Classic era and commercial success (1971–1980) Molly Hatchet was founded by guitarist Dave Hlubek in 1971. The band originated and was based in Jacksonville, Florida, and shared influences and inspiration with what is perhaps the most well-known act in the Southern rock genre,
Lynyrd Skynyrd. During the late 1960s, Hlubek (vocals, guitar), Sandy Heath (guitar), Skip Lake (drums), Tim Lindsey (bass) and Chris Caruso (keyboards) were in the
Psychedelic music outfit Mind Garden. Hlubek and Lake formed a new band in 1971, along with bassist Tim Lindsey, lead singer/frontman Bobby Maddox and guitarist Steve Holland, who had replaced Caruso. Guitarist Donald Hall was also briefly a member in these early days, after Holland left temporarily in 1973. Lindsey left before Molly Hatchet's debut gigs, eventually being replaced by Banner Thomas, but would rejoin the lineup decades later and is still a member to this day. Bassist Banner Thomas joined in 1973, invited by his friend Donald Hall. During this period, the band even toyed with changing the group's name to Bandit but soon went back to the Molly Hatchet moniker. Maddox was gone by this time and shortly afterwards, Hall was replaced by Duane Roland and Fred Bianco, a friend Thomas had met working in a music store, joined as drummer. Roland only lasted a month before he left and Kenny Niblick was the new guitarist until he and Bianco quit in mid-1975 as Steve Holland returned and Bruce Crump became the drummer. Roland (who had subbed for Hlubek for some shows) returned to take his position as third guitarist in the band later on the following year. And after Maddox had left, Hlubek was the band's vocalist prior to former Rum Creek singer
Danny Joe Brown's entrance in the spring of 1976. The first lineup of Molly Hatchet to record was in place by 1976. Guitarists Dave Hlubek and Steve Holland, bassist Banner Thomas and drummer Bruce Crump were joined in the spring of 1976 by Brown. And Duane Roland returned later during that same year to complete the group, leading to the so called "Three Guitar Army". In a 2008 interview in
Modern Drummer magazine, Crump talked about the band's early days, signing with manager Pat Armstrong and
Ronnie Van Zant's interest in producing Molly Hatchet: "We started playing the Florida bar circuit until some of the guys from
38 Special recommended a guy they knew from
Macon, Georgia who had managed a few bands. Pat Armstrong and his brother Jack ran a management/booking agency in Macon, so we went up and played for them. I guess they liked what they heard, because they encouraged us to start writing our own material. We did just that, and the next thing you know, we’re in the studio recording some demos. By now we’re into 1977, and Ronnie Van Zant from Skynyrd got wind of what we were doing and took us under his wing—even letting us cut some songs at the Skynyrd studio. As best as I can remember, Ronnie was given the green light to produce some bands and we were going to be one of them. Then the worst possible thing happened. We were coming back to Atlanta after playing a gig near
Lynchburg, Tennessee. When we pulled into the hotel parking lot, Pat Armstrong, who had become our manager and had gone with us, went inside the hotel to check us in. All of a sudden, he walked onto the bus, white as a sheet, and said that the Skynyrd plane had crashed." After meeting recording engineer Tony Reale in Atlanta, Armstrong was introduced to
Epic Records producer and
A&R man
Tom Werman, who recommended them to Epic head Lenny Petze, who signed the band in December 1977. Werman, the producer on their first record, who was known for working with straight rock music acts such as
Cheap Trick and
Ted Nugent, combined
boogie,
blues and
hard rock. The band released their first album,
Molly Hatchet, in September 1978, supported by "Dreams I'll Never See" (a cover of
the Allman Brothers Band 1969 track "Dreams"), which got
AOR (album-oriented rock) airplay. The album was followed a year later by ''
Flirtin' with Disaster'',
Aerosmith,
The Babys,
Cheap Trick,
Judas Priest,
Santana, After Brown left Molly Hatchet, he formed
the Danny Joe Brown Band. Brown was then replaced in Molly Hatchet by vocalist
Jimmy Farrar, By 1981, Molly Hatchet had evolved to a straight-ahead rock style and a slicker production, as exhibited on
Take No Prisoners (November 1981). though, Brown, Holland and Roland decided to leave and return home, leaving only Hlubek, West and Borden to play the show. After a quick rehearsal backstage, Blackfoot's
Rickey Medlocke took Brown's place as front man and their other guitarist, Charlie Hargrett, played behind Hlubek's lead. Danny and the other members of Molly Hatchet rejoined the tour the next day, but Holland decided to leave the band once again in 1984 and was replaced by former Danny Joe Brown Band keyboardist John Galvin, who already guested in
No Guts..No Glory the year before. In November 1984, the album
The Deed Is Done was released, produced by
Terry Manning, which was more of a straightforward
Pop rock offering, He was replaced by Bobby Ingram, who had contributed backup vocals to
Double Trouble, had played as a guitarist in the Danny Joe Brown Band together with John Galvin and had also played in the Seventies with Brown in Rum Creek. In the summer of 1988, Scott Zsymoski filled in on drums for Bruce Crump, who was home with his wife as she was giving birth to their baby. Molly Hatchet's first studio album in five years, and only release on
Capitol Records,
Lightning Strikes Twice was released in 1989, and was their first one not to appear on the charts. One of its singles, "There Goes the Neighborhood", did, however, enter the top 30 on the
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. A
greatest hits collection released by Epic,
Greatest Hits, featuring two newly recorded songs, was released in the fall of 1990, with sales reaching gold status. At the time Duane Roland, left as last in 1990, was the owner of the Molly Hatchet name. The agreement in the band had always been that the last man standing got the brand.
Refoundation and rotating members (1990–2005) In late 1990, after some failed attempts to involve former members, a revised version of the band led by Brown and Ingram - both temporarily licensed from guitarist Duane Roland and Armstrong Management to the use of the name Molly Hatchet - featured new players Rik Blanz (guitar), Rob Scavetto (keyboards), Eddie Rio (bass) and David Feagle (drums). But the lineup in the 1990s was more like a revolving door. Rio was replaced in 1991 by Rob Sweat and then Kevin Rian. Feagle was succeeded the same year by drummer Kenny Holton. Blanz left in mid-1991 and Phil McCormack stood in for Brown briefly in early 1992. By 1993, the lineup was: Brown, Ingram, Erik Lundgren (guitar, from
The Johnny Van Zant Band), Mac Crawford (drums) and a returning Banner Thomas (bass), with Mike Kach (keyboards), who was replaced in 1994 by Andy Orth.
Bryan Bassett (ex-
Wild Cherry) took over as second guitarist in 1994 and Buzzy Meekins (formerly of the
Outlaws and Danny Joe Brown Band) was bassist after Banner left again in 1995. During the first half of the 1990s, Molly Hatchet played selected shows and tours, but did not record again until 1995, when they began working on a new studio album with German producer
Kalle Trapp. In April 1995 after continuing health problems, Brown had to once again leave the band and Jimmy Farrar was brought back for a few weeks to front the group and help "legitimize" the current version. The crowd reaction to Farrar being back was not overly positive, though, so Ingram and Brown together made the decision to bring back Brown's 1992 stand-in, Phil McCormack, as the permanent singer. During the rest of the decade, the line-up did not feature any of the members who had performed in Molly Hatchet prior to 1983. Farrar later rejoined other original members of Molly Hatchet in
Southern Rock Allstars and
Gator Country. McCormack fronted Molly Hatchet for their next album ''
Devil's Canyon'' (June 1996). At this point, the band consisted of vocalist Phil McCormack, guitarists Bobby Ingram and Bryan Bassett, returning keyboardist John Galvin, bassist Andy McKinney and drummer Mac Crawford. This line-up recorded also one second album
Silent Reign of Heroes (June 1998). In that same period, keyboardist Tim Donovan began filling in for Galvin on the road and Sean Shannon became the group's new drummer in 1998 after Crawford left. In 1999 the band traveled coast to coast with
Charlie Daniels and the
Volunteer Jam. Guitarist Mike Owings briefly filled in for Bassett in 1999 when he returned to help out his old band Foghat. He was back by the end of that year, but was then called away from Hatchet again in 2000 to become Foghat's permanent axe man. Former Hatchet singer Danny Joe Brown, despite a long battle with diabetes and the effects of a stroke, was able to take the stage one last time at the Jammin' for DJB benefit concert organized by former Hatchet bassist Riff West on July 18, 1999, at
Orlando, Florida's Club LaVela. With the help of his friends and former members Bruce Crump, Banner Thomas, Steve Holland and Dave Hlubek, he ended the show with "
Flirtin' with Disaster". Also in 2000,
Kingdom of XII was recorded by the stable line-up of McCormack, Ingram, Bassett, Galvin, McKinney and Shannon and released in Europe and they then toured Europe to promote the album. It was released in the United States in June 2001. But new changes were ahead: after the recording of
Kingdom, guitarist Russ Maxwell came aboard after Bassett left the group to rejoin Foghat. Drummer Dale Rock replaced Sean Shannon in 2001 before Shawn Beamer (from Southern Rock Rebellion) took over the drum chair permanently that fall. Bassist Jerry Scott (formerly with
Brian Howe's band) joined in early 2002 after McKinney departed. That same year, Ingram took a short break from touring after suffering a heart attack and the band continued with only Maxwell on guitar. Also John Galvin, though he continued to appear on the band's albums, was again not touring with the band in the 2000s (except for a short European tour in December 2001). Tim Donovan (1997–2002), Scott Woods (2002), Jeff Ravenscraft (2003–2004),
Gary Corbett (2004) and Richie Del Favero (2004–2005) played live keyboards until 2005, after which the group dispensed with having a touring keyboardist for a while. Bassist Jerry Scott was replaced by J.J. Strickland in May 2003 and then by Tim Lindsey, formerly of Lynyrd Skynyrd,
the Rossington Band,
Artimus Pyle Band and pre-Hatchet projects with longtime friend Dave Hlubek, coming full circle back to his roots to take over in June 2003.
Locked and Loaded (a live recording from 2000) was released in 2003,
25th Anniversary: Best of Re-Recorded followed in 2004, and
Live In Hamburg (with second guitarist Jake Rutter) in 2005.
Continued activity and deaths of former members (2005–2023) 2012 From that point Molly Hatchet kept on producing music around the core duo Ingram/Galvin plus rhythm section Lindsey/Beamer, with McCormack as frontman. But 2005 marked also the return of founding member Dave Hlubek after 18 years. Initially another guitarist, Jimbo Manion, played live alongside Ingram until Hlubek had satisfied his other commitments and was able to return full time later that year. Danny Joe Brown died on March 10, 2005 at his home in
Davie, Florida. He was 53. The cause was
kidney failure. On June 19, 2006 guitarist Duane Roland died at his home in
St. Augustine, Florida, at the age of 53. His death was listed as being of "
natural causes" according to a June 25, 2006, obituary in
The Boston Globe. Singer David "Dino" Ramsey filled in for an ill McCormack during the spring of 2006. With Hlubek back in the line-up, Molly Hatchet released studio albums
Warriors Of The Rainbow Bridge (2005) and
Justice (recorded in Germany in 2010 on SPV Records), plus one live and two cover albums. The band's
Southern Rock Masters (April 2008) was an album of classic rock covers and was released again in a slightly realtered form as
Regrinding the Axes (June 2012). Molly Hatchet toured extensively once again. In 2008 keyboardist John Galvin returned to the live stage after Hlubek's recurring health issues prevented him from appearing at all of the band's gigs. In 2011 drummer Shawn Beamer had a heart attack and a temporary drummer, Scott Craig, was brought in. In 2013 Beamer returned to the band. In 2014 former bassist "Riff" West died from the complications of a car accident, while in 2015 it was original drummer Bruce Crump who died after a bout with
throat cancer. On September 2, 2017, guitarist Dave Hlubek died of a heart attack. After Hlubek's passing, the group continued to perform with just one guitarist, as Ingram stated that he "could not" replace him. The typical guitar harmonies of the band are reproduced by Ingram and the keyboards of Galvin. In the same year also original bassist Banner Thomas died. On October 29, 2018, former singer of the Eighties Jimmy Farrar died due to complications from congestive heart failure, kidney failure and liver failure. Molly Hatchet continued to tour extensively but had to replace frontman Phil McCormack due to persistent illness conditions. Singer Jimmy Elkins, from a Hatchet tribute band called Bounty Hunter, took his place for live gigs. McCormack died on April 25, 2019. Jimmy Elkins was officially announced as the band's new vocalist in October 2019: he is featured on the
Battleground live album. Tony Mikus (Big Engine) briefly stood in for Elkins in some live gigs of 2022. Steve Holland, the last original member of the group, died on August 2, 2020.
Recent events (2023–present) Despite having no original members left, Molly Hatchet continues to perform and record. The core members of the current incarnation of the band are half of the
Lightning Strikes Twice lineup (guitarist Bobby Ingram and keyboardist John Galvin), plus longtime serving bassist Tim Lindsey. In early 2023, new singer Parker Lee suddenly replaced Jimmy Elkins (who suffered a bad bike accident) fronting the band in US and European tours. Ingram reported to the press that a new Molly Hatchet album was in the works and intended for a 2024 release. The band debuted with Lee on vocals "Firing Line", their first song in thirteen years, on November 15, 2023. Longtime drummer Shawn Beamer stopped touring in 2024, being gradually replaced by Garrett Ramsden. == Artistry ==