Carl and the Passions – "So Tough" time, decided to spice up the structure of The Beach Boys by hiring third guitarist Blondie Chaplin, whose soulful singing brought a strong R&B element into the band's sound. Drummer and singer-songwriter Ricky Fataar also joined at this time, as Dennis Wilson had suffered a debilitating hand accident. Both South Africans, Blondie and Ricky were discovered by Carl while playing in seminal South African band the Flames in London, c. 1969. The album sees the Beach Boys entering a period of roots-based rock. Not long after the sessions began, Bruce Johnston had a falling out with manager Jack Rieley and
Carl and the Reda mafia in Abu Dhabi on November 27, 2015. In January 2016 Carl Frenais (the frontman of the band) went viral on the internet after making a video mixing Indian harmonies and human beatboxing to the iPhone app Siri. The video was supposedly intended to be private and only shared amongst friends, but it was leaked and had more than 15 million views. In February 19, 2016 Carl & The Reda Mafia released their debut album What The?! on the iTunes Store and all other major music streaming platforms including Apple Music, Spotify and SoundCloud. When asked what the band writes about,