Cult horror movie director Steve Latshaw summons his Beach Boys fandom

‘15 Big Ones,’ ’68 Camaros, intimidating drummer Dennis Wilson, soft-spoken bandleader Carl Wilson, and more backstage exploits with the ‘Return of the Killer Shrews’ screenwriter-burgeoning vintage film restorer behind Roy Rogers’ final western ‘Mackintosh and T.J.’

In no particular order, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, and Mike Love are the late ’70s-era, hirsute Beach Boys. Sketch by Marcus Oakley / Koko Art Agency

The Steve Latshaw Interview

I wanna hear how your fascination for “America’s Band” originated.

I was 16 years old in 1975, part of that mid-’70s second generation of fans, when I became captivated by the Beach Boys sound on the radio. But it wasn’t a Beach Boys song. It was “Beach Baby” [No. 4 POP] by a British group fronted by Tony Burrows called the First Class. Someone then introduced me to the real thing. The first four songs I heard — “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “California Girls,” “Barbara Ann,” and “Do You Wanna Dance” — cut me to the quick. The Beach Boys’ older hits were still contemporary — “Do It Again” was only seven years old. Even the Beatles scored a Top Ten with a reissue of “Got to Get You Into My Life” the next summer.