Chris Cron created a video titled 'How To Sound Like The Beach Boys' three years ago, and now he is officially in the band.
The Beach Boys keyboardist and bassist announced earlier this month that he would be leaving the band after six decades. Johnston said that it was time for "part three of my lengthy music career," and that he can "write songs forever."
"Wait until you hear what’s coming! As my major talent beyond singing is songwriting, now is the time to get serious again," he continued.
Despite Johnston's news of his departure being just earlier this month, the Beach Boys have already found his replacement. Chris Cron will be taking over for Johnston, he is known for being the frontman of the band Orange County rockers Mêlée, who went their separate ways back in 2012.
Cron explained the reasoning behind making the video which attracted The Beach Boys to The Rolling Stone. He said: "I had no followers, and I wasn’t trying to become an influencer or whatever, I was just throwing stuff at the wall to see what stuck. I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve got all these tracks for Wouldn’t It Be Nice. Maybe I throw up a stupid video about how to sound like the Beach Boys."
The video which attracted their attention was a video of him putting together a multi-part harmony vocals for the classic Would It Be Nice. Cron's video reached nearly 2 million views and initially caught the attention of the Beach Boys' musical director Brian Eichenberger and Jeff Celentano, a member of Beach Boys' guitarist Al Jardine’s solo backing band, who invited him to tour in a tribute act touring the 'Pet Sounds' album.
"I bought a bass and learned how to play, I played bass on demos before, but that was simple punk-rock things. Learning all the Carol Kaye parts took me a month or so, and the first few shows were a little rocky for me. I eventually got it down and just memorised everything," Cron said.
Eventually Eichenberger called to ask him to join the "real thing", Cron explained. "He said, ‘Bruce is retiring, And we need someone to fill his spot. Are you interested?’ The offer didn’t even make sense to me, People say, ‘You’re in the Beach Boys!’ And I’m like, ‘Well, I’m a touring member of the current thing right now, so I guess so.’ I don’t know what to think. It’s just fun. This was never on my bingo card," Cron said.
You can watch the video that caught The Beach Boys attention here.
