Bobby Ingram of Molly Hatchet Checks In With The Southern Rock Cruise Roundup
Molly Hatchet had just finished sound-check in Savannah, Georgia when we caught up with the band’s longtime guitarist, Bobby Ingram. Bobby talked about music, fans, faith, album art, the band’s uninterrupted history, and much more. After thirty years with Molly Hatchet, he’s part of Southern Rock’s great lineage, and he’s looking forward to sharing stories and music with fans on the Southern Rock Cruise. And, as he explains, the cruise coincides with a very special anniversary.
You’re getting ready to go on-stage in a few hours. Does the band have a pre-show ritual?
We all have a silent ritual. We nod at each other. We know what we need to do and it’s what we love to do. We’re all Christians and we all say our own prayer. I thank God for the ability to do this so many decades down the line. I know the secret: we go out and have fun. We still have the passion, just like our fans. We don’t call them the fan-base, we call them the friend-base.
The way you embrace your fans is one reason we were so excited to get you for the first Southern Rock Cruise.
We have a very special bond with the fans, and we’re good friends with so many of the artists who are playing the Southern Rock Cruise. Lynyrd Skynyrd, .38 Special, the Outlaws… All of ‘em! They’re like brothers. We’ve played many shows together. We have a special camaraderie.
The cruise coincides with an anniversary?
This will be our fortieth year. The Southern Rock Cruise will be the first show of our fortieth year. Forty years of doing what we love to do. I can’t pretend to you that it’s been all great all the time. There have been sacrifices, losses, ups-and-downs, but we overcame, and we’re still “flirting with disaster.” I’ve been with Molly Hatchet thirty years non-stop, and let me give a shout-out to the other guys. Dave Hlubek, of course, was a founding member and he came back in 2005. John Galvin is on keyboards. John and I have worked together for thirty-seven years. Tim Lindsey has been on bass since 2003. Sean Beamer is on drums and Phil McCormack is our lead singer. It sounds like a cliché but we’re all great friends and we all feel blessed to do what we love to do.
You must have been asked this question a lot of times, but why do you think Southern Rock pretty much originated in Jacksonville, Florida?
That’s a tough one. I think it’s because of friendship and the way we were raised. We all think along the same lines and have the same values: Truth, Honesty, and Family. That’s what we write about, and those are ingredients of everyone I know in Jacksonville. Our dear Lynyrd Skynyrd, they led the way. Maybe without them it wouldn’t have happened. They were the flagship of Southern Rock. They should be given all the credit, dignity, and respect. We love what we do, but they were a big influence, and of course they were from Jacksonville.
Was there a “first record” or “first concert” that made you think, “Man, I wanna do THAT!”
Yeah! I saw Skynyrd at Wolfson Ball Park in October 1970. I was just a guy backstage working. That was the day they announced that they would do no more cover tunes. Then I remember when the first album came out. They took over the world. Signified a new style of music. Man, they defined it.
You must have thought about Hatchet Molly, the nineteenth century prostitute who decapitated her customers. You guys took her name and inverted it. Has anyone ever come up and told you something about her you never knew?
You know what, no one ever has! We’re still waiting.
You weren’t really a Top 40 band. How do you come up with a set-list?
We’re a pretty hard-edged band. We’re at the heavy end of Southern Rock. Our set lists are determined by what the audiences want. We talk to the fans. One way or another they tell us what they want to hear.
Molly Hatchet has some of the most distinctive album art of all time. Some call it heroic fantasy. How did it come about?
One of the band saw Frank Fazetta’s work in a magazine. He did the first three albums. Then we had Boris Vallejo in the same style, and since 1996 we’ve used Paul Raymond Gregory from Studio 54 in London. Paul did paintings based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, and he’s done album covers for Uriah Heep, Dio, and many others. We got away from that look on No Guts…No Glory and, man, we heard about it from the fans. We knew we had to stay true.
Where were you when you saw “Flirtin’ with Disaster” on the big screen in Dukes of Hazzard?
I was sitting next to Jessica Simpson at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. It was the world premiere. Burt Reynolds was there. Johnny Knoxville was on the other side of Jessica Simpson. Paramount flew us out and put us up at the Roosevelt Hotel. Man, it was a great experience to hear our music in that way. Humbling. I just jumped up and down. Jessica thought it was hilarious I was acting like that. Had a great time. Then they used another of our songs, “White Lightning,” in the sequel.
Your last album, Regrinding the Axes, was in 2012. Any plans for a new one?
Yeah! We’re writing now and we’re going in to record in December. In fact, we’re going to break out a new song or two on the Southern Rock Cruise. Folks on the cruise will be the first to hear them. They can tell us what they think.
So you’re in Savannah tonight. Where are you off to next?
In two weeks, we’re going to the Middle East to play for the U.S. military. A great honor for us. We want to hear their stories. We’re very proud to be invited. Coming from where we do, honoring the military is a value we all share.
You’ve been on some cruises before. Are you looking forward to the Southern Rock Cruise?
Cruises are very special. It feels like we’re playing for friends. We can meet the fans, talk one-on-one, share stories, take photos…. We love it! And we can meet up with our fellow artists because we don’t get to hang out anywhere near enough. We can walk down the hall and say hello to everyone, fans and artists both. It’ll be an amazing event. Southern Rock feels like one big family. You can say it’s music from a long time ago, but to us and the fans, it’s not vintage rock, not classic rock, it’s timeless. It’s Southern Rock and Roll! It feels as good to us and I bet it feels as good to the fans as it did back then. In fact, we know it does because we often see three generations out there in the audiences. It means so much to us to meet and greet the people who’ve been with us and stood by us.
Colin Escott © 2017