Pheaturing Mollie Marriott

Hello, kids, welcome to another entry of the Phile for a Monday, April 16th. Today would of been my dads 69th birthday. I should be hanging out with him today, not working on this silly little blog. Anyway, happy birthday, dad. Alright, so, what's going on? Joe Biden launched a new Twitter account to give supporters updates from the campaign trail. Like his most recent update: "They still won't let me go on the campaign trail.” Baseball fans, the New York Mets have started the season with four straight wins. I don't want to say it's surprising, but today the Mets tested themselves for steroids. Speaking of New York, there’s apparently a 102-year-old man in New York who still works as a valet parking attendant. It’s not easy for him. Every time he parks a car, he has to pull over three times for a bathroom break. I know how he feels. Every time I launch a Sim at work, I have to take a bathroom break. You can tell he’s old. When you tip him a five, he’s like, "Hey, it's my old roommate, Abe Lincoln.” It turns out that Newt Gingrich’s campaign wrote a $500 check to participate in the Utah primary, but it bounced. Even M.C. Hammer was like, "Manage your money, bro.” Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal announced that he is supporting Mitt Romney for president. Jindal said he couldn’t think of a better way to show his support than waiting until Romney was the only guy left. After dropping out of the GOP race, Rick Santorum emailed his supporters to ask for help paying off his campaign debt. So if you believe in his message of responsible spending and no handouts, just give him a handout to cover all his irresponsible spending. Harvard Law School will soon offer a class called "Understanding Obama"... while Barnum & Bailey Clown College will offer a class called "Understanding Biden.” Well, as you probably know the movie Titanic has been rereleased in theatres now in 3D. You also probably know as I have been talking about it for a few days here on the Phile James Cameron added a few things. Like this scene right here...

Well, as you probably know I am a huge Muppet fan. I love everything the Muppet's do, but I thought this poster was kinda odd. Check it out.

So, the most anticipated movie of the year comes out in a few weeks. I am of course talking about The Avengers. Take a look at these real 3D glasses they are making for the movie. This is real, and freakin' cool.

I don't know which one I want. Iron Man I think.. no, Thor. Wait, Hulk is one of my favorite super heroes. Wait, blue is my favorite color. I cannot decide! Aggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! My movie theatre probably will just have the boring black ones anyway. Okay, lets move on. From the home office in Phulfortha City, New York, here is this week's...

Top Ten Punchlines To Dirty Baseball Jokes
10. You'd look like that, too, if you'd taken that many balls to the chin
9. I'm sorry, I thought you said you wanted a high, hard one.
8. She had her own on deck circle.
7. I go to all the games, but she only comes with me when it's a double header.
6. And then the pitcher and the catcher switched positions.
5. That's why they call it a pitcher's mound.

4. How could anyone walk with four balls?

3. Sure it's sticky but that ain't pine tar.

2. Uecker? I hardly know 'er!

And the number one punchline to dirty baseball jokes is...

1. A Rod is up.

Alright, so, the Mayans predicted in December the world is gonna end. Those Mayans were pretty damn smart, so I tend to believe it. Anyway, I thought I would invite back the character to the Phile for more Mayan wisdom to get you through the week. So, please welcome back to the Phile...

Me: Hello, Marvin, welcome back to the Phile. So, what great knowledge do you have for us today?

Marvin: Nya b’a’n tu’n tjaw tsolin twutz wab’j, ku’n b’e’x ctzajil× wab’j twutza.

Me: Marvin, that is great, but once again I don't speak Mayanese and I doubt my readers would understand that either. Can you tell us in English?

Marvin: It is not good to remove the first layer of the tortillas, or pimples will appear on your face.

Me: That's good advice, Marvin. You have that, kids? Stop removing the first layer of tortillas. I never ate tortillas when I was a kid, which probably explains why I had mostly good skin. I know some other people who must've removed a helluva lot of first layers. Thanks, Marvin, once again.

Okay, so, I don't know if you heard, but Karl Rove's super PAC, American Crossroads, is launching its first major "anti-Obama" ad campaign this year. A regular friend of the Phile wanted to come on and talk about it. So, please welcome back to the Phile, our good friend Patrick Gaspard, Executive Director of the Democratic National Committee.

Me: Patrick, good to have you back. So, what is the deal with the campaign?

Patrick: With plans to spend as much as $300 million, they announced a plan to destroy President Obama's standing with voters in key battleground states in an ad blitz slated from now until July.

Me: Why so early?

Patrick: They said they hope to "dislodge voters from him" before the general election even starts.

Me: I guess you can't stop their ads, right?

Patrick: No, Jason, but we can fight back with every resource we have.

Me: Okay, so, what do you think about the ads are going to say?

Patrick: Here's something that gets me especially fired up. Their attack line in these ads is apparently going to be that the President isn't "up for the job."

Me: And this is coming from Karl Rove...

Patrick: And other former Bush advisors, the exact same people who championed the reckless economic policies that brought us to the brink of another Great Depression and left us holding the bag. It's pretty outrageous. This news of their massive, and entirely negative, ad campaign shows they're not interested in letting their nominee compete against President Obama in earnest. They don't want to run on the issues, or let voters choose between two visions for our country.

Me: Patrick, they just want to destroy Barack Obama.

Patrick: The worst part is it could work.

Me: What? How?

Patrick: Look at how Romney and his super PAC have beaten Santorum and Gingrich: they come in state-by-state, drop millions in negative ads, and jump his poll numbers by sometimes more than double-digits to win.

Me: Is this true?

Patrick: It doesn't matter if it's true. If you can afford to put lies on TV 30 times a day, folks could start to reconsider the truth.

Me: And you're not gonna let that happen.

Patrick: For every negative ad they throw up on the air, we'll launch rapid response communications, and, yes, even our own ads to set the record straight.

Me: This fight is earlier than you expected, isn't it?

Patrick: Yes, it is.

Me: Well, thanks for coming onto the Phile and letting us know, Patrick.

Patrick: Thank you, Jason.

Alright, the 18th book in the P.P.B.C. is...

Jerry Scott, one of the authors and writer of "Zits" as well as co-creator will be a guest on the Phile next Sunday.

Todays guest has a few things in common with me. We both had dads who were musicians who passed away way to early. Both of our dad were also friends. She is following in her dads footsteps with the singing and performing and me, well, I have no musical abilities at all. Anyway, please welcome to the Phile, the wonderful and talented... Mollie Marriott.

Me: Hello, Mollie, welcome to the Phile, how are you?

Mollie: I'm great thank you.

Me: I must say, you have an amzing singing voiuce, Mollie. I listened to a number of your songs and watched some of your videos. How old were you when you started singing?

Mollie: Thank you. I started singing apparently at the age of three. I know everyone says this but I've sung ever since I can remember. I've done the whole hairbrush in the mirror thing and the dressing up.

Me: Do you play any instruments as well as sing?

Mollie: I do. I play piano. I'm no Alicia Keys when it comes to playing but I can play well. I've also learnt to play drums and violin in the past.

Me: Mollie, sometimes I feel I was screwed out of the talent depertment. I barely can play drums, definitely cannot sing and never learned to play a guitar. I do play the kazoo though, but anybody can. My son though is learning to play guitar and is very good. Do you have any children of your own, and are they musically inclined?

Mollie: I do. I have an amazing three year old and boy, is she musically inclined. It's nuts. Her favourite singers are Etta James and Tina Turner. By the age of two and a half she knew all the words to "Proud Mary". She sings at the top of her voice and whats even more amazing is that she harmonises too!! She is also a lovely little mover. She loves watching Ginger Rogers and Rita Hayworth! Very old soul my child!! She takes after me massively there as I was actually a dancer before I was a signer. I was always principle dancer in shoes. It was only when I was about 15 that I took singing really seriously. I also have a beautiful 6 year old stepdaughter who is actually a beautiful dancer. Seriously her lines are amazing!! She she is really starting to sing and has even started songwriting with her dad, my fiance. It's a lovely thing to see. The kids adore each other which is great!!!

Me: You have a brother Toby who is a fantastic musician as well. Do you two get along and have you ever performed together?

Mollie: I do. He is wonderful!! He is a fantastic guitarist and he sings. We have gigged together and recorded on the same album. Only a few times though. It's quite hard as he lives in America. We also have two sisters too. Both deny they can sing but they can!!

Me: My sisters are somewhat musically talented, so I don't know what happened to me. Do you remember what the first song you learned was, and what was the first song you sang live on stage?

Mollie: The first song I learnt... hmmm, nope that's too hard... haha. The first song I sang live on stage was... I can't believe I'm going to say this, "Think Twice" by Celine Dion!! I know... I know.

Me: Mollie, where are you originally from, and where do you live now?

Mollie: I was born in Hertfordshire England but I now live in Henley on Thames and have done for around 18 years. The most beautiful town ever in my opinion. It is FULL of musicians and singers it's amazing!!!

Me: I've been to Henley a few times. I was born in London, Balham to be precise, lived in Putney and grew up on Long Island, New York before moving back to the UK, where I
lived in a village called Fulbrook, near Burford in Oxfordshire. Have you ever been there?

Mollie: I have as a matter of fact as I used to live in Shellingford, Faringdon for about a year. It's beautiful around there and I love Burford.

Me: I now live in Florida outside Orlando and work for Disney. Have you ever been? You should bring your family out here sometime, Mollie.

Mollie: Well, funny you should say that as me and my fiance are heading over in June. We aren't going to Disney though as we would feel so guilty not taking the kids... haha. So we are hitting Universal and Aquatica and all the others. Can't wait. Ben is currently on tour with my stepdad Joe so wee have been working so hard for the past few years we need a break!!

Me: Okay, let's talk about your music. You started off in a girl group called D2M, am I right? I have a picture of D2M right here in fact. Check this out.

Mollie: Crikey!! We all got together just to sing and wrote stupid songs and then next thing we know we were signed at the age of 12. By big company too. It was mental, we were touring Europe and all sorts. It was fun.

Me: How old were you when you were in that group?

Mollie: I was eleven.

Me: Did you and the other girls have to audition for it, or were you all friends before hand?

Mollie: No. No. Nicole and Kat had been my friends since I was three. We all lived in the same village. Then Tommy came along at age eleven and that was that.

Me: I dunno if you girls made it over here in America, but were you successful in England?

Mollie: No, we didn't. We were meant to but we called time on the band before hand. We weren't very well known here. We toured and did all the main TV shows but it was Europe where we were really succesful.

Me: I bet that was a lot of fun, and hard work. Do you and the girls keep in touch?

Mollie: It was so much fun but equally hard. To be honest we hardly ever argued. I mean four hormonal girls on tour... that was lucky we didn't. Ha. We were all ever so close. I am always in contact with Tommy and Nicole. Tommy actually has just done some background vocals for me on the album and I co-wrote a song with her on hers. Nicole still gigs which is amazing but unfortunately we lost contact with Kat. She kinda gave us all a wide birth. Think she had enough of us all for one lifetime... ha.

Me: What did D2M srand for anyway? It almost seems like a part of a UK zip code.

Mollie: Ha... no. Oh God, this is when it gets embarresing. It stood for Devotion 2 Music. AGAIN... I know!!!

Me: LOL. You have sang back up vocals for a wide range of artists, Mollie. Do you prefer singing back up or being the lead singer?

Mollie: I have indeed. I've been ever so lucky. I actually prefer doing background vocals. I
believe backing vocals can make a song. It's great as you can sing and then just go and not worry about the whole front person thing and the fame that comes with it. It's only the past two years I decided to try the whole lead singer thing out. Still not sure how I feel about it... haha.

Me: You worked with Joe Brown, which is cool. Did you get to work with
his daughter Sam?

Mollie: Joe is actually my stepfather!! So obviously that makes Sam my stepsister. We have sung together and gigged together and I am doing a song of Sam's on the new album which is exciting. I've also worked with Pete, my stepbrother. He is amazing too.

Me: Liam Gallagher approached you and invited you to sing on an Oasis album, right? How did he approach you?

Mollie: Ha ha, well from the age of 14 I used to help my 'Fairy Godmother' as I call her who owned Wheeler End studios. I used to go over there and make the lunch for all the bands. From the age of 14-19 I kinda grew up with Oasis always being at the studio. So I got to know them well. I had done some backing vocals at 18 for a band that was signed to Noel's Label Big Brother. I was making the boys lunch one day and Gem and Liam popped in the kitchen and he asked me if Id do some background vocals. The funny thing is I was 'vocally shy' back then and this yes came out my mouth without even thinking about it. As he walked away I thought... OH
MY GOD WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST DO!!! I was terrified.

Me: I am guessing you were a fan of Oasis. What music do you listen to now, and who did you listen to growing up?

Mollie: I think they are great. I love their writing and I love Liams' voice. It is pitch perfect and in all honesty not many singers have that constantly!!! Now I love anything from The Foo's to Tori Amos to Prince. I love a wide range. I also love the Big Band sound and music from the
1920s-1950s. You see I am a vintage girl at heart!!

Me: How was that recording session with Oasis? Did you spend a lot of time with the Gallagher brothers? I hope they acted okay in front of you, Mollie.

Mollie: Gem was great and he made me feel at ease and said, "Do you want me to
tell these boys to bugger off?". With that Liam said, "I'm staying" and pressed his face against the glass and said, '"If you can sing in front me, you can sing in front of anyone!!" He was right. Let me please say now that they are absolutely awsome guys!!! I enjoyed every moment with them. They weren't rude or aggressive, they were bloody awsome!!! Please don't believe everything you read!!!

Me: I looked for your music on iTunes but all I could find was the song "Grain Train" you did on a Dean Rees album. For the readers that don't know, who is Dean?

Mollie: Yes, I have nothing on there as of yet!! Dean is a friend of mine. He has wonderful soul/funk voice and an awsome writer and Hammond player!! He is very much influenced by James Brown. His voice blows my mind though as the notes he can reach are insane!!!

Me: When did you record that song, Mollie?

Mollie: Oh gosh, now you're asking. I believe I was 19 so 7 years ago. Great fun, great session. I got to the studio and Dean said, "Right, I've got the words to your part but no melody." You can imagine my face. Dean basically told me to make the melody up as I went along. I think it
worked out well.

Me: I read that you are involved with two bands, both very different... Union Chain and Glitch Code. Union Chain were recording an EP a few years ago, right? Did it ever come out? Is Union Chain still together?

Mollie: Union Chain was very short lived but a great time in my life!!! Unfortunately our drummer Keith suddenly passed away and that was the end of that band as we all took it very hard. Ben and Tom are still playing together in A Flight of K and they are currently recording
their album which is going to be beautiful so keep an eye out!!! I still sing with them and love it!! It was very much harmony based band. I just loved it.

Me: Glitch Code is your latest project you're involved with, am I right? Are you currently working on the Glitch Code album?

Mollie: It is indeed. It is very very different to what I usually do. I'm known more for my soul/rock style. This is a bit edgy electronic rock. It's quite hard to describe. We have some amazing musicians on it and huge gospel choirs!! We are recording and writing. Its going to be a while but hopefully it will definitely be out by the end of this year!!!

Me: Who is in the band with you?

Mollie: Ahhh... if I told you I'd have to kill you! Well, we have great musicians on board. Paul Kirkpatrick is Mr. Glitch Code though!!! He's a dude!!!

Me: Will Glitch Code's music be available over here in America, on iTunes or somewhere?

Mollie: Yes, it will be on iTunes and we are hoping to come over to America at some point definitely!!

Me: In a few weeks I am gonna have Clem Clempson on the Phile, Mollie. You have worked with him on a benefit concert or two. Do you get to see a lot of the guys from your dad's band Humble Pie often?

Mollie: Oh, I do love that man!!!! He is such a gentle soul!!! I don't see Pete, although I have spoken to him a few times but I see Jerry and speak to him on the phone!! I speak to his kids too alot so it's nice!! I'm also in touch with Kenney Jones from dad's other band... must be a drummer thing... haha. I was close to Greg Ridley and was devestated when he passed. He was awsome and I loved his voice.

Me: Mollie, if you could perform with anybody, who would it be? I think you and Maggie Bell could sing well together.

Mollie: Yea, she's cool. I would love to sing with Paul Rogers, I think he is awesome!! Also Paul Weller. Me and Paul keep talking about it but never manage to get round to it!! Oh, I don't know who else!! I'd love to have a writing session with Stevie Nicks!! That would be amazing!!

Me: I mentioned your videos I watched and I really enjoyed your video of you singing Prince's "Kiss". Are you gonna be making anymore videos like that, with just an acoustic guitar and you singing? "Kiss" needs to be recorded and released like that, Mollie.

Mollie: Aah, thank you. I want to but I constantly seem to have a spell of bad throat at the moment but I promise I will do soon!!!

Me: Would you ever consider recording a solo album?

Mollie: I'm not sure to be honest. Have to see what the future brings.

Me: Thanks so much for being here on the Phile, and when the Glitch Code album comes out, please come back. Ask Paul Kirkpatrick if he would like to be on the Phile as well. Mollie, go ahead and plug your Twitter, Facebook and anything else, and like I said, please come
back.

Mollie: This was fun, thank you. My Facebook page is facebook.com/pages/MOLLIE-MARRIOTT/216367983600 and my Twitter which I'm fairly new at so please forgive me is
twitter.com/MollieMarriott. Thank you.

Man, that has to be one of my longest interviews ever. Thanks to Mollie for a wonderful interview, and I hope to have her back on the Phile again soon. Thanks also to Patrick Gaspard as always. So, the Phile will be back on Wednesday with Eli Chartkoff from The Monolators and on Sunday with "Zits" creator Jerry Scott. So, spread the word, not the turd. Don't let snakes and alligators bite you. Bye, love you, bye.