NEW PORT RICHEY - Joey Molland knows the euphoric highs and humbling lows of rock 'n' roll life like the fret board of his Gibson guitar. He was a guitarist and songwriter with Badfinger, the late 1960s and '70s British band that sold millions of records on The Beatles' Apple Records label. The group performed its string of hits on sold-out world tours and its members made music with the likes of John Lennon and George Harrison.
Molland also has endured the suicide deaths of two former band mates, the indignity of an empty bank account and acrimonious battles over publishing royalties. Still, it is with an optimistic outlook that he and a revamped Badfinger take the stage at Bourbon Street tonight. Molland is the only original band member in the lineup.
''The reason I do the shows under Badfinger is primarily [because] we get paid more money,'' Molland said by phone from his home in Shorewood, Minn., where he lives with Kathie, his wife of 33 years. ''I don't know if I should be that [candid], but that's really what it is.
''Also, in our case, we do an actual Badfinger show. I wrote [many of] the songs that the band recorded. I think I have a pretty good claim to it.
''
Other current members include guitarist and singer Billy Davis, who also has played with a revised Foghat lineup; bassist Mark Healey, who has played in Molland's Badfinger lineups since 1987; drummer John Richardson, who has played for various bands around the world; and keyboardist Steve Wozny.
Richardson is the brother of Bourbon Street's soundboard operator Billy ``Beet'' Richardson.
``I met Joey through a sound man,'' John Richardson said.
``Joey's original drummer couldn't go over for a Japanese tour. They needed somebody, so I went over there from Minnesota.''
This weekend, Badfinger also is scheduled to perform at the Pompano Beach Seafood Festival.
``We kind of gig when people call us up,'' Molland said in the same British accent that endeared The Beatles to America. ``The fans tell me they love it and they love to see the band. I try to keep the idea of the band alive in terms of the live shows.
''
Liverpool Native
Molland comes by his accent honestly. He is from Liverpool, the English port town from which John, Paul, George and Ringo exploded in the early 1960s.
He was 22 and unemployed when some friends in Liverpool told him that The Iveys, a band signed to The Beatles' label, wanted him to audition.
Pete Ham, Tom Evans and MikeGibbins liked what they heard and invited Molland into the group, which they promptly renamed Badfinger. Soon, the group's first hit, ``Come And Get It,'' was played on radio stations on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
Over the next few years, Badfinger enjoyed a level of commercial and critical success unknown to most bands.
Badfinger's most popular songs included ``Day After Day,'' ``Without You,'' which was a major hit for Harry Nilsson, and ``No Matter What,'' which was recently remade by Def Leppard.
Molland, Ham and Evans also played on the George Harrison albums ``All Things Must Pass'' and ``The Concert for Bangladesh,'' recorded at Madison Square Garden in 1971. The trio also contributed to John Lennon's ``Imagine'' album.
``I was always in awe of The Beatles,'' Molland said. ``It's hard for me to think of them as normal people, but they were. We went to John Lennon's house and recorded with him on `Jealous Guy' and `I Don't Want To Be A Soldier.
' It was such a blast. He was the greatest songwriter in the world.
``I was just over the moon.
''
He and the rest of the band soon came crashing to earth.
The band's management paid its members a monthly salary that peaked at about $1,250 a month. Molland said the band was young and more concerned about music than money.
``You don't expect people who look like your dad to steal money from you,'' he said.
In 1970, the band had signed with an agent named Stan Polley, who became its manager and controlled its income. Under Polley, Badfinger left the beleaguered Apple Records, which went bankrupt, and signed with Warner Bros.
The group continued recording and touring at an exhausting pace, but by 1974, ``huge amounts of [Badfinger's] money seemingly vanished,'' according to a Badfinger bio on the All Music Guide's Web site, www.allmusic.com.
Molland said he learned of the financial troubles when he couldn't draw enough money to buy a $1,000 four-track tape machine or make a down payment on what he characterized as a modest house. After a 1974 tour of England, he left the group.
``I didn't know what to do,'' he said.
``I hung around in L.A. I had $700 in my pocket, so I sold all of my guitars.
I had a great guitar collection.''
Things weren't any easier for the band's other members. Ham, generally credited with writing or co-writing most of Badfinger's hits, left the group after Molland.
Described by Molland as a ``regular bloke,'' Ham lived in an attic apartment during the band's hey day, drove a ``second-hand Triumph'' and wasn't a drug addict.
But, months after leaving Badfinger, Ham, an expectant father, found himself penniless and depressed.
On April 24, 1975, Molland got a call from a Warner Bros.
executive.
Post-Badfinger Career Falters
The day before, Ham hanged himself in his garage.
Stunned by Ham's death, Molland embarked on a seemingly promising post-Badfinger career.
He formed a band called Natural Gas with former Uriah Heap bassist Mark Clarke and former Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley.
The band opened for Peter Frampton on the tour that resulted in Frampton's classic album, ``Frampton Comes Alive.''
``It was cool; we played these huge stadiums like Soldier Field'' in Chicago, Molland said.
``Frampton was huge. The bad side is that a few of us got into the old cocaine.''
Natural Gas recorded one album before breaking up.
Disenchanted with the music business, Molland for a while supported his family by installing carpet in Los Angeles.
Eventually, he joined a couple of local musicians who wanted to form a band. The group needed a bass player, so Molland called Evans, Badfinger's former bassist, and the first revamped version of Badfinger was born.
The band recorded an album titled ``Airwaves'' for Elektra Records in 1979 and ``Say No More'' for Radio Records in 1981.
But by then Badfinger ``fell through the cracks,'' Molland said.
Original drummer Gibbins eventually rejoined the group, but financial squabbles again surfaced and Badfinger was through.
For a while, Molland said, ``nobody did anything'' and Evans wouldn't speak to him. Eventually, Evans called Molland as the band prepared to obtain publishing royalties it hadn't received from Apple Records.
Evans ``got anxious about that,'' Molland said.
So anxious that he essentially re-enacted Ham's demise by hanging himself in Surrey, England, on Nov. 19, 1983.
``It's bizarre.
It really mystified me,'' Molland said. ``There was no real reason for it.''
Rocking On
After finally receiving unpaid royalties in the mid- 1980s, Molland and Gibbins toured together.
They eventually argued over money and haven't spoken to one another since 2000, Molland said.
These days, Molland records new material and performs live with Badfinger and The International Rock Show, which also features Greg Douglass, a guitarist who played with the Steve Miller Band in the late 1970s; former Huey Lewis The News bassist Mario Cipollina; drummer Chris Slade, formerly of AC/DC; and singer Terry Ilous, a former XYZ member.
Molland's booking agent, Tim Murphy, who owns Gen-X Entertainment International, said a ``big resurgence in classic rock'' led to the formation of The International Rock Show.
Murphy, who also works with classic rock acts like Head East, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Canned Heat and several others, said he has known Molland for years.
``Joey's real low maintenance and knows exactly what he's supposed to do,'' he said. ``There's no big drinking or drug problems.
A lot of these guys have been through that and a lot of them are happy to have survived it.''
Molland has also recorded four solo albums and is working on another.
He said tonight's show will be ``loud and jammy and pretty loose.
''
``We still get a good crowd,'' he said with pride. ``The music has remained really strong.''
Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 948-4217.
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