To many people the BulletBoys were just another band that formed part of that MTV, big hair, Sunset Strip scene of the late eighties and there was one song that stood above all others: ‘Smooth Up In Ya’ but that is only scratching the surface. The group released two successful albums and had a number of charting singles MTV between 1988 and 1991 and after that despite line-up changes, with Marq Torien at the helm produced more than their fair share of memorable moments. There was always something a little different about the BulletBoys though, they were a band that was prepared to experiment and that should have been apparent from the moment they released the O’Jays cover ‘For the Love of Money’ as their second ever single. Despite being heavily influenced by Van Halen and AC/DC they always took in so much more and indeed on their new album ‘From Out of the Skies’ they cover a track by Motown legends The Temptations. In May The BulletBoys visit Australia for the very first time and we’re excited. We caught up with main-man Marq Torien to get the lowdown.
Mark: Thank you so much for talking to The Rockpit today Sir.
Marq: My pleasure, how are you Mark?
Mark: I’m very good thank you, and all the better to hear that you’re finally making it down-under.
Marq: Oh man I can’t wait. We’re so stoked about coming out.
Mark: It’s been a long time since I last saw you on stage last time was way back in 2010 in Oklahoma City at the Rock In America Festival.
Marq: Yes that is a long time ago.
Mark: Things have changed a little since then as far as the band make-up is concerned
Marq: Yes things have changed. There have been a few changes over the years but myself, Chad and Nick have been together for eight and a half years now.
Mark: The main reason I wanted to take the interview today was because of the album, I’ve loved recent releases ‘10c Billionaire’ and ‘Elephante’ but it’s the new album ’For the Love of Money’ that really hits the spot for me. I’m a big fan of Rock of course but also appreciate a little real Soul and what they used to call Rhythm and Blues before it became RnB. So when I heard some of the things you were doing on the album I thought ‘Wow, this is probably going to upset a few people but what a brave move!’ Now for me it’s wonderful, like a breath of fresh air.
Marq: Thank you so much for being so gracious, and thank you for appreciating what we did.
Mark: So take it all the way back for us where does this ‘Soul’ influence come into the picture?
Marq: I’ve always had it you know I was basically raised with it. At a very young age I was listening to Soul music, but not just that there was Rhythm and Blues, and Jazz. My father played trombone and my mother was a background singer, my father played first trombone in Stan Kenton’s Orchestra which back in the day was a huge ‘big band’ and it’s so crazy because I grew up with all kinds of music, I grew up with Punk Rock music, Hard Rock Music and Southern Fried music, just different cuts off the same block, it was like a slamming together of the two worlds almost. But I never called myself a Metal singer I’m more of a Hard Rock Soul singer you know, so we took a big risk with this record and I think the guys at Studio 606, and David Grohl who allowed us to come into his studio to create magic with this record were great. As far as this record goes, I was consumed with it, I wanted to do something that was really ‘off the blocks’ but still sticking to the standards of past BulletBoys songs. But we wanted to take people on a journey on this one, and have a lot more heart and soul on this one. We all collectively wanted to do something special, so there you have it, it’s one of those records that I’m very, very fond of and I worked extremely hard on. There’s a lot of different instrumentation, you know we put real Vibes on ‘Suckerpunch’ we created loops and all kinds of stuff. It’s just one of those really earthy, yet really ‘in the now’ types of record and to be able to pull it off (laughs) it’s quite a tale, but the band just stuck with it and the producer stuck with us and we managed to put it all in the blender and come out with a great cocktail.
Mark: It does really sound like you enjoyed this one to hear you talking about it.
Marq: You know I really did, I really did, just having people come in and being champions of the band and giving us the opportunity to do a record like this, all the people that were involved, it was just great and I think it shows that I’m not a person that likes to dwell in the past, I live in the present day and look to the future, I’ve evolved from the past but I’m not ashamed of it, but we’re a band that likes to create something fresh for the eyes and the ears. And with ‘Elephante’ and this latest record some of the fans were, like you suggested, a little bit mad, some of the purists, but the majority I can say were extremely ecstatic because we’re taking them on a ride musically and it’s not the same old “OK we’re gonna recreate the same old record.” You know ‘Elephante’ and ‘From Out of the Skies’ they’re in the same vein – the reinvention of the BulletBoys and that started with ‘10c Billionaire’. We’re drawing from all of our different musicalities and it just creates this great flow and I think musically the band is also a little bit edgier now and not afraid to take risks. We’re all on the same page as brothers and that we have common goals musically, you know we’ve been working very, very diligently man, and we wanted to put something out that might cause a little ruckus out there. (laughs)
Mark: (laughs) I think you hit the nail on the head, I personally love it.
Marq: Yeah, Rock’s supposed to be dangerous! There’s so much music out there Mark, and some of it’s so heavy you know and sometimes then it loses some of its musicality and its sincerity when it just trying to be so heavy. There’s plenty of heavy stuff in our catalogue, but I thought it was the right time to… I know that all my favourite records have something other than that, something on the lighter side and they can take you here, sure, but they can also take you there “Oh man” you know what I mean? I just wanted to paint with some broad strokes on this one.
Mark: That’s what it’s all about. I know when I was younger I listened to a lot of different music before I really got into Hard Rock, and I think some people don’t have that before they become set in their ways and concentrate on one type of music so they never understand why their favourite bands don’t always stick to what they started with. With your album I was really enjoying it and then you hit me with ‘Get Ready,’ the old Temptations song, and I thought man, this has to be the best Rock cover of a Motown song I’ve ever heard.
Marq: I love you! Thank you, I got scorned for trying to do that song, people were scorning me Mark! (laughs) They were like “You know you can’t do that song” and I said “What are you talking about?” They said “That song – it’s The Temptations, then Rare Earth did it, why would you want to go and do that?” I said “Because I have a version and I was signed to Motown, I’m part of the Motown family so I think it gives me a tiny little bit of leverage to maybe try and do it?” I think we really took it places with the horns and making it guitar driven, it’s like you’re starting the car and the song comes on and it just kicks into gear and it’s so funky and pneumatic and such a hit song already – once a hit always a hit, you know! I was hoping that we could take it to another level but thank you man we had a blast doing that one!
Mark: You did great, it just works. But the album for me has something for everyone, there’s plenty of Rock on there too, the opening track “Apocalypto” and “D-Evil” are great songs
Marq: Yeah there’s some Hard Rock and Punk Rock on there absolutely.
Mark: The one I’m really loving at the moment though might be another left-field offering – “Switchblade Butterfly” the refrain in that song is wonderful, it’s one of those songs that is so good you swear you’d heard it before! Ever since I heard it I can’t get it out of my head.
Marq: Oh my gosh thank you.
Mark: If I were you right now Marq my huge dilemma would be how on earth are you going to choose a set-list for Australia? We’ve a great new album, a new sound, but also 30 plus years to catch up on?
Marq: First of all thank you for talking about “Switchblade Butterfly” so many people have been moved by that song and for a lot of people it’s their favourite on the record and it’s really humbling Mark when people talk about it because I really want to move people with my music and I think I was really honest on this record I didn’t want the BulletBoys to go down as this “Sex toy, Cock rock band” I couldn’t be happy with myself if that’s all that the fans thought that we were. We’re getting so many new fans now who are saying “Listen I never heard you guys but I just heard this new record and I love it, who are you guys?”
Mark: That’s great to hear, it’s so hard these days to attract a new audience as everything seems so dispersed.
Marq: It’s heartening, I love that people are getting moved and I think it’s important for any artist of musician to move people. We come from a genre that I can honestly say that I don’t think we were ever really accepted in and somehow we gravitated towards California – myself and Lonnie Vencent and we as individuals weren’t really accepted into the ‘boys club’ as I call it. (laughs) We were the kinda outsider guys you know, we weren’t from the Strip, we weren’t from the ‘Beach Cities’ you know, we played The Troubadour a place in Santa Monica (Boulevard) West Hollywood, that’s where we started playing, we first started in Huntington Beach, so I always felt that we were never really accepted as far as being part of that ‘thing’. So when people say this ‘Hair Band’ or ‘The Sunset Strip’ or ‘Hair Metal’ we never really kinda were, Mark. And I think that really shows with the musicality of the band from our older records to the present, we’re always trying to grow as musicians and in the genre that we come from sometimes people don’t like you to grow. People don’t want you to try new things but you just have to look back to the 70’s and they were always trying different things.
Mark: You have really summed it up there Marq, some of the very best bands of the 70’s tried things that fans of late 80’s rock would have been slated for.
Marq: Even the greatest bands in the world like Aerosmith were trying to do new things. Even when they came back they were trying new things with songs like “Janie had a Gun” who would ever thought that Aerosmith would have done a song like that? So I think that you gain more fans when you widen your reach and you start painting with broad strokes, then you’re a real artist and it’s not just a manufactured thing. But being signed back in the day and being labelled as this as, Like I said this “Sex toy, Cock rock band” makes it hardtop shake that label. But there’s so much talent in this band, so many positive vibes and a real desire to grow and live in So Cal.
Mark: I think you were right when you mentioned that the change started with ‘10c Billionaire’ the great shame of that record for me was that it never got real exposure it deserved, from memory, and I may be wrong, the label went bust so it never really got the publicity it needed? I also think our great mate and someone from my home town Rob Lane, played on it?
Marq: Robbie! (laughs) He’s a naughty gentlemen I love him, he’s my guy! Yeah but the label went, Bill took a shot with that one, but he really loved that album, he saw where we were going with it and he loved that we were leaving the past behind and looking forward – he got it! And that record like you say opened up this new door for us. I was going through some really, really emotional times in my personal life so I got the opportunity to start writing about it so that kinda led to the reinvention of things, but yeah I love that record, that record has some pretty bad-ass songs.
Mark: I love it, it’s great and not just ‘cos Rob’s on there.
Marq: (laughs) One song we still do from that is ‘Road to Nowhere’ we get people screaming for it all the time so we throw that down and people go nuts! ‘Girls Kissin’ Girls’ is one of those hat we also love or ‘Born to Breed’ too we’ll throw that in too, but definitely different songs from that record and we’re thinking of throwing songs in from ‘Acid Monkey’ or ‘Freakshow’ too. Songs that we’ve never ever really played, so there’s a big setlist that we’re throwing around and ‘Tiny’s’ great our new drummer –he’s just amazing and always coms up with songs he loves: “Why don’t you do this one!” But we’re really focused on this record and I really wish we could play it in its entirety somewhere and we might do that at some point
Mark: Now that would be great. The thing I hate about interviews like this Marq is that I could talk all day to you.
Marq: You’re so awesome! Thank you!
Mark: We’ve only three minutes left though I think, so If I could ask a few quick ones to close. Where did it all start for you? I know you grew up in a musical family but when was the moment you knew that was going to be your life? Was there a defining moment?
Marq: No I think it was when I was growing up in L.A. when I was seven I would say, I just knew then that I was going to be doing this for a long time. And I’ve been in the recording studio since I was about seven or eight so it just came naturally.
Mark: Wow. That’s so young to know what your life will hold or you.
Mark: If you could have been a fly on the wall for the creation of any great album just to see how the magic happened and how it all came together what’s the album that you’d like to see inside the making of?
Marq: Wow, just kind of like off the top of my head I would say Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ to see him and Quincey Jones put that together it must have been so time-consuming, it would be ‘Off The Wall’ or ‘Thriller.’ I know it sounds a bit odd but you know me, I‘m a funk guy and I just think it would be amazing to just sit there and see what went into that.
Mark: You’d be surprised how many Hard Rock musicians answer with albums by artists like Prince or James Brown, but that’s a first for MJ. We always end with the easiest question – what is the meaning of life?
Marq: Oh that’s very simple, the meaning of life is L.O.V.E. Love is the meaning of life, love is universal.
Mark: That’s a great answer, we don’t need more than that. Thank you so much for your time and talking to The Rockpit
Marq: Oh Mark thank you for having me, I can’t wait to see you when I get over there
Mark: It’s been a pleasure, I can’t wait.
Marq: And I’m also glad that we gave Rob Laney a shout! I got to see him in the UK for a minutes, he came in like a ghost and vanished like a ghost! Oh man, he’s so bad ass I love that guy.
Mark: (laughs) You take care and thank you for a fantastic album.
Marq: Oh man, thank you very much for a great interview Mark, God bless you and hopefully we’ll be talking very, very soon again.
