I read some months ago that you and the remaining original band members were planning to record a new album in commemoration of your milestone — is that a project that’s still happening?

It’s still in the works. We’ve had a lot of discussions about it, Brian and I. We’ve talked about making time to write again, and right now the plan is that we’re looking forward to recording in the fall.

Not sure if this is something you want to talk about or even contemplate, but you passed a personal milestone yourself a few months ago – your 70th birthday.

As an alternative to cashing in one’s chips, I don’t mind talking about it. I like to think I’ve kept myself in reasonably good shape; stayed fairly sane. We learned a long time ago that you can’t burn the candle at both ends and still be able to sing. You’ve got to take care of yourself and be a little more rational about your lifestyle. I’ve been into Transcendental Meditation since 1967 — I think it’s given me the energy, the clarity, to keep it going as long as I have.

You were a very early proponent of TM, back when few people here had heard of it — and as opposed to other famous folks who dabbled in it, you seriously stuck with it over the years, even training in the advanced technique of Yogic Flying. In fact, for a short time we even had our own Institute of Yogic Flying, at the Berkeley Hotel in Asbury Park — sometime between now and when it was co-owned by Johnny Cash.

It was the Beatles who popularized the TM movement more than anyone else. I went to India in 1968 while they were there with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi — George Harrison and I both celebrated our birthdays while we were there.

You mentioned Asbury Park, where the Beach Boys played many years ago… I also got a chance to cover ‘Hungry Heart’ on a Springsteen tribute album. It’s a song that I enjoyed doing because I could hear a Beach Boys sort of sound running through it.

Are there any lesser-known Beach Boys songs that you like to put out there on rare occasions, or anything from years ago that you’re dying to perform for the first time?

I would say ‘The Warmth Of The Sun‘ — which, while it’s a well-known song, is not one that we perform all the time. Brian and I wrote it the night before President Kennedy was shot in Dallas. I see it as a wistful, haunting, melancholy, sad little song about losing someone or something that means a lot to you. It came out during what was emotionally a very raw period for America.

We might do a song like that occasionally, then step it up to something like ‘Don’t Worry Baby’ — and then pick up the pace with ‘Fun Fun Fun,’ ‘I Get Around.’ Some songs, obviously, go over better than others.

Still, you’ve gotta do one for yourselves every now and then.

We do. Something we worked into the shows is ‘Their Hearts Were Full of Spring‘ and other things by a great 1950s vocal group called The Four Freshmen. Brian was very enamored of them, and it had a big influence on shaping the Beach Boys sound. We do it in four part a capella, very artful, in a way that showcases the voices in the band.

As far as the current edition of the band, does everyone involved do vocals as well?

All the musicians sing — we are very fortunate to have with us John Cowsill, who you might remember as the youngest member of The Cowsills family band. He’s a great drummer, and he takes the lead vocal on ‘Help Me Rhonda,’ ‘Heroes and Villains,’ and on our version of  ‘California Dreaming‘.

My son Christian, whose voice sounds very close to my cousin Carl, sings Carl’s parts on things like ‘Good Vibrations’ and ‘Kokomo’ — it’s amazing to hear that voice onstage.

Before we sign off, how about a shout-out to our friends over at the Clearwater organization, who are putting on their annual Clearwater Festival this weekend? It’s a great tradition here; a music and environmental fest that’s brought in people like Springsteen, Levon Helm…

Any organization that keeps beaches and waterways clean and accessible is doing great work. Me and Bruce are both board members of the Surfrider Foundation, and I think that artists tend to have a philanthropic attitude about the environment, because that attitude’s built into the mind and the heart of an artist — there’s a desire to have an even-trade balance, to be able to do what you love to do while having some sense of relevance to the greater world around you.

See you in Red Bank then, and maybe another of the, what, 150 to 200 shows you do each and every year?

We have scaled back a little bit in the past few years, as so many of the outdoor festivals we like to perform at have cut down, or even cut out entirely. If left to our own devices though, we do 125 to 150 shows a year. Beats working!

Tickets ($39 – $129) for the 8pm show on August 23 are still available, right here. A longer version of this article appears on Tom Chesek’s blog, Upper WET Side.