you should have mentioned that. As I vividly recall, very early in the process the music was being taken in a different direction and frankly, I was feeling a little uncomfortable about a lot of it.

LP: This was during rehearsals?

DS: Yeah, we already had the gig and were about a week into the rehearsals for what became Brian's first tour. So, we were in rehearsals and Joe was playing piano and he has a certain discernible style and some of the results were better than others, ya know?

As I recall, we were playing "Caroline No" and it was starting to go in a "different direction," shall we say. That night, my manager happened to call me and asked how I was doing and how things were going. I think he heard the disappointment in my voice, and after he fished a little bit more, I told him. That report had gotten back to Melinda and she called the next day, resulting in a meeting of the minds between Joe and I. My argument was that this was going to be the first Brian Wilson tour and it shouldn't be anyone else's interpretation. This music has been interpreted time and time again, even by The Beach Boys, and up 'til then the mentality had been "if anybody wants to hear the songs performed faithfully, then they should just go out and buy the record." The way I looked at it was that a lot of this music had never been performed the way Brian had originally envisioned it in the studio, not even by the Beach Boys. . . especially the Pet Sounds' tracks.

So between the two of us, we had different approaches. What kept me there was the fact that I had three other guys from The Wondermints who were involved and needed a gig — and it was a good gig.

LP: How did they feel about what was going on?

DS: They agreed with me, but were willing to hold out to see what would happen. So, I went with them and agreed to hang in there. Interestingly enough, after that incident we'd be running through songs and I'd hear Joe say things to the band like "Yeah, I think that sounded great guys. Hey Darian, what do you think?," and things like that. I guess that confrontation may have helped me gain a little respect. But that really didn't even matter to me and, at the time, Brian wasn't around because he was in Los Angeles. This would have been February of 1999 and the Pet Sounds' Sessions box set was up for an award. So here we all are arguing about the direction that the music should be taking, right?

So, Brian came back and we would go through the songs. We'd try a tune one way and Brian was still in his phase of going along with whatever people wanted him to do, the path of least resistance. At one point I suggested that we try a song in a particular way and his eyes lit up. I have to assume that it was because it sounded closer to what he had originally envisioned. That has opened him to revisiting a lot of his catalogue.

LP: I guess the most immediate and concurrent evidence of that would be that in the film Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of SMiLE, every note of music is performed by The Brian Wilson Band. Even seasoned ears such as mine have difficulty discerning the 2004 recordings from those fragments from 1966/1967 sessions that circulate.

DS: Wow! Really? Which parts?

LP: "Our Prayer" and the instrumental track to "Caroline, No" are perhaps the most evident and stick in my mind as being not just note-perfect, but specifically bearing the exact inflection and tenor as the vintage tracks.

DS: Well, it really was night and day. I think Joe did some tremendous work with Brian and there are parts of Imagination that I really dig. But for me, I wanted to start with the very blueprint of what has made Brian's music both of its time as well as timeless in the first place. Then, we can work from there. But when you start interpreting from the get-go, you lose me.

LP: Having worked so closely with Brian, what are your thoughts on why he had, up until this point, set himself up to be misinterpreted?

DS: Well, you know him. The environment that Brian creates has a lot to do with the fact that he carries with him a childlike innocence and spontaneity. That is one facet to his brilliance and yet he is like a savant. You have to care for and nurture that quality because he brings out a protective nature in those around him. Over the years, he has revealed that sort of powerful dichotomy of being vulnerable, yet extremely powerful at the same time.

Publicity photo of Brian Wilson for the SMiLE tour.

LP: That is a dangerous combination.

DS: It opens him up to people who are ready to swoop in and take full advantage. I mean face it, over the years he has been exposed to a litany of leeches and plenty of people ready to exploit him and his gift. Even folks with the best of intentions do things that are ego-driven and much of the personal tragedy in Brian's life seems to have been born out of insecurity.

LP: That motif of insecurity also translates into what draws people to his music as well.

DS: Oh yeah. I mean, I was around 12 when I first really turned on to The Beach Boys and the neighborhood boys would pick on me and at times I would get physically beaten up by these guys because it was not cool to like The Beach Boys at the time. The point being, it is that grade-school mentality and as I look back I can see that the only reason those guys did what they did was because deep-down they were somehow feeling inadequate in their lives. Their only outlet for power was found in putting other people down.

At the time that this was happening, it was obviously painful. So, what would I do but return to my room and listen to more of the music. That was what made me feel better about the situation and about being put down. What is really fascinating to me in hindsight is that the people I am most connected with these days are those who are also the most independent and free-thinking. They aren't too concerned with what other people think and because of that they have fully-formed personalities and character. It made me realize that at that point when I was faced with adversity and could have easily caved to peer-pressure, I just said I don't care what they think.

I love this music and it was at that formative age in my early teens that I started developing the attitude that I was no longer concerned about what other people thought. I like what I like and that is that. In a very personally and profound way, when I think about it now — well, it can kind of freak me out. I'll be on stage playing and then I'll look over at Brian and have this thought that not only has he influenced me musically, but he has also affected my personality and shaped it into who I am today.

LP: The correlation is definitely there. It especially translated into your work with The Wondermints and as the Musical Director of The Brian Wilson Band.

DS: Well as I mentioned earlier, Brian's band started off with Joe Thomas putting everyone together as a touring unit. It turned out as The Wondermints with some of the Chicago players.

LP: Speaking of which, let's go through the line-up. First off, who are in The Wondermints?

DS: Well, The Wondermints were a band before we hooked up with Brian comprised of me (I sing, play keyboards, and percussion); Nick Walusko (guitar/vocals); Mike D'Amico (drums/percussion); and Probyn Gregory (guitar/brass/keyboards/vocals). Then from Chicago are Bob Lizik (bass), Jimmy Hines (percussion/vocals), Scott Bennett (vocals/keyboards/percussion), Taylor Mills (vocals/percussion) and Paul Mertens (woodwind/brass). And finally there is Jeff Foskett who was a member of the touring Beach Boys during the 80's.
LP: Having seen The Brian Wilson band a dozen or so times since 1999, I am fascinated as to how the two combos have so effortlessly and seamlessly integrated themselves into interpreting Brian's music with such authority. It's almost as if it were you guys on the original '60s recordings, in terms of the prowess and the feel that you all bring to every facet of Brian's music, be it the complete Pet Sounds tour or even his solo album Getting In Over My Head from the summer of 2004.

DS: Well, you just hit it. It just goes to show that it is about "feel." People say that to me and I really do not know what to say other than we just feel the music. We just feel it. When I first met Nick some 20 years ago, he just came by a mutual friend's place to pick up his amp and he was ready to go when we struck up a conversation about movies — we are both huge Stanley Kubrick fans. Within five minutes we were talking about Brian and not another five minutes passed before we started discussing SMiLE. Now mind you, this is 20 years ago. The whole reason SMiLE came up was that Nick mentioned that he had just driven from Los Angeles to San Diego to a great little record store that sold underground and bootleg records. So, he drove the 100+ miles to get a copy of the very first vinyl bootleg of SMiLE. So he bought it and it was a really hot day, well, the record got warped on the car ride home. Then in an act of desperation, coupled with a degree of naivete, he tried to iron it flat. Of course that totally ruined it for good and he was really upset. However, that was the content of our first conversation. We just love the same music and have a connection that is almost telepathic.

LP: That translates quite effectively on The Wondermints' studio albums.

DS: Well, my favorite thing is to be in the studio.

LP: Like Brian. You guys seem to use the studio like a tool.

DS: Yes! Absolutely we do. It's just another means of expressing yourself. You use it the same way you'd use any other instrument. It can provide a different texture or another color.

LP: That separates you from the majority of your contemporaries, as you both incorporate and manipulate the technology and process, rather than simply using it as a conveyance.

DS: Hmmm . . . yeah, I guess we do. We really enjoy using it as a canvas, a little brighter here, more shading there. Then you step away from it and look at what you have.

"I will do whatever it takes in order to get the feeling that the music requires." ©Mathew Lock.

LP: That returns us to your specific role in The Brian Wilson Band. How did you become the Musical Director or do you even consider yourself as such?

DS: I have never really thought of myself as having a role, per se. I see it as Brian Wilson and we are simply his support group. His music is played and expressed through us. I always just thought of myself as one of those voices or instruments. The same way I don't consider myself as a great keyboard player, I'm a conduit. I will do whatever it takes in order to get the feeling that the music requires. There are players in Brian's band that I would consider as real "players." They have really mastered their instrument to near virtuoso levels. That said, I feel my forte is being able to think and feel the big picture.

LP: Was Jeff Foskett one of the Chicago area folks that Joe Thomas brought?

DS: No, he was of the West Coast contingent. It was basically The Wondermints and Jeff and as I recall, he too had to audition as well. However, by virtue of being a great singer and having played with The Beach Boys, Jeff became the de facto bandleader. He was the one who handled organizing the band, leading the rehearsals, and taking care of the day-to-day stuff at the time. He is a great guy and is more of a taskmaster. I call him The Admiral because he has an executive manner and is a bit more assertive, while I tend to be — well, I will quote Van Dyke Parks on this — I tend to be a very good "beta male," and while that could have been bad if we'd viewed each other as competition, what it has amounted to over the years is a large degree of mutual respect.LP: You both also have a tremendous amount of respect for the music.

DS: We both agree and believe that the music is first and foremost. So, as the relationship has evolved, I became the guy who got into the nuts and bolts of breaking down the music and then running it past Brian. Because you know how Brian is. If you ask him about something — especially details of arrangements — he doesn't want the responsibility to deconstruct and reconstruct the songs. So, nine times out of ten, he'll say he doesn't remember. So I would just transcribe as much as I can, then present it to him and he will then tell me what is wrong.

LP: Is that how you worked out SMiLE?

DS: Without question.

LP: Tell me what the process was like.

DS: Well, there is an overwhelming amount of music with take upon take of each fragment. So, I whittled all that down to the best and most complete takes. Then I loaded them into my iBook and started playing them to Brian. I will be honest with you, at first he was not into doing it at all. Remember, this was emotionally taxing for him back in 1967. So much so, he abandoned it. So, bringing it all back to him was unsettling to say the least.

There is a purity to what he does that has not been diluted by time or substances. ©Sue Levinson.

LP: He didn't even want to hear the music?

DS: Not at that time he didn't, but he knew that he had to. I mean you've seen that in him. He is just that way. He will not want to even perform a show, but once he gets up on stage he loves it and gets off on the experience.

It's like a rollercoaster, ya know. The first hill is very steep and very scary and looming incrementally. Then the rest of the trip is a rush and he pulls it off smoothly. I think it is that initial fear that is so deep within Brian. He'll be pacing around before the show saying he is scared of rejection and we'll tell him, hey there are thousands of folks who paid to see you — they love you. But he'll just say "I know but I'm still scared." So in the end, for me I just do the best I can to break down the music into their respective parts and the same with the vocal harmonies, then run the results past Brian. Then, it is so much easier for Brian when he actually hears it all.

There was a time during the initial SMiLE rehearsals when I would give Brian a stack of lyrics for examples. This was during those earliest vocal rehearsals when he was not wanting to be involved because it was so overwhelming for him. So, he'd take the stack of vocal sheets and we'd barely get through a given song before he would be worried about the next one and the one after that and then the one after that. Having been through this process with him, I know he is thinking "how much more of this is there" and "how long am I going to have to work today?" He just wants to get through it. That is how daunting the task was to him. That is why it is best to do a little at a time with him. The worst thing is to present him with this monumental task that implies a mountain of work.

So, we'd break it down and take so many steps to reach a certain plateau and then build from there. With SMiLE he knew we had to put the entire tangible piece together. He saw that as a huge stack of work and even on a more manageable level, it was daunting.

LP: Yet you had such strong sonic support from the players — did that not help to allay the fears?

DS: We have all grown into our respective roles as to what we each bring to the band. Granted, some have had a great head start in terms of knowing the music intimately.

One example is in the beginning, when I had my initial reservations that maybe some of the guys weren't as well-suited as some others because they were too polished as session players. It was just a job, you play what is on the page, and then punch the clock on the way out. However, that all changed as time has passed.

I'll tell you what it really is, we have all been around Brian and have all grown to really love him, and out of that love comes a deeper, more profound and personalized respect for the man. You can't help but be so moved by his honesty and his humility, he is just so genuine.

I'm a Los Angeles-based musician and have been around a lot of high-profile musicians, industry people, and artist types. All of them are hopefully striving for something that will last and have significance. Some get pretty close and you say, "Wow, that person is really into what they are doing and has a lot of conviction."

Then, you meet someone like Brian who simply blows everyone away in this department, even those who come close. Brian is living his honesty day-by-day; there are absolutely no pretensions. Ever. I mean even the guys who aspire towards that will fall short. We live in modern times. We do the day-to-day things that make us socially aware, we rationalize our every move. We have shame, and develop people skills that make us polite and give us other conventional qualities that make us "adults." Brian on the other hand, just by virtue of being honest and forthright on every level projects a childlike innocence. He is innocent almost to a fault in that way. So much so that he's developed certain defense mechanisms that will pop up. But, you can see right through them because of his unbridled honesty. You know when he is putting you on, he simply can not lie.

LP: There seems to be a purity to what he does that has not been diluted by time or substances.

DS: It is a spiritual triumph to be certain and that translates into how he approaches his craft.LP: That leads me to methodology of how Brian approached his past. We spoke about the small doses or short stacks of work that allow him not to be overwhelmed. Was the approach the same when he collaborated with Van Dyke Parks on the new musical links and overall completion of what we hear on the album and on the stage? The documentary Beautiful Dreamer touches on this with the fly-on-the-wall home movies of that initial meeting between Brian, Van Dyke, and you.

DS: I'll level with you — the reason that footage existed to begin with was because the only portable recording device I had at the time was my mini video camera. I only really needed it to document audio. . . to document the sounds and musical ideas. But I don't own an audio recorder and this camera has a decent microphone — 90% of the footage is of my shoe, the floor and maybe Van Dyke's knee. But when David Leaf was working on Beautiful Dreamer he asked me if there was any video footage of us working. I told him I'd go and look, but anticipated most of it would just be of the carpet. So, when I reviewed what I had, there were a few snippets that were usable and they ended up in the documentary.

©Mathew Lock

LP: Which lends itself perfectly to this documentary style.

DS: I guess it does. I mean, I just saw the movie for the first time last night and it never occurred to me at the time. I was thinking, "Geez, I wish I had a better angle," when I saw it. But, see, when you're working you don't want to be intrusive at all.

LP: What was it like working with Van Dyke Parks?

DS: Whew! Man. Well, I just saw him again last week at the CMJ panel discussion . . . anyway, he is from another era. What a gem of a human being.

LP: I always considered his aura as a 21st Century Mark Twain.

DS: Right on, totally. He is so eloquent and there again is an example of another iconoclast who was into his own thing. I was sort of worried that they [Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson] were both gonna be weirded out by revisiting this. Maybe they were both feeling as if they were past that point in their lives when they could no longer identify with where they were in 1967. I noticed it when they got together for the first time — well, let's be clear, he came because Brian asked him.

LP: Just like in 1967.

DS: Exactly. I found out somewhat later that Van Dyke was also very wary of what was going on. He was concerned about what was happening to their music.

LP: Because of past experience dealing with The Beach Boys' camp?

DS: Yes. But, see, you talk to him now and he is so relieved. That was a word that he used over and over when we were working. He'd say, "I have such a sense of relief . . . this is such a relief!" And I really didn't understand what he meant at the time because all I wanted to do was just to respect the integrity of what they were doing. That was my primary concern and focus. I'd sort of take notes and at that juncture, all we wanted was to perform it live.

So, my role was to try and facilitate their ideas. They wrote the notes and words and I just figured out what was feasible within the context of our band, the voices, and instrumentation. We'd review a piece or a link for instance. I'd play it from my iBook, they would hear it. Brian might hum the melody line and then the next day Van Dyke would come back with the lyrics. I never questioned if they were new or vintage. He would just come in scratching his head saying, "Here is an idea I had about this and that and how it could connect here or there."

LP: How about the lyrical tag at the end of "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow?"

DS: Now, at the time, that seemed to me to have been a brand new idea, although the concept was something that he [Van Dyke Parks] had always wanted to express. It was important to Van Dyke that this be a moment of cleansing and it was extremely important that it be the voice of Brian Wilson.

LP: There are a couple of sections and even some completed songs that were introduced as part of the SMiLE-era canon. We obviously can't say they were meant for SMiLE, since it did not tangibly exist. But for instance, why was "He Gives Speeches" left off?

DS: I have no idea. It was one of the tracks that I played to Brian and he just said "Nah, junk that, I don't want it." I didn't question it any further. I liken it to a cinematic director filming a bunch of scenes for a movie and there is going to be some stuff left on the cutting room floor. That's how I looked at it.

LP: Is the same thing true of the "rock with me Henry" lyrics to the song "Wonderful?"

DS: Again, I played that for Brian and he didn't like that either. That was probably yet another variation and a lot of the SMiLE music really is a lot a variation of themes. "Wind Chimes" has all sorts of recurring different variations — it was just where Brian's head was at the time. He sort of, without knowing it, created this new modular approach to recording with "Good Vibrations."

He just wanted to try different grooves, different instrumentation, and different tempos. It was maybe one idea and he'd go over it and over it and spend a whole day just working on a riff. Then the next day, he'd come in and work on another riff.

And it was like that for "Heroes And Villains," "Wind Chimes," and "Vega-Tables," and any host of the songs. They would cut variations of it in hopes that Brian would put it all together in a way that made sense. However, he wasn't able to do that back then.

LP: Even with "Good Vibrations" there are a number of different versions. The hit that most people are familiar with is lyrically not the first one he cut. For the album and for the tour, you are going back to the words Tony Asher wrote. Why?

DS: They were the original lyrics and I don't know how that came about. I think somebody may have suggested it. When it came down to recording SMiLE and especially re-recording and revisiting "Good Vibrations," one of the greatest records of all time, what do you do? Well, what you do is hopefully capture the spirit of it. That is why I was totally open to the idea of having different elements to it. Such as having the different lyrics and having the "hum-di-dum" section in the bridge and stuff. Because that way it is something different. We're not trying to match it exactly stroke-for-stroke.

LP: Which is the dichotomous nature of this band, you can play it stroke-for-stroke if that is what is required of the music. Yet, the final result was a contemporary and undeniably relevant musical statement. I recall hearing audience recordings from the six-night debut run at Royal Festival Hall and being amazed at how true the vision had remained from 1967 to 2004. Any thoughts on how you collectively pulled that off?

DS: I don't even really know. I mean, when you are doing it you're just dealing with the task at hand, to just try and do the best we can.

LP: Even when you are in the moment, how do you make something such as "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" anything but far-out and how can you make something like "Wonderful" anything but beautiful? The textures range from the seeming incongruous sound of power tools and hammers hitting wood to lush orchestration within minutes of each other.

DS: Yeah, one of my favorite reviews when we first started performing it described it as "a fine balance of beauty and madness," which I really loved.

LP: But isn't that moment what the title SMiLE and the whole impetus was about for Brian?

©Sue Levinson.

DS: I believe it is. It is like when you laugh hysterically, you can't control it, and that concept describes Brian more now than ever. Now, out of the blue he just smiles and this goes back to Brian being so emotionally honest. You can tell if he's faking a smile or if he's feeling really happy and in the moment, like a child. You know how a baby will just smile out of nowhere and you think "why are they smiling?" It's like some good feeling is rushing through them, that's what Brian is like today. Since we finished the album we see much more genuine smiles. He just has that twinkle in his eye.

LP: During this sort of catharsis period or emotional rebirth, when did you see him [Brian] begin to emerge from his dazed and bewildered state into being the driven and focused presence he has become again?

DS: When we were working with Van Dyke, in the fall of 2003, at first Brian was not into it. He'd say "how much more do we have to listen to today?" and that kind of thing. He knew he had all this work to do and he was dealing with whatever emotional pain he felt from simply hearing the music again.

As we took it a song at a time, I'd reassure him that all we were trying to do was to perform the songs. I'd say "you know the band man, we all love you and will do whatever it takes to make this stuff sound great. Brian, I know we can do it." And he'd say "Really? Really?" Because I knew we could do it, but if he didn't want to do it, then we ain't doin' it. So, I was trying to find a way of reassuring him that it can be done.

Once I started putting band members to the different sounds, saying "Paul [Mertens] could play this part and Bob [Lizik] will do this on the bass," then he would start thinking about it in a more modern context. Then when Van Dyke got into the fold, it was great because it became a whole new experience. They were on this creative roll.

We worked for a few weeks. They would have ideas and I'd jot them down or have them recorded on my camcorder. At the end of the day, I'd go home to my keyboard and lay down the sounds and sing the parts. Then when they would have newer ideas, like when they talked about a segue between two songs and how that was going to happen, my job was to get on the keyboard and record those ideas. Then I would bring them back the next day and present it to them. It was something tangible that they could listen to, we could critique, or say "that is one bar too long." That whole period was great. You can see that in the movie; Brian would say, "yeah, this is blowing my mind." He was on a high and he was really into it.

Then we stopped for the holiday break and the next time I saw Brian, he was a mess. I came over with a stack of lyrics so he and I could sit down and start actually going through the lead vocal parts that he would have to perform and he was not happening. I remember him shaking and he sat down and he started crying and yelling "I'm f@#$%! I'm f@#$%!"

I had seen this through cracked doors, but this was the first time it was just him and me. Melinda was off at a meeting and he was really freaking out. So, I said "OK Brian, let's just try and listen to some of this," and he said "OK. OK. OK."

We made it through maybe three songs and in the middle of the song he hurled the lyric sheet all the way across the room and screamed, "AHHHHHHH!!!" Lindsay, it was scary. I mean really scary. I ran down to the housekeeper who was familiar with this stuff happening. She knew it was for real and he was begging her to take him to the hospital and we are still trying to call Melinda. I didn't know what to do and tried to be a calming force. At one point I heard him yelling to me from the other room "Darian! Darian! They are trying to kill me! They are trying to kill me!"

I thought, "maybe until Melinda gets home, I can just sit with him and talk." He was asking me all sorts of questions and he was just scared. He'd say, "Have you ever dropped acid? Do you take drugs? How do you deal with that?" He'd describe this feeling in his chest that he can't get rid of. Man, that was really scary. And then we had to start rehearsing within the next week with the band, mainly the vocalists. That is some of what you see in the film.

I found out later that that incident was part of his seasonal depression, especially now that he is the last Wilson [of his generation] standing. His mom, dad, brothers are all gone. There was that and then there was the reality that we had to do SMiLE for real. There was a concert date set and we have to do this. All that stuff that happened with Van Dyke in the fall when he was in the moment and it was cool and he was happy, well that was gone. It was now time to do this and it was rough. He'd just sit there and it was like we were working without a head. The head was not attached to the body.

LP: But to hear you guys during those rehearsals, you all are there and you had done your homework.

DS: Yeah, the parts are the parts. It is like you said though, there can be notes on music paper and you can play the notes. But you need that X-factor, that's what takes it beyond the notes. It comes from the soul. As a band we can feel the music, but it is Brian's and Van Dyke's presence that makes all of what we do true.

Those first few weeks of vocal rehearsals were really rough and I think he sang every now and then. They got a little better as he got more involved, and it all started with him making new connections. I could see it when we'd be rehearsing as a band. He'd sit on the sofa facing us and the first few days, he'd stare at the floor, look at his watch while we were working through the stuff. The next day his chin would be a little higher and he sort of looked around a bit.

Then the following day we'd be running through something and he's just stare at Nick while he was playing a guitar part. He stare at him throughout the whole length of the song.

Then, I could see the dots being connected. I could tell just from knowing him when he's really making connections musically, which for him is a soulful connection. He is allowing the sounds back in and they're penetrating. That's when I knew it was breaking through, because now he was making fresh connections with this music. He's creating new associations and thinking, "here we are in January of 2004. This is my band, that's Darian on the keyboard, and that's Scott [Bennett] playing that part, and ooh that's a cool sound."

So, we've come back to allowing the music to be what it was in the first place — just music, just sounds. So, now we are taking it a step at a time and working our way up to flying over to London.

I gotta tell you that just before the London shows, we were all really nervous. Because, you know how SMiLE is broken into three sections running 18 minutes or so each, and we've never done anything like that. What made me even more nervous was knowing that one of the things Brian gets out of a show is getting that feedback, that love and feel from the audience. Prior to SMiLE, it came to him every three minutes or so. But all of a sudden we had to perform these long lengths before any applause. That's what I was most nervous about, whether he could make it through. As a band we didn't know what was going to happen and we had not felt that nervous since our very first show in 1999. It was that heavy.

It was also amazing, because we did that first show and of course it was significant and unprecedented. When I looked over at Brian, he had that look of disciplined determination that he was gonna make it through this. Sure enough we did and afterwards backstage he was rocking back and forth and he said, "Darian! Darian! We did it! We did it!" I could tell that for him it was about, "Yeah, we did it!", and that the sky didn't fall, the world didn't end. For Van Dyke, after the first show he came backstage with tears running down his face and he was hugging us all.

So, for me that first show was more about vindication for Van Dyke than for Brian. Although it was historical, it was actually the second night I think that did it for Brian. He seemed to feel like he was ready to connect with what was happening and not just make it through the show. I could tell during that second show he'd reached the mountain peak and was looking at the valley on the other side and he was enjoying the view.

Then at the end, the standing ovation was indescribable. I had never seen anything like it as an audience member or a performer. I'd never seen just an outpouring of love and people clapping. It wasn't the kind of applause where people keep clapping as they look around feeling obligated to. They wouldn't let him speak or say anything. He'd try to say something, but they wouldn't let him. It seemed to go on forever. It was amazing and he looked over at us as if to say, "What do I do?"

He had this look on his face that I had only seen one other time, when Ronnie Spector met him backstage at the Beacon Theatre in New York. It was Brian's birthday and Ronnie was singing all of these songs to him. When Ronnie Spector sings it is with a voice that really moves Brian and he's looking at her like he is terrified, but because he loves it so much, it is scary-good.

That was the look on his face that second night. He loved the audience reaction, but I don't know how to handle it. I don't know how to take this. I saw in that moment when they were applauding and he was just taking it in, that is the moment I knew the demons were floating away from him. I stepped up to him and said, "Uh, Brian. . . I think they like SMiLE." From there each show got easier and it became like "Hi! I'm Brian Wilson, I wrote SMiLE. Check this music out!"LP: Do you have anything theories as to why it is happening now in 2004?

DS: His family. He has support and an environment conducive to making music.

SMiLE. ©Sue Levinson.

LP: Why have Brian's tours all started in England?

DS: He is much more of a household name over there and the markets are smaller. I believe that to them, his music is the sound of sunshine, which they don't get a lot of. I know people there that are so passionate about this music. Even though they don't say it, I can tell it is because their life consists of getting up, driving to work in the gloomy weather, sitting in an office — and that is their daily routine. When you have months and months and years and years of that not only in your own life, but in your parents' lives and their parents' lives — when faced with that, this music just sounds like heaven, and California becomes this mythological place.

LP: Americans seem to take it for granted, and the Europeans get it on a whole other level.

DS: You know what? You can also turn that around, because the English are the same way about their own kind.

LP: I have noticed that feeling about Elton John for instance.

DS: Yes, they are very down on him. They say "Sir Elton John??? What a poof!" They are very self-loathing and we are too, especially on the west coast. Even more so from where The Beach Boys are from, they think, "Who needs that superficial fun-in-the-sun stuff?"

LP: Do you feel that the band and especially Brian have a sense of how important this project is to so many people? There is nothing else in pop music that equals it in terms of historic importance. You can't reunite The Beatles.

DS: It is only recently since we have been seeing the reviews and observing the effect that the music has on people. It's a surreal experience. We were nervous over the summer [before the North American leg of the tour] to see how people would react. But it is selling really well and changing people's lives and affecting them in a deep and real way. We all observe it and I don't really know what to think about it.

LP: In 200 years, I don't think that sort of stuff will be as important as the fact that in the fall of 2004 Brian Wilson's completed SMiLE was unveiled.

DS: That is the exact sort of perspective one needs and is one of the reasons I am so comfortable in the studio, because it is about the big picture. You can have the greatest sounding guitar on earth when you hear it solo; then you put it in the context of the arrangement and it just doesn't fit. It is all about where things are placed and how they are put together. So, in the end, its about how it makes you feel. It doesn't matter what all the individual elements are at all. It is about the music and the feel. There are those who come out of the gate picking the new SMiLE apart, comparing it to the original recordings. I believe they do so because they've invested so much emotional stock in them.

LP: But those aren't the real thing.

DS: Well, if final word from the artist means it's the real thing, then absolutely yes. And that should really take any power away from the critics and give it back to the only person worthy of it, Brian Wilson.Interview with David Leaf, Writer/Producer/Director of Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of SMiLE
Brian Wilson and SMiLE's long and unquestionably strange sojourn from the mid '60s to 2004 has also been chronicled in the feature-length documentary Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of SMiLE from Peabody Award-winning filmmaker and Beach Boys' historian David Leaf. The film — which is airing throughout November and December on the premium television network Showtime — offers a plethora of answers, confirmations and affirmations about every facet of the SMiLE project — both then and now. The story is traced from the events that led up to the initial ideological conception all the way through to the very first performance on February 20, 2004 at Royal Festival Hall in London.

The tales and actualities are recounted first-person by the participants, as Leaf gathered a who's who of '60s pop culture icons, including musicians who worked with Brian in the '60s, as well as friends and admirers. Among the record industry luminaries are former Rolling Stones' manager and general scene maker Andrew Loog Oldham, Beatles' producer Sir George Martin, record producers Lou Adler and Lenny Waronker, musicians Elvis Costello, Burt Bacharach, Jimmy Webb, Roger Daltrey, and actor/producer Rob Reiner. Plus, key members of Brian's '60s recording sessions, such as Hal Blaine (drums), Carol Kaye (bass), Don Randi (keyboards), Mike Melvoin (keyboards) and his lyrical collaborators Tony Asher and Van Dyke Parks are featured. Not to mention the myriad mythical figures from within Brian's highly supportive inner circle, including Loren Darg [nee: Schwartz], record executive David Anderle, future Three Dog Night member Danny Hutton, and journalist Mike Vosse.

Fittingly, equal time is also given to the unsung heroes and heroine of the current Brian Wilson Band: Darian Sahanaja (vocals/keyboards/percussion), Jeffrey Foskett (vocals/guitar/percussion), Probyn Gregory (vocals/guitar/brass), Nick Walusko (vocals/guitar), Nelson Bragg (vocals/percussion), Jim Hines (drums/vocals), Bob Lizik (bass), Paul Mertens (woodwinds/harmonica), Scott Bennett (vocals/keyboards/percussion) and Taylor Mills (vocals). They have been the spine that supports Brian both in the studio and on the road, where they've been ever since his first solo outings in 1999. Although they were basically fused from two different combos, collectively the unit has grown into the finest touring and studio ensemble to have ever had the privilege to have worked with Brian.

CrutchfieldAdvisor is fortunate enough to have spent a few minutes with David Leaf on October 8, 2004 to discuss not only Beautiful Dreamer, but also his involvement with Brian, which dates back as far as the mid 1970s with the creation of a fanzine dedicated to the music of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys.

Lindsay Planer: How did you make your initial connection with the Beach Boys, particularly Brian?

David Leaf: I connected with Brian the same way everybody else does — through his music. I was a fan in the '60s, but it was when I heard the Surf's Up album in 1971, that the music began to demand my attention in two ways. Simultaneously to my reading about SMiLE, I heard the song "Surf's Up." It was like, "Oh my God! The SMiLE music is as great as everybody says it is." The second was when I heard "'Til I Die." I thought, "He can still do it. This is as powerful a piece of music as I have ever heard." Those songs spoke to me, and I guess you could say from that point on I was hooked.

LP: Did you seek Brian out?

DL: A couple of years after I got out of college, I moved to California. One of my goals was to write a book about Brian Wilson. I believed then and I believe now that he's an extraordinarily important American artist. I felt that there needed to be some piece of prose that focused on his artistry.

LP: Was it easy to get access to him?

DL: I never really sought or got access to him. I started a fanzine that I called "Pet Sounds," for obvious reasons. That attracted a little bit of attention, because a fanzine about Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys was rare in those days.

LP: When was this?

DL: 1977. The first issue came in February and eventually that led to a book contract.

LP: So you never got in.

DL: I never really got into the official Beach Boys organization when I was writing. I was invited to a couple of events...like the launch party for the Love You album. And I did interview Carl, Dennis, and Mike. But I was able to get most of my information from Brian's friends, who believed that I was sincere in my desire to paint an accurate portrait of his artistic life. Some of them spoke to me anonymously and some went on the record when they shared with me their thoughts, experiences, stories, and adventures.

LP: So in many ways, Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of SMiLE began all the way back then?

DL: Yes, I think that would be fair to say. The relationships that I made when I was writing the book in 1977 and 1978 are relationships that I've maintained for over a quarter of a century because all of us were concerned for Brian's well being — both personally and artistically. I think the point of the film, as it relates to the question you asked, is that this is a story of not just artistic redemption, but of personal redemption.

When you watch the film you can see the result of all of the love he's received, especially the devotion of the past decade. You see a man who has come out of his shell and been healed by the process of finishing this legendary work, presenting it to the world, and then having the world stand up and cheer. This is Brian's story. What is inspiring to all of us who have shared it through the years and what we can take away from it is, "if you believe and are willing to go the extra mile, anything is possible." That is an inspiring story for anybody in any circumstance in their life.

LP: I know you accessed many of original participants and locations in the making of Beautiful Dreamer. Take us behind the scenes of some of those. For instance, what recording studios did you shoot Brian's interviews in?

DL: There were two principal locales for the Brian interviews. The one with the blue background was done at a location in Van Nuys and the other — which has candles in the background — was actually done at a place that is now called Ocean Way. However, in the '60s it was United Studios where Brian did a lot of recording. Then there are some scenes with Brian playing with legendary bassist Carol Kaye and performing "Rhapsody In Blue" is Western Studio Three (now known as Cell) — another place that Brian recorded constantly in the early to mid '60s.

The author and Brian Wilson. ©Lindsay Planer.

LP: Where did you shoot the theatre scenes with Brian and Van Dyke Parks?

DL: We filmed that in London at a smaller concert space that is part of Royal Festival Hall, where SMiLE premiered.

LP: You go into some detail in the film about the preparations that Capitol Records was making for SMiLE circa 1967. Why didn't you also mention any information about the cover art and inserts that had already been pressed and were scrapped altogether once the project was abandoned?

DL: The documentary is not designed to be a comprehensive history, but rather the story of SMiLE. Only a long book could include everything. So, for example, we don't say the specific day that Brian went into the studio to record a specific song. There is only so much information you can include in a movie. We had a finite amount of screen time and lots of stories fell by the wayside in the course of making the documentary, because it can't be nine hours long. The goal for me wasn't to detail every moment in the history, but rather to give the viewer the sense of the story as accurately as possible. In doing that we had to decide what information was essential and what was information they didn't need to know in order to understand the story. In a sense, the film is designed for an audience who knows very little about Brian and SMiLE, as opposed to we long-time fans.

Again, this isn't a 500-page book. There is an important place for that type of thing — think about the Pet Sounds Sessions box set and all the information in those liner notes booklets. For most viewers, I don't think that would make for a very interesting movie.

LP: That is interesting because I consider myself to be fairly knowledgeable and I was continually learning new information from the interviews used in Beautiful Dreamer.

DL: Me too.

LP: Let's turn to the incidental music for a moment. Was it all from the new production or did you go back to the old '60s tapes?

DL: Every note of SMiLE music in the film is from 2003/2004. It is all the new production and again proves how great this band is. In fact, there are no Beach Boys' studio recordings used in the film.

LP: What was the span of time that you spent filming?

DL: The fall of 2003 up through August of 2004.

LP: I really like the folksy nature of the narrator; who is he and why did you choose him?

DL: A fine actor by the name of Fred Applegate. I wanted the narrator to also be a storyteller. I wanted it to feel like "pull up a chair, I've got a story to tell you." He can give the listener that sort of inviting, friendly style and that is what I wanted. It's the way I wish I could read my own copy.

LP: You wrote the script?

DL: Yes.

LP: Brian is obviously a great keyboard and piano player. Why does he choose not to play on stage any more than he does?

DL: That is really a question you should ask him, but my sense of it is that it is the same reason he didn't play on the records in 1965 and 1966. He was too busy producing, concerned with getting the feel and the sound the way he wanted it to be. So on stage, he is focusing on what he is hearing from the band. He knows it doesn't matter who plays the notes, what matters is how the notes are played and that is his focus — making sure the vocals and instruments are right. So, watching a concert, you see with his physical body that Brian is conducting the band.

LP: One of the most profound factors of Beautiful Dreamer is the cast assembled and their comments.

DL: Yes. It's a testament to Brian that so many important people — and I interviewed close to 50 people for the movie — chose to participate.

LP: Who didn't do an interview with you that you wanted to be in the film?

DL: There were some people we asked to participate who chose not to — like the surviving Beach Boys. I interviewed everybody who was willing to sit down in front of the camera.

Original artwork for the never-released 1967 SMiLE album. © Frank Holmes.

LP: How did you get the original Frank Holmes artwork?

DL: We asked him. My editor, Pete Lynch, deserves major praise for the way we were able to incorporate the artwork into the movie. Some of the images were from the original 1966 booklet and some were done in 1995 and 1996 in the same style. The artwork, like Brian's music, speaks for itself. As fans of the music, we delight in knowing whether a song was written in 1966 or half-written in 1966 and finished in 2003. But, you know something? I think several hundred years from now, the art will remain relevant and it is the only thing that will remain relevant. When we look at the history of art, what do we know about artists other than art? I really don't know much about George Gershwin or Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci. But I do know and treasure their work.

LP: That brings to mind the quotes you used throughout the film, they were so well placed and ultimately drove the points home. What inspired you to use them in that way?

DL: It was just an idea I had. I wanted to contextualize this movie as the story of a great artist. To me, one way to do that was to frame the story with quotes from other great artists.

LP: What are the sources for the vintage still photos and films that are used throughout?

DL: The SMiLE-era photos of Brian in the studio were taken by the late Jasper Daily. All of the SMiLE-era photos (like those in the tent that was built in Brian's living room) are from Guy Webster. They look so good because he did prints from the original negatives. There are home movies (Brian wearing a fire helmet in the studio) of the SMiLE sessions and the footage of Brian on the fire pole at the fire station is from the 1966 promotional video the band shot for "Good Vibrations."

LP: Can you shed some light on Brian's appearance on the Leonard Bernstein "Inside Pop Special." Such as when did that air?
DL: I think it was filmed in December of 1966 and it aired in April of 1967. For the actual special, Leonard Bernstein is on camera probably only during the first 20 minutes or so. Brian's performance doesn't come until near the end of the program. We used every second of Brian's performance in the documentary; I wish there was more.

LP: Do you think the documentary had any impact on the reality that Brian was actually going to go through with completing SMiLE?

DL: You would have to ask Brian, but I don't think so. I don't think the film has anything to do at all with how the music is being played or performed. That said, Brian may be the only person I know who is able to be "himself" with cameras constantly following his every move.

LP: You show Brian very candidly during the vocal rehearsals. He looks almost catatonic. Is this part of his illness catching up with him?

DL: Again, I think you'd have to ask him that, but Brian allowed us extraordinary access so that we are able to present a very intimate portrait of him during the rebirth of SMiLE. Clearly he was having a hard time early in the rehearsal process.

LP: Did it ever get to the point that you though this project might not come to fruition?

DL: I think Melinda is pretty clear about that in the film. I didn't ever feel that it wasn't gonna happen. I was only concerned as to whether it should, from the point of view that we wondered if this was too much for anyone to ask of him. But he's a very strong man. He was determined to get through this. In 1995, Brian said he needed "emotional security" in order to create. In the nine years since then, there have really been hundreds, thousands of people who have given him the love and support he needed. And in a certain way, a critical mass was achieved. I think SMiLE is the result of all of that.


* * * * *

On September 28, 2004 two days before the 2004 SMiLE Tour began its North American cross-country trek, the most infamous rock album to have never been released was finally issued — where it debuted as the top selling CD on Amazon.com as well as an equally respectable #13 on Billboard Magazine's Top 200 Album chart. Real art doesn't require — or usually achieve — that sort of immediate or tangible validation. However, it does stand as substantive proof of the music's timelessness. In fact, I dare say that in 50 years, very few will remember the chart and sales numbers from Nelly, George Strait, or Green Day — Brian's current competition. However, as long as there are appreciators of pop music, Brian Wilson and SMiLE will be lauded and revered for what David Anderle so aptly refers to as "the longest gestation in history: the guy gets pregnant in 1966 and doesn't have the baby until 2004. That alone is worth the price of admission."

But even if the world had to wait almost another four decades, the triumphant results would be equally satisfying. As for me and every other lover of Brian Wilson and his music, there is added satisfaction that Brian and Van Dyke were able to complete their collaboration together and absorb the praise that they have deserved for the last 37 years.