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Head Wondermint Discusses Taking Brian Wilson's Smile on the Road

Darian Sahanaja (Interview)

Wondermint vocalist/vibes/keyboardist Darian Sahanaja, a member of the Wondermints—Brian Wilson's live back-up group— speaks with Matthew Greenwald about his job as Brian Wilson's "musical secretary," and about the restoration and creation of Wilson's legendary Smile album for both live and studio presentation.

Q: Can you give me a brief thumbnail of how the Smile material came to be presented live?

A: Well, from my point of view, I'm in his band, and I just kinda hear the word from the mountain, ya know, if they feel like taking on some project, I'm there 100%. But, after touring for three years - which was unprecedented, Brian Wilson on a solo tour- which came off very well, and he was comfortable with the band, it seemed logical that we take on Pet Sounds . And this was also unprecedented as well, to take on an album of that magnitude live. So we did it, and it came across very well. After we had gotten into our second year of doing Pet Sounds…after a while, it seemed like we were milking it…

Q: “The Wurlitzer effect”…

A: Yeah right, of repetition…and then people were looking at each other, management, Melinda, the whole organization…and asked, ”What next? How could we possibly top Pet Sounds? Smile was the logical step. Of course, that's easier to conceptualize than to realize. (Pause) I have to admit, when I first heard about it, I was a bit wary…

Q: Going through the original tapes…now, you, aside from being a musician in Brian's band, are also someone who has been one of the biggest Smile collectors; your job was to go through the original tapes to find what material would be used in the live performance…

A: Yes, that's what I did. I had to find as many complete, or nearly complete pieces that we could use. Basically, the objective here was to present this music live, and it's fairly well known that the album was left unfinished, and it was in a whole bunch of fragments: Brian had a version of “Heroes And Villains” here, a version of “Good Vibrations” there…so many variations.

Q: Yes, and there are Beach Boy/Smile fans who say that there were versions of “Barnyard” actually in “Heroes And Villains,” things like that…

A: Right, or “Wind Chimes”. And all this leads me to believe that he was just on a roll, going with his gut, ya know? Variation on a riff, variation on a theme…and make sense of it later. Basically he had done “Good Vibrations”, and that was done over a period of months, and he was expanding on a theme, and he didn't know where it was going to go. He was just going for something, and he'd know when it was right. I mean, there are hours and hours of just the verse of “Good Vibrations”! Different tempos, different variations, different grooves…same with the chorus. He somehow managed, in the end, to harness that and find some focus and put it all together to create the masterpiece single that we all know and love. I can't think of another case before that where a producer or composer would record things in sections like that and put it all together later, modularly.

Q: Different approach than Pet Sounds…

A: Yes, because Pet Sounds was cut traditionally - as complete performances. Smile was a totally different way of recording and composing. I like to call it 'modular composing'. It was sort of way ahead of its time, because in the late 60's and to this day, people do it like that, especially with the advent of hard disc recording.

Q: Hey, you guys - the Wondermints - have done that…on Bali.

A: Yes! Exactly; Bali was an album that took that approach to some extent. On our last album (Mind If We Make Love To You) we went more traditional. Anyway, I think Brian was ahead of his time to record that way. I see him doing “Good Vibrations” and saying, 'Wow, I'm onto something here…” And, it was a success, and 'I'm going to do a whole album like this…' But imagine, one song took about four months, and now he was going to take on a whole album in that style.

Q: With what you're describing, this way of recording, and then adding the tension within the band, the family situation, drugs, etc.…it's no wonder the record didn't get finished.

A: Exactly.

Q: Now, being a big fan/collector of the album, did you find anything that you were completely surprised at, that hadn't surfaced before on bootlegs?

A: The stuff that's leaked out on the 'unofficial circuit” pretty much covers the stuff that was archived in the vaults. Unfortunately there are some gaps in the vaults….

Q: That might lead credence to the stories that some of the tapes were in fact, destroyed…

A: Exactly. You look at Pet Sounds, and the archives there, and everything is well-documented there, and all the tapes are archived, everything is in sequence. Now, it gets to the Smile era, its 'tape, tape, missing tape, tape, missing tape, reel, three missing reels…'

Q: I think when people come and see the show, even some of the hard-core Smile collectors will have a few surprises. For one, I had never heard that beautiful Johnny Mercer song… I think it's called “I Wanna Be Around”?

A: Well, that was always titled “I Wanna Be Around/Friday Night/Workshop”