Learn: Home » CrutchfieldAdvisor Presents Brian Wilson's SMiLE
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!"
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!"
