Made In California: A Beach Boys Podcast

Harry and Andy head to London to see The Beach Boys live in 2026, joined by special guest Connie: Harry’s long-suffering partner, whose main exposure to the band has largely come via Adam Sandler films.We hear a little from the night itself before sitting down afterwards to talk through the show: the performances, the visuals, the current touring band, the newer members of the lineup, the setlist and what stood out on the night.Harry comes at it as the committed fan, Andy as the more casual

By September 1963, things are moving quickly for The Beach Boys. Surfin’ U.S.A. has taken them to number two, Al Jardine is back in the fold (briefly giving us a six-man Beach Boys), and Brian Wilson finally has his name on the producer credit.This week we get into Surfer Girl, the album where the group really starts to sound like a confident recording unit. We trace the strange history of the title track, Brian’s first song and its connection to When You Wish Upon a Star, before working our way

We covered the title track in the previous episode, so this time we drop the needle on the rest of Surfin’ U.S.A. Brian’s falsetto steps properly into the foreground on “Farmer’s Daughter”, “Lonely Sea” gives us an early glimpse of the more introspective Brian Wilson to come, Mike Love gets behind a saxophone, and Murry Wilson discovers lyricist Roger Christian on the radio. We also work our way through an awful lot of surf instrumentals, take an unexpected Fleetwood Mac detour, compare “Lonely Sea”

We’re into 1963, and this is where things start getting serious.First, a little housekeeping from Surfin’ Safari. What happened to Gary Usher? Was Ten Little Indians a fairly major misstep? And why is future Beach Boy Bruce Johnston suddenly turning up on a surf instrumental years before he joins the band?Then it’s onto Surfin’ U.S.A. Brian isn’t happy with the sound of the first album, so he gets Capitol to let him produce the next one himself, takes the band back to Western Recorders with Chuck

At last, we have an actual Beach Boys album.This week we arrive at Surfin’ Safari, the band’s 1962 Capitol debut, and hear a group growing up almost in real time. Dennis Wilson has barely learned to play the drums, Brian is already beginning to take control in the studio, and Murry Wilson may have helped stumble onto part of the early Beach Boys sound.We also get into the suspiciously neat story of Gary Usher wandering past the right window, Murry’s creative approach to getting DJs on side, the

How exactly did The Beach Boys become The Beach Boys?In this episode, we dig into the band’s origin story — the early rehearsals, first songs, first recordings and the various people who helped get things moving. The trouble is, the story gets surprisingly murky surprisingly quickly.How much of the familiar “official” version is actually true? Do the band members themselves even remember it the same way? And was it The Pendletons, The Pendletones, or something else entirely?Along the way:

Before The Beach Boys had their own sound, they were absorbing everything around them.In this episode, we look at the music Brian, Dennis, Carl, Mike, David and Al grew up with, and how those different influences started to come together. Using audio examples along the way, we explore some of the individual ingredients that would eventually come together to create the unmistakable sound of The Beach Boys.We’ve also put together an Early Influences playlist, featuring the music discussed in the

Made in California: A Beach Boys Podcast.The Beach Boys made some of the greatest pop music ever recorded. They also have one of the strangest, funniest and most chaotic stories in popular music.Made in California is a journey through all of it.Starting at the very beginning and working chronologically through more than six decades of music, we explore the songs, albums, sessions, personalities and events that made The Beach Boys one of the most fascinating bands of all time — celebrating the