Skinny Molly
Causes a Haywire Riot on New Ruf Records CD, Coming January
8
Band Led by
Former Lynyrd Skynyrd Guitarist Mike Estes Already Making Waves in
Europe
ATLANTA, GA – Ruf Records announces a January 8 U.S. release
date for Haywire Riot, the new CD from rock quartet Skinny Molly,
distributed nationally by the Allegro Corporation. Skinny Molly is led by lead
singer/lead guitarist Mike Estes, a former member of the legendary Lynyrd
Skynyrd, and also features Jay Johnson on lead guitar and backing vocals, Kurt
Pietro on drums and Luke Bradshaw on bass and backing vocals. Haywire Riot
was produced by Mike Estes and the band and recorded at Swamper Sound in
Sheffield, Alabama, and Omni Sound in Nashville.
Skinny Molly recently finished an extensive tour of Europe,
where the group has already built a substantial reputation based on hundreds of
solid rockin’ live performances, and intends to emulate that success in their
home country with the release of the new CD here.
“This band was supposed to be for fun; we thought no further
ahead than a one-off tour of Europe back in '04, but it ended up being what I
always wanted to do musically,” recalls Mike Estes about the band’s founding.
Haywire Riot is the album that Skinny Molly was destined to
deliver when Mike first hooked up in 2004 with Kurt and original guitarist Dave
Hlubek for that “one-off” tour that never stopped. Soon enough, a debut album –
No Good Deed – was pricking ears with its early
signs of greatness on cuts like “Straight Shooter” and “Better than I Should.”
Now, with the lineup cemented and dedicated to the cause, it’s time for the
knockout blow of this new release.
"It's great to have another guitar player in the studio for
once,” says Estes. “The No Good Deed album was mostly me. Jay
played his ass off on the new record."
Haywire Riot is an album that hijacks the
modern rock scene, via the old-school values of stellar songwriting, white-hot
chops, lyrics wrenched from the depths and performances that leave it all the
studio floor. Step into Skinny Molly’s world and you’ll come face-to-face with
the deceptive lover from “Lie to Me;” the girl hiding a gun in her glove box on
“Too Bad to Be True;” and the poisonous call of liquor on “Devil in the Bottle,”
a song Estes originally recorded in 1994 as a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd on their
acoustic Endangered Species CD for Capricorn Records. With music
that swings from the wrecking-ball riffs of “If You Don’t Care” to the
reflective acoustic vibe of “None of Me No More,” this is maximum rock ‘n’ roll,
zero pretension, and when Mike Estes roars: “Hey rock star, just shut up and
rock!” on the track of the same name, there’s no doubt the Skinny Molly singer
is leading by example.
"I poured everything I had into Haywire Riot,”
exclaims Mike. “From the beginning when the pen hit the paper, until the last
note of the finished CD. The songs on this album mean a lot to me personally;
the subject matter is either from me or somebody I know...They originated from
what's going on in my or a close friend's life. I'm glad I have a lot of life
experiences to draw from, because I'm not a great fiction
writer."
Mike’s connections to the Skynyrd band go deep. After
striking up a friendship with Allen Collins while still a teenager, Mike’s first
band, Helen Highwater, was both christened and given guidance by the late
legendary guitarist (who once gave him an eight-hour guitar lesson). That bond
deepened when the young band opened up Skynyrd’s ’87 Tribute Tour. Clearly, the
Southern icons liked what they heard, and after a period as a behind-the-scenes
writer in the early’90s, Mike was invited by Gary Rossington to join Skynyrd
full-time.
Post-Skynyrd, Mike smashed the Billboard chart
with his co-written “White Knuckle Ride” single (recorded while still
with Skynyrd on the last session he did with them), and released two solo albums
leading the band Driving Sideways – a self-titled CD and Brave New
South – while remaining a fixture on magazine covers and music channels
on the strength of his prolific talent. Back in 1995, he was inducted into the
Hollywood Rock Walk of Fame, but with Skinny Molly, you sense he’s only just
getting started.
With Mike Estes in the lineup, some guitarists might feel the
pressure. Not Jay Johnson, the band’s six-string stinger missile and perhaps the
only player capable of standing toe-to-toe with his frontman. Jay got his break
at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio as a session guitarist for Malaco Records artist
Mary Burns, and since then his talent has spread into writing, production and
audio engineering. After early duties in Radio Tokyo, Jay joined The Rossington
Band from 1986 to 1989 (a period during which he played on the Skynyrd Tribute
Tour before more than a million fans and released two major-label LPs); and by
1994, he’d hooked up with Blackfoot’s Jackson Spires and Dave Hlubek in the
Southern Rock Allstars. His stint as Blackfoot’s vocalist in 2006 makes him the
ultimate backup singer for Skinny Molly, while many past shows alongside Mike –
including several acoustic duo tours – mean he’s the perfect wingman.
Kurt Pietro has been Skinny Molly’s drummer from the start
and previously was a revered Michigan studio ace and a live powerhouse with
early outfit, Crystal. He subsequently studied broadcasting and music at
Michigan University, leading to a job at Omni Studios in Nashville, where on a
fateful day when a visiting Mike asked if anyone could play a drum overdub, Kurt
answered the call and has been there ever since.
Skinny Molly’s rhythm section was completed in 2007 when Luke
Bradshaw signed on to play bass. Picking up the instrument at age 15, Luke’s
talent on both electric and acoustic bass can also be heard alongside
American Idol’s Bo Bice, Grand Ole Opry star George
Hamilton IV, bluegrass artist Bobby Hicks, and Jesse McReynolds and the Virginia
Boys.
Skinny Molly will continue to tour world-wide in support of
Haywire Riot. For more information, visit
www.skinnymollyrocks.com.
I just received the newest release, Hayride Riot, from Skinny Molly and it's a kick ass rocker. The release opens with If You Don't Care which has the explosiveness of one of my favorite southern rockers, I Ain't The One. Parallels may be drawn from Skynyrd but this band has a sound of it's own. The similarities are a solid cocky singer and blazing guitar riffs laid down on a strong rock beat. Devil In The Bottle is more of a liad back ballad along the lines of earlier Charlie Daniels. The band is filled out by Jay Johnson on lead guitar, Kurt Pietro on drums and Luke Bradshaw on bass. Two Good Wheels is a bit of a country rocker and has a great hook. This is a track that is likely to hit the airwaves hard. Too Bad To Be True is a hard driving rocker with back to back ripping guitar solos. Judge Parker has a real southern rock swagger and Bitin' The Dog kicks dirt in your face. Lie To Me is a ballad more along the lines of John Bon Jovi (if he had any grit). Dodgin' Bullets is a great closing track for this set summing the intensity and grit shown throughout the release. This is a band not straying far from the origin of that southern rock vein but carving it's own path with some great tunes. You want butt kicking rock with a blues edge and a southern drawl...this is it!
