It’s taken a decade, but The Molenes have finally hit a sweet spot. So says vocalist and guitarist Dave Hunter of Portsmouth, one of the founders of the county/alt-rock band.
“We’ve kind of evolved and found each other along the way,” says Hunter of his bandmates — drummer Zach Field of Amesbury, Mass., bassist and vocalist Andrew Russell of Kennebunk, Maine, and pedal steel guitarist Bruce Derr of Lee.
The Molenes saw big success with their 2010 album, “Good Times Comin’,” which landed them on the top 40 in the Americana Music Association chart and peaked at No. 18 in the Freeform American Roots radio chart. The band embarked on a large Northeast tour, but later switched gears to focus on other projects.
According to Hunter, that much-needed break paved the way for their upcoming five-song EP and fourth release, “Lo-Fi On Your Hi-Fi.” The EP drops this month, and the band is celebrating with a show at Birdseye Lounge in Portsmouth on Friday, May 6.
Hunter talked recently with The Sound about the band’s chemistry, the new EP, and why they went for a “dirtier” sound this time around.
Why did the band take a break?
People are involved in other aspects in music, but we’ve got day jobs and families. We had played a lot for the last album and it did pretty well. We had to put a lot of work into promoting it and getting around and playing, from New York City, up as far south as Burlington, Vt., and all parts in between. We were kind of just burned out. It would have been a matter of writing a whole bunch of new material, and doing it again and promoting it even harder or just doing other things, and people are playing in other bands. We just needed a break to let this settle and come back with something fresh.
How did this current lineup form?
The Molenes hadn’t played for a good threeyears maybe, up until we played again this past November. … It’s funny, it’s sort of difficult to think of how we found each other. These guys are great to play with. Even though I write the songs and I’m the kind of front guy I feel like—if there’s anything sloppy happening or if anything went wrong, it’s usually me, because these guys are such good players. And they bring so much heart and soul to it that it’s just kind of easy to step out with them and feel like you’re gonna sound good, you know? They make a fun band to be in, without any praise to myself. They’re a good band.
Why was now the right time for The Molenes to record again?
We were all playing in other bands and Zach and I started up something else. It was kind of a groove, grungy, funky kind of psychedelic, rock-ish type of thing, but very much like groove and drum oriented. So some of the songs on this EP really came out of that. We looked at some of this stuff and thought, “Some of this would fit the Molenes OK if we just shifted directions a little bit.” I wanted it to be led by what the drums wanted to do.
What’s the new EP like?
The new stuff is quite a bit different. I think it still sounds like us. It’s a little harder-edged and maybe a little bluesier, a little rockier, but it’s still got it. We’re known for twang. This is with kind of a darker, harder edge to it. And more of a groove, hopefully. On this EP, Zach contributed to writing some of the music on a couple of the songs because they were more kind of groove-driven.
It’s funny. We used to be considered Americana or alt-country, or twang rock or whatever. … We were never a straight-up country like Nashville country band. We never were that. But we play the odd song or two that kind of lean that way just for fun. So you don’t hear so much of that, but we also always kind of leaned on the swampy Southern, kind of haunting kind of atmospheric thing.
How did you come up with the title?
We recorded them with a fairly lo-fi feel. I think we really like the way they sound — and they sound big and kind of meaty. But it is lower-fi — everything’s a little overcooked and a little distorted, the vocals are all a little dirty and everything. So it does have lo-fi leanings. There’s no effort to make everything really pristine and clean. We just want it to sound fat, juicy.
What is the band’s chemistry like?
We’ve been together in this incarnation for … seven or eight years probably, and that’s when things really clicked, because this is not a huge music scene around here. I mean, it’s pretty active and there’s a lot of good people, a lot of great bands in it, but at the same time, if you’re trying to do something particular it’s not always easy to find the right people. The Molenes started off as a somewhat different band. When Zach and Bruce joined, it really kind of clicked with what we wanted to do. It became easier for me to write the kind of songs that I wanted the band to play. It was like all the ingredients were in place there.
You can sense the chemistry when you listen to the songs.
Good. I hope so. I think we do. It’s kind of a strange kind of music for this part of the country. It seems like we should be based in the Midwest or down South or something like that. But people seem to like us pretty well here for a number of years, and the shows are always fun.
The Molenes celebrate the release of “Lo-Fi on Your Hi-Fi” on Friday, May 6 at 8 p.m. at Birdseye Lounge, 41 Vaughan Mall, Portsmouth. Kid Coyote opens. Tickets are $5 in advance, $7 at the door, available at birdseyelounge.com or 603-766-3333.