Molland, Solem & Miller Know You Can’t Recreate Chuck Berry’s Magic
Punk Head: The collaboration began with a benefit performance at Willie's American Guitars in Minneapolis. What do you remember about those first sessions, and what was it about the chemistry between Joey, Phil, and you that made you want to keep going?
Phil: Our friend Nate Westgor (aka Willie) had Joe and me jam for at least one anniversary party he threw for his shop. Might've been two or three, but they were loose jams and there were spirits involved, which affect the ol' memory sometimes!
Joey and I always had this vibe that we shared in our guitar playing, like a kindred thing, so that's why Nate asked us to become a duo for one of his big events. When we'd done our set, that's when Jeff introduced himself. He had been Joe's agent at the time and wanted to book us... and include himself in the shows as our opening act!
We started hanging out quite a bit over dinners and at various clubs and had a lot of laughs.
Jeff: Until Phil and Joey were asked to do the Willie's Guitar party, I hadn't met Phil Solem. Joey asked what I thought, and I was very optimistic that it could be great—which it was!
After the show, I said we should take this duo out on the road. We did, and as agent, road manager, driver, and opening act for The Driftbenders, it was magical and a lot of fun. Just the three of us with three acoustic guitars and all their hit songs!
Those were the days when the chemistry and ideas for projects like this started to materialize. Joey and I kept jamming and refining the idea of a tribute album to Chuck Berry.
Punk Head: The Chuck Berry tribute took approximately 15 years to complete. How did it evolve from a shared enthusiasm into a 12-song recording project, and did your relationship with the material change as the years passed?
Jeff: The 15-plus years that we developed both the concept and the songs themselves really started to materialize after I moved from Minneapolis to Green Bay and Phil moved to Nashville. We had to put in a lot more effort to proceed with the project and keep our friendships and connections going.
The material only became more defined and refined as the time led up to going to Nashville with some 40 songs that we had been passing back and forth for consideration.
Phil: Well, Jeff likes to say it took 15 years, but that was just us talking about doing it someday! We actually got together in October 2022 for two weeks to start recording.
As for the relationship with the material changing, I don't think it ever did. We just rocked out on the tunes, and each version would be a bit different from the last. It was mostly improvising and going off the rails a few times, which would occasionally lead to interesting arrangement ideas we wouldn't have gotten by talking about it.
It was organic. We didn't go into it with any real preplanned things. Oh, apart from Joe wanting to meld two songs together in "Johnny B. Goode," and he changed the phrasing to a more bluesy kind of arrangement.
There are some quirky things that happened, and that's why it has a certain charm, in my opinion. Lots o' soul.
Punk Head: Chuck Berry's songs can seem deceptively simple because their essential ingredients are so recognizable. How did you decide where to remain faithful to the originals and where to let your own musical personalities come through?
Jeff: By combining elements of playing these songs from all of our early band days and finalizing the best and simplest takes on the chosen 12, we were able to keep the essence of each song.
Then, by having each of us sing lead vocals on different songs, we could meld the music with each of our own musical personalities.
Phil: Well, considering Chuck himself would mess around with his own arrangements throughout his career, we felt it was our duty to do them however we happened to play them, and not try to emulate his versions. At least that's how I saw it.
We took a lot of liberties, and I hope Chuck would be okay with that. He's the one and only him, so that magic is not replicable.
Hey, we all know what happened to Keith Richards...!
Thankfully, Chuck was only guiding us from beyond, and we could feel it.
Punk Head: The single features Joey on lead vocals. When you hear his performance now, what stands out to you about the way he inhabits "Johnny B. Goode"?
Phil: It sends shivers down my spine. He lived that song. I feel like HE'S Johnny, or that he became possessed by Chuck telling the story. It's riveting.
Jeff: On this particular track, Joey takes "Johnny B. Goode" and simply does it Joey Molland style.
He literally takes the bridge from "Bye Bye Johnny" and inserts it into "Johnny B. Goode." They're one of the first examples of how Chuck Berry, as a writer, could connect two songs—another writing trick the Beatles would use quite a bit later.
Punk Head: Tribute albums can sometimes become exercises in preservation, keeping a catalog available for another generation. What did you want this album to communicate about Chuck Berry that a retrospective or playlist couldn't?
Jeff: We really wanted this record to show the younger generation just how progressive and masterful Chuck Berry was in the early days of rock and roll.
That's why we used the latest studio and live recording techniques to give the songs a very modern feel without losing any of the essence and beauty of the original tracks.
For the older fans, we wanted to show the love and respect we have for Chuck Berry, his music, and his lyrics, with our modern-day spin on them for everyone's enjoyment.
Phil: Ultimately, that his songs are timeless and can be interpreted in every possible style and still be Chuck Berry songs, regardless of how they're done.
I hope this record represents that concept.
Punk Head: After 15 years, the album is finally moving toward release. When listeners reach the end of these 12 songs, what do you hope stays with them?
Phil: Again, it's only been four years since we started tracking it!
But to your point, I'm hoping people want to keep listening to it and find some gems that maybe aren't heard in a single spin.
While mixing it, I left all the oopsies and raw stuff in there, 'cause it's real.
Joey really got to me when he said, after a take, "This is the closest I've ever felt like I was at Sun Studio making a real rock 'n' roll record."
THAT is what this was all about to us.
Jeff: Upon hearing the record, we hope listeners will have an even greater appreciation for Chuck Berry and share in the joy that we felt making it.
And we hope it stands as a final farewell tribute to Joey Molland, who really was the catalyst from the beginning, some 15 years ago.
He and I would sit with a couple of guitars and jam Chuck Berry songs, trading stories of our encounters with Chuck, his influence on us, and his music and life.
