BEACH BOYS star Mike Love has hit back at reports suggesting he has "fired" Brian Wilson and his bandmates from the iconic surf-rock group, insisting he doesn't have that kind of power.

The band wrapped up its 50th anniversary tour with dates in London at the end of last month (Sep12) and now Love and Bruce Johnston are planning a slate of North and South American dates with their alternative Beach Boys line-up, which includes the singer's guitarist son.

When news of Love's plans were announced this summer (12), Wilson confessed he had no idea that two of his bandmates were planning to tour under the Beach Boys banner without him, and Al Jardine recently posted a petition on his website urging Love to keep the original band together.

The confusion led some music critics to assume Love had fired Wilson, Jardine and David Marks after touring the world with the trio this year, and the story has now prompted Love to clear up the matter.

He tells the Los Angeles Times, "I did not fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I cannot fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I am not his employer. I do not have such authority. And even if I did, I would never fire Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. I love Brian Wilson. We are partners. He's my cousin by birth and my brother in music."

And addressing his decision to scale back the Beach Boys tour with his alternative band, he adds, "Like any good party, no one wanted it (reunion tour) to end. However, that was impossible, given that we had already set up shows in smaller cities... It is not feasible, both logistically and economically, for the 50th anniversary tour to play these markets.

"Initially, there was to be plenty of space between the two tours, but then we added 25 more dates and the two tours bumped up against each other. To avoid public confusion, and at the request of Brian's representative, we had a press release sent out detailing the differences between the two Beach Boys tours and its varying line-ups.

"I was surprised that Brian and Al said they were surprised by this announcement. Some media outlets interpreted all of this as me firing the band."