Molkie Cole is:

Paul Pope: Guitar, vocals
Phil James: Guitar, vocals

To learn more about Molkie Cole,
visit PaulPopeOnline.com

Photos of Molkie Cole, taken March 16, 2002 at the Boston Grille, Boston, New York

Adobe Acrobat PDF version of this interview (printer and e-mail friendly)

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All photos by Suff / O.H.M.S.

Molkie Cole is a band that played regularly from 1972 to 1980 in Northeast Ohio and Western New York. Along with former Molkie Cole members Tim Cole, Pat Cole and Bob Steinmetz, they had an album out in 1977 which was very successful. I remember Molkie Cole from when I was very young. Molkie Cole played Springfield High School when I was about 14, and I went to that even though I was still in junior high school. Jimi and I both remember seeing Molkie Cole at our favorite under-18 anti-disco hangout - The Rock Factory in Akron, Ohio. The Rock Factory began its existence as an Acme Grocery Store and is now a Rite-Aid Drug Store, but it had a fleeting moment of massive importance in the Northeast Ohio youth music scene. It was where you could get Mom to drop you off on Sunday afternoon, and boogie down to live local bands like Molkie Cole and Rubber City Rebels.

Like the Rebels, the boys from Molkie Cole are back at it. We saw their show in Boston on March 16, 2002 and it brought back so many memories! Without trying to review a three hour concert (I transcribed from tape the 21 page interview that follows) I just have to say they were wonderful. If you get the chance to see the Molkie Cole mini-reunion, go - you will not be disappointed.

Prior to the show, Jimi and I got to hang around with Paul and Phil and shoot the breeze. We're soooo happy and excited to be able to bring you the Molkie Cole interview that follows. Many, many thanks to Dylan Mattina for making this ALL possible!

- Suff, Ohio Hystairical Musick Society

*****

Paul: So you guys were around in the Molkie Cole days?

OHMS: Yep, we were really young teenagers when Molkie Cole was playin’….

Paul: Oh were ya? Mogadore High School, or…?

OHMS: Springfield High School.

Paul: Springfield, okay, yeah.

OHMS: You guys played Springfield, I’m pretty sure.

Paul: Yes, we did cause we did a promo shot, Jane Scott came out there and did a write-up.

OHMS: Ohhh, I love Jane!

Paul: We used one of the pictures from it, I still have the article. We were sitting there with one of their football helmets cause we were in the gym locker room, and so we found uniforms and stuff and we put them on and stuff.

OHMS: How neat, wild. Yeah, that would be a good one to have.

OHMS: And I think also, I saw you at the Rock Factory, do you remember playing there?

Paul: Oh, yeah, yeah, that’s right, the Rock Factory.

OHMS: It was an under-18 club. Both of us went there.

Paul: Yep yep, back when they had neat clubs like that.

OHMS: That was one of our first…. Cause we’ve only been together for about 6 and a half months now.

Paul: Oh really?

OHMS: But we did all the same things, we had I guess our own thing - we were at all the same gigs, at the same time

Paul: That’s a trip.

OHMS: So that is one of our first memories, being at the Rock Factory together.

OHMS: Yeah, I remember when they opened the Rock Factory and they threw dollar bills off the roof when they opened it. But it was right across the street from the housing project, so we had to fight all those kids who really wanted those dollars. Bad idea I think, but I still have my dollar.

Paul: I’m sure I wouldn’t.

OHMS: One of the things we’re trying to do with the Ohio Hystairical Musick Society is to document a lot of the experiences that people had when they were young, teenagers in rock and roll bands, music of youth. And you’re really pretty fascinating, cause you got right in the middle of a rock and roll band that got very popular when you were really young. What was that like?

Paul: It was neat, it was a neat experience. I toured around with the band for seven years, we sold a lot of records, believe it or not. People don’t realize that. It’s funny, I come out here and play in New York all the time, they just kind of catch on out here, I don’t know what it is. But I’ll be playing Cleveland a lot more.

OHMS: Good.

Paul: We’re trying to put together bigger shows, so that’s a possibility. There’s a good possibility that I might be getting on Nautica stage for a couple warm-ups this year, so that’s neat.

OHMS: Were all of your friends all of a sudden older, or did you hang around with older kids all of a sudden?

Paul: You know what, when I originally got in Molkie Cole I was 15 years old. So I was always around older kids.

OHMS: Older kids, yeah.

Paul: You know, I was playing out three nights a week when I was in high school. Kids thought I was rich.

OHMS: You were a rock star!

Paul: Yeah it was great!

OHMS: And you were cute as can be, I remember!

Paul: Oh thanks. You know what was kinda neat is when I was in high school, I was a late bloomer, you know, I was the kid who hid in the showers. When I got in my later years of high school I was in the band, we had the band going. When I was a freshman I had asked every one of the girls who was a freshman cheerleader out. By the time I was a senior, every one of them wanted to go out with me, so I stood up every one of those girls who turned me down on a date. It was great, and I got away with it.

OHMS: That is, that’s great. So, do you have any idea what’s happened to the other people in Molkie Cole?

Paul: Well, Phil, of course, he’s doin’ … I don’t know where the heck he is right now. I play in a cover band with Phil, also, It’s called Outta Dodge. It’s actually called Outta Dodge cause we’re all from Avon….and we used to call Avon….

OHMS: Avon Lake?

Paul: No, Avon. It’s next to Avon Lake.

OHMS: Oh, OK.

Paul: And we used to call it Dodge, everybody called it Dodge, cause it’s a little hick town years ago.

OHMS: Like livin’ in Dodge.

Paul: We all lived down on Stony Ridge Road, we were neighbors, Phil and I grew up playing guitars together, I mean we took lessons at the same time, we had the same guitar teachers when we were kids, he was in my older brother’s class. We hung around - him and I still get together, that’s what’s kinda neat about this, cause we’re doin’ Molkie Cole songs. So that’s kinda neat, people forget about that stuff and all of a sudden you play it, they’re like “oh yeah, I remember!”

OHMS: yeah, we broke out the album and started playing it for people and they’re like “oh yeah, I remember hearing that….I haven’t heard that since….

Paul: You know its funny, cause we’ve worked up believe it or not, an acoustic version of Steel Grapes….

Dylan: Sounded great last night!

Paul: Oh yeah? It was a riot.

OHMS: I can’t wait to hear that! We saw the vineyards all the way out here… we’re heading into Grape country!

Paul: Yeah, people still going nuts over that. I didn’t do it for years because Tim Cole sang that song. I ran into Tim last year, Tim and Pat, they were both working regular jobs, I don’t know, I think Pat’s a truck driver or something, Tim works at a bank, he was at a radio station for a lot of years. I really didn’t, when I parted the band it wasn’t a peaceful parting, at all, but time passes and everything so who really cares. But I’ve stayed doing it for all these years, out in LA, I was out on the west coast for 12 years.

OHMS: Bands are so much like marriages.

Paul: Oh yeah, yeah.

OHMS: It’s amazing how you guys can do it all with that many people having to get along.

Paul: No doubt. And it’s hard to be married and be in a band, that’s why I’m not.

OHMS: Yeah, that is a hard one.

Paul: It didn’t work out, I went through 7 years of marriage, I was out on the road, and we got along great until I decided to get off the road.

Dylan: Until you came home.

Paul: Oh yeah, then I found out what was going on while I was on the road.

Dylan: What, you’re home?

OHMS: Too bad. I wanted to ask you about the artwork on the Molkie Cole album.

Paul: That’s interesting, you know a lot of people don’t ask about that, and I believe it was in England or Germany that album cover won awards that year. It was done by Neon Park. Neon Park did all the duck lips covers….

Dylan: Oh, Little Feat.

Paul: Little Feat. He did all the Little Feat. He also did Frank Zappa, weasels rip my flesh. I think it cost the record company something like $500 and an eighth of speedball or something to have him do it, he was in desperate times. I’m serious as a heart attack there. I don’t know if Neon Park is still alive, he was world renowned. It was a water color. I’d love to find the original, I’m sure that would draw some collector big money. And the cover, I was in a fire truck, what it was cause when Molkie Cole was in its early years, we practiced in a barn that my uncle owned. And it burned down one night, we lost all our equipment. I would have gotten totally out of music had I lost everything, but I still had a ‘55 blonde Les Paul. And since I had that, and I was able to get enough off of my mother’s homeowner insurance - I was only 15 years old at the time - I was able to get an amplifier and a couple effects pedals or whatever, and I stayed with it. It was funny because two of the guys quit Molkie Cole and we went out as a three piece, and we got another drummer. After a while they caught wind that we were starting to do good, and they wanted back in the band. But that’s why we had the cover with the fire.

OHMS: It would have been before the album, right?

Paul: Oh yeah, it was years before. We had a song called the Flame. I don’t know if you remember, it used to be drawn out, it was back in the days of the drum solos, 20-minute In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida versions of everything, that’s where that came from. We told them, actually that was gonna be the title of the album, was “the Flame“, the record company decided they just wanted Molkie Cole, that’s how that whole thing was. They sent pictures of us, I had never met Neon Park, but they sent pictures of us to him out in California and he did caricatures of our faces, and I think he did a great job for never actually seeing us.

OHMS: I thought it was funny!

Paul: And he only had a few snapshots.

OHMS: I had assumed that the artist knew you.

Paul: No, he was actually a world-renowned water color artist. It was originally done in water colors.

OHMS: I saw the name, but I didn’t realize.

Paul: yep, Little Feat, Zappa. He did other ones, I can’t remember off the top of my head… I believe there might even be a book on him - I think he’s featured in a couple art books.

OHMS: Did the record company hook you up with him?

Paul: The record company did all that, yeah. Janus records, which was Chess Janus, which was originally Chess Records

OHMS: I remember Chess

Paul: And the Molkie Cole album was released the same week as the Year of the Cat, Al Stewart, Al Stewart was on that label too. We were their first American band, they also had a band called Kayak

OHMS: I remember Kayak.

Paul: I can’t remember, there were other bands. They were all European though. It’s funny how that works. Originally Belkin brothers lined us up with the record company, and I was always out networking.

OHMS: How was that whole record company experience for you, I hear such stories….

Paul: I learned a lot from it. I mean years later, after the fact, I met with Ed Dejoy who was the president of that record company, he’s out of the business now, but it’s funny the stuff that I learned from it, just the dealings of it, you’re publishing, and all that. I’ve always stayed with independent labels. The majors, you sell your soul. I’ve seen stories, about like the Goo Goo Dolls, they’ve sold umpteen million copies and they owed the record company after that. To me, that’s just nuts. And I’ve never wanted that to happen. So that’s why I’ve just stayed small - I guess if I become world renowned, that would be in due time, but I’m happy doing what I do. Sure, I’d like a hit because I’d like to enjoy some big cash. I still like it, you know, and I haven‘t quit. I would have never thought that I was gonna be doing this still.

OHMS: And I have to honor that, cause that was one thing, being a young person in Akron, a lot of the bands left to get big, and some didn’t come back, or waited till way late to come back, and it’s good to see the folks that I saw before still rockin’, I think rock’s good for your soul. Keep you young.

Paul: Oh yeah, it does.

OHMS: So you were a fifteen year old band member when you joined Molkie Cole, when you left Molkie Cole and started the Paul Pope Band, the first thing you did was hire a fifteen year old.

Paul: Uh huh, yeah, isn’t that’s wild, that is quite ironic, yeah that definitely was.

OHMS: For the sake of people listening to the interview, that’s Billy Sullivan, and he’s your friend Willie. What can you tell us about Willie?

Paul: Well, me and Willie have parted in the past year. He’s got his own project. But that was a good experience for both of us, the writing thing, that was kind of new to him. There was a magic, there’s no doubt about it, between him and I

Dylan: Chemistry.

Paul: Yeah, but nonetheless I went on when I was out in California I worked with Robbie Rist, and that was a good chemistry too, Robbie and I clicked real well. I kinda like the fact that I can go work with different people. Now, there’s a couple different situations I’m looking at now, ironically one is a young kid too. (laughter). So that’s interesting, I’ve got a meeting with this kid, he’s like 16 years old - here we go again!

OHMS: I loved it that you ran an ad in the paper for a guitarist and the James Gang guy answered your ad….

Paul: You know what, actually, how that happened was the management company that at that time was still managing Molkie Cole at that time was managing me, was one time the manager for the Monkees, and he’d come out from the west coast and he was based out of Peninsula or somewhere in that area. And anyways, he was going to be a road manager, that’s how Tom Kriss was originally supposed to be my road manager, he got hired by my company, Tom showed interest, said no, he wanted to play, do the music. And that was kinda neat, he had some great James Gang stories and of course when the Eagles would come in town we’d go meet Joe Walsh and go hang out with him. So it networked a lot of stuff for me too. Another interesting, it was funny because Freddie Salem who you’ve gotta know, because he’s from your neighborhood…..

OHMS: I’m from Springfield, he used to hang out in Lakemore….

Paul: Exactly. He got me lined up with a producer, and the producer’s name was…. Jesus, I just saw him play with Hall and Oates last year at the rib cook off and I can’t remember his name off hand… Jeff, uh… anyways he was a keyboard player for the Chambers Brothers. And Freddie lined up some demo stuff, and he just about got us signed, then High Tide Management at that time who was doing the Outlaws, was interested in managing me. And of course they said well, they’re not gonna do this and that, then they send me the contract and it’s just a standard contract, which they’re gonna rape me with. So I said no, that’s not what we agreed when we talked on the phone, the guy said well, you know, you need me, I don’t need you. I said that’s not the way it’s gonna work. But it did open up some different avenues, all that connection thing. It was interesting. Just when you think you’re gonna get that big break it’s like aaaaahhh I don‘t know, ya know? I’m a person who’s always wanted to have some control of what I do. It’s hurt me sometimes, people say it’s stubborn.

OHMS: I’m kind of that way.

Paul: But I don’t want to get taken for a ride either.

OHMS: And if I fail, I want to be the one to fail.

Paul: Exactly, nobody to blame but yourself.

OHMS: And if I succeed, then I’ve done it.

OHMS: And you’ probably wouldn’t be able to do things like make a song free? I’ve noticed the song Bombs you’ve on the internet for free…royalty free.

Paul: Yeah, that’s right, they can just take it, yeah.

OHMS: What made you decide to do that?

Paul: It was the situation at the time. It’s funny because I was into the editing room way before 9-11 and Bombs was the first song that was gonna be on the new CD, way before this, and I go man, is that freaky. What timing. Even my red white and blue shoes, I had bought those Labor Day weekend, I found these things. I’m like woah….

OHMS: I haven’t seen those in a long time! I saw that on the CD cover, and I was like where did he get those…

Paul: They had them in Kohl’s, they had one of each size. I went there there were four pairs left, and it just so happened to be the right size. I go they’re me!

OHMS: I wonder if they’re left from Bicentennial or something…..

Paul: No, they actually made them for that holiday, Memorial Day or something. But I’m always chasing shoes, I loved it when I was out in LA cause the main factory for Converse out there at that time, you go there you could buy anything….they had like gold lame….

OHMS: Karen’s got nice ones. (Editor note: black patent leather converses)

Paul: Yeah, I was checking those out, I’m envious. But I’ve got all kinds of colors, rainbows, I’ve got ‘em with flames on ‘em, when I retire them in the basement they all dangle in the rafters.

OHMS: Tied up?

Paul: Yep, loop ‘em up and hang ‘em up.

OHMS: You had played with a member of another Northeast Ohio band, Glass Harp?

Paul: Yeah, John Sferra! John did a lot, geez, 10 years he played with me. John is just a spectacular drummer in my opinion. If I had to rate a drummer, my personal opinion, out of any drummer I’ve ever seen play live or whatever, I still think he’s the best drummer in the world. No doubt about it. He’s with the Glass Harp thing, John doesn’t really wanna do too much road stuff or anything, he doesn’t want to overfill his schedule, he’s happy just to be a homebody, I think. I still talk to John a few times a year as a matter of fact. He’s a cool guy.

OHMS: I saw Glass Harp was playing…..

Paul: Yeah, so he’s still doing dates, and they’re writing new stuff - he’s still with Keaggy… which I was really glad to see that too. He was big. Just how you came out and saw me play, I used to go see those guys and that was like my idol, I mean Phil Keaggy….

OHMS: I did see him a couple times…..

Paul: Phenomenal. How the heck do you do that? He was way above me, way in front of the times when he became a guitar player. Yeah, John was - I miss working with John. I still might do some in the studio, he still wants to do studio work with me, but the guy who goes out in the trenches with me, I’ve got a new drummer, he’s from out in my area - you know, he’ll be in the trenches so he’s gonna have first dibs on the studio project, it’s only fair to have him featured on the thing too. But I’ll still squeak John in there somewhere, I’ve made a good friend with him.

OHMS: So, you’re a Northeast Ohio boy yourself, where are you living now?

Paul: I live in Elyria.

OHMS: Oh, you live in Elyria. So you had to come up 90 also.

Paul: Oh yeah, we left Friday morning, went through all the crappy driving in Cleveland.

OHMS: So tell me what Cleveland dates you have coming up…?

Paul: They’re not set yet. They will be announcing that within the next month or so. I wanted to get the project better set as to who will be playing with it, I still have a couple of the positions on that not totally locked in, I’m still looking at some other people to bring in, so we’ll see what happens.

OHMS: So, will that be Paul Pope Band, or what?

Paul: Yeah, we’ll just go as Paul Pope, or whatever, or maybe we’ll pick up a title. Maybe the Ultra Boys or whatever.

OHMS: The Ultra Boys? That’s nice.

Paul: U-L-T-R-A. You know, Cardinals of Chaos, Bishops of Bop, so who knows what the next one’s gonna be. Maybe the Shoes or something.

OHMS: I think there was a band called the Shoes….

Paul: I think there was…..

OHMS: Early 80’s band…. (mini-discussion about the Shoes)

Paul: Hey Phil! Here’s Phil right here.

Phil: Is there a camera rolling?

Paul: Yeah! (laughs)

OHMS: Hi, Phil!

Paul: He looks like he just woke up.

Phil: I did.

Paul: Come and join our conversation. Cop a squat.

Phil: Yeah, I gotta get my beauty rest….

OHMS: So, I’ll ask both of you this, have you run across any interesting local bands, any things you’ve seen live…. Do you go see live music these days?

Paul: I do, I go to a lot of the national shows, I didn’t go to concerts for a long time. This last two years I said to heck with it, I’m going to at least a concert every month. Last year I did what I called the guitar tour, I went and saw Jeff Beck, all the hottest guitar players, I saw Glass Harp….

OHMS: So you were at the Robin Hood…

Paul: Yes, the Robin Hood! That was neat.

OHMS: It would be a good place for you to play….

Paul: Yeah, it probably would! But as far as - I haven’t had a chance to see too many bands, weekends are pretty full.

Phil: I went to see Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Jeff Beck and the Stones and all them….I caught Neil Young down in the Flats, that was a couple years ago…

Paul: The only band that I’ve caught, the Mike Farley Band…. Brian Dossa played with them for a while. You know, the Brian was in Moonlight Drive and plays bass….he’s in that band now.

Paul: Mike Farley Band? They were voted Cleveland’s number one band or whatever by Scene magazine…loaded ballot.

OHMS: Scene magazine…..

Paul: Me and Phil are irritated because that gal that just put out that book and they have no mention of Molkie Cole. Can you believe that? That history of rock book that came out…

Phil: Deanna Adams.

Paul: Deanna Adams.

Phil: She spent many years on it.

OHMS: Cleveland? A Cleveland History of Rock?

Paul: They’re making a big deal about it, Cleveland, the Rock Hall, they had a concert, celebrating, and bringing a bunch of the bands….

Paul: Phil said he picked up a book and she didn’t mention it.

Phil: I guess we must not have been any good, I don’t know.Paul: Isn’t that funny, we sold over 30,000 copies of the album in the Cleveland area, we hit Billboard, the Cashbox at that time, it was an international distributed record….

Phil: Gigs with Meat Loaf….

Paul: Yeah, we opened up for Meat Loaf at Music Hall…

Phil: Ted Nugent….

Paul: Ted Nugent….

Phil: Tom Petty, Cheap Trick…..

OHMS: You probably know Popovich then, if you opened for Meat Loaf….

Paul: I never met Steve.

OHMS: I do his website.

Paul: Oh, do ya? I never met him. I guess at one time he showed interest us, but nothing ever developed from that.

Phil: Yeah, it’s one girl’s view of what…I mean, a lot of other bands should have been mentioned. Few bands got national recordings…. That’s a tough thing. If they would have just said, just mentioned the name…. But according to that book we didn’t exist.

OHMS: Do you think it’s getting easier now for bands to distribute their music and get it out to the world?

Paul: Because of the web, oh yes. I think the whole thing has changed, exactly. You can’t get on the radio, even Paul McCartney couldn’t get that single on, I never heard it until they played it at the Super Bowl. Even that single, I never heard the thing. Radio’s in a sad state right now.

OHMS: The people that did Brother Where Art Thou, that movie soundtrack? And they sold tons of that, and couldn’t get any airplay….

Paul: And the internet is definitely changing the world…. I’d honestly have to say that’s what’s got me revved up and hard back into it again. You know, Dylan approached me two years ago and goes dude, you’ve gotta do a website - I never even owned a computer, and he built me a computer, mega mega everything, and here we go - it’s been fun!

Phil: Ironically, Napster with so many of the big artists - they’re like oh they’re ripping our music off - but for the new groups it’s just the opposite…..

Paul: Put it out there, people sample one thing, they get a taste…..

Phil: They wanted Napster….

Paul: Sure, it’s the same thing like I did with Bombs. I put it out there as an mp3...

Phil: They did away with it.

Paul: Napster, yeah, but they have other ones now.

OHMS: You have started a record company? Or….Dylan was telling me something about it?

Paul: What, Burbank Records? Burbank Records has been around for a long time, it started on the west coast…..

OHMS: Oh that makes sense….

Paul: But it started on Burbank road, or avenue or whatever it is… that’s where it started, so “how about Burbank?” I’ve followed with the label name and all that, it’s kinda neat. I’ve not a nice crop of people working on it, twelve people involved it in now. So, it’s neat. We’re not Capitol or CBS yet, but who knows. You never know!

OHMS: Is there a certain type of artist that you’re looking for for your label?

Paul: No, we’re gonna be open minded it.

OHMS: As long as they’re fifteen.

Paul: Yeah, we’re looking for all-girl bands! (laughs)

OHMS: There are some out there.

Paul: I produced one, I can’t remember their name. I worked with Cy Langston, who, Cy engineered the Who Quadrophenia, he was one of the Who’s main studio engineers, he brought this all-girl band in LA into the studio out there. That was an interesting experience because I did meet a lot of people at the studio out there. That was really cool. All kinds of people. I did commercials with Gary Puckett, you know Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, Rick Springfield band, he came in and did a couple of demos in my studio, the guy who used to sing for Giffria, I can’t remember his name, he came in with his band, his guitar player was named Goldie, that was back in the big hair days. They came in and they used to call me the studio gorilla because I had an old Ampex tape machine, 2 inch sixteen track, fat bottom. As a matter of fact, you know where it came from, it was originally at a place called Agency Recording, then it went to a place called Magic Theater in Peninsula, where they did the first Devo album, where they did the demos for it, this machine is legendary, the songs and the projects that have been done with it! I bought it from a guy, down in, what the heck, I can’t remember the name of the town, I can never remember the name, but the zip code is 44444...

OHMS: Chardon?

Paul: I don’t know…..

OHMS: Must be Novelty or someplace….

Paul: Somewhere down near you. You know, we’re Northerners, me and Phil….

OHMS: Do you have questions, Jimi?

Paul: Look at this, she’s all typed out.

Phil: Somebody’s organized! Now we’re lucky if we get a gig sheet, we just call things up - let’s try this one!

OHMS: So, Phil, what have you been up to? When you were out of the room we heard you had worked with Paul in a cover band…..what other things have you been doing over the years.

Phil: Yeah, the last 20 years, we’ve been doing the whole Outta Dodge thing, which Paul’s been in the last five or six years, I basically work as an industrial electrician and building a lot of equipment for a little company in Cleveland, who builds a lot of equipment for General Electric. My degree was in Electronics at Cleveland State, I finally finished after Molkie Cole broke up and that. So I’ve been working at my job, got a wife, I still don’t do any recording, but the guitar thing it’s like a religion to me. Paul and I were saying, in the last couple years that’s all I do is play guitar. I just purchased two acoustic guitars for this trip up here, and it’s just the older you get…. “ah, you still playing that music out, in clubs and that, whats a matta wit ya…”… it’s like “hey!”

Paul: We’re gonna be the old guy in the checkered coat playing in some little bar somewhere in the corner….

Phil: You’ll have to wheel me in in a wheelchair. The thing is, as far as when we play out, like when we play in Elyria, the crowds are just as big as ever…..

Paul: It’s nuts. Yeah, we play to full houses out there, it’s the same. People still into it you know, and of course they remember Molkie Cole…..we do a few Molkie Cole stuff.

Phil: We’re riding the gravy train.

(laughter)

Phil: But as far as me, the last twenty years, I think there’s only two years out of the scene, for a couple years. But you know, it’s still worth it. People ask how well, long are you gonna do it, fifty, fifty-five…. Paul and I have agreed that as long as the people are coming out and we’re enjoying it, then why should we stop.

OHMS: Good.

Phil: I was an athlete when I was in high school, the thing about being a basketball player, whatever sport you’re in, because of physical things it’s fine if you’ve gotta hang it up, or whatever, but for music, why should you stop? Look at Louis Armstrong, look at the Stones, David Crosby,

OHMS: Iggy.

Paul: Iggy?

OHMS: Iggy dove on us a few months ago.

Paul: Yeah? He’s still nuts! Breaking more bones….

OHMS: He dove on us and everybody fell because we’re old.

(laughter)

Paul: That’s funny, that’s good, I like that.

Phil: It’s been ironic that Paul and I are back together, like we started the thing in 1972 - last night I was afraid to mention it

Paul: Yeah, that‘s kinda weird….

Phil: But it’s our 30 year tour.

Paul: Yeah 1972.

Phil: But I never thought once the band broke up, we’d played and things in and out, but I never thought I’d be back home doing a steady thing again….I mean it’s like here we are again. Somehow we fall back together and we’re still making music - that’s great! I mean we had the same guitar teacher…it’s just a pleasure, I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t like it.

OHMS: How did you come to join Molkie Cole?

Phil: Well, let’s see - Paul had previously grouped together as a threesome with Tim Cole and another fellow, Ned Turner I believe…..

Paul: It actually started originally started with a five piece band,

Phil: Back in ‘71.…

Paul: Then two people quit or whatever, then we went to a three piece band for a while, asked Phil if he wanted to climb aboard….and….

Phil: I was jamming in the back of this… there was this drummer, in a greenhouse truck in the back of the greenhouse his dad owned - and the back of the tomato truck was one of those big metal boxes, 24 foot trucks, me and him were jamming, I was playing like “I’m So Glad”, some Hendrix, and
Paul heard me cause it was shooting right back through the woods at his house…..

Paul: It was like a huge loudspeaker shooting right at our house. This was like a good mile, mile and a half away….and there was nothing in Avon at the time but woods, and I could hear it, from my house. I was like hey, that’s pretty good, whoever that is!

Phil: I was finally learning how to play the instrument, I had bought a real guitar, a Telecaster or whatever, he’d saw me one day and said do you wanna join this outfit? I’d seen him in high school, but like I said, I was a jock in high school so I didn’t have much time for bands. Finally when I got into college I had time, so I said “why not?” I knew Paul could play and that, so we just started rehearsing. But that first, that trilogy, that didn’t last, then when Tim Cole rejoined then they said let’s call it Molkie Cole again. So summer of ‘72 we started practicing. We played a couple of gigs, then we had the fire, all of our equipment burned up. And then we kind of reformed it the following year, we started playing clubs down in Southern Ohio, down south of Lima, there was a bunch of clubs we were booked in by the booking agent….

Paul: We were all over.

OHMS: Yeah, I know, all over.

Phil: then finally we played locally in Elyria and Lorain, that’s our home area… then we came out this way towards Jamestown, originally played around the Lake Chautauqua area, did real well down there, in ‘73-74…. I’m the historian here….

Paul: Oh yeah, Phil, give him a date, he’ll tell you where we were playing.

Phil: In 1975 I believe we started playing the Fat Cat….

Paul: The Fat Cat, that was on Hurdle wasn’t it?

Dylan: The Fat Cat was on Berlin.

Phil: We did that and then we did….along came the He and She was in there…. Poor House West….which was the Hamburg…?

Dylan: Callahan’s. It was the Poor House West, then it was Fast Annie’s then it was Callahan’s. Now it’s Mickey Callahan’s.

Phil: And it seemed by that time we had our act pretty well honed. We were getting good after a couple of years. I think people laughed as us in the early years, some songs sound good, other songs I don’t know about you guys… but by ‘75 we were starting to do…..

Paul: Well, we were doing some weird stuff too.

Phil: For that time…

Paul: How many people were doing I am the Walrus? How many people were doing…

Phil: 2000 Light Years.

Paul: 2000 Light Years. What was the other one? We did Todd Rundgren songs, we did Have a Cigar - Pink Floyd, I mean….

Phil: And the keyboards that was a nice thing.

Paul: I mean we were taking on some really tough to play stuff for cover music, it was interesting. Of course we all had warped stoned minds back then

Phil: Wait a minute now,

Paul: And came up with all these crazy ideas.

Phil: Paul and Tim Cole were the ones that were really creative.

Paul: I decided to start painting my face.

OHMS: Where did the name Molkie Cole come from?

Phil: You can explain that one!

Paul: Well, when the band started, and this is before I got in it, these guys were all college guys…

Phil: At Dave Christian’s house wasn’t it?

Paul: They practiced in North Ridgeville at on Stony Ridge Road, it was actually a different guy who was lead singer before Dave Christian. And there was a cat where they practiced, and at that time when people smoked cigarettes “hey, ya got a molk?” For some reason, that was the local term or whatever, “ya got a molk?, got a molk?” Like that. And then the cat, it was hanging around, I guess Cole owned the cat or whatever, and so it was “Molkie Cole”. It was a cat. Well, it went deaf from standing in front of the amplifiers while they practiced when they practiced, it went out in the road and didn’t hear the car coming….

Phil: Don’t tell them what happened.

Paul: And it ended up being soup. And they decided to name the band after the cat since it kicked, since they took it’s hearing from it.

Phil: That’s the truth!

OHMS: So it lives on.

Phil: People do say the name does grab ya…. I know when I heard it I thought what is that, Molkie Cole. It sounds important or something, like something weird about it.

Paul: Well, you remember that show, Fraggle Rock, that was on for kids - one of the characters, they used Molkie. And one of the gals that worked on production for it was from Elyria. Now where did she get the idea for that?

OHMS: Well, maybe she was going around Elyria bumming molkies too…..

(laughter)

OHMS: Is there anything else you’d like to tell your fans, past and present? I mean, I know a lot of now 40 year old little girls back in Ohio that would love to know what’s going on…..

Paul: 40 year old girls, yeah. Now they’re divorced so they’re available again, too - I’m glad I’m still single. That’s the point I want to get across. Any single women, I’m available, OK?

Phil: And he still has a full head of hair.

Paul: That’s right!

Phil: We hope to continue on through all the versions of Paul’s bands, and we’re not going anywhere. There’s no sense in stopping. You know, coming from Cleveland we’re glad that Buffalo has always been a great town….

Paul: This market has always been stupendous for us.

Phil: I think people are more open out here.

Paul: I think I’ve got another good resurgence going, it’s just like when we were in Molkie Cole. It started out in this area and went back to Cleveland, and I think it’s going again. What’s really neat is just the emails that we’ve been getting - we’ve got some from Germany, from Scotland, and England, cause I redid the Alex Harvey thing, you know Midnight Moses. So that’s kinda really stirred up some attention, that’s pretty cool.

Phil: the Ukraine.

Dylan: Yeah, one guy from the Ukraine too.

Paul: Who do I know over there? I didn’t even know they could understand how I speak.

OHMS: Probably buy your stuff on eBay.

Paul: We are on Amazon.com, we have distribution through those… and Borders… so that’s pretty helpful too, it gets it out there.

OHMS: I was wondering, back to Molkie Cole, who sang all the different songs? Was it all just the same singer? It sounds like several people….

Paul: No, no. It was actually four different lead vocalists on that album. Phil sang, I sang.

OHMS: So it was pretty much whoever wrote the song?

Paul: There was a lot of that. We did a lot of harmonizing too.

OHMS: Definitely each song has many vocals….

Paul: All five of us sang. Pat didn’t lead sing anything though.

Phil: He did a couple, but not on the album.

Paul: But everybody else did, everybody wanted to sing, which made it good cause then you’re not carrying the vocals. When I do my original stuff it’s tough to sing three hours.

Phil: Well, that’s what’s great about the Beatles. Same thing, every one. Even Ringo.

OHMS: It gives it a different sound from song to song, to give it a different presence up-front.

Phil: If anyone would have thought who is the lead vocalist, it would have been you, you were up front…..

OHMS: yeah, you were the front man….

Paul: Yeah, I sang like a majority….

Phil: But then Bob Steinmetz… he had a totally, what was it a baritone he had, Perry Como type….

Paul: He was like a Barry White.

Phil: He looked like Cat Stevens.

Paul: Yeah, Cat Stevens, but he had a Barry White voice.

OHMS: Oh, he’s the one with the Barry White voice.

Paul: Bob was mega mega… Bob came up. Bob was in the area, he joined us on stage…Tropica - the first time we’ve played together in years. He still plays, he never stopped playing, he slowed down a little while I guess he said….

Phil: If you’re truly a musician you’re not gonna stop. I mean there’s no reason to unless you’re physically unable to.

OHMS: I gave it up for a while, I don’t know it was like I didn’t want to go through the heartache of breaking up a band again….

Phil: Ah, once bitten twice shy, huh?

OHMS: And I wasn’t gonna be a solo artist though.

Paul: It seems about every seven years I’ll end up taking a year off… I’ve had it, I’m tired… but I always end up coming back again. I’m glad you guys made it out, you’re gonna have fun tonight. You’ll like the people out here too.

OHMS: Thank you. So far it’s all been wonderful.

Dylan: Dinner’s ready by the way!

Paul: I’m hungry, I’ve gotta eat something! Good to make your acquaintance. Which, by the way, I enjoy your site.