Q&A: Before ‘Happy Together’ tour stop in Clearwater, Badfinger’s Joey Molland talks Beatles memories and what keeps him going

For someone who lost all of his bandmates before he turned 60, Badfinger’s Joey Molland is one of the most upbeat and excitable people who wields a six-stringed axe.

“So many great players, great musicians, great singers, great songwriters that get invited to a thing, and for some reason, I get invited there,” he told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay during a recent phone call.

One of the 76-year-old power-pop pioneer's most prized invitations was being asked—along with the rest of the band—to play on George Harrison’s star-studded All Things Must Pass, and while he doesn’t remember a young Phil Collins coming in for a conga session on “Art of Dying,” playing the same sessions with Leon Russell and Eric Clapton isn’t something Molland ever forgot.

“Of course, George was there every day, and he was really good to work with,” he added. “He’d come over and talk to us, playing the songs with us, laying out the songs with us.”

Despite the reputation Badfinger has in the rock music world, Molland doesn’t even really associate it with tragedy, mainly because he doesn’t center his memories around the respective suicides of founding members Pete Ham and Tom Evans, which happened eight years apart.

“The actual experience of being in the band for those four or five years was really exciting,” he told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay during a recent phone call.

On the other hand, one thing that does bum him out was that his latest studio album, 2020’s Be True To Yourself didn’t perform very well, even with involvement from Monkee Micky Dolenz and producer Mark Hudson. “I like the songs, and we did have some good, good players,” he told CL. “I thought the album turned out well. It seemed like it was gonna do really well, but it didn’t of course. It was a bit of a flop, really.”

Molland brings power-pop anthems of his late bandmates to the table at this year’s annual “Happy Together” tour, also featuring classic bubblegum pop acts Jay & The Americans, The Association, The Vogues, The Cowsills, and of course, The Turtles.

Tickets to see the “Happy Together” tour at Clearwater’s Ruth Eckerd Hall on Sunday, June 2 are still available and cost $40. But you’d better hurry, ‘cause they’re going fast.

Read our full Q&A with Badfinger’s Joey Molland below.

Thanks for doing this with me today, Joey. Are you in Minneapolis?

Yeah, yeah. That’s where I live. I lived here a long time.

So, you’re pretty much the only name on this year’s Happy Together tour that isn’t universally defined as bubblegum pop. Do you think it's gonna be weird hearing things like “Come A Little Bit Closer” and “Sugar, Sugar” after having played Badfinger’s harder, power-pop stuff?

No, I don't think so. It's fun, and the guys do great shows, as you know. You know who amazed me? I did a few shows with them last year, and there were The Vogues. The power in their set just knocked me out! You know, what’s great as well is meeting the different guys in the different bands. You know, knocking out with them, hanging around and talking with them, finding out who's ambitious still, and who isn’t *laughs* as well. It's a lot of fun. I really enjoy it.

Nice, and I totally agree with you about The Vogues. I was there for opening night of the tour last year, and their set was like 25 minutes of church.

Yeah, it was incredibly powerful. The vocals sounded incredible, didn’t they?

Definitely. So, I might be throwing a total curveball here, but is it true that the Badfinger name came from a stripper that The Beatles knew in Hamburg?

No. *laughs* Well, not that I knew of. We all had different stories about where the name came from. It was Neil Aspinall who suggested it, of course. So, we don't have a real story about where it comes from. John [Lennon]’s piano demo of “With A Little Help from My Friends,” the piano playing on it. Stuff like that, so we've had all kinds of different stories about it, you know? Anyway, yeah, I don't think it's from that .

I didn't think so. I just thought I'd throw it out there. I'm sure all these stories are in the “Without You” book, which really deserves a reissue.

Yeah. You know, I've never really read the book. Me and the author didn't really get on too well, and so I never read that. My wife, Kathy, God bless her, she read the book when it came out, and it really upset her. It actually made her cry in several instances. But yeah, it tells the story in kind of a roundabout way. It wasn’t such a tragedy as everybody makes it out. I know, with Peter and Tommy, of course, as the years went by. But the actual experience of being in the band for those four or five years there was really exciting and really fun for us.

Let's talk a little bit about your latest album Be True To Yourself. Obviously, it was released under your own name, but to me, it doesn’t sound Badfinger-inspired at all. Who or what do you think influenced the sound of the album?

Well mainly, the sound was…oh my goodness, I can’t remember his name. Mark Hudson! Mark and I became friends over the years, we did several tours together and stuff. Eventually, he said to me, “do you want to make a new record?” I said “yeah, of course. We just have to work on the songs.” I sent him 40 songs or something, he picked a dozen of them out, did some rearranging, and put some little parts in there. A chorus here, a verse there. I thought the album turned out well. It seemed like it was gonna do really well, but it didn’t of course. It was a bit of a flop, really.

We'll get into the Top 50 next time it's reissued.

I hope so. Let’s see what happens. I did like the songs, and we did have some good play. I’m still getting play around it, much around the world, and I’m really happy about all that. But, even the Badfinger stuff is on the radio, and on streaming all over the world, so we’re doing quite well as far as all that goes right now.

Was there a connection between “All I Want to Do” and “I Don't Wanna Be Done With You?” I liked that little crossfade in between those two songs on the album.

“I Don’t Wanna Be Done With You…” Um, no, but actually, “I Don’t Wanna Be Done With You,” I gave to Mark. All he liked about the song was the guitar riff in it. So, he kinda wrote a bunch of new words and structured the tune a lot differently from what I sent. But they weren’t connected really, other than I wrote them. I wrote the original idea for the song, and then Mark went ahead and—like producers do—changed it into a completely different thing. But that’s okay!

That's Mark Hudson for you.

Yeah, that is Mark. He's a busy guy, and he's busy in the studio. Boy, is he. He really takes control in the studio. A lot of our mutual friends came down and played, sang, did things. It was a lot of fun. We went into that Mission Sound in Brooklyn. You’re down in Florida, you say?

Yeah.

Well, there’s a studio up there where I guess David Bowie did a bunch of his stuff. We used the same engineer, and it was just a lot of fun. It’s great to go into the studio and make a record. It’s a great experience.

Going back to the early days a bit. I know that you personally didn't appear on “Come And Get It,” but are there any Beatles songs—or Paul McCartney songs in general—that you listen to and think “Man, that would have been such a good Badfinger song?”

I never really thought about that before. I love McCartney, and the whole Beatle experience for me was great. I was a huge fan, and I really thought they were the best band I ever heard. And I heard them live a few times…tremendous shows and energy. And the vocals of Lennon and McCartney, of course, singing leads were incredible. Most of the songs, I gotta say, were great. They astounded us in the form that all those albums kept on coming out with all those great songs. You know, “In My Life,” and all the hits. “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “She Loves You,” “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” Just stunning records.

And I was fortunate a couple of years ago, about four or five years ago, I did some tours with Christopher Cross, Todd Rundgren, Jason Scheff, and Micky Dolenz called “It Was 50 Years Ago today.” And we did shows that featured a couple of Beatle albums. We tried to do all the songs, so it was really great to learn ‘em all again. Learn the harmonies, and take the leads, like how I did with “Dr. Robert.” Just great, but what can you say about The Beatles? They’re incredible.

Oh, yeah. And I actually wanted to ask you about the “50 Years Ago Today” tour, because the White Album tour in 2019 was the first time I saw you perform, and I also saw the Rubber Soul and Revolver tour two years ago.

Yeah, yeah!

I’m really hoping for another run of shows, maybe for Sgt. Pepper or Abbey Road . But anyway, since Denny Laine passed away, and I feel like Micky is starting to veer away from the road a little bit, if it were up to you, who would you want that fifth member of the band to be on a potential third tour?

Ooh, that's a good question. That’s a really good question. Holy cow. Just loads of people come to mind. Who would you pick out of ‘em all? Maybe somebody a little bit younger than us, who can bring a bit of energy into the show. But either way, I’m good with whoever they choose to put on. And actually, there is talk about resuming the show at the end of the year here. So I'm not sure. I haven't heard anybody suggest it. Maybe Micky’ll come back out with us. That’ll be fun.

I was out in L.A. doing some vocals, and Micky drove himself over from the valley and sang some harmonies for us! And you know, he still sings really good. He sings the high harmonies no-problem, and we had a great experience. So whoever they pick, really…Todd is unbelievable on tour, isn’t he?

Absolutely.

I was really surprised at the amount of energy he brings. Obviously, energy is a big deal for me at these shows, so…whoever they’d like.

Todd produced some Badfinger songs, right?

Yeah, he did. He produced “Baby Blue,” and he produced our biggest album, the Straight Up album.

There ya go.

Yeah, he did a lot of work, and we talked a bit about the backstories about him coming into the scene, and of course, George [Harrison] in the Bangladesh club. What a time.

Speaking of George, I wanted to ask you something super deep about All Things Must Pass since Badfinger has such a heavy presence on it. I know you guys didn’t appear on “Art of Dying,” but do you have any recollection whatsoever of a super-young Phil Collins coming into the studio to play congas?

No, I don’t remember seeing him there at all. Peter Ham came to that one. I guess they did those as the sessions, some of the ones we didn’t do. But no, never saw him, and never had the pleasure of meeting him either, so...Sorry. *laughs*

Nah, you’re good. George himself didn’t even remember it when Phil told him about the session he did.

Yeah, yeah. It was an experience, all those sessions. We’d had, I think one hit record by then. Maybe two. To be invited to go down there and play on it was great, and then, we go in and there’s Eric Clapton, Ringo, Klaus Voorman, Billy Preston, Leon Russell…just an unbelievable time. Of course, George was there every day, and he was really good to work with. He’d come over and talk to us, playing the songs with us, laying out the songs with us. It was a great experience all-around.

I’ll bet.

One more for you, and then I'll let you go. I know you said earlier that you don't really consider the Badfinger story that much of a tragedy, but you have still seen so much loss in your life, and some people who go through what you have seen have called it quits by now. And yet, you are so upbeat and you have this lust for life that I admire so much. How do you keep such a positive attitude? Like, what motivates you?

Honestly, my mum and dad were great to me, I had a great family and I’ve been very fortunate as well. You know, to get invited to come and do these things is amazing, really. So many great players, great musicians, great singers, great songwriters that get invited to a thing, and for some reason, I get invited there.

All those kinds of things really keep me going, and I really enjoy it. I’ve always felt tremendously lucky, the people are good here, the audiences have been really nice to me, America’s been great to me…I’ve lived here since 1975, you know. So, just being able to build a career and keep on working, keep on doing things, and as long as they allow me, I’ll keep on doing it!

Right on. Well, thanks so much again for doing this with me, Joey, and I hope you have a great time on this tour.

Oh, I do too! I’m looking forward to seeing you down in Florida when we play. Are you coming to any of the shows?

I’m gonna try to go to the Clearwater gig. Not sure yet because I’m seeing the Rolling Stones in Orlando the night after, and I might need a designated packing night.

Ooh, nice. Can I go with you? *laughs*

Haha, totally. I’ll ask for a +1 for you. And if you wanna go guitar shopping while you’re in town, let me know and I’ll give you a ride.

Nice, man! Let’s talk when I get down there, and I’ll see if I can do that. That’ll be fun.

You have my number.

Alright, boss, take it easy. Thank you, man, and I hope this went OK for you. Hope you got something you can write about.

Oh my God, so much. It’s gonna be amazing.

Alright, thanks man. And good luck.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length

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