Published on August 13th, 2020 | by Darren Paltrowitz
0The Beach Boys’ Mike Love On New Single “This Too Shall Pass,” Life During COVID-19 & More
Even if you do not regularly listen to a lot of rock radio, you ought to know dozens of songs by The Beach Boys. “California Girls,” “Fun Fun Fun,” “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” “I Get Around,” “God Only Knows,” “Help Me, Rhonda,” “Sloop John B,” “Kokomo” — those are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to hits by the surf-rock pioneers. Close to 60 years since forming The Beach Boys in Hawthorne, California, lead vocalist Mike Love is still at it in a big way. Beyond recent Beach Boys reissues via Universal Music, Love released studio efforts Unleash The Love in 2017, Reason For The Season in 2018, 12 Sides Of Summer in 2019, in addition to the Good Vibrations: My Life As A Beach Boy autobiography in 2016.
The latest music from Mike Love is the 2020 BMG release “This Too Shall Pass.” Love wrote the upbeat rock and roll song as a fun way to encourage positivity during this unprecedented time. Produced by Beach Boys musical director Scott Totten and featuring special guest John Stamos on drums — Stamos also produced the music video — all artist and label royalties from “This Too Shall Pass” will go to Feeding America’s COVID-19 Response Fund to help food banks across the country as they support communities impacted by the pandemic. Feeding America’s fund will enable food banks to secure the resources they need to serve the most vulnerable people during this difficult time.
As embedded below, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike Love on August 12, 2020 by phone about “This Too Shall Pass,” his aforementioned studio albums from the last few years, life during COVID-19, working with great artists outside of the Beach Boys spectrum, how big of a fan of The Beach Boys that John Stamos is, whether being close with Stamos led to him knowing Don Rickles, future plans for Beach Boys touring and reissue releases, what music he actually listens for fun, and more.
More on Mike Love and “This Too Shall Pass” can be found online at www.mikelove.com.