On the evening of Sept. 3rd, shortly after their opening performance at the Westbury Music Fair, I had the good fortune to sit down for a few minutes with Bobby Ingram, guitarist for southern rock pioneers Molly Hatchet. Bobby, now deservedly recognized as the bandleader through his fifteen-plus years of service, was a pleasure to speak with and I felt right at home in my attempt to cover and rediscover a band that has "beaten the odds" several times over. Presently, they have regenerated themselves once again while in the midst of a tenuous tour schedule in support of their newest and soon-to-be classic album, "The Silent Reign of Heroes."

In town to do a few local dates with country/rock legend Charlie Daniels, the band proved that even filling in as a support act from time to time during their recent statewide trek, they need not take a back seat to anybody. Though their set only lasted roughly 45 minutes for seven songs, they stimulated an enthusiastic crowd and showed beyond a shadow of a doubt that after several hit albums spanning over twenty years and numerous personnel changes, Molly Hatchet's still at the top of their game. And though it would be impossible to cover the wealth of history that's taken them years and years to accrue, I did attempt to gear my questions so that the past could be skimmed upon while still concentrating on the new and exciting future that the band's now shooting for. It was indeed a pleasure to see Molly Hatchet live for the first time-a true class act both on and off the stage.

AMZ - It seems the band's undergone quite a few changes since their inception twenty years ago and yet the music's always remained true to form. The band's determination and resiliency should be applauded when so many others from that era found it difficult to keep up. What do you attribute to Molly Hatchet's longevity and staying power and was there ever a time when you felt like packing it in or continuing on in but going in a different direction?

Bobby - Well there was a touchy time during 1990, June or July of 1990, when a lot of the members at that point in time decided they wanted to pack it in and do other things-which was great. But Danny Joe Brown and myself wanted to continue. We felt like the fans have been loyal to the band since the beginning. the way we felt, we wanted to be loyal back as much as possible. So Danny and I continued on and we put the band together as you see now.

AMZ - And speaking of now, let's turn our attention towards your latest album, "The Silent Reign of Heroes." Some of the songs seem to reflect on social issues of the time, which are more in line with the writing concepts of today. Though much of the album still favors the classic Molly Hatchet good-time rock formula, a couple of songs in particular stand out in my mind-"World of Trouble" and "Blue Thunder" both of which touch upon environmental and social issues.

Bobby - Thank you for not saying "political" cause it's not political. Molly Hatchet's never been a politically addressed or vocal band. but it does address issues that we thought needed to be addressed. And that goes with the concept of the album "Silent Reign of Heroes" which is a tribute to the unsung heroes. It's the guys that have been out in the trenches you know, doing all the work. doing all the heartache, the sufferin'. and never getting credit for it. And we thought it was time to do a tribute to those guys. Not only the ones in nine to five jobs, but ones in the military; the veterans of foreign war; the Vietnam vets. So that's why we did the record.

AMZ - Can you discuss the significance behind two of my favorite tracks on the album, "The Silent Reign of Heroes" and "Saddletramp?" I know "Silent Reign." touches upon The Civil War theme but was "Saddletramp" based on any true to life events?

Bobby - "The Silent Reign of Heroes" is the one that touches on the civil war thing and that's one of the concepts of it. That's like The Civil War. but not only the Civil War but World War I, World War II, The Korean War, Vietnam, and The Persian Gulf War. It's just, we happen to touch on the Civil War thing being from the South. We felt like we could get the point across the same way on that. "Saddletramp" is a song for the two last American heroes who are the cowboys and the bikers, you know. (laughs) And they've always been heroes to us. You know it's a tribute album, to all these guys who never got their just due. What better way to write? We're writing for the people.

AMZ - It definitely comes across like that in a lot of ways throughout the album. The last two records, this one and "Devil's Canyon" both featured closing tracks that were remakes of songs that appeared on your earlier recordings-"Dreams I'll Never See" and "Fall of the Peacemakers."

Bobby And how did that come about??

AMZ - (Laughs) .both of which were very well done pieces.

Bobby - Thank you very much. And it's by accident man. We've been on the road for two hundred days a year for the past twenty years. During that time when the band didn't have a deal-this was before CMC International records-which by the way is a great record company and we feel like is a family to us. You know, we've been with big labels and we're pretty much a number with them. But these guys with CMC, they're great. I mean, we wouldn't want to go anywhere else!

AMZ - They seem very supportive especially with a lot of the established bands.

Bobby - Yeah, they're very supportive of that. And we're very happy to be on the team with CMC; great guys there, and they work hard. the hardest I've ever seen any label work for a band. But getting back to the question, with being on the road two hundred days a year, we'd go home, and during this time frame '90-'95, where we didn't have a deal, we'd be sittin' around for a couple of weeks, which is not very long, but it's a lot of time off for us. We've all got families-I've got a wife for five years now, a girl from Kentucky. She's beautiful; she's great. but we'd still want to play, so we'd take our acoustic guitars down to these clubs, and on the radio, they'd say "hey, Molly Hatchet's gonna be at this club tonight." Well, the places packed out. The damn beer bottles hittin' the wall, and the whiskey bottles. (laughs) and everybody throwin' chairs. It's a throw down-what we caused in Jacksonville, you know. And we would play the whole Molly Hatchet set which you just heard, acoustically. The people would go nuts and we had so much fun with it-it was by accident-and we said "man, let's go ahead and put 'Dreams' on 'Devil's Canyon'." And then we did that. Everybody liked it so much we said "well shit, let's do another one." So we did "Fall of the Peacemakers," which is in tune with what we're talking about with "Silent Reign of Heroes." It's a great concept for it see, so that song worked on this record.

AMZ - I can see that, sure. "Fall of the Peacemakers" is actually one of my favorite songs.

Bobby - That's great. It worked really good for us. So now it's gonna turn into like the "new" generation Molly Hatchet doing these veteran classic songs and that's gonna turn into a tradition for us, so I think on every studio record we're gonna do an acoustic song like that.

AMZ - And so what can we expect on the next album, or haven't you decided?

Bobby - Well, there's been a lot of things tossed around. We're at full concentration right now on "The Silent Reign of Heroes." I'm not going to do any writing or anything until we get pretty much to the end of this tour, which is, we're looking at about an eighteen month tour on this, and we've already been out for about three months. You know we've been asked about another live album; we've been asked about a full acoustic album and we've been asked for another studio record. So I don't know exactly what we're going to do. I don't know what direction. We're just going to call that next year. But it's gonna be, in the next three albums, it's gonna be one of those.

AMZ - Are you signed for another three-album deal with CMC?

Bobby - I signed a multi-year record deal with CBH records in Germany through SPV distribution which is the parent company of where we're cutting the records in Hamburg.

AMZ - And your original label from way back was.

Bobby - In 1978 it was Epic Records. Then we went to Capitol records, then CBH, and then over here it's CMC.

AMZ - What would you say were or are some of the highlights of your career? And some lower points like maybe during the down period that followed the '90-'95 stage?

Bobby - The highlights for me are what's going on right now. All this work to rebuild Molly Hatchet after the 1990. not break up, but just brief reformation. We carried on, we didn't break up. That's gotta be understood. This band never broke up-we carried on. It is what it is today and that's the natural progression of what has happened since the beginning. I'd say right now, this is my high time. There's a lot of interest going on now. We're playing bigger shows than we ever have. Things are going great for the band. Everything's working great. There's no drugs or alcohol in the mix anymore-that's the olden days. We're still playing touch, livin' hard. but we're back to business again and that's real important.

AMZ - So it's safe to say the band is as exciting now for you as its ever been, even though now it's like a new beginning.

Bobby - Now it's to the point. I mean I've been under the stiff management and stiff, you know, where everybody fuckin' tells you what to fuckin' do and, I've gone through that in my career, you know what I'm sayin'? And now I can control my own destiny with this thing. I know that sounds strange and all that, but when you get into a position where you call all the shots, and help guide other people's careers, you know you put all those factors into the mix. what a beautiful thing! There's not a single person in the band that I wouldn't do anything for. They're like family to me, every member of the band and crew.

AMZ - So this is as tight a knit group as you've ever been with, considering all of the changes that took place over the years.

Bobby - Yeah, definitely. And everybody means the world to me. Not only musician-wise, but friendship-wise. They're really dedicated and I'll see what everybody's doing, and they're following my lead, and that's real important for a successful group.

AMZ - Plus, you had mentioned "being more in control." I've heard stories from other bands about being ripped off or this and that, and now they've seen the light and have a new found attitude over the band's concerns.

Bobby - Well, I'm being a lot more careful these days. I mean I was under pretty much the Walden Papers with Pat Armstrong-that's the legendary "fuck you" papers with management and shit. I got away from that. I got a good record company and I can oversee stuff and "shit." it's what we've been working for, for so many years!

AMZ - It sounds like you're happy now and the band's doing well. The one thing I was surprised to learn was that being how Molly Hatchet's usually been considered as "southern rock" and now sharing a stage with a bonafide country performer. Are you comfortable with the label of "southern rock?"

Bobby - So what's wrong with that!? I mean, look, we're a rock and roll band from the South and yeah, we play southern music. So what the fuck's wrong with this?

AMZ - You know how it is with some groups where they're labeled as "this" or "that" and I guess the fear is they'll be pigeon-holed and identified with one particular category of music.

Bobby - Well, this fuckin' Ice-T or whoever the fuck it is. that's rap! Or LLCool J-that's pigeonholed as "rap." Or fuckin', Michael Montgomery is pigeonholed as country, you know? I think it's okay. I don't mind this. I don't mind wavin' the rebel flag.

AMZ - I was also a little surprised to hear of your connection with the current dates you're doing opening for Marshal Tucker and Charlie Daniels because I don't feel like Molly Hatchet should have to open for anyone, new beginning or otherwise. But I guess when you package a number of acts of this magnitude, acceptance comes a little easier.

Bobby - Well, Charlie's always been. we've always been fans of Charlie Daniels. He's a legend. We like him a lot.

AMZ - Of course you'll be wanting to get back on the road headlining your own shows soon-have you been able to do that so far?

Bobby - In Europe definitely. We headline everywhere in Europe. We've been all over. We're headlining over B.O.C. or Wishbone Ash. Uriah Heep. a lot of bands that are considered international groups. We do the headlining over there. Over here, it's back and forth-bigger and larger arenas, like during the weeks, we'll hook up with Charlie or something. But on the weekends, we're doing fairs and festivals and we're headlining. So it's back and forth over here, but solid over in Europe.

AMZ - It would appear that the fan-base hasn't strayed a whole lot over the course of Molly Hatchet's existence. I mean rock fans, southern rock fans or country fans alike-though maybe Charlie's got more of the country music fans while those of the southern rock would belong to you here.

Bobby - It works. See, we pull a lot of different people in. We're not going to pull a lot of your punk rockers in. but who in the fuck wants to pull a punk rocker in!? We're true southern and we stick to what the fuck we're doing. And God bless them. but God bless our fans too.

AMZ - You say "southern rock," and even appearing here in New York or just up the Northeast coast, you'll still find tons of fans that come out and identify with what you're doing.

Bobby - You're right. And listen, what we're seeing too are your veteran fans-your Molly Hatchet fans of way back twenty years-and they're bringing their kids and in some instances, they're bringing their kids!

AMZ - So you're still reaching new audiences while maintaining the core of the older.

Bobby - All the time. And we're not trying to do anything differently. We're just doing what comes from the heart. We write from friendship, truth, and loyalty. And that's what the band's been about for many years. From the beginning, it's a blue-collar band. We're a common band playing for a common man and that's the way it is.

AMZ - What are some of your own influences?

Bobby - None. When I started out. Dwayne Allman and Alan Collins. Those are my influences.

AMZ - It's not as though your music reflects on any influences of today like many bands tend to lean toward updating and changing as the current years dictate, but there's never been anything happening today that influences your approach or ideas for music?

Bobby - Uh, Uh. We're influenced by ourselves. By what we do in life; how we live it. and where we want to go. It's an internal influence now. We don't really derive influence from other things. I don't.

AMZ -One thing I noticed on your last couple of albums-after hearing Phil (McCormack) on vocals and on the CD's-I had to actually look in the cover booklet to see that he was actually a different singer than (previous vocalist) Danny Joe Brown because Phil sounds nearly identical to him.

Bobby - And that's a beautiful thing. You know, that's Phil naturally.

AMZ - I never though anybody could ever sound like DJB did, his voice was so distinctive, but it's amazing, the similarities between he and Phil.

Bobby - Well, Phil's been a really good friend of ours for many years and was the logical choice to come in and fill that position.

AMZ - Can you touch upon what happened with Danny? You said earlier that you and he wanted to continue the band a while back.

Bobby - Well we did continue on. He left due to health reasons. He couldn't continue anymore doing this thing. We do two hundred dates a year. He's diabetic. And he's had that disease since 1980. there was no way he could continue. He and I go way back before Molly Hatchet and I've seen the beginning and I've seen the end. As a friend, to have him out here. it would kill him. He gave a lot of music to the fans of the world for many, many years and that's enough. It doesn't make sense anymore-he knew it and I knew it. God bless him. He's been my friend for many, many, many years but couldn't continue anymore. Danny will always remain a member of the band-inactive.

AMZ - And Phil's come in and done a great job-the band hasn't missed a beat. What's Phil's background?

Bobby - He was with The Dixie Road Ducks from way back. We've known each other for about fifteen years. He was in a band touring all over the U.S. doing stuff like Skynrd and Hatchet, and it was in his blood then. So it was natural. It was natural for all this, see that's the thing about it.

AMZ - He's a terrific vocalist and handles the classic stuff flawlessly. So how long, you said earlier about three months now that you've been on the road, so what are the plans in the near future? Will you be sticking around the states for a while or is it off to Europe again?

Bobby - We got another month in the U.S. then we go off to Europe for a month. Then it's back over here. We got our new single coming out called "Mississippi Moondog" and "Miss Saturday Night," the one that first came out, got as high as the top 4 song in the U.S., added to radio. And this album is the first time charting in Europe ever! Even "Flirting with Disaster" didn't chart, and that's been the biggest album for the band. So that's what I'm saying, things are going great right now. The future's more albums, more touring. and a lot more rock and roll! It's a new beginning and it feels great man!