Molly Hatchet (Official Thread)

[TheFeldster]

MOLLY HATCHET

Official Website

1978 Molly Hatchet
1979 Flirtin' with Disaster
1980 Beatin' the Odds
1981 Take No Prisoners
1983 No Guts...No Glory
1984 The Deed Is Done
1989 Lightning Strikes Twice
1996 Devil's Canyon
1998 Silent Reign of Heroes
2000 Kingdom of XII
2005 Warriors of the Rainbow Bridge
2008 Southern Rock Masters
2010 Justice
2012 Regrinding the Axes


Molly Hatchet were a Southern Hard Rock band formed in 1975, in Jacksonville, Florida, by Dave Hlubek and Steve Holland, and featuring singer Danny Joe Brown. The name Molly Hatchet was taken from a ********** who mutilated and decapitated clients (just a bit of trivia for you).

Molly Hatchet originally came to the attention of fellow Southern rockers .38 Special, who recommended the band to their manager Pat Armstrong, who got them signed to Epic Records.

Their first album, self-titled Molly Hatchet, reached 64 on the Billboard charts. No singles were released from the album.

Their next album, 1979's Flirtin' With Disaster, has stood up as classic album in the Southern Rock scene of the 70's, up there in my opinion with Pronounced Lynyrd Skynyrd and Brothers & Sisters.

The lead single, title track Flirtin' With Disaster, was Molly Hatchet's most commercially viable single.

From then on, Molly Hatchet began to subscribe to the traditional Southern rock practice of the "personell revolving door". Singer Danny Joe Brown was the first to leave, and no single person has been a member of the band for it's entire history (from 1975 to present day).

Despite this, Molly Hatchet is still recording to this day, albiet not at the height of success found with Flirtin' With Disaster.

I'm not as well versed on Molly Hatchet lore from the post-Flirtin' era, but here's a song from their 2010 album, Justice.

 

[Magic]

Re: Molly Hatchet



I love Molly Hatchet. Danny Joe is one of my favorite vocalists...he had the coolest gutteral growl and gnarly sounds of any vocalist. I truly miss him.




Danny Joe returned to Molly Hatchet for the release of "No Guts...No Glory" in 1983

I own their complete discog including the albums when Jimmy Farrar was vocalist.

 

[Groovy Man]

Re: Molly Hatchet

Molly Hatchet Rock!!

And I proudly say that too!!

The first two albums are classic, the self-titled debut album and Flirtin' With Disaster

Forget southern rock for a minute, ''Flirtin' With Disaster'' is a must for any rock fan who love gritty vocals and guitar driven rock and roll!!

1996's ''Devil's Canyon'' is a great album too, the album features Danny Joe Brown on vocals, but due to health issues he couldn't finish the album, and in stepped in Phil McCormack who sounds like a dead ringer for Danny Joe Brown - really he does.

Danny Joe Brown and Duane Roland R.I.P.

 

[Magic]

Re: Molly Hatchet

How the band got its name is from a murdering prostitute named Molly who killed her lovers with a hatchet, but they way they got the name is kinda funny.

They use to play alot in bars in the south in the early days (way before they ever recorded any albums), mainly in the Florida area. The band changed their name like 4 times in 6 months time. So one day they decided they had to pick and agree on a band name. All the band members, there were 6 members at the time, put 3 names in a John Deere hat and the last name drawn would be the band name they would stick with.

The last name drawn was "Molly Hatchet" which was put in the hat by Bobby Maddox, the bands lead singer at the time. When asked what the hell that meant, he told them about Hatchet Molly, a ********** from the 17th century who killed her lovers. Bobby just switched the name around to "Molly Hatchet" which he thought sounded better.

 

[Magic]

Re: Molly Hatchet

And here is something else a lot of people dont know, Ronnie Van Zant was suppose to be Molly Hatchet's producer in the early days, beginning the production for the Debut album in 1977. Van Zant's death delayed Molly Hatchet to release the debut until 1978 with producer Tom Werman.

 

[Fever]

Re: Molly Hatchet

For quite a few years there wasn't one original member in Molly Hatchet but Dave Hlubek rejoined the band in 2005 so now there is one.

There is a band called Gator Country that features former Molly Hatchet members Jimmy Farrar,Bruce Crump,Steve Holland and Riff West.The late Duane Roland was also a member.UFO's Paul Chapman is now in the band.I guess they are still a band

http://www.gatorcountryrocks.com/home.htm

 

[LG]

Re: Molly Hatchet

I like Molly Hatchet, the first three albums I think are on the shelf.

But when I bought "Flirtin' With Disaster", there was a "glitch" in the vinyl album, I exchanged it three times before I gave up and got something else instead. Then a few months ago I picked up the CD. That is the only time I ever took the same album back that many times, fortunately the manager there knew me and I was a good customer so there weren't any hassles. In fact he told me that about half of the shipment was returned in his store...so it was a bad pressing.

 

[Rocker440]

Re: Molly Hatchet

I am also a long time Molly Hatchet fan and have most of their catalog up to the late 1980s albums.

Danny Joe Brown is one of my favorite singer/songwriters, and I also agree that he is missed, greatly! The original band was fantastic and jammed tremendously, imo!

Duane Roland was a terrific guitar player and a significant part of Molly Hatchet, and their original triple guitarists, as well as sorely missed!

I do remember hearing some time ago that Dave Hlubek (one of the original guitarists) did rejoin MH, but I'm not certain if he's still touring with them.

Excellent OP Feldster!

A couple of excellent live albums that I do have and also recommend:




^^^Does have the original band members, and with many of their hit songs from the first album and Flirtin' With Disaster!

Originally a double album set, and with both excellent song selections and also some newer (at that time) material, too. Although there were only two (original) guitarists on this live album, it remains one of my favorites, more so with the great performances of DJB and particular songs that I very much like!
Although a couple of songs were omitted from the CD edition.

 

[Sweaty]

Re: Molly Hatchet

I like this band, I love "Flirtin' with disaster". This band are still touring, I would love to see them live.

 

[Fever]

Re: Molly Hatchet

I like this band, I love "Flirtin' with disaster". This band are still touring, I would love to see them live.

I am sure they sound okay but they are pretty much a tribute band now.Dave Hlubek is the only original member.