At first glance, you might think that the band name “The Drunk Molly Experience” is actually the title of a sociology paper on the student audience at Llamapalooza.
It would make a good title for such a paper, but for now, it is the name of a junior band that performed last year at Llamapalooza and last weekend at Homecoming.
The lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the band, Jesse Paul, assured me that the band name had nothing to do with drug culture whatsoever. John Lennon had a similar response to the accusation of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” as an acronym for LSD. Much like Lennon, Jesse had an alibi for their band name, and explained that it was really just named after their perma-drunk friend Molly – seems believable enough.
The Drunk Molly Experience is made up of five juniors, all of whom are political science majors, except for lead singer Jesse Paul who studies English.
Whereas the Logjammers are a band born in the depths of Mathias 2-East, the Drunk Molly Experience is a Slocum band. The band was created when Jesse Paul and guitarist Colin Hiew started playing together during second block of their freshman year.
While two kids playing guitar together is great for seduction purposes in a crowded dorm-room pre-game, it does not make a band. So, Paul and Hiew searched the other floors of Slocum and found themselves other necessary parts of a band.
Legend had traveled down a floor when Paul and Hiew “heard about this kid who could really play guitar, James, who lived on the third floor so he joined in,” Paul said. And thus the band found its lead guitarist, James Olson.
The rest of the band members were also discovered because of their random freshman year Slocum room assignments. These band members are drummer Logan Ballard and bassist Jackson Porreca.
Despite the seemingly makeshift nature of the band, their sound is much more cohesive than their haphazard formation. When I inquired about their band influences, I was given a list that was as broad as any CC student’s music library.
Paul, however, provided a very specific calculation of what exactly their sound is when he reasoned that, “If Bob Marley had a baby with Bob Dylan, and that baby had a baby with Blink-182 and then that baby had a baby from a three-way with Jimmy Paige and Ryan Adams, we would be that lovechild.” That kind of makes sense. Honestly, I don’t really hear any Blink-182, but everybody loves Blink so why not include them, right?
This is a very detailed account of their sound, but for the most part the band says they don’t really a have a “sound.” Lead guitarist James Olson explained, “It’s hard to put a finger on our ‘sound’ because we are all over the place, which stems from the different musical tastes of the members of our band.”
While Olson is right that they might not have a “sound” exactly like anyone, I think it is safe to say that they are a pretty definitive classic rock/bluesy band. You can count on them to have a nice chill bass line, some good old-fashioned chord progressions and guitar solos, and an all-American drum beat.
While their name lends itself more to wompy dubstep songs or groups, they are a band that you can count on for some good clean rock and roll.
Jordan Wilson
Guest Writer