Representative Albums: "This Way Up," "The Pilgrim," "After the Pearl"
Biography
Badfinger guitarist Joe Molland began playing piano at five or six years of age at his Liverpool home -- "of course I didn't really play it, I just kinda plunked it a bit, and I learned some chords...I can't remember how I learned those chords but I knew chords and then my brother got a guitar" he told this writer in an interview for Visual Radio-Television while at Vincent's Nightclub in Massachusetts, October 3, 2001. "I heard a record, "Blue Suede Shoes," Elvis Presley's version, and I went right in the living room and got my brother's guitar out and I went to the piano and found the notes on the piano on the guitar, and I started to teach myself to play the guitar. I was eleven years old and that's how I started to play the guitar." Molland's first band was the Assassins, "...a very good name, that's about what we did to the songs we tried to play" he jested, "we used to rehearse in a church up there, (maybe) Mystery Park, the area in Liverpool, I was born in Edgehill, a real working class neighborhood, cardboard in your shoes, stuff like that." The Assassins lasted three to six months, "I was in school, I was actually busy getting expelled from school." The Profiles was the band that followed -- "I learned to play guitar on a street in Liverpool called Penny Lane, it's a famous place, and me mate Pigeon, we used to go and hang around the corner there and learn Chuck Berry songs. Peter Edge was his real name and he had an amplifier. I didn't have an amplifier. I had a home-made guitar my brother had made." A friend of Edge was one Pete Wiggins, who found Molland working at a shipping company, "steamships and stuff" the singer/guitarist emphasized. While on a lunch break, Wiggins asked Joe Molland if he still played guitar. When he replied in the affirmative, Wiggins took him to a pub to perform. "I was 16 or 15 at the time, I went to the club and I played a bunch of Chuck Berry songs with this band, and they gave me a pound! I was working at the shipping company making almost three and a half pounds a week, two and three quarter pounds a week and they paid me a pound for playing one night, Chuck Berry songs -- and they gave me drinks as well." Molland stayed six to eight months, "perhaps a bit longer" with the Profiles, his second group. "I went to a club called The Blue Angel, a famous place, Allan Williams' club, you know, the Beatles manager guy who gave them up, his club. I started getting up with a band there called the Masterminds and eventually they asked me to join them. I joined the Masterminds and we went on from there." In 1965/1966, the Rolling Stones original producer Andrew Loog Oldham recorded a Bob Dylan tune with the band, "She Belongs to Me." "I joined the Merseybeats, the Fruit Eating Bears, the Cryings Shames, and then Gary Walker & the Rain." That band also recorded, and Molland's stay was from 1967-1968. When a band named the Iveys signed to Apple Records they changed their name to Badfinger. Paul McCartney gave them "Come and Get It" from the Peter Sellers' film The Magic Christian. "I didn't play on "Come and Get It," Molland declares, but when they decided to move Tom Evans to bass, effectively removing the Iveys' bassist, Joey Molland was brought in to play guitar, and performed on 1970's No Dice album with that definitive guitar sound which helped establish the Top Ten smash "No Matter What."
Joe Molland is a survivor in the truest sense of the word, not because he's the one left standing after the dust has cleared, but because he has genuine talent which puts him in the same league as the famous people he has rubbed shoulders and enjoyed friendships with. In 1999 he released Battle, demos from 1972- 1999, sold via e-mail through his website, www.JoeyMolland.com. "A lot of songs, most of them, hadn't been released at all," the artist told the Visual Radio-Television program. Molland's 2001 album This Way Up is the strongest representation of any material being issued by people associated with the Beatles camp in the new millennium, including contemporary solo Beatles efforts. This Way Up isn't just strong, it is very, very strong, with flavors that made millions run out to hear Imagine, All Things Must Pass, and Concert for Bangladesh, all albums that Joey Molland has played on. The industry has to start rewarding the troopers who not only continue the tradition, but who find a way to create vital new work. oe Molland has paid his dues and then some. The world can and should lament the loss of John Lennon, Pete Ham, Nicky Hopkins, Tom Evans, and similar fallen colleagues, but the world would be better off at the same time acknowledging this powerful musician, and giving him the platform to entertain which he deserves, and which the music world desperately needs. The Beatles are the number one rock band in history, and the Beatles hand picked Joey Molland. His rich history and his album This Way Up prove that the Beatles knew what they were doing. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
Originally a member of small local rock groups, such as The Assassins and The Profiles, Molland's recording career began in 1965 when he joined 'The Masterminds'. This group released a single on Immediate Records IM 005, consisting of a Bob Dylancover of "She Belongs to Me" backed with a band original "Taken My Love". After this the group disbanded and Molland joined the backing group of The Merseys. Although never recording with the group, Molland accompanied them on tour.
Molland's recording career began in earnest in 1967 when he joined Gary Walker (formerly of the Walker Brothers) for the group 'Gary Walker & The Rain'. The Rain released several singles, an EP, and an album on the Polydor and Philips labels in the UK and Japan between 1967 and 1969. The album titled #1, which featured four Molland compositions, was especially well received in Japan.[1] But a lack of success in their UK homebase caused The Rain to disband by 1969.
Molland auditioned for the band Badfinger in November 1969 and was subsequently hired. Badfinger were a conspicuous Apple Records recording group at the time (a label launched by The Beatles). The band enjoyed an early string of successful singles and albums for the next couple of years (see Badfinger article for recording information). During Molland's association with Apple, he made guest appearances on two George Harrison albums, All Things Must Pass and The Concert For Bangla Desh, and the John Lennon album Imagine.
Molland left Badfinger in late 1974 due to disagreements over management. In 1975, he joined with Jerry Shirley (formerly of Humble Pie) and formed a group called Natural Gas. The band released the LP Natural Gas on Private Stock Records in 1976, and enjoyed a successful tour with Peter Frampton the following year. According to Molland, a general lack of organization led to the band's demise late in 1977.[2]
Molland and former Badfinger band mate Tom Evans recorded two albums under the Badfinger name, Airwaves in 1978, and Say No More in 1981. Molland and Evans split acrimoniously after Say No More and the two performed in rival touring Badfinger bands until Evans' death in 1983.
Most of Molland's career since 1983 has been with various groups performing tours under the Badfinger name, or as "Joey Molland's Badfinger." Earlier versions of these groups sometimes included original Badfinger drummer Mike Gibbins.
Molland was instrumental in releasing a 1974 live recording of Badfinger on Rykodisc in 1991, called Day After Day: Live, which received mixed critical reactions due to overdubbing and a rearranged track order. The release also sparked a lawsuit between Molland and former Badfinger members and their families regarding ownership and use of the concert tapes. Molland has also been criticized for his 1995 re-recording of Badfinger's hit songs for CD release. The recordings have since been distributed with packaging, showing photos displaying the original 1970s version of the group.
Molland's solo recordings have been relatively sporadic. His first, After The Pearl, was released in 1984 on Earthtone Records. His second, The Pilgrim, was released in 1992 on Rykodisc. His third, This Way Up, was independently released in 2001.
Molland now lives in Minnesota and continues to tour with the Badfinger name. Molland was married to Kathie Molland from 1972, until her death on 23 March 2009. She and Molland have two sons named Joseph and Shaun.
Discography (with Badfinger, except where noted)
"She Belongs to Me" (1965 single with The Masterminds)
