WRIF Virtual Rock Room with Great White's Mitch Malloy
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00:00Thank you so much for watching Riff TV.
00:02Now, this interview is obviously with video, but I don't interview everybody on Zoom.
00:07That's why I put it on my Talkin' Rock with Meltdown podcast.
00:10We talk to rock artists from all over the genre.
00:13So check out Talkin' Rock with Meltdown wherever you get your podcasts.
00:16And now, to today's video interview.
00:20From Detroit City to Destin, Florida.
00:23You know, I was in Destin, Florida a couple years ago, and I was at Club LA, right?
00:28Yeah, sure.
00:30Yeah, the guy's stomping.
00:31Right, exactly.
00:32So it's funny because I'm at this point in my career where it's kind of cool.
00:36Like, whenever I go on vacation, I go somewhere.
00:39I always look to see what bands are playing, and Slaughter was playing.
00:42So I texted Mark Slaughter.
00:43I said, hey, can you get me in?
00:44And I went there, and I met a bunch of the locals, and your name kept coming up.
00:49Oh, right on, man.
00:50That's cool.
00:51Yeah, yeah.
00:52I don't go there, you know, a lot, but I go there a lot.
00:56I mean, for me, I go there a lot.
00:58It's one of the only places I go, so.
01:01Yeah, it's a pretty cool place.
01:03It was cool to go somewhere.
01:05Just a whole new, just plethora of rock fans, you know, getting out of Detroit City for a little bit.
01:10Yes, yes.
01:12There are a lot of rock fans here on the Gulf Coast, and obviously Florida in general.
01:19So, yeah, it's a good place to be.
01:20I've been here for four years now, so.
01:22Yeah, I was going to say, you grew up, or you were raised in the northern part, the mid-state, mid-part of the country, right?
01:28I'm from North Dakota, and I left very early on to pursue this, to talk to people like you, to be so lucky.
01:40Yeah, you know, John Five from here, he left at 17 to go to Los Angeles.
01:45Is that kind of like your story, too?
01:48Yeah, I left at 17, and I went to Seattle.
01:52I went to music school for a year, went back to North Dakota, worked, saved up money, bought a Volkswagen van, loaded it up with amps and guitars, and left for New York.
02:01I was in Jersey most of that time, yeah.
02:04All right.
02:05And he made a bunch of connections.
02:06We can talk about that coming up here in just a little bit.
02:09But the last song, that's going to be dropping on July 7th.
02:12So why don't you explain what's going on with this record right now?
02:15Because like you said to me before we started, it's a little bit confusing.
02:18Yeah, so what happened was I was first approached by a label that I won't mention that I decided not to go with.
02:26But that kind of got me, my juices flowing.
02:28I was already, I had already started recording the record.
02:32But then they jumped in and said, hey, you want to make a record?
02:36And I'm like, hey, I'm already making a record.
02:38And so I decided not to go with them.
02:41But I thought Cargo UK might be a good idea in London because they actually imported my first, my debut CD into the UK.
02:53So I've been working with them since the beginning, basically.
02:57So I decided to go with them to distribute in Europe and Asia.
03:03And my label is keeping it in the States.
03:06And then Sing Records popped up and we're like, do you want to do vinyl?
03:12And I'm like, no.
03:14Yes, but no.
03:16Yeah, maybe.
03:17What do you got?
03:18And they were like, they made me an offer I couldn't refuse.
03:21So I didn't refuse.
03:22So I jumped in with them.
03:24And so then I've got, you know, two different entities or three different entities, at least three, maybe four, kind of coinciding with the release.
03:32So it's a little bit complicated.
03:34So right now we're in pre-sale for the vinyl.
03:36And you can get that at MitchMalloy.com, M-I-T-C-H-M-A-L-L-O-Y.com or at SingRecords.com either.
03:45And the pre-sale package includes, I think probably the, well, the coolest thing about it is white vinyl, right?
03:56It's going to be white vinyl and you get a CD with that as well.
04:02Both are signed.
04:04You get the MP3s to download instantly.
04:06Like you can get that right now at this moment.
04:09If you go get the package, there's a signed poster.
04:12I'm looking at the, there's a list.
04:14There's so much stuff that I have to have it in a list.
04:17So it's a pretty cool package.
04:19You get pictures, posters, pics.
04:24The coolest thing is the golden ticket probably.
04:27It's a private concert with me.
04:31So maybe 20 or 15 or 20 of the people that buy the package get a Zoom, a free Zoom concert.
04:40And it's only for them.
04:41That's really cool.
04:42Is it going to end up like the office where it's one person wins all of them?
04:48I hope not.
04:49But, but also I did, I did, I did videos, acoustic versions of some of the songs on the record that are just live acoustic version, video versions recorded here in my studio.
05:01And the, the people that buy the package also get that.
05:05And they're the only ones that get that.
05:06So it's a lot, you know, we, the thing with vinyl is it's expensive to make, right?
05:11So you have to charge a lot for it.
05:14So for us to do that, we want to make it seem, you know, like it's worth it.
05:21So we've just stacked the deck and did all this stuff.
05:24Yeah, no doubt.
05:25I being a vinyl guy myself, I know that.
05:27And it seems like it's weird, but in 2023, bands actually are having to push, push dates of the releases back because the vinyl is not ready.
05:35And this, that, and the other thing.
05:36Yeah, that's basically what's happening here.
05:39We, we had to push the CD because the CD has been done for a long time.
05:45It's collecting dust.
05:48Yeah.
05:48So, I mean, we had to push that back.
05:50So July 7th now is the release date.
05:53You know, it seems like it's been done since July 7th last year.
05:57Well, it hasn't been done.
05:58Well, you brought it up.
05:59So when, when exactly was it finished?
06:02I don't know.
06:03I don't know.
06:04I mean, come on.
06:05A long time ago.
06:07Yeah, it's been done for, I would, it's got to be at least three months it's been done.
06:13Oh, okay.
06:13At least.
06:15Yeah.
06:15So not like ages ago, but.
06:17Gotcha.
06:17Yeah.
06:18So you would, I've asked this of many artists, but you would probably consider this your pandemic record?
06:26Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:28I think I actually started it during that time.
06:32Yeah.
06:33And.
06:34Yeah.
06:35Yeah.
06:37I mean, yeah.
06:38Yeah.
06:39Sure.
06:39Why not?
06:40So, so the record's called The Last Song.
06:42So explain that.
06:43Is that one of the songs on there?
06:45It is one of the songs on there.
06:47It is the last song that I wrote.
06:52The synergy.
06:53That's how I work.
06:54I'm like, I'm like, okay, I have eight, you know, I had pretty much eight songs done, you know, I was like, okay, I need two more songs.
07:04So then I wrote the song that's the single now, one of a kind and I was like, oh, this might be my favorite one so far.
07:12And then I'm like, okay, I got to write one more song and I'm writing it and I'm like, okay, this is the last song as I'm writing this song.
07:21And I'm like, I'll just call it the last song.
07:25And the chorus will be, I'm living my life.
07:29Like, it's the last song.
07:30Ha ha.
07:31Twist.
07:32There you go.
07:33Yeah, nice.
07:34So you didn't have like 20 or 30 songs to choose from.
07:37You just, you wrote the 10 and that's it.
07:40Yes.
07:41Yes.
07:42Yeah.
07:43I, yeah, I don't think I have any extras for this.
07:47Very efficient.
07:49Yeah, there you go.
07:50Streamline.
07:50So you did everything yourself?
07:55Yeah, I made a record a few years, like six years ago.
07:59I had just been, I'm a producer.
08:01So, you know, I've been producing bands, a lot of bands.
08:05And as I'm producing the bands, I'm playing things on each instrument, you know, for the band.
08:12Like if that guy wasn't there and I wanted something to be different, I, you know, how am I going to make that, you know, different?
08:20Well, I don't want to just edit it.
08:21Like I would rather it be, you know, played.
08:24So I'm like shifting things and changing things.
08:27And I'm discovering that I'm doing that on pretty much every instrument.
08:31So it dawns on me.
08:33And I've had friends say to me, why don't you just make records by yourself?
08:36And I'm like, why would I do that?
08:38I live in Nashville, Tennessee, the home of the most talented people on the face of the earth.
08:44Right.
08:45And one of like the best guitar players in the world, I could almost see his house from here.
08:51You know, I mean, so, you know, so it's like, why would I do that?
08:55Like, that'd be crazy, you know.
08:57But so what happened was I had a tour coming up, a European tour coming up and the promoter's like, oh, and by the way, you need to have a new record for this album.
09:07And I'm like, I'm producing.
09:10And so I finished up the last band that I was doing and I just immediately started recording my own record.
09:16And I had I was in a hurry.
09:19So I was just doing everything.
09:20But it was kind of like it happened like that.
09:23Like, I didn't have time to book out people.
09:26And, you know, I was in a real rush.
09:28So I made the Making Noise record, you know, Mad Dash, and I made it all by myself.
09:34And I was like, that's pretty good.
09:37And it sounds, you know, so I learned that I could do that.
09:40So on this one, you know, I live in Florida now.
09:43I'm out here, you know, I'm not in Nashville anymore.
09:47And I'm like, it just makes sense for me to make it by myself.
09:50And and actually doing that, I've I've come to love it.
09:54You know, like I would think a guy like me would hate doing that because I'm so used to using all these amazingly talented people.
10:03So to put it all on my shoulders is like, you know, but it actually is kind of therapeutic and really fun.
10:11Yes, because there's seems to be guys doing it now.
10:14Of course, Dave Grohl did that with their first record.
10:16And but also, you know, Wolfgang Van Halen is a prime example.
10:19Last couple of records he did are pretty much all him.
10:22Yeah.
10:23Yeah.
10:23Talented kid, man.
10:25Yeah, no doubt.
10:26What possesses one to go from Nashville in the music business that you're in to Destin?
10:30Why did you make that move?
10:31It seems like everyone's doing the opposite thing nowadays.
10:35Yeah, Nashville.
10:36I just I've been there for a long, long time and I was just done.
10:39I was there for 22 years and my wife was there for like 28 years.
10:45I think she was also in the business and we're just we just wanted to change.
10:51And Nashville was getting really crowded.
10:53And becoming a city, you know, which it really has.
11:00And that's kind of not what we moved to, you know.
11:04So we've been coming down here to vacation forever and ever and ever.
11:08And I just, you know, I was like, why don't we just move to Destin?
11:11Why don't you know, we can live wherever we want.
11:13Let's just go.
11:14So we are.
11:17Yeah.
11:18Nothing again.
11:19Right.
11:20Yeah.
11:20No, I got you.
11:21So you were talking about like producing.
11:23I know that you work with a lot of different artists and stuff.
11:26Are you still kind of doing that kind of thing?
11:29I don't do as much.
11:30I, in fact, that's kind of how the Great White thing came about.
11:34I because I decided that I didn't want to do that anymore.
11:39And I kind of closed my doors for the studio in Nashville.
11:42And called my agent and said, you know, I know I haven't.
11:48I've said that I don't really have time to do that many shows.
11:51But now I have time to do shows because I'm going to stop doing this producing.
11:56I'm I'm tired of it.
11:58I've been in the studio literally like I've had a studio in my home for 47 years.
12:05Wow.
12:07So so and I would never want it any other way.
12:11I, I don't know what I would do if I didn't have a studio, you know, I mean, like it's
12:16like for me, it's like, I don't know, like water.
12:19But but I, I, you know, but I just was tired of doing that.
12:25Right.
12:26So I still enjoy making my own music.
12:29And, you know, I'm helping some people.
12:31You know, I have a dear friend of mine that I grew up with who wants me to help him make
12:35a record and things like that.
12:36So I'll do some of that, but I'm not really doing that anymore.
12:40Well, tell us some names of people you worked with in Nashville that we would know.
12:47Do I have to?
12:49You don't have to if you don't want to.
12:52Well, there's one that people have heard of, maybe Taylor Swift.
12:55Oh, yeah.
12:56Yeah.
12:56She's here in town tonight and tomorrow here in Detroit.
12:59Yeah.
13:00Murderer?
13:01Yeah.
13:01I actually saw her about 10 years ago.
13:04When did you work with her?
13:05I don't recall.
13:07I feel big time now.
13:08I feel so big time.
13:13It was.
13:17It was the Boys Like Girls single.
13:20Do you remember the band Boys Like Girls?
13:22Not really.
13:23They were on Sony.
13:24Oh, they were pretty big.
13:25They had a couple of.
13:27OK, a couple of top 10s.
13:29I think it might have even been top 10.
13:30She did a duet with them.
13:33So I did a remix of that.
13:37Yeah.
13:38Interesting.
13:39Yeah.
13:39I saw her about, I want to say, 10 years ago, 11 years ago or something in a stadium.
13:43So she's been playing stadiums for a long time now.
13:45Now she's doing, like I said, two shows here in Detroit this weekend.
13:50So.
13:51Yeah, people have heard of her.
13:53Yeah, of course.
13:55Do you keep in contact with somebody like that or no?
13:58No, not really.
13:59No, no, no, I'm not.
14:03I'm not like a person who pursues people like I never.
14:07I never really did that anyway.
14:11But I found that when I was younger, I met some of my heroes.
14:16Like it was like kind of strange.
14:19So I kind of I think I decided I won't meet any more of my heroes.
14:25You know what I mean?
14:25Like I just I don't pursue that kind of thing.
14:28Now, see, I've met I've had the good fortune to meet a lot of my heroes.
14:32And I tell you what, to all of them, they've all been, I thought, pretty, pretty nice,
14:36pretty fantastic, great experiences.
14:38Who are some of the heroes you met?
14:39You don't got to give me your bad experiences or whatever.
14:41But who are some of your heroes growing up that you've had a chance to meet?
14:50You know, I'm going to probably mention some of my favorites.
14:55Kicks was one of my favorites, actually.
14:58Interesting.
14:58Yeah.
14:59Kicks.
15:00I saw them in a club in New Jersey when I first got there, and it was probably the best
15:07band I ever saw in a club in my life.
15:09They are amazing.
15:12And about five years later, I got to open for them.
15:16I'd gotten major management.
15:18I got my whole career going.
15:20And I was able to open for some pretty big acts.
15:24And they were on their way up.
15:26And I was just I was just a baby act, you know.
15:28And so I became pals with them then.
15:32And then with Great White, they would open for Great White.
15:35So I got to see them a lot on the road again, you know, many, many, many, many years later.
15:41But then there was Heart.
15:42Heart was a huge, huge band for me as a kid.
15:47And Wilson was one of my favorite singers.
15:49And I got to meet her and I got to meet both of them, Ann and Nancy.
15:56They played the New Jersey, the big New Jersey amphitheater in Homedale.
16:03I don't know if you know that place.
16:04It's changed names a bunch of times.
16:06I don't know what it's called now, but it used to be the Garden State Arts Center used to be called.
16:10Anyway, I got I had some connections, you know, and I was still pretty young.
16:14And I got backstage and I got to meet them, which is pretty cool.
16:17And Brian Adams.
16:18Brian Adams is probably my favorite.
16:20I got to meet him.
16:21His his drummer, Mickey Curry, played on my first album.
16:26So that's how I got to meet him.
16:28So, yeah, I mean, you know, and those are all good experiences.
16:32It's just I don't know.
16:34Well, not for you.
16:35I'm not.
16:36I don't I'm not in radio, so I don't get to meet everybody like you do, you know.
16:41Yeah, right.
16:42But it's funny you mentioned it, because sometimes I'll say to bands that go, yeah, well, what about this guy or that guy?
16:47And they're like, yeah, we never met him before.
16:48And I'm like, how could you not meet him?
16:49But they're all touring and doing their own different thing.
16:53Yeah, exactly.
16:54I mean, unless you meet them on the road, you know, I mean, which happened a lot with Great White because I was out on the road a lot.
17:00You know, so I got to meet quite a few like Slaughter, you mentioned, you know, yeah, they played with us all the time.
17:06So I became pals with them.
17:08And I had known Mark prior to that, because when I moved to Nashville, I got there just before he did.
17:14So when he moved to Nashville, he saw me at a party and he was like, hey, I'm like, hey.
17:19So we we've been friends.
17:22God.
17:23For decades.
17:25Yeah.
17:25Yeah.
17:26You mentioned kicks.
17:27It's funny because I'm not sure if I've ever seen them live.
17:30I love the band.
17:31And then and then then then when they they announced they're going to be retiring, I've never had a chance to interview them.
17:37So I I don't do this very often, but I reached out to their management.
17:40I just talked to Steve Whiteman a few weeks back and we talked about, you know, their their last show coming up in the whole thing.
17:46So it's it's kind of cool that I got a chance at least to interview him once.
17:51That is cool.
17:52And it's really a shame you didn't get to see them, you know, back when they were on their way up and in the clubs.
18:00Because it was like, I mean, they're great now as well.
18:04And people should go see them whenever they can on this last little bit that they have.
18:09It's sad that they're going out.
18:10But, you know, it's so like it's like that's how you do it.
18:14Like, I wish other bands would follow suit.
18:17Some bands.
18:19Yeah.
18:19It would fall out there playing that maybe shouldn't be.
18:25You know, and kicks is the good ones.
18:29And they're going to, you know, they're like, you know, maybe we shouldn't be doing this anymore.
18:34Let's go.
18:35It's so it's so like I just worship them.
18:38Yeah.
18:39Yeah.
18:39He mentioned something that his wife would not let him go play again.
18:43So this is it.
18:46Well, there you go.
18:48My wife might just call the shots as well.
18:51Maybe.
18:52Yeah.
18:53Well, happy wife, happy life, as they say.
18:55Right.
18:57Yeah.
18:57Yeah.
18:57So, yeah.
18:59Mitch, I'll tell you what.
19:00MitchMolloy.com.
19:01The last song you can preorder it right now comes out July 7th.
19:06Good luck with everything here.
19:07And next time you're in Detroit, you got to swing by and hang out for a little bit.
19:12I'd love that.
19:13Yeah, we'll do that.
19:14Or better next time I'm in Destin, because that would be much better.
19:21Yeah.
19:21Well, you know, just give me a call and we'll hang out, man.
19:24All right, Mitch.
19:25Good luck with everything.
19:25I appreciate the time.