Hollywood, California – December 16, 2011 – The founding members of The Beach Boys, one of the world's most legendary bands in popular music history, will reunite for a global 50th Anniversary CELEBRATION in 2012. Beach Boys Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks will come together for a new studio album and commemorative catalog releases with Capitol/EMI and a 50-date international tour to begin in April with a headlining performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival ("Jazz Fest") as well as other exciting events to be announced.

Brian Wilson says, "This anniversary is special to me because I miss the boys and it will be a thrill for me to make a new record and be on stage with them again."

Mike Love says, "We got together at Capitol Records and re-recorded 'Do It Again.' Brian and I wrote that song which went to number 1 in Great Britain, Australia and elsewhere some 44 years ago. Brian paid me a compliment saying, 'How can a guy sound that great so many years later?' Later on, while working out some harmonies on a new song Brian had written, I got a chance to return the compliment. It was a thrill to be around a piano again with Brian, Alan and Bruce and experience firsthand the brilliance of Cousin Brian's gift for vocal arrangements. I am very much looking forward to David Marks joining us and thrilling with his surf guitar licks. Music has been the unifying and harmonizing fact of life in our family since childhood. It has been a huge blessing that we have been able to share with the world. Wouldn't It Be Nice to Do It Again? Absolutely!"

Al Jardine says, "The Beach Boys were recently inducted into the California Hall of Fame. From our humble beginnings as brothers, cousins and friends, we have been honored to sing the praises of California, and I'm really excited for our fans to be able to see us again in concert on the world stage, and to celebrate our 50th anniversary together with a new studio album."

Bruce Johnston says, "I will be looking forward to singing Brian Wilson's melodies and Mike Love's lyrics once again in concert with many of the original band members, but imagine what we all could come up with vocally in a recording studio atmosphere under Brian's musical direction."

David Marks says, "I'm really looking forward to celebrating this important milestone in The Beach Boys' history with the other guys, and with Capitol Records - where it all began 50 years ago. It means a lot to me that we can all reunite and pay tribute to the fans who have kept the music alive."

The Beach Boys have already recorded several songs for their new album, to be released in 2012 by Capitol/EMI, with more tracks to be recorded before its completion. The as-yet-untitled album, the first to feature all of the band's surviving original members in decades, is being produced by Brian Wilson and executive produced by Mike Love.

The Beach Boys and Capitol/EMI have also teamed up for a 50th Anniversary campaign spotlighting the band's entire catalog, with several new commemorative releases planned for 2012, including a new hits collection and a career-spanning box set.

Roger Faxon, CEO of EMI Group commented: "It's no exaggeration to say that The Beach Boys are one of the greatest and most loved bands that the world has ever produced, and true American icons. We are incredibly proud to take this next step with them as our partnership enters its fiftieth year, and I can't wait to see the band back together doing what they do better than anyone else."

Colin Finkelstein, COO of EMI Music North America said: "We're honored to continue Capitol/EMI's historic partnership with The Beach Boys as they celebrate their fiftieth anniversary. The Beach Boys bring the best of California's sun and surf culture to people all over the world with their music, and we're really looking forward to working with the band on the new album and commemorative catalog releases - a real CELEBRATION of fifty years!"

Quint Davis, producer/director, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival says, "It's an honor to present the original Beach Boys reunion at Jazz Fest 2012. Hosting the greatest artists of our era has always been the primary mission of Jazz Fest, and certainly The Beach Boys are unsurpassed as an iconic American musical and cultural institution. Every spring Jazz Fest is the number-one destination for good vibrations and fun, fun, fun; on April 27th, when The Beach Boys reunite on our biggest stage, it's going to feel like a thrilling homecoming for everyone lucky enough to be there. We're all looking forward to experiencing the magic and the joy."

Founded in Hawthorne, California in 1961, The Beach Boys were originally comprised of the three teenaged Wilson brothers: Brian, Carl and Dennis, their cousin Mike Love, and school friend Al Jardine. In 1962, neighbor David Marks joined the group for their first wave of hits on Capitol Records, leaving in late 1963, and in 1965, Bruce Johnston joined the band when Brian Wilson retired from touring to focus on writing and producing records for the group. For five decades, America's first pop band to reach the 50 year milestone has recorded and performed the music that has become the world's favorite soundtrack to summer.

The Beach Boys signed with Capitol Records in July 1962 and released their first album, Surfin' Safari, that same year. The album spent 37 weeks on the Billboard chart, launching the young group known for its shimmering vocal harmonies and relaxed California style into international stardom. The Wilson/Love collaboration resulted in many huge international chart hits, and under Brian Wilson's musical leadership, the band's initial surf-rock focus was soon broadened to include other themes, making The Beach Boys America's preeminent band of the 1960s.

In 1966, The Beach Boys were one of the first bands to found its own record label with the launch of Brother Records, Inc. (BRI), with the band's members as its shareholders and Capitol Records as its distribution partner. BRI continues to manage The Beach Boys' intellectual property, including the band's catalog with Capitol/EMI and other label partners, as well as its name, logos, image and likeness.

The Beach Boys continue to hold Billboard / Nielsen SoundScan's record as the top-selling American band for albums and singles, and they are also the American group with the most Billboard Top 40 chart hits (36). 'Sounds Of Summer: The Very Best Of The Beach Boys' is fast approaching triple-Platinum sales status, and 'The SMiLE Sessions,' released to worldwide critical acclaim in November, has been heralded as 2011's #1 Reissue of the Year by Rolling Stone magazine.

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and recipients of The Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement GRAMMY Award, The Beach Boys are an American institution that is iconic around the world

No Stamos, no Beach Boys!

They've already got a teen idol drummer named John.

Exclusive: Mike Love 'Looking Forward' to Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Tour

Though Mike Love has never stopped touring under the Beach Boys name, fans will finally get the chance to see the band's original surviving members play once again on their upcoming 50th anniversary blowout, kicking off in April at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Rolling Stone caught up with Love about the milestone, the band's upcoming album of new material and how everybody is getting along. "What a phenomenal legacy to celebrate," says Love. "Music has been the harmonizing element in our family since childhood. It's great to come full circle and ponder that and celebrate that. We're very fortunate to 'Do It Again,' so to speak."

This news is pretty exciting for your fans.
Well, if you think about it, it's 50 years of "Fun, Fun, Fun."

Has it been all "Fun, Fun, Fun"?
Of course not. But I think the story of the Beach Boys is told in the music and the legacy to the world, not all the yellow journalism. I think the overwhelming story is the impact, the legacy of the music. It's really cool that we can all get together this time and celebrate along with anyone else who wants to celebrate with us.

How did the band approach putting the tour together?
We figured it makes sense to do it during the summer. Our [2003 compilation] album the Sounds of Summer is fast approaching selling three million copies – if it's triple-platinum, which is, you know, pretty good. And by the time this 50th celebration is over, it'll probably be more than triple-platinum.

Who had the idea for the 50th anniversary tour first? Who reached out to who?
Everybody reached out. I'm looking forward to getting together with Brian, writing something together again. His musical nature is so phenomenal. Even doing the background vocals we did in the studio recently, he was just sitting at the piano and stretching those chords the way he does spontaneously. It's just amazing.

It's thrilling because that's what we're so used to hearing from him back in the day when we were very productive, putting out an album every few months. It hasn't gone away. It's just nature. And my nature is the way it is, conceptually and lyrically. Some people are denizens of the studio. I'm more of a denizen of the live appearance. I love the live thing. I love the spontaneity and the recreating of those songs.

Is this just a one-off get-together for this tour? Or are the Beach Boys back together?
We're just approaching it a day at a time, one tour at a time. We're going to do some European stuff, it looks like. Right now, it's just offers. Other than three dates in Japan in August, that's confirmed. Everything else is subject to offers and negotiations.

You're going to play Jazz Fest, that's the first one. Will you guys play consecutively after that? Will you head out on the road?
The idea is to do four or five shows a week for the weeks up until the weeks we're intending to go to Europe. I wish I could say more definitively exactly what we're going to do.

I assume the band will be playing outdoor amphitheaters in the U.S.?
I'm hoping that we'll do places associated with summer. We're open to doing whatever makes sense, whoever wants us.

What will the backing band look like?
Brian Wilson has an incredible band. We're using most of his band. And we've got [current Beach Boys touring] drummer John Cowsill and our guitarist, Scott Totten. We're kind of blending things together. I think, musically, it's going to be incredible.

How will these shows differ from your Beach Boys shows? What do you think the set list will be like?
From what I understand, from a few of the promoters and venues that want us, they want to hear a lot of hits. But I think stuff from the Pet Sounds album and Smile will undoubtedly be included. It will be a comprehensive thing. We're going to try and be as inclusive of all the eras of the Beach Boys music as representatives of our catalogues because I know there are some people that are into one phase or another of our career, so we'll try to do what we can to incorporate everybody's wish list. That would be tough to do unless we did a week at Carnegie Hall. We've got hundreds of songs.

How's the album coming so far?
We have not done much on that. There have been some songs written and we have recorded on a few things, just a handful of things. The next couple months are going to be, that's going to be our to-do list. There's a lot of creativity coming from myself, coming from Brian. David Marks has a title I really like, so I'm going to work with him on that.

It's amazing David Marks is going to be there.
Yeah! David rocks. A phenomenal guitarist. When he does those leads on "Surfin'," "Surfin' Safari" and "Fun, Fun, Fun," it's so authentic. He and Carl committed on playing guitar since they were 10 years old and we neighbors with each other from across the street in Hawthorne. He's a fantastic musician and a really fantastic guy to be with. He went through his issues with alcohol, but he's completely cooled out for maybe 10 years now. It's going to be really great to be with him.

How is everybody getting along now?
I think great. A lot of the ups and downs were as the result of other people's incursions, I would say, whether it be a Murry Wilson or a Dr. Landy, you know. Everybody's getting along great.

Is Brian excited?
I don't know. Have you talked to him?

Not lately. Maybe it was a bad day, but I talked to him a couple months back and he didn't seem that keen on the idea of the tour.
I heard about that. Brian will say, one day, "I really miss Mike." And then the next day he'll say, "All right, I don't want to do anything with those guys." He has his moods, no doubt about it. But I think he's really looking forward to getting in the studio with the voices that he hears in his head when he does the harmony on the keyboard.

Do you know when the album might come out?
I really don't. We'll have to do it first.

Sometime in the next year?
Oh, hell yeah.

The Wondermints really need to put out a new album. It's been almost 10 years since the last one.

Ooooh, a new hits collection! It's about time!

There is not a drop of irony or sarcasm in this post.

Beach Boys Album: 'It's All Brand New'

The Beach Boys' reunion album is nearly mixed and on target for a planned June 5 release, according to the group's Bruce Johnston.

"It's all brand new," Johnston tells Billboard. "There's a lot of what you'd hope to hear from Brian (Wilson) on there. It's not a quilt or a pot luck dinner; it's not like, 'OK, everybody show up with your songs.' It's not one of those kind of albums. There's a lot of Brian in there, and Mike (Love). It's just nice to know there is a Mike Love and a Brian Wilson still around to write together."

Johnston says the album's first single, "That's Why God Made the Radio," was in contention to be the title track but was deemed too long, so alternatives are being considered. Returning member Al Jardine -- who's joining Wilson, Love, Johnston and David Marks for the album and tour, which kicks off April 24 in Tucson -- has revealed that some vocals recorded by the late Carl Wilson will be used on a Jardine-penned song called "Waves of Love," while Johnston says that Brian Wilson composed "a little suite" for the set as well.

The music, he says, "reminds me of our 'Sunflower' album, which is probably one of our least-selling albums, and some of the songs there are stunning. This album has elements, kind of, of everything. And we don't have EMI, Capitol, acting like they did when I joined the band just so paranoid -- 'We gotta have hits! We gotta have hits! Come on, is that a hit?!,' just coming to the sessions and torturing you. It wasn't like that this time. They've listened to the stuff and go, 'Wow, that's pretty nice.'"

Johnston, who composed the fan favorite "Disney Girls," contributed one song, "She Believes in Love Again" that dates back to the mid-80s. "I took it from a recording we made of it in '85 and just stripped it down and softened it up and finally got it right," Johnston says. "I have no idea if it's going in or not. The label picks the songs, not me." The group also recorded a new version of "Do It Again" as a "warm-up" during the sessions, which will be used in a 50th anniversary 'ZinePak due out May 1.

Even as the Beach Boys get ready to hit the road, Johnston says he's surprised that the oft-talked about reunion has become reality. "It was not even my greatest fantasy that this would happen because I thought it would redefine the word 'impossible,' " he says. "I think marking such a milestone as 50 years, especially coming from the world of rock 'n' roll...I mean, Tony Bennett has 50 years, and B.B. King. All of a sudden, and the (Rolling) Stones are gonna find this out, it's 50 years and you're going to celebrate it. I think that's got to be the impetus that got everybody to talk about doing it. Nobody was enemies. Everyone had fake judo fights over the years, but no one got hurt. It was pretty easy."

The Beach Boys currently have dates booked until Aug. 19 in North America, Germany and Japan. More might be added, but Johnston does not think the reunion will turn into a permanent concern. "I don't think that will happen. I think it's going to be one special tour and that's it," Johnston says. "It's with Al and Dave and Brian, so it makes it really kind of special. But Brian's not going to be a touring guy; he would never tour as much as we do. He would hate it. I happen to love it. So does Mike. But it would probably be too much stress on Brian, I think. But this tour will be fun for Brian, I think, and for the rest of us."

Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Reunion Tour 2012 Dates:

April 24 - Tucson, AZ @ Anselmo Valencia Ampitheater
April 26 - Grand Prairie, TX @ Verizon Theatre
April 27 - New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Jazz Fest
April 29 - Raleigh, NC @ Raleigh Ampitheater
May 02 - St. Augustine, FL @ St. Augustine Ampitheater
May 04 - Hollywood, FL @ Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
May 05 - Tampa, FL @ David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts
May 08 - New York, NY @ Beacon Theater
May 09 - New York, NY @ Beacon Theater
May 11 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Bendum Center for the Performing Arts
May 12 - Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
May 13 - Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
May 15 - White Plains, NY @ Westchester County Center
May 17 - Bethlehem, PA @ Sands Bethlehem Events Center
May 19 - Atlanta City, NJ @ Borgata Hotel Casino
May 21 - Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre
May 27 - Las Vegas, NV @ Red Rock Casino
June 01 - Berkley, CA @ Greek Theatre
June 02 - Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl
June 08 - The Woodlands, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
June 10 - Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music Festival
June 13 - Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center
June 15 - Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
June 16 - Camden, NJ @ Susquehanna Bank Center
June 17 - Bethel, NY @ Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
June 19 - Toronto, ON @ Molson Ampitheatre
June 20 - Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
June 22 - Bangor, ME @ Waterfront Park
June 23 - Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center
June 26 - Boston, MA @ Bank of America Pavilion
June 29 - Darien Lakes, NY @ DTE Energy Music Theatre
July 01 - Milwaukee, WI @ Marcus Ampitheater (Summerfest)
July 03 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Farm Bureau Live
July 10 - Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Ampitheatre
July 13 - Woodinville, WA @ Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery
July 14 - Eugene, OR @ Cuthbert Ampitheater
July 15 - Stateline, NV @ Harvey's Lake Tahoe Ampitheater
July 26 - Rome, Italy @ Capannelle
July 27 - Milan, Italy @ Civic Arena
July 29 - Gothenburg, Sweden
July 31 - Oslo, Norway @ Spektrum
August 1 - Aarhus, Denmark @ Amfiscenen
August 3 - Berlin, Germany @02 Arena
August 4 - Stuttgart, Germany @ Schleyerhalle
August 5 - Monchengladbach, Germany @ Hockey Park
August 7 - Lokeren, Belgium @ Lokerse Feesten
August 16 - Tokyo, Japan @ QVC Marine Field
August 17 - Osaka, Japan @ Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
August 19 - Nagoya, Japan @ Gaishi Hall

Live: The Beach Boys kick off 50th anniversary tour in Tucson



TUCSON -- Let's not make too much of the fact that the Beach Boys kicked off their 50th anniversary tour on casino grounds, nowhere near the beach, on a day that hit 105, with gusts of dry wind blowing in from the surrounding Arizona desert -- not a wave, T-bird or little surfer girl in sight.

After all, the band, touring for the first time in decades with co-founders Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine, as well as longtime voice Bruce Johnston and early member David Marks, transcended the literal summer ages ago in service of the metaphorical kind, one that celebrated Southern California life and put sound to a cultural vibe.

This is one reason why at Casino del Sol on the Yaqui reservation, the band, augmented by a dozen instrumentalists and vocalists, was able to convincingly sing about summertime joys, fears and frustrations even though most of the remaining Boys have been doing this for four decades and are themselves approaching proverbial wintertime.

The first of a five-month, 56-show tour that would challenge a band half its age, the Beach Boys will travel the arenas, festivals and outdoor amphitheaters of America (and, later in the year, Europe and Asia) offering a version of this concert.

If opening night is any indication, the Beach Boys will celebrate not only their sound, but the music that gave birth to it and was inspired by it. They performed songs by Phil Spector, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and the Mamas and the Papas, among others, while images of the band in its glory days cascaded across the big screen.

And if Wilson's distant onstage presence in Tucson is a hint, it's going to be a long summer for him.

Wilson, the sole living brother from the trio that included Dennis and Carl, who has avoided the Beach Boys stage like the plague -- while his revolutionary aesthetic has been reverently honored by new generations.

The quintet of clean-cut, handsome young men from Hawthorne sent out a four-song demo that put sound and lyrics to the uniquely L.A. lifestyle of beaches, breezes, bikinis and muscle cars. Two of those songs, "Surfin' Safari" and "Surfer Girl," have become singalong classics, and the band offered them early in the set.

These hits set the course for much that followed: from "Help Me, Rhonda" to "Wouldn't It Be Nice" to "Little Deuce Coupe," the Beach Boys brought the massive Wilson production sound to life. While the principals played along -- Wilson on white grand piano, Jardine and Marks on guitar, Johnston on keyboards, and Love on vocals -- a bevy of young backing musicians pushed forth driving rhythms (three percussionists), guitar texture (at times, as many as five guitarists), keyboards (three of them), and a virtual choir of male voices filling songs whose age and design has rendered them exquisite antiquities.

The music they presented embodies a SoCal, endless summer archetype.

The band understands this and offers evidence of this spirit in the Hawaiian shirts they wear -- and in the songs they still sing. When Love, whose warm, confident voice can still hit the notes effortlessly, sang his 1964 love letter to a motorcycle, "Little Honda," you could hear the wind blowing through the spokes. When Jardine harmonized on "Catch a Wave," his joy was infectious, especially when he pumped his fist and pointed at Wilson.

But Wilson didn't seem to be having much fun. Sitting behind his piano stone-faced, he feigned a smile a few times, and had to be nudged into acknowledging the crowd when they rose to give him his first ovation during his falsetto-intoned version of Lymon's "Why Do Fools Fall in Love."

He appeared to be residing within the Malibu of his mind at times, then ambivalent if not miserable in other moments. There's a reason why he stopped touring with the Beach Boys: He obviously doesn't like it.

One of the few times he tapped his foot and bounced his torso was during "Sloop John B," which opened the second, and much more vibrant, of the two sets. One of the night's high points, the band presented "Sloop" with the same rush-of-wind exuberance of the recording, a sharp reminder of a band at its peak. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" was equally inspiring, as were the odes to departed brothers Dennis and Carl, both of whom duetted from beyond via recordings -- Carl's lead on "God Only Knows" was gorgeous.

From the beaches in their youth to the casinos in their retirement years, there is certainly something bittersweet going on. Anyone who understands both nostalgia and the aging process will no doubt have an idea of the frayed edges, the relentlessness of singing the same songs over and over again for five decades, as Jardine, Love and Johnston have done. They have combated this by adding vocalists who can hit the notes they no longer can -- singer/guitarist/bandleader Jeff Foskett is the unsung workhorse of this show, who covers for Wilson on the more difficult notes.

Long ago turned men, the Beach Boys on the opening night of an impressively relentless schedule did what you'd expect, and did it quite well. Wilson and the band's art, those interlocking harmonic voices, exquisite arrangements and that summer feeling were celebrated 100 miles from Phoenix, where in 1962 "Surfin' Safari" got its first substantial airplay.

Even if the sight of five aging men offered visual confirmation that summer does indeed end, and winter can get a little tough, it doesn't mean you can't handle this reality, as the Beach Boys did, with both pride and grace.