Al Jardine, Co-Founder of the Beach Boys Talks Family and Friends

Al Jardine, Co-founder of influential art-pop progenitors, The Beach Boys, is set to return to New York City with his “Family and Friends” Tour at Sony Hall on March 8. The trek features Carnie and Wendy Wilson of Wilson-Phillips fame, as well as Al’s son, Matt. The band is slated to perform a set that encompasses the whole of their careers, including Beach Boys classics, Wilson-Phillips songs, and material from Al’s solo repertoire.

The band has a complex history. When Al Jardine and Brian Wilson started what would become The Beach Boys in 1961 at El Camino College in Hawthorne, CA, there’s no way the pair could have predicted the impact that the group would have on music and pop culture. The band’s popularity quickly surged as they traded their place at the top of the charts with Brit-rockers, The Beatles, ultimately leading to the release of their seminal album, “Pet Sounds” to critical acclaim in 1966.

The next year, the boys would abandon Brian Wilson’s planned “Smile” project, a collection of intricate studio recordings intended to create a conceptual album. After a series of successful records, tours, personnel changes and “Full House” appearances, The Beach Boys split in 1998 following the death of guitarist, singer, and at times bandleader Carl Wilson. Its legacy was left in the hands of front man Mike Love, who opted to continue to perform under The Beach Boys banner without the inclusion of Wilson and Jardine, save for a short lived reunion in 2011 for the group’s 50th anniversary. The two factions, that of Love’s and of Wilson and Jardine’s respectively, continue to operate as separate entities today. 

Al sang lead vocals on the Beach Boys’ chart topping 1965 hit, “Help Me, Rhonda,” and co-wrote several Beach Boys’ fan-favorites like “Friends,” “Wake the World,” and “Don’t Go Near the Water.” In 2010 he released his first and only full length solo effort, “A Postcard from California,” which featured a myriad of guests including Neil Young, Flea, Alec Baldwin, Glen Campbell, and Beach Boys Mike Love, David Lee Marks, Bruce Johnston, Brian Wilson and Carl Wilson. 

Last year his single, “Waves of Love 2.0,” a re-recorded bonus track from his solo debut, was released and featured a brand-new original song, “Jenny Clover.” Over the last decade, Al has proven himself a powerhouse of touring, often hitting the road with Brian’s band or with his “Endless Summer” solo show that revisits a ton of Beach Boys classics. In 2019 he was inducted to the Rochester Music Hall of Fame in recognition of his achievements, and time spent in the city as a child.

I had a chat with Al on the phone about the upcoming tour, the recording of “Friends,” Neil Young, and a new song he’s got cooking up!

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Johnny: Hey Al!

Al: Hey Johnny! Where are you?

Johnny: I’m here in New York City, where are you?

Al: I’m in Northern California.

Johnny: Is it sunny?

Al: Very beautiful, yes.

Johnny: We’re getting ready for some snow over here.

Al: I used to live up in Rochester and I know what that’s like, my dad used to have to shovel it out. Man, it was rough, he couldn’t wait to get to California.

Johnny: Do you ever make your way back out to Rochester?

Al: Yeah, I entered the Music Hall of Fame up in Rochester recently… it was great, it was like going to the Grammys!

Johnny: Would you consider Rochester your hometown?

Al: No, but a very important stopover from Lima, OH where I was born… but all these stopovers really helped me move into where I am today. Rochester was hugely important, and San Francisco was an interim stop before we ended up in Los Angeles. The family moved to LA for my dad’s work, and I met Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson in high school there. 

Johnny: So, tell me about what you have coming up.

Al: We’re playing a show down your way at Sony Hall on March 8. I’ve got Carnie and Wendy Wilson, and my son Matt Jardine coming along to support me.  We’ve got a nice California sound that reflects the Beach Boys, Wilson-Phillips, and my own personal music. it’s a great show, I think.

Johnny: You’ve been performing on and off with Wendy, Carnie and Matt for over two decades, obviously there are family ties, but can you tell me a little bit more about how this collaboration came to fruition?

Al: Well Chynna [Phillips] decided she didn’t want to tour anymore with the trio [Wilson-Phillips], and I’ve been working with Carnie’s husband, Rob [Bonfiglio] on the Brian tours, so it just began to develop. They were still interested in touring and playing without Chynna in the picture, and we all gravitated back together. A big magnetic thing happened where we were available, and we’re ready to go!

Johnny: You mentioned you’ll be performing music by the Beach Boys as well as Wilson-Phillips, will you be performing work from your solo repertoire as well?

Al: Yeah, I’d like to. I don’t want to do too much solo work because I don’t want to alienate anyone who comes to hear Wilson-Phillips songs. I’m not sure what the balance will be yet to be honest with you, but I’d like to do a couple from my “Postcard” record which is being re-released this summer.

Johnny: Will you be performing any seldom heard Beach Boys classics you penned or sang on, like “Vegetables,” “Friends,” or “Don’t Go Near the Water?”

Al: We could!

Johnny: I was at the “Something Great from 68’ Tour” where you guys revisited a lot of songs from 1968’s “Friends.” That record features more of your songwriting than any other Beach Boys album, and it has become one of the group’s most highly regarded records. Can you tell me about what was happening around you and the Beach Boys in 1968? Where was your head at when you were writing songs like “Friends” and “Wake the World?”

Al: Well, we were recording at home a lot at Brian’s house. We gathered together as a family and would sit around writing songs. We had all the studio equipment ready to go. An engineer would show up every day, I’d show up; Brian, he lived there, would show up. Well, for a while…We came together to produce our own albums and help Brian out. He was exhausted from all his work in the 60’s… That was the beginning of all those really great, what I call “in-house recordings.”

Johnny: Did the COVID-19 shutdowns impact you creatively at all? Did it change the way you write or make music or inspire any new material?

Al: As a matter of fact, I did find a couple of songs in the “outbox” you might say, that really caught my attention. One of them, I’m not sure what direction it’s going to take, but it’s got a soothing quality to it. It’s called “Seaside Vibrations” and it was written by a Japanese artist [Tube] who asked me to sing on it about 5-10 years ago. It was primarily in Japanese, but I sang the choruses in English with my sons, Matt and Adam. It went nowhere, I never heard from anyone. Spud, my media manager, and I rediscovered it in a pile of outbox stuff and I didn’t know what to do with it, I couldn’t even read the label. I heard it and said “That’s a hit chorus!” A “Beach Boy” hit chorus and all I have to do is write a song in English around it.

I’m pretty excited, I was working on it before the interview this morning. It’s kind of nice to be able to have something that’s like a “buried treasure.” I’m still trying to figure out who wrote it, and what the words in Japanese mean! I’m really working on it, and I’m determined to finish it. 

It’s really haunting now that I think about it. Sitting by the ocean, just listening and feeling peaceful. That’s what we all need right now. It’s been tough! So yeah, it has spawned some new ideas. It won’t be a Beach Boys song, but I think I’ll be able to do it with—who knows, maybe Carnie and Wendy. I’ve got a tight little combo I can put together, the same group that did the “Postcard” album.

Johnny: That’s exciting stuff, I’ve been listening to “A Postcard from California” quite a bit recently and what an insane guest list you have on there!

Al: It really is! It’s been tough trying to track everybody down to get permission to re-release it, but I think we have almost everyone. We’re still looking for Neil [Young] right now, so if he’s reading, have him give me a call!

Johnny: Neil’s all over the news right now after the recent removal of his music from Spotify.

Al: Isn’t it funny? Goddang, it gets personal but on a huge level, when your beliefs become more important, as they should be I guess, than the business of selling music. So that says a lot for him.

Johnny: You’ve been working alongside your high school buddy Brian Wilson for over 60 years, and with your son Matt since the 80’s, how does it feel to work in such close capacity with people you have extremely personal relationships with? Did you think when you recorded “Surfin’” you might be singing it alongside your buddy and son to audiences worldwide over 60 years later?

Al: No, of course not, it was like a hobby we just enjoyed being together, you know? I expected to finish school, Brian had already dropped out and I didn’t want to be a dropout. He said he “already knew it all,” and I said “Yeah Yeah, of course,” but I didn’t. I wanted to finish what I started, but he won and got me back on the road with him, touring and singing with The Beach Boys. I didn’t know it was going to go on for 60 more years. So here we are, at our 60th anniversary, right now.

Johnny: What are you listening to nowadays? What keeps you inspired?

Al: I listen to SiriusXM radio. I just love the doo-wop channel, the 50’s, the 60’s, the 70’s. Thanks to that medium I’m able to stay connected to several generations of music. It’s really incredible. It’s just great to hear all the music from those decades, and all you have to do is flip a dial.

Johnny: Who’s your favorite member of Monty Python?

Al: Oh god I love that, I wish I would’ve discovered them earlier. My older brother Neil told me about them when I was a teenager and I thought “Monty Python, what kind of name is that? I don’t want to learn anything about a snake!” But later on, I discovered them… of course John Cleese but really, they were all just sensational. I met Eric Idle in a coffee shop and I made a total fool of myself. I embarrassed him! I couldn’t help myself, I just genuflected, you know? I know what fans go through now when they see their idols.

Johnny: So, you have the tour with Wendy, Carnie and Matt in March, the re-release of “A Postcard from California” this summer, a new song in the works and a tour with Brian Wilson and Chicago later this year, what else do you have cooking up?

Al: Well, that’s enough isn’t it? We’re leaving March 1 so that gives me a month to get ready. Some of the old timers from the Feel Flows days are going to be in the band, Ed Carter and Bobby Figueroa. Ed has been my lifelong friend and played bass and guitar on all those songs that are on the “Feel Flows” box set. It’s a lot of work putting a tour together, but that’s what Matt’s going to be doing, he doesn’t know it yet. laughs He started out as assistant road manager with The Beach Boys before he joined the actual band and now he’s gone full circle. He’s going to have to do more because I’m going to be doing less! This COVID thing… hopefully it’ll be done by the time we get there; wouldn’t that be nice? We’ve got all these challenges traveling, but we’ll be in a little bubble. It’s going to be great getting back together and working hard.

You can catch Al on the road with Wendy, Carnie and Matt on the “Friends and Family” Tour this March, grab your tickets here!

Note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated when “A Postcard for California” would be re-released.