Joey Molland joined British-Invasion band Badfinger in 1969, just after the band finished recording the Top 10 hit “Come & Get It,” which was written and produced by the Beatles’ Paul McCartney.
Throughout the decades, Molland has carried the Bandfinger torch and has kept the group’s name on the road.
He’ll bring the band to Park City for a two-night run at the Egyptian Theatre on Friday, April 20, and Saturday, April 21.
Liverpool-born Molland, who talked with The Park Record during a phone call from is home in Minneapolis, Minn., said he was looking forward to his trip to the Wasatch Back.
“That whole area by Park City and Salt Lake is so beautiful,” Molland said. “I can’t wait to play some songs in that nice little theatre. I enjoy doing shows and I hope they’re as fun for the audience to come see them as it is for me to play them.”
Molland started teaching himself how to play the guitar when he was 11.
“I had Elvis Presley’s ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ record and went and got my brother’s guitar out,” he said. “I don’t know why, but that record really knocked me out and that was the start of it.”
Molland continued playing guitar throughout grammar school.
“I met other musicians at grammar school and had a little band called the Assassins,” he said. “We played Chuck Berry music and my brother had Buddy Holly records and others from English rock and rollers.
“I also liked a lot of rhythm and blues and that beat music, and it was great fun for me,” Molland said. “I got to love playing and that was all I did. I finished my schooling and went to work on a job and played my guitar at home.”
Molland had just bought a cherry-red Gibson Stereo guitar, which was the model Chuck Berry used.
“My dad signed for it and I was making the payments, so that meant I had to find a job,” Molland said. “One day I was walking around town doing my day job and some guy stopped me and asked me if I was Joey Molland. He remembered me from when I was a kid and asked if I still played guitar and invited me to play with his band that night.
“I went down and played and they paid me, they did,” he said. “They gave me a pound and asked me to come back the next night, and the next thing I knew I was playing four days a week in a basement pub in Liverpool.”
That gig opened many doors for Molland.
“I started to meet the real players around town in the scene and became part of that society, he said with a laugh. “One thing led to another and people got in touch with me to play guitar for them. I’m still working and still making records and touring and coming to some beautiful places like Park City.”
Molland’s career took off when he auditioned and began playing guitar for Badfinger.
He was able to see his heroes, The Beatles, work their magic in the studio.
“Our connection with The Beatles was both a blessing and hindrance, a bit of both, really,” he said. “All of us in Badfinger at the time were young and it was astounding for me to be around The Beatles because I was such a huge fan.
“I mean, Paul, John, George and Ringo made a great band and they were from Liverpool, and they were natural people, not big rock stars or anything,” Molland said. “I was really proud of them. They grew up in the exact same environment we did. They were a few years older than us, but we did the same things, running and jumping the way the boys do. They gave us the courage to do what we needed to do in Badfinger.
“They wrote great songs and everybody knew the words to all of them, and it was unbelievable how big they got,” he said. “To have them involved with us, really, was a bit of a miracle, because like them, we weren’t afraid to bring any type of song to the band. We enjoyed every form of music and if it worked for the band, we would do it.
Another memorable event for Molland was working in the studio with Sir George Martin, the Beatles’ only producer.
“He showed us how brilliant he was,” Molland said. “I learned how he thought about music and about sound and arrangements. I learned how he could see ahead into the future of what the record will sound like.”
Throughout the years, Badfinger has experienced its shares of ups and downs that include bankruptcies and suicides, but Molland has managed to keep the music flowing.
“I’ve always played for the love of playing, even if I wasn’t making a record or playing in a band,” he said. “I love guitars and I love to play. Since I started writing songs, back in the late 1960s, I always get ideas for songs. I don’t know why, but I do. It’s just the way it works. I can make money to support my family, and it has left me high and dry sometimes, and I’d just go out and get a real job, but I’ve really enjoyed myself.”
Molland’s new project is his new album, tentatively titled “Return to Memphis,” which will be released in August.
“I did it down in Memphis, Tennessee, with Memphis musicians over six weeks,” he said. “The record is produced by Carl Wise and I did it at Willie Mitchell’s studio, where Ike and Tina Turner, Al Green, the Staples, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Rod Stewart and Keith Richards recorded songs as well.”
The songs are different from the regular Badfinger fare, Molland said.
“There are no heavy or blazing guitars on it, but there are plenty of vocals and I did write all the songs,” he said. “I was so excited to go and do that kind of record after all these years. It was like a musical homecoming, because that was the kind of music I listened to when I started.”
Molland’s son Shaun will do the cover art.
“He’s a hell of an artist with drawing and charcoal,” Molland said. “It was new and exciting for me. I’ll be 65 in June you know what I mean? So, life has been great to me.”
The Egyptian Theatre, 328 Main St., will present Badfinger featuring Joey Molland on Friday, April 20, and Saturday, April 21, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35 to $60 and are available at www.parkcityshows.com .