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Post by beachboystalkmatt on Oct 2, 2023 19:43:39 GMT
Hello friends, Greg and I are so excited to welcome the amazing Chris Farmer to BeachBoysTalk. As musical Director of the Beach Boys and a member of the Band, we are sure Chris will have some amazing insight into the Beach Boys. Please join us tomorrow night at 8 EST on Facebook or Youtube!
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nater414
Denny's Drums
Posts: 24
Likes: 36
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Post by nater414 on Oct 5, 2023 6:06:43 GMT
Chris is a great guy and a very skilled musician. He couldn't have been nicer when I've been with him. His contributions to the world of The Beach Boys and Jan & Dean should not be overlooked! The J&D band members were practically saints for putting up with Jan's ups & downs, and the way he would lash out at them, but Chris did a great job leading that band as MD, which he still continues w/ the SurfCityAllstars (the band that evolved out of the J&D band, into Dean/David's band as we know them today) to this day. Chris has a very impressive vocal range. During the course of one show, you can find him singing both the low MikeLove/JanBerry parts as well as high DeanTorrence/BrianWilson parts. The only other person I can think who has sung both the lowest and highest parts is Alan.
Excited to watch the episode!
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Oct 5, 2023 17:49:51 GMT
I had a chance to watch the interview. Chris Farmer seems like a great guy, very down-to-earth. He looked happy to be doing the interview and open to any questions. He certainly didn't appear to want to cut it short and split.
Chris had/has a wonderful music career, playing with some real legends in addition to the Beach Boys. He had some great - and funny - stories to tell. I actually saw a configuration of The Beach Boys with Chris Farmer on bass, singing Brian's part, many years ago in Reading, PA. And, yes, there were no Wilsons on stage. The people I was with loved the show. I was depressed, bored actually.
Anyway, near the end of the interview, Greg asked Chris about his final tour with the Beach Boys. I thought Greg would delve more into it, but he didn't. Maybe I missed it; I was coming and going a bit. Does anybody know why Chris Farmer left the Beach Boys' touring band? Was he simply replaced with Christian Love...by Mike Love?
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 5, 2023 18:00:55 GMT
Does anybody know why Chris Farmer left the Beach Boys' touring band? Was he simply replaced by Christian Love...by Mike Love? First of all, I have no idea. But I was looking at the wiki page for the Beach Boys' touring lineups to try to find out. Based on that, it looks like he left in 2007 during a somewhat broad band shakeup. While Christian Love was already on board by that time, it appears that Mike Kowalski also left at that time, while Randell Kirsch, John Cowsill, and Scott Totten all had some shift in their roles.
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nater414
Denny's Drums
Posts: 24
Likes: 36
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Post by nater414 on Oct 5, 2023 19:44:53 GMT
I think he was let go because they probably wanted to downsize.
Three keyboards and three guitars were probably too many members, by his standards during those days (he's obviously changed his mind post C50)
So Scott took over MD from Chris and Randell took over his bass duties. Since Randell now played bass, Christian and Scott were the 2 guitarists instead of 3. With John moving to drums (from keys) he took over MikeK's role, and now there were 2 keyboardists (Tim and Bruce). It did two things. It consolidated the band. And it ushered in the era where Scott and John were the leaders of the touring band, beforehand they had sort of been in the shadows of Chris and Mike K, but were allowed to really flourish once Scott took the reins.
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 6, 2023 18:48:22 GMT
Just finishing this up now, and really enjoyed it. One thing I loved that I think many (most?) of us fans who get caught up in various stories, narratives, characters, brands might miss was Chris's comment about what it is to be one of the musicians like him. As he said, they are people who work hard to get a break: they're networking, practicing, playing in any number of bands for any number of types of gigs.
If you're that musician, are you going to turn down a gig with "Mike Love's 'Beach Boys'" because it's not "the real Beach Boys?" Of course not! Those arguments are fine for people whose livelihoods don't depend on it, but on another level, for the musicians (and many of the listeners), they are silly arguments. You're trying to find work, and especially good-paying work. You're not turning down gig with two longtime Beach Boys that tours under the name the Beach Boys performing the music of the Beach Boys!
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Emdeeh
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 520
Likes: 532
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Post by Emdeeh on Oct 7, 2023 3:00:49 GMT
I enjoyed the interview with Chris Farmer very much, especially his band stories. He's a good raconteur.
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