'I Can Hear Music:' Author Mike Eder reveals his dream project on The Beach Boys

Against all odds, The Beach Boys have put aside their legal and creative differences this past year, releasing the lauded Smile in November to rave reviews. That news was first announced exclusively in this column last February in an interview with Al Jardine.

When December rolled around, a 50th anniversary tour was announced, reuniting Brian Wilson with Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks. Johnston even had an appropriately ironic name for the tour – "When Surf Freezes Over." Sadly, Dennis and his baby brother Carl Wilson are no longer with us.

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As one of the Top Ten American Bands of all time, the story of The Beach Boys has definitely been convoluted and stretched since their inception in 1961. Fortunately, author Mike Eder offers a remedy in the upcoming publication of I Can Hear Music, a massive book chronicling the band's music.

He feels the entire Beach Boys story hasn't been told with balance, and each individual member (aside from Brian) has still not been given due respect. As an honest portrayal of the band and their music, I Can Hear Music is sure to be a sought-after publication when it sees release.

In a series of informative conversations conducted over the past two months, Eder discusses the group in detail. In part one below, the author discusses how he became a Beach Boys fan, the genesis of I Can Hear Music, meeting the band and their various associates, and why dedicated fans of the band are special.

The Mike Eder Interview, Part One

Tell us a little about yourself. What are some of your hobbies?

I live in Illinois in a Chicago suburb called Naperville. I am 35 and have been a music fan since I was five. I am a vinyl record collector with around 4,000 LP's and 45's. I also love to watch DVD's (stuff on music and comedy are my favorites), read (mostly music or film biography), and I enjoy video games and Superman.

I have been writing since I was about 14, when I first got an article on The Three Stooges published in The Three Stooges Journal, a well made fan club magazine. The editor encouraged my writing and actually part of one of my articles got quoted in a Three Stooges’ book.

They were about various radio shows, shorts, and TV shows they did as solo performers. Michael Jackson and David Letterman were actually in the club at the time, which was kind of cool to think they may have read it. I suppose the success of that was why I pursued writing afterwards.

Anyway, I continued doing media journalism, including an early draft of I Can Hear Music. When I graduated college I began writing for a local publisher while doing other jobs on the side in the writing field.

I left after 10 years as my career wasn't moving ahead and almost immediately I began getting great offers. My name was now out there to some extent so it was a lot easier to get my work looked at.

How did you become a Beach Boys fan?

I saw a documentary on them on VH1. It's called An American Band and it aired in 1988. I was 12 and already a big time record collector from the ‘50s and ‘60s. I had liked them before the movie okay, but once I heard the Smile-era and Sunflower cuts I was hooked. Brian and Dennis' talent knocked me out.

What was the genesis of your upcoming book, I Can Hear Music?

I felt The Beach Boys story hadn't been told with balance. I first thought of this in 1994 actually when I was 18. I knew Brian had not stayed in bed for years at a time; I knew he did great work after Smile. This was not made clear by the many books and movies up to that time.

Even now his relative normalcy in the late sixties and early seventies is overlooked and dismissed. As the years went by I came to feel that not only had Brian gotten a raw deal, but also there was Dennis, who only in the last few years has gotten recognition.

The entire band has still not been given due respect. This includes Mike Love. I disagree with many of the creative decisions he made after 1973, but he was essential to the early blend.

I am not a blind fan and after 1974 I only really like Dennis' stuff to any great extent, but I still feel from 1961–1973 they were the most important American band, perhaps the most important band period.

What made you pick the title?

Well, a lot of the book was me playing the records and reviewing them so I thought I Can Hear Music applied. Hopefully the reader will also be inspired to play the music after they read it. It hasn't been overused, and for something that covers the whole thing from start to finish, I really liked it.

It also can apply to all era's of the group, and seeing Carl Wilson and The Beach Boys sing it in 1993 was very uplifting.

Did you have an opportunity to meet any of The Beach Boys or their associates?

Since I had a rough idea of the book in 1994, I got a few interviews in the year or so after with legendary Wrecking Crew drummer Hal Blaine, Marilyn Wilson (Brian’s first wife), and Dean Torrence (Jan & Dean).

When I was in college I set it aside to some extent but did get an interview with Brian Wilson in 1999 that went really well. Honestly, it was just getting to him at the right time, and I appreciate him helping me out. During this period I really wasn't a great writer, but the ideas were there.

By 2001, when I finished school, I was ready to begin my career but the book still wasn't in good enough shape to publish, and I hadn't done enough to get in any doors. I got the local writing job and in between those projects I kept working on I Can Hear Music.

In 2003 I had a big break and managed to get around a dozen more interviews (phone or email), which was fine for a project where my questions were mainly specific.

Fred Vail (original manager of the band), Debbie Keil (a very good friend of Brian’s in the ‘70s), Steve Desper (longtime engineer), Steve Kalinich (poet, Dennis and Brian's sometimes songwriting partner), Ed Roach (Dennis’ buddy and group photographer), the late Eddy Medora (guitarist for The Sunrays), Daryl Dragon (keyboardist, later Captain & Tennille), the late Mike Meros (veteran keyboardist), Jimmie Seiter (who worked with Brian and Bruce in 1975 on the “California Music” 45), and Tom Jacob (keyboardist for Al's solo band) all gave me considerable time.

To really get to the heart of your question, I have met Mike and Bruce long enough to shake hands or get an autograph. Although Johnston answered some questions on the Beach Boys Britain message board, I never did get to talk to them.

David Marks has answered one or two things through his wife. Al and I had a nice phone chat, but it was only to tell him what I was doing and to ask him a bit about "Loop De Loop" and Brian's (non) role in the recording [Author’s Note: Unreleased for nearly 30 years, this sound-effects laden production oddity has to be heard to be believed].

Carl sent me a personalized autograph a record dealer got for me, but I sadly did not talk to him. I think we would have connected at some point had he lived, as I understand he was really the historian of them all.

That said, I think I have gone out of my way to present all of their talents as individuals so the reader can discover what each of them added to the group. I also have tried to present all their different takes on things when possible. I try to be fair and make this less about "myth" and more about fact.

As an aside, I have talked to many other Beach Boys authors and must say that as people, and as writers, I rank Andrew G. Doe (Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys: The Complete Guide To Their Music) and Jon Stebbins (Dennis Wilson: The Real Beach Boy and The Lost Beach Boy: An Authorized Biography of Original Beach Boy David Marks) very high.

Domenic Priore (Look! Listen! Vibrate! Smile! and Smile: The Story of Brian Wilson’s Lost Masterpiece) actually read my first manuscript and was very helpful with something that didn't yet have much shape or polish. I don't agree with everything Domenic has put forth on say Mike Love, but he taught me by example to always say what I truly think about the music, good or bad.

I can say honestly that a huge majority of the people I met through this have been very kind. It's a great give and take usually, and I think people enjoy sharing the things they went through. I really do enjoy letting the artists whose work I admire know how much positivity they have brought to my life.

Even if I had never progressed in my chosen profession, that I can express to them some kind of gratitude made it (and makes it) all very worthwhile.

How are dedicated fans of The Beach Boys different than fans for other bands out there?

I guess I have been in touch with most of the hardcore fan base, but this is kind of a hard question. Everybody is different and with anything people like, I don't really think there is one description. It's a wide audience age wise – many girl fans as well as guys.

My fiancé noticed when we went to see Brian that he is loved much more personally than many artists are. I think this is true (at least to a small extent) because Brian (as well as Dennis) wrote so personally about himself and has always been candid. Now sometimes that has worked against him, but really those who do get it, truly care about the man.

Carl and Dennis also seem to be loved as people very strongly. Again these things can be applied to most artists, but what makes the Beach Boys special for me is that I can relate to their lives and their music as being a real reflection of American life. Eccentric perhaps, but deep down most of us are.

To further that thought, I think most of us are lucky our worst moments aren't broadcast to the world. On the other hand, our triumphs can't be shared by so many either. While I was once concerned that The Beach Boys would be overlooked, I think that fear has been proven quite wrong.

Hopefully what my book will do is again bring some balance to the story, and be an honest portrayal of the band and (most importantly) their music.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Part Two of The Beach Boys interview with Mike Eder is available here. He explains whether Brian would have become a success without The Beach Boys, their greatest songs/albums prior to Pet Sounds, his assessment of Smile, and who killed that album in 1967. In addition, the author debunks the long-held belief that Brian became a complete recluse after Smile was abandoned...