worst reunions

Wonder Stuff more egregious: when reformed PWEI got down to a duo, they changed the name as it had become something else; after it went down to one, he asked the others if they'd mind him forming a new PWEI and they all gave their blessing on the principle of "well we're not going to use the name, go ahead mate."

Whereas the members of the reformed Wonder Stuff who were managing the band and running the website found out that noted rhyming slang Miles Hunt had decided they weren't in the group anymore, when fans emailed to ask why the advertised tour dates weren't on the website. (Hunt's "main" band The Miles Hunt Club weren't selling tickets or CDs, so he just decided to rebadge them as the Wonder Stuff before sending the second album to print.)

The PWEI drummer, who's always had a gigging career, did a stint in the Stuff for a year or two recently, and the bassist stands in with EMF on their occasional reunion gigs, so I believe there have been nostalgia all-dayers with three Poppies playing, but only one in "PWEI."

Current Eagles is pretty weird: Don Henley, Joe Walsh & Timothy B. Schmit, with Vince Gill and Deacon Frey. So you've got founder Don, longtime replacements Joe and Timothy, ringer Vince Gill and dead founder's son Deacon.

Pwei; ditto The Wonder Stuff! Matey and the only other person who can stand to be in the same room as him; his wife. Plus 3 other ransoms.

Quite like the idea of them being ransoms, not randoms.

"Please let us go."

"YOUR FAMILY HASN'T PAID YET. Now, again with "Welcome to the Cheap Seats.""

"Argh, noooo...."

Anyway, Simple Minds I guess sorta half counts though Jim and Charlie have doggedly stuck it out all these years, somehow.

The best worst might still be the fake Zombies that toured after the group dissolved, with no original members.

The original line-up declined to regroup for concerts following the belated American success of "Time of the Season". In turn, various concocted bands tried to capitalise on the success and falsely toured under the band's name. In a scheme organized by Delta Promotions, an agency that also created fake touring versions of The Animals and The Archies, two fake-Zombies were touring simultaneously in 1969, one hailing from Texas, the other from Michigan. The Texas group featured bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard, soon to be members of ZZ Top. Another group toured in 1988, going so far as to trademark the group's name (since the band had let the mark lapse) and recruit a bass guitarist named Ronald Hugh Grundy, claiming that original drummer Hugh Grundy had switched instruments.

okay that's great about ZZ Top. never knew. wonder if any of the fake Archie Bell & The Drells outfits contained the seeds of greatness.

there was a completely fake fleetwood mac lineup that toured in 1974

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleetwood_Mac#1974:_The_fake_Fleetwood_Mac

hahahahaah thread delivers

the current Beach Boys touring act is pretty much Mike Love, Bruce Johnston, John Stamos, and a whole buncha hired guns that are in their 30s-40s.

so as you can imagine, all the Brian Wilson songs sound hella fucking weird.

^ absolute nonsense. Stamos is not in the band, Cowsill and Foskett are both 61, Totten I'm guessing is in his '50s since he's been playing for over 30 years, and I'd never pay to see them but "as I can imagine," hiring the dude who was Brian's right-hand-man and musical director for his entire solo touring career would be the best possible way to make the Brian songs not sound hella fucking weird.

looked up the keyboard player: he's 56 and has been in the touring band for 20 years

I was guessing based on the way that they looked. I was off a few decades I s'pose. (this was also 8 years ago that I saw them)

Stamos is not in the band full-time, but he played pretty much the entire show that I saw. Even sang lead on a song. It became a Stamos side-show at times, they kept drawing reference to him.

They sound weird because they're not Brian Wilson. I didn't say they didn't sound "good" - but they didn't sound like the Beach Boys, either.

there's also the fact that unlike you, I've heard them

so because John Stamos guested at one show you saw eight years ago, all of the changes to lineup, arrangements and setlists that writers about the Beach Boys have noted since then never happened, and Jeff Foskett did not swap places with Matt Jardine after the 50th anniversary tour that only used two of Mike's players. since I saw that lineup, I guess I have a better claim to "having heard them" than you?

according to http://esquarterly.com/bellagio/gigs.html, Stamos has guested at three shows in the last eight years (two of which were benefits for Goodwill in Orange County, organised by Stamos, whose brother in law is the CEO). the Mike & Bruce band play over 150 shows a year.

it's entirely plausible that they sounded weird eight years ago (especially if they were playing to the sort of crowd that would even care if Stamos was there!), or that 20 of those 150 shows a year are duds now due to any number of factors. but to double down on saying "the current touring act" sounds weird on songs Brian Wilson wrote, when Mike's Beach Boys started adding loads of Brian album tracks and non-hits into their setlists for non-state-fair gigs in 2011, and JEFF FOSKETT (re-)JOINED IN 2013, is pretty pointless.

hiring the dude who was Brian's right-hand-man and musical director for his entire solo touring career

Apols for a dumb question but who are you talking about here, Sic?

Stamos was on the UK tour earlier this year.

omg who cares who is a bigger authority on the shitty mike/bruce band? yah even foskett sucks now with that shitshow. jesus.

Tim - he's talking about Jeff Foskett

Ah OK, I was under the impression that Darian Sahanaja was the Musical Director / Band Leader for most of Brian's solo touring, hence my confusion.

When I saw Bri perform Pet Sounds last year, the band leader was the sax playing guy, Paul Von Mertens - confirmed in this piece about the group:

https://www.npr.org/2016/07/09/484983061/pet-sounds-and-the-band-that-gets-to-play-it-onstage

that's interesting - can you remember whether Darian was in the band that night? I know he's not there the whole time these days. This one (from 2015) says he'd been musical director since 1999: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/meet-brian-wilsons-secret-weapon-darian-sahanaja-20150630

I don't think he was, Tim - but there were a lot of ppl on stage!

and I'd never pay to see them but "as I can imagine,"

unexpectedly I saw them for free two days ago, standing eight feet from the stage

it is with a heavy heart I must report that the "Beach Boys" sounded fucking great

not a fan to begin with, but the sublime one seems particularly gross/egregious.

like if they could afford or legally rationalize touring with a hologram, they would totally be doing that.

Well, they in that case is just Eric Wilson the bass player and Rome Ramirez at this point, as Sublime drummer Bud Gaugh quit in regret pretty early on and hired gun Josh Freese left a year or two ago.

In March 2015, Ramirez appeared on Blues Traveler's album Blow Up the Moon, co writing the song "Castaway" and "Vagabond Blues" with Dirty Heads.