Learn: Home » CrutchfieldAdvisor Presents Brian Wilson's SMiLE
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.
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.
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.
