BULLETBOYS singer MARQ TORIEN says: ‘I’m working class, hard hat and lunch pail’

LOS ANGELES — Once among rock’s top young attractions, BulletBoys are hanging tough, or at least Marq Torien is. He’s the singer, the straw that stirs the drink, and Torien is still around in the wake of the other three originals all doing other things.

And though Torien, like all of us, has had his ups and downs through the years with personnel changes and a swaying market climate, the Southern Californian has a fresh bounce in his step thanks to a new CD called “Elephante” and a series of upcoming summer tour dates.

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METAL SLUDGE: Hey Marq, I see your part of the Cathouse celebration at Irvine Meadows on August 15. I think it’s cool all these bands that would otherwise never get to play in a big arena-style place, they get to play at Irvine Meadows.

MARQ TORIEN: Irvine Meadows is awesome. It’s going to be really fun. I’m really ecstatic to be playing on the main stage. We’re one of the only bands that’s actually played there before.

It’s nice of Riki Rachtman to give all these bands a chance to play a big place.

TORIEN: It’s just amazing. He’s an amazing cat. It’s going to be a magical night for all of us. I feel so blessed, so excited about it.

Now, do you know Riki all the way back to the Cathouse days? Please tell me you’ve pulled at least one beautiful girl out of the Cathouse back in the day.

TORIEN: Oh absolutely. Come on. I will say this, hats off to and kudos to all the cats and Faster Pussycat, too, and Taime (Downe). We’ve done a lot of touring with them the last couple of years, and Taime helped start that whole (Cathouse) thing. When there was no place left to go, Taime was like, “Come on down to the Cathouse.”

It will always be Irvine Meadows to me. Even when they changed it to Verizon, it was still Irvine Meadows to me, you know what I mean.

TORIEN: Yeah, totally.

Just like Universal Amphitheatre. To me it was always the Universal, not Gibson Amphitheatre.

TORIEN: Totally, dude. Everyone still called it Universal. Now the Forum re-opened, though, and it sounds amazing. I’m so happy that place is open again.

Did BulletBoys play the Forum?

TORIEN: No, we never did. We played Long Beach Arena and Santa Monica Civic and Irvine Meadows a couple of times.

Well, you also did stadiums with Bon Jovi on the “New Jersey” tour. Now that’s a real fuckin’ tour.

TORIEN: Oh, he was amazing. Every night, it was a dream come true.

So your new album, “Elephante,” has come out, and it looks like you’re getting some nice reviews, some good feedback, a little buzz going — which isn’t easy these days. But this “Elephante” project, we had actually talked about in Sludge in January of 2014 (click HERE), and at that point you were hoping to finish it soon.

TORIEN: It wasn’t ready yet. It had to be right. I’m so blessed and ecstatic. I couldn’t be happier, the reviews we’ve been getting in various outlets, the interviews. You never what’s going to transpire, and I don’t live in the past. This record is a labor of love.

I’ve listened to some tracks. It’s pretty heavy.

TORIEN: We wanted a real record, not linear but with peaks and valleys. A diverse musical side.

You know, I was thinking about what it’s like to play big shows, like this Irvine Meadows thing that’s coming up, and it seems to me that once you reach that level of success to play arenas every night, it must be tough not doing it anymore, almost like obsession. Do you long for it?

TORIEN: I don’t. I’m working class, hard hat and lunch pail. I have no illusions of grandeur. Those shows now are few and far in-between.

Well, let’s put it this way: Until you’ve done it, it must be hard to explain what’s it like to someone who hasn’t.

TORIEN: Oh it is. It’s like baptism by fire. Our first two arena shows ever were with Cheap Trick, and they were gigantic back then with the “The Flame,” and from there it was with Cinderella, and that was two years with “Long Cold Winter,” nothing but big arenas with Tom Keifer playing his grand piano and snow falling and all these effects.

I saw you jamming “Rock Candy” at the Lucky Strike jam in Hollywood. You were good.

TORIEN: Oh thank you. I don’t really do a lot of jamming, but they asked me. “Rock Candy,” I had actually laid down that track for “Wayne’s World.”

Oh, I was in the movie. I was an extra.

TORIEN: Oh yes! You were!

With Happenin’ Harry and Waddy Solomon. We’re all in that movie.

TORIEN: Yeah, that’s really cool.

The new record came out in June, and you’re doing a bunch of tour dates, doing Eddie Trunk. It’s going to be a good summer.

TORIEN: It’s doing really well.

You’ ve got all these people working for you. Who are you getting all this money from?

TORIEN: Just good hard work. I’m just blessed. It’s amazing. For all intents and purposes, I’ve just created these relationships, some of ’em with movers and shakers. So go figure. Throw in some musical prowess, and here we are. We just did our first video, a huge video with multi cameras. We had Ivy Ferguson in it. She’s a Playboy playmate. When you see it, it’s going to be so rad.

A video? I still don’t know where you’re getting all this money, Marq.

TORIEN: I’m being blessed.

Hey, did you see Donald Trump wants to run for president?

TORIEN: I love it. I love his shows.

You’re a fan? I like ’em, too.

TORIEN: Oh yeah, you’ve got to be a fan of Donald Trump. He’s everything people love to love and love to hate.

Lot of ugly stuff going on the world right now, you know? Lots of bad news.

TORIEN: I just don’t think people have a lot of faith in themselves right now. It’s hard to do, I mean, just to have faith in each other. You try to talk, to scream and yell, and it’s really difficult in today’s world. In business, too, they’re such great communicators out there, but they really need to communicate with each other. No disrespect. I’m not trying to say the slightest thing weird, just that people should say “good day” to each other and apologize to each other and everything like that.

This is good stuff, Marq. Tell me about the guys in your band.

TORIEN: Well, our drummer is Shawn Duncan, and he’s a crusher. He’s a man’s man, a very close confidant. My guitarist is (like) my brother, Nick Rozz. He’s been with me for six years, and we’ve been all over the world together. He’s got a punk-rock attitude. He’s been wronged in his life, so he’s got a chip on his shoulder but a lot of love in his heart. I really dig him. And Chad MacDonald on  bass. He’s like an encyclopedia of rock through the ages but a musician first.

Pot is legal now in California. 

TORIEN: I love that. I was hoping they’d legalize it because it would be great for the state.

You still smoke?

TORIEN: Every once in a while, but I’ll be honest. I haven’t drank or done drugs in 28 years.

Really?

TORIEN: Yeah, I stopped that many, many years ago.

There’s a water drought in L.A.

TORIEN: You know, I think people are finally realizing we live in desert climate, and they’re just realizing that now.

Do you watch the tv show “The Bachelorette”?

TORIEN: No, I think it’s too scripted for me. I don’t know.

Well, do you have any dating advice?

TORIEN:  Oh my gosh. Just find someone that’s your friend first, like a real friend. I think that makes a good relationship even before fooling around.

And like the movie “Fast Times,” when it comes to making out, whenever possible put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV.

TORIEN: Whatever you’re feeling, go for it.

You always loved to write songs about sex like “Smooth Up” and “Hard as a Rock.” Are you still red-blooded, or are you more angry now with your lyrics?

TORIEN: We have groovy stuff, I love to use that word. Some stuff on the record is very sexy, actually, like “The Villian” and “Superhuman Girl”. The lyrics may be a little more sinister, a little burning, but it’s all me. You know, on this one chart we’re  No. 40 with a bullet.

A bullet for the BulletBoys. That’s perfect.

TORIEN: Yeah, we’re charting with this record.  One site with got a 10 out of 10 on this record, and another one 9.5.

This is unbelievable. I love this.

TORIEN: I know, it’s crazy. It’s out of left field, but there you go. I tell you what, I’m blown away.  We have 27 dates, starting on July 5, a headline tour with L.A. Guns and Paul Chapman from UFO opening. We’re doing a record-release party with Joe Sutton in the beginning of July. And I’m finalizing a bus.

You’re in a bus? I have to keep asking, where are you getting all this money, Marq?

TORIEN: Oh my god, everyone is just rallying around us. It’s a slow-moving process, but people are gravitating. We’re doing good, bro.

Gerry Gittelson can be reached at gspot@metalsludge.tv