“On one hand, The Black Mollys are good old fashioned American rock 'n rollers with an abundant serving of unshakable hooks, remarkably contagious choruses and soaring harmonies. But dig a little deeper and the Chicago based trio’s sound is simultaneously loaded with alternative rock elements of today, from charging power chords to high voltage percussion to just the right amount of attitude and unbridled confidence that still steers clear from pretentiousness.

It’s a carefully crafted brew that’s been consistently refined on the road throughout the 2000s thus far, chiseled across tour dates supporting a wide swath of influential artists as diverse as Goo Goo Dolls, Cheap Trick, Gin Blossoms and David Lee Roth (just prior to his highly anticipated reunion with Van Halen).

Whenever and wherever The Black Mollys load up the buses, fans can expect the ultimate celebratory experience that breeds instantaneous sing-a-longs through tongue-in-cheek tunes like “Erica” and “Girlfriend” or the equally compelling pop culture references of “I’m So Ordinary” and “Hollywood.” It’s indeed an ambitious formula that’s thus far found fanfare across limitless demographics and culture lines, subsequently bringing an instant elixir to life’s stresses, strains and seriousness with an unabashedly positive party.”

Founding member Tory gave us the complete lowdown on everything you could possibly want to know about the Molly’s!!!

Hey Tory, thanks for taking the time to chat us.  Can you give those reading over here in Australia a quick introduction to the The Black Molly’s and what the band is all about musically....

I started the band in LA, CA around 1999, moved it to Kansas City and got a regional following that allowed me to sign a deal with a label in Beverly Hills and move back out to LA...recorded "The First One" and toured the wheels off of a couple of vans for that, the label ran out of money so I went to Iowa to record a new cd at my friends studio, which turned into Ignorance is Bliss, and liked being back in the midwest so much I ended up moving back!  Somewhere in all that touring I had come across a band called Supermint and hit it off with their drummer Randi Scott who said we would someday rock the world together and that came true right after the cd was done and our old drummer got married and retired! We are now thick as thieves and indeed rockin the world together! I named the 2nd cd Ignorance is Bliss because I gave up on writing and doing what I thought other people wanted to hear and pursuing a big record deal. I started writing for myself and just having fun and everything really came together for the band at that point, so we have continued to plod along without a care in the world and things seem to happen so much easier now! Lesson number one kiddies....stop trying so hard! haha We are a band that loves to have fun and write songs that hopefully make you laugh and forget about your 9-5 job and bitchy girl or boyfriend for a minute while our song is stuck in head! Our live shows we just let it all out and force you to have a pint and let go for a couple of hours!

You recently released a compilation of your past two albums on the kickass UK label “Trashpit Records”.  Tell us about how the association come about with Trashpit and the reasoning behind the “One Mans Treasure Is Another Mans Trash?

I was on tour with The BulletBoys and when they fired Lonnie after 2 days they called our old friend Rob Lane in (who else would get on a plane less than 24 hours after the phone call and be on stage the next day in a different country!) to play bass on the rest of the tour. With a lot of terrible routing and shit gigs we had all the time in the world to talk about funner and better things we could be doing and Rob mentioned coming over to the uK for a tour and that he would like to put out a cd to support if we did that and since virtually no one had heard either of our fantastic releases we decided to throw the best of the best together really give people an extra share of badass rock and roll since times are hard.

In my opinion, music such as yours should be all over the radio and is far superior to most of the schlock we get forced upon us these days….where do you see The Black Molly’s fitting in as far as the big wide world of music goes?  

Well, I find it humorous (until I check my bank statement) thaT  a lot of people tell me they cant believe these songs aren't huge and all over the radio and MTV (or whoever the hell plays videos these days.) I see us fitting in along with bands that make great records and tour the world playing to people that enjoy great melodies and loud guitars! Bands like Lit and Butch Walker...maybe the Supersuckers, that have a solid fan base that knows every time they release a cd its gonna be a solid slab of catchy goodness and will most likely get to see them come sweat all over them at some point.

 

What do you think sets The Black Mollys apart from other rock bands out there today??

I think we are part of an elite group of bands that is out there making consistent great "albums" and our fans can count on  a live show that we take seriously to not be serious and have some serious fun....ummm.. yeah. I think it shows when Randi and I, and whoever we drag along on bass at the moment, are on stage its where we are meant to be and genuinely love to play and sing and make people laugh by making ourselves look silly if need be, you will never get a "we are too cool for school" vibe here.

You worked with the legendary Michael Wagener on your last album “Ignorance Is Bliss”,  how did this come about and did this association deliver what you were hoping?  And what’s this we hear about you using the guitar used for Skid Row’s “I Remember You” for your recordings?

He is good friend of my best friend Wade Goeke, who makes studio gear (the Best!) called Chandler Limited right here in little ole IOWA uSA. Wade introduced us at a music convention and Michael was so cool that he offered to mix a couple of songs for us....wait I'm getting ahead of myself! We recorded the whole cd at my friend Wades studio and had no idea who was gonna mix the thing! The final most important step....now lets go from MW offered to mix 2 songs...He invited us to his studio in Nashville mixed the 2 songs and said he really liked the music and if we had any more songs that he had some time open and would love to mix more...luckily I brought the entire hard drive with the rest of the cd since this was my dream come true for him to say that! I walked over and set the hard drive on his desk and said, "I have ten more songs if you have time!" Long story longer, he mixed the whole thing and I think it sounds great..oh the skid row guitar, we were mixing Girlfriend and at the end of the song MW kept saying this need something more...after trying several thing he decided it needed an extra hit of guitar on the last three notes! So we set up a big guitar rig ( MW specialty!) and he handed me a stienberg with no headstock and I hit 3 chords a couple of times and that was it!  

What bands did you grow up listening to and how did they help create the style of music that can now be heard through The Black Mollys?

I'm still a huge fan of music and it all gets thrown it the mix somewhere I think form 1st album, Ted Nugent- Double Live Gonzo! to the Tinted Windows cd I got last week, although they probably "borrow" from the Beatles as much as I do! I think from listening to the hardcore punk like the dead kennedys all the way through The Beatles and The Cars...The Ramones..Cheap Trick...Black Sabbath...Lets not kid ourselves The Bee Gee and ABBA are on my IPOD and get played so its all a big mess that comes out all Mollys!

Who handles the songwriting in the band and where do you draw your influences from, both musically and lyrically?

Up to this cd I have done most of the writing by myself and then presented it to the band, I am looking forward to working on this next one as a team and maybe even a couple of outside writers I would be really excited to work with if it happens! We will save that for a near future conversation when the new cd is done! Lyrically I am what I am in real life, a total smart-ass who deals highly in sarcasm and fun. Most of the ideas come from my life or things I see around me, its just more real and easier if you are talking about what you know and feel. There will be some good surprises on the next cd! I am very excited and we are starting to record it in Nashville with Michael Wagener Sept 27th!

What do you consider to be the most important ingredients in a song, particularly as far as The Black Mollys goes?

I would have to go with melody... harmony... simple things working together, a cool guitar riff that you can raise your hand and rock out to like your playing an arena or for someone who doesn't play guitar they can rock the air guitar!That may be my shortest answer of the whole interview.

What’s on the horizon as far as new material, is anything currently being worked on, or are you letting the word still spread with the release of your "greatest hits" CD so to speak?

In the spirit of not really trying (haha) we will are starting a new album with Michael Wagener at the end of the month, we will probably get 2 songs tracked before we jump on the bus and tour the USA for most of october but then right back in to finish the drums and get to work on guitars and vox! 

Your Myspace bio refers to intentions of touring Australia…..is there any substance to this and secondly, are you aware of a fanbase out in these parts for the band?

I guess I have never read our own bio! I hope thats true! Honestly you are the 1st person I know from down there! Hopefully there is an underground Black Mollys revolution going on as we speak and the venues will no choice but to fly us over (1st class of course, lol) and pay us in Fosters ( Pabst Blue Ribbon would do.) and vegemite to rock peoples asses!

You have already built an impressive list of touring partners in Goo Goo Dolls, Cheap Trick, Gin Blossoms and David Lee Roth…ignoring those for just a minute, you have the choice of three bands (past or present) to take on the road with you for your own headline summer tour of the USA.  Who would you choose?

I think we could fill a decent sized club with Master of Puppets era Metallica, 70s era Elton John ( with 80s doowap only Billy Joel backing him up.) and 4 kids from Liverpool to open the show....I would have said The SuperSuckers but I don't wanna follow those guys on stage!

Speaking for you personally, not only do you have The Black Molly’s, but you also play in the Bulletboys and Enuff Z Nuff.  Working with Marq Torien and Chip Z Nuff must present itself with some interesting experiences being the unique characters that they are!  Any that you would like to share? 

I'm no longer with Bulletboys or The Bulletboys or whatever they do with that...I think there enough stories there to fill a bathroom wall but I will tell one that I don't think is hateful (from me anyway) towards anyone just damned funny...geez, these could get long! You just asked for stories involving Chip and Marq! Here goes...I will try to be brief...

We stop at a gas station in Oklahoma and Marq goes into the ladies room to take a dump ( standard procedure on the road, the ladies room is always cleaner) in walks a rather large lady doing the pee dance and not knowing a dude is in the head, she starts knocking, a little at first and then impatiently louder and louder, quite the line of ladies has formed behind her at this point, finally Marq yells "Fuck off! There is someone here taking a shit!" When he walked out, looking like he does, in Oklahoma and there is a line of ladies looking very surprised he starts heading to the van....but stops and turns around and goes back to the door where the lady had gone in to pee and starts kicking the door and yelling, "how do you like it when somebody knocks on the door when your using the bathroom!" Pretty funny stuff if you ask me, I could write a book from that tour alone. I wish Marq and Ryche nothing but the best in the future, They are passionate people who take what they do extremely seriously and I hope they get where they want to go...But my heart is in The Black Mollys.

Maybe you have to know Chip to appreciate this one but we are flying back home from Japan at Tokyo Narita airport and all the security guys are wearing the surgical masks and it is very serious business walking through but I am right next to Chip and I hear him say to the guy...." I like your mask, its nice." hahha I swear, i died laughing going through customs! That is whole different book waiting to be written! 

Lastly, here is some free space to cover anything we may of missed or whatever else you feel needs to be said! 

Thanks for taking the time to sit through my terrible spelling and english to hear what we are up to! All of our cd's are available through www.Notlame.com or you can get the new one,"One Mans Treasure is Another Mans Trash" direct from Trashpit here... http://www.000trashpit.bigcartel.com/ 

Hopefully we will see you soon and cant wait to unleash more Black Mollys music and rock their faces off at a show!  Peace and Chicken Grease!