Molly Karloff: The Songs That Influenced Us

Molly Karloff: The Songs That Influenced Us

UK hard-hitting rockers, MOLLY KARLOFF, have just dropped their stunning new single, You Don’t Know My Name, from their incoming debut album, Breaking Out. With the band on the rise, we exclusively spoke to vocalist and guitarist, Simon Gee, to find out which tracks have really helped to influence the band’s potent sound.

‘You Probably Couldn’t See For The Lights But You Were Starling Straight At Me’ - The Arctic Monkeys

“A big influence on our first EP and in particular the title track ‘Dancing For Money’ was probably my obsession with The Arctic Monkeys and constantly playing ‘Whatever people say I am, that’s what I’m not’ on repeat. I think the track that probably influenced the arrangement and riff styles of that EP was ‘You Probably Couldn’t See For The Lights But You Were Starling Straight At Me’ from that same album. Their sound is very different to ours, but there’s something about their approach that struck a chord with me and echoes some of my own writing style. I guess it’s a case of ‘birds of a feather’ being the attraction. I still listen to that album a lot now.”

‘You Really Got Me’ - Van Halen

“The track that inspired me to first pick up a guitar was Eruption by Eddie Van Halen. In fact, that whole first album completely blew me away when my mate first played it to me as a kid. The cover of ‘You Really Got Me’ that followed, kind of sealed the deal. I had no idea that guitars could sound like that, and I just had to know how it was done. The tapping section from Eruption was actually the first thing I ever learned to play on guitar, before any chords or anything else. I got into my first band at school on the back of being able to tap. The trouble was I couldn’t play anything else, and the most basic things were a problem for me so I was kicked out of the band in the very first rehearsal! Haha!”

‘Jesus Christ Pose’ - Soundgarden

“Vocally, I have always been amazed by Chris Cornell and in the early days of venturing away from just guitar and adding vocals to my ‘responsibilities’ I always tried to aspire to what Cornell was doing. It’s not just his voice itself, but also his style of vocal melody that has also probably influence my vocal melody writing. The track that really grabbed by attention was ‘Jesus Chris Pose’ from Soundgarden’s ‘Badmotorfinger’ album. Everything about that track still amazes me to this day.”

‘Nutshell’ - Alice In Chains

“We don’t really have any ‘ballads’ or softer songs in our published repertoire. We did have a couple of tracks like that which didn’t actually make the final selection for our forthcoming album, but if any ‘acoustic’ track is inspirational to me, it’s ‘Nutshell’ by Alice In Chains. The raw, visceral quality of Layne Staley’s voice on that track doesn’t seem to get the recognition it deserves. It one of those tracks that gives me goosebumps when I listen to it, so it definitely has to go on the list of tracks that have influenced us, even if we’ve yet to publish a song like that. Something to aspire to for the future I think, so what’s this space! Haha!”

‘No One Loves Me And Neither Do I’ - Them Crooked Vultures

“This has to be on the list, I think. I love the riff that kicks in halfway through that track, and it might not exactly count as an influence as such, but big riffs like that always catch my attention. The riffs that pop into my head have similar qualities and you can probably hear that on most of our work, so really big hooky riffs are the order of the day for me and this track definitely fits into that category. That counts as an influence doesn’t it? I needed a list, so I’m counting it in there! Haha! Respect to Josh Homme, John Paul Jones & Dave Grohl!”