The Beatles have inspired countless musicians over the last half century. But few have been identified with the Fab Four as closely as Joey Molland, who will perform this Sunday at Morristown’s Mayo Performing Arts Center in a star-studded tribute to the White Album.
As a member of Badfinger, the first group signed to the Beatles’ Apple label, Molland played on a string of early ’70s hits produced by various Beatles and their inner circle.
Paul McCartney teed up Badfinger’s first hit, Come and Get It. Depending whose folklore you believe, the band’s name refers either to John Lennon’s piano playing (Bad Finger Boogie, working title for A Little Help from My Friends) or a stripper from the Beatles’ Hamburg days.
Molland backed Lennon on his Imagine album and George Harrison on his All Things Must Pass and Concert for Bangla Desh solo records.
He even hails from Liverpool — his first band, the Masterminds, gigged at the iconic Cavern Club.
Comparisons were inevitable; adoring critics sometimes had trouble distinguishing recordings by Molland, Pete Ham, Tom Evans and Mike Gibbins from John, Paul, George and Ringo.
“We weren’t going out trying to make Beatle records. We were going out trying to make great records, or good ones, and we did the very best we could,” says Molland, 72.
He will sing a couple of Badfinger’s best, Baby Blue and No Matter What, at MPAC this weekend, along with Savoy Truffle, Revolution No. 1 and other cuts from the White Album.
And he’ll have a lot of help from his friends, who also have plenty of Beatles cred. Todd Rundgren (Hello, It’s Me; I Saw the Light) helped Harrison produce Badfinger’s Straight Up album (1971), and is a longtime member of Ringo Starr’s All Starr Band.
He joins former Monkee Micky Dolenz (Last Train to Clarksville, I’m a Believer), who dropped in on the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper recording sessions. Rounding out the ensemble are former Chicago lead singer Jason Scheff and Christopher Cross (Sailing, Arthur’s Theme), both Beatlemaniacs.
Promoters dubbed this tribute tour It Was Fifty Years Ago Today, though the White Album (actual title: The Beatles) debuted 51 years ago. Molland remembers every Beatles release as an exciting event, though this one wasn’t his favorite.
“Some of the songs were a bit odd,” he says. The fun is re-interpreting them on stage. “These are songs people never heard live. We’ve only sung them in our kitchen—just like you!”
Another pleasant surprise, says Molland, is touring with Rundgren. Working with him decades ago on Badfinger’s Straight Up album was rocky.
“He was a great producer, but he was very difficult to get along with. He was abrasive, pushy, very opinionated. I guess as a producer you have to be. It was very tough on us. We felt like he really didn’t think we were a great band,” Molland recounts.
But time heals all. Molland has seen the light.
“I get on great with him now. The amount of energy the guy brings to a show is extraordinary…He is ‘on’ every single day. He is a professional player. He watches the show, and he listens.”
TOUGHEST ACT TO FOLLOW
Following on the heels of the most successful band in history might seem … burdensome. But Molland feels fortunate he landed in Badfinger –then known as the Iveys–in 1969.
“You know, we were enthralled with the Beatles. The whole world was at that time,” he says.
Molland and his Welsh mates grew up with the same musical and cultural influences as the Beatles, sharing their humor and middle-class work ethic. Their idols’ stardom drove Badfinger to keep striving, he says.
“What surprised me about them was how normal they were,” Molland says of the Beatles.
“There wasn’t any real show-off about them. They were very regular guys. They chose their own clothes, loaded their own gear. They were normal people. They didn’t have their own entourage.”
Harrison drove around in a Mini Cooper, with his guitar in the back. “He brought it in himself, and plugged himself in,” Molland says.
“They really made you feel at home, made you feel okay. They knew we could do the job and always asked us back to do it again.”
The Quiet Beatle also was a perfectionist. Harrison asked if he could play slide guitar on Badfinger’s Day After Day, then spent hours in the studio doubling the lead parts with Pete Ham, also on slide.
Molland lent his guitar to Harrison for that session, and casually sold it a year or two later. He regrets that move.
Today, “it probably would be worth a house!”
TURBULENCE AND TRAGEDY
Badfinger’s flame burned brightly–and briefly. Turbulent and tragic, the band’s backstory is littered with lawsuits and haunted by the post-breakup suicides of Ham and Evans.
“Crooked managers…left us destitute,” Molland says.
After selling millions of records, he found himself installing carpets and learning carpentry to support his young family. He grabbed gigs when and where he could; this reporter saw him perform as Badfinger at Slater’s Mill, a long-ago bar in Riverdale, NJ.
Court battles restored some of the group’s royalties in the mid-’80s–too late for Ham and Evans. Mike Gibbins, Badfinger’s drummer, died in 2005. Molland is the last man standing from the quartet’s glory days.
The music business has changed since then. It’s a little easier to catch people stealing your money, Molland says. Unfortunately, there is less money to steal.
Baby Blue enjoyed a resurgence when it was featured in the 2013 finale of the TV series Breaking Bad. But royalties are tiny in an era of free online streaming, he says.
“In the old days, you’d make a record and then go on tour to support the record.
“Nowadays,” Molland says, “the record is used as a promotional device for the live shows.”
His advice for aspiring musicians: Read the papers that you sign. And prepare for failure, not success.
“When you get large amounts of money, people change. Not necessarily the members of the band. But the people around you… Even family members change. It sounds impossible. But it happens,” he says, citing Billy Joel’s accusations of $90 million in theft by his ex-brother-in-law/manager.
Still, keep the faith. No matter what.
“You have to believe you will be okay, no matter what happens,” Molland says. “Even if you do make a lot of money.”
It Was Fifty Years Ago Today – Tour 2019 – A Tribute To The Beatles’ White Album, at the Mayo Performing Arts Center , Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019, at 7:30 pm. Tickets: $49-$99. At 100 South St., 973-539-8008.
