Carnie Wilson Says—

Wilson Phillips Going ‘Under Covers’ On Latest CD, Tour

By John Voket

Let it not be said that Carnie Wilson, co-founder of one of the top selling female bands of all time, cannot multitask.

One of the two Wilsons in Wilson Phillips warned that she might be momentarily distracted because she was “in the chair” getting her hair done while chatting with this week The Newtown Bee ahead of two Connecticut appearances, the first two stops on a tour that will see the trio travelling through September.

Nevertheless, Wilson proceeded to deliver a focused and wide-ranging interview touching on her childhood memories of learning how to sing, the evolution of her talent for harmonizing, and the frustrations of trying to complete a new album dedicated to the ones they love: their parents, Beach boy Brian Wilson, along with John and Michelle Pillips of The Mamas and the Papas.

While the latest Wilson Phillips project, Dedicated, is not due to drop until early April, Carnie Wilson said that she, her sister Wendy, Chynna Phillips and their band will be performing a cover-heavy set including much of their new material when they hit the stage of The Ridgefield Playhouse on Thursday, February 23, and Norfolk’s Infinity Hall one night later.

“It’s going to be a cover-heavy set for sure,” she said. “The night we’re in Norfolk, we’re filming for a PBS special which will only use about 50 minutes of material, but we’ll still be performing an 80 to 90 minute set. But we do all of our hits as well as other songs we recoded as Wilson Phillips.”

According to an advance from Sony Music, the new project contains 12 tracks including the Brian Wilson classics “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Do It Again,” “God Only Knows” and “Good Vibrations.” The Phillips are well represented as well with folk rock staples “Dedicated to the One I Love,” “Monday Monday” and “California Dreamin’.”

Wilson said she was a little frustrated trying to come up with the right balance of songs, considering the catalogs of her father and the Beach Boys are so deep.

“This one was a long time coming, but it was also something we always wanted to do,” she said. “These are the songs we grew up with, that mean so much, and that so many other people love.

“But at the same time it was really hard, because there are so many great songs,” Wilson said. “So I just had to keep telling myself – ‘it’s OK, this is just Volume 1, we’ll get to Volume 2.’ I wanted to do “Breakaway,” “You Still Believe In Me,” and “Caroline No,” but there just wasn’t room on the [first] record.”

According to Wilson, it was also a bit more challenging complete the recording sessions, because she and Wendy were forced to work separately from Phillips for much of the time, because of Phillips’s commitment to appearances on the television competition Dancing With The Stars.

“Chynna had to leave early on, and she had a great time and I’m glad she did it. But I knew we weren’t going to be together in the studio and that was really hard,” Wilson said, adding that while the trio seldom did takes with all three around the microphone, “there’s a certain vibe when we’re all together in a session, definitely.”

Wilson said fans of original Wilson Phillips material will not be disappointed on the current tour, however, and should expect to sing along to familiar covers as well as the trio’s three number one hit singles from their 1990 debut album: “Hold On,” “Release Me” and “You’re in Love.”

For tickets to the Ridgefield show, with an optional meet & greet, visit RidgefieldPlayhouse.org.

The Infinity Hall show will be a taping for the CPTV/PBS series Infinity Hall Live. To purchase any remaining seats, head over to InfinityHall.com.

And for a fuller presentation of The Bee’s interview with Carnie Wilson, visit NewtownBee.com and click on the Features tab.