California Feeling’s Interview Series - Carol Kaye
On September 7, 2002, California Feeling was proud to conduct this exclusive interview with Carol Kaye via e-mail. We’d like to thank everyone involved for their support! Now, on with the interview!

Tom Brady's Section

Question: What other groups did you play for in the 60s?
Answer: Beach Boys, Gary Lewis Playboys, Monkees, T-Bones, Marquettes, Gary Usher's recordings, Animals, Jan & Dean, Sonny & Cher, Supremes, Paul Revere/Raiders, Simon & Garfunkle, Buckinghams, Crystals, Ronettes, Righteous Bros., Dino-Desi-Billy, Ripchords, Sun Rays, 4 Tops, Chad & Jeremy, Motherlode, Baja Marimba, Tijuana Brass, Frank Zappa, Santo & Johnny, Back Porch Majority, Doddletown Pipers, Lettermen, Deep 6, Harper's Bazaar, Group Therapy, Invinceables, Young Americans, Osmond Bros., Dick & DeeDee, Gary Puckett/Union Gap, First Edition, Spiral Staircase, Del Shannon, Soulstrings, Hondels, Grass Roots, New Seekers, Wayne Newton, Ray Charles, tons and tons of other stars and groups - the list goes on and on, it's more like who didn't I work for - all the 60s groups hired studio musicians to do their music for them...most of the time you never saw the groups at all, just their leader as we'd cut all the tracks for them. See my credits under Biography on my website Carol Kaye.Com.

Question: Who were the usual guitar players in “The Wrecking Crew”?
Answer: There was never a "wrecking crew", there were individual studio recording musicians working together, we were all freelance...that term was something Hal Blaine later invented for his book in 1990. There were 300-400 studio musicians doing all the work in the studios including movie/TV film work (yes I did those too, playing bass on all the major TV shows and 100s of movies) -- about 50-60 of us were the most-popularly hired (mainly rhythm section guys, and horn players) for the rock hits of the 60s but everyone of the larger pool of studio musicians recorded those things too - mainly on guitar on 60s rock hits: Barney Kessel, Howard Roberts, Tommy Tedesco, Bill Pitman, Don Peake, Rene Hall, David Cohen, Billy Strange, Glen Campbell, Al Casey, James Burton, Loui Morell, Dennis Budimer.

Question: How did “The Wrecking Crew” name come about?
Answer: That's Hal Blaine's idea for his book in 1990, and none of the rest of us go by that name at all. It simply wasn't used at all, it's his idea for his book and most don't like that name at all. Sometimes we (the 50-60 of us) were called the "clique" back then, but never the wrecking crew at all.

Question: What is your favorite Brian Wilson production?
Answer: I like quite a few of them, Help Me Rhonda, Sloop John B, God Only Knows, Good Vibrations, Heroes & Villains, Calif. Girls, it's hard to pick just one that I recorded...Brian wrote and produced so well.

Question: What is your favorite non-Wilson production?
Answer: Again, there's quite a few I'm playing on that I liked (though' I hardly have any of the records I played on, you simply don't listen to much of anything you did after you've recorded them) "The Way We Were" – Barbara Streisand, I Don't Need No Doctor, America The Beautiful, others with Ray Charles, Feelin' Alright for Joe Cocker, Mercy Mercy Mercy by Buckinghams, Hikky Burr Bill Cosby TV theme w/Quincy Jones, etc. there's many I like to hear that we did do.

Question: Did you take part in the “Smile” album?
Answer: Yes, quite a few on Smile: Heroes & Villains, Surf's Up, Mrs. O'Leary's Cow, Cabin Essence, Do You Like Worms, Child is Father Of The Man, Good Vibrations, Vega-Tables, Do You Like Worms.

Question: What do you think of “Smile”?
Answer: It was his greatest work after Pet Sounds.

Jeremy Augst's Section

Question: Have you heard Brian’s new album, “Pet Sounds Live”?
Answer: No I haven't heard it but have been told it's good. I haven't gotten it yet.

Question: If so, how do you like it?
Answer: I'm sure it's very good for a live album (conditions are usually pretty tough to record with).

Adam Waltemire's Section

Question: If Brian Wilson, Mike Love, or Al Jardine were to approach you for working on a new project with any of them, would you be interested?
Answer: I wouldn't work for anyone but Brian Wilson. I like Al, but his studio is out of town I hear and don't think I'd record for him. I'm very partial to Brian, think he got the short end of the stick for so many years while others benefited greatly -- I wouldn't work for any other Beach Boy but Brian.

Darryl Roach's Section

Question: Do you feel Brian’s new group, “The Wondermints” are as good as “The Wrecking Crew”?
Answer: We were never known as the wrecking crew. Studio musicians are MUCH different than any other type of musician. I was hired to play bass on some of the Wondermints things, nice fellows, good musicians etc. Studio musicians, that's all they do is studio work, they never "tour"-- first of all we get paid about 4-5-10 times as much as touring musicians, and don't have time to travel....when you do studio work, it's a specialized business - you're recording day and night, usually touring musicians can't and don't do it, for many varied reasons (see my FAQ page on my website http://www.carolkaye.com under "Library" ...it fully explains this)...only the finest most-experienced musicians in the world do studio work - they have the years of playing experiences in all styles of music to both create it and sight-read any musical parts too.

Question: If fans would like to, is there a way they can contact you personally?
Answer: There's an email connection on my website, anyone can contact me at Carol Kaye.Com.

A very special thanks to Tom, Jeremy, Adam, and Darryl for their great questions, and an even greater thanks to Carol Kaye for answering them!