There was always a guitar lying round my house as a kid growing up. It’s hard to say when I went from making noises with it to actually trying to play it but I’d say I was around 12 or 13.  My Dad showed me a few chords and bought me my first electric guitar, I was away.

Pretty soon there was a bunch of long haired kids round my house on a Saturday afternoon, smoking cigs, drinking cheap cider and attempting to rip off Nirvana songs. We were all into that whole scene of the early to mid nineties, trying to piss off our parents as much as possible.  I’ve never been interested in playing anyone else’s music and using my limited knowledge of the guitar I’d try and write songs. 

Up until I was 18 I played in 3 different bands. We gigged around the Birmingham music scene and drank a lot under age. My taste in music became more varied and I was listening to everything from Nick Drake to Public Enemy. Albums like “The Bends” and even The Beatles ‘”White Album’” changed the way I wrote music that can still be heard in our songs now.

In 1997 I went to University. Not a good time for me. I drank solidly for the next four years.

I was in Japan for want of something to do, when in 2002 a friend of mine wanted to get a covers band together. I hadn’t played with other people for about 5 years and he needed a drummer to complete the three piece and I agreed for a laugh. We played some Hendrix. Beta Band, Supergrass, a right old mix.  At work I’d met this big fella called Bruce who said he could play the drums, and as I was struggling to sing for a whole gig and keep rhythm we asked him to join. I moved to guitar. I wrote a couple of originals for the first time in ages but then the other two lads moved back to the U.K leaving me and Bruce.

I went to his place on a cold January afternoon.  We cleared a space on his floor, sat down and wrote the song ‘History’ together. Molotov was born. Kengo answered an ad on a music shop wall and we were a three-piece playing a kind of raw punk/rock. Though I was writing profusely at this time we were missing something.

Around 9 months after the band started we played a show at a friend’s birthday party. After the show this guy came up to me to complement me on the show. He also said he played guitar. We arranged a jam and Dave added the missing ingredient.

I’m continuing to write Rock songs as I always have done but also like to experiment with other stuff from Hip-Hop to Punk.  I write about things around me, made up conversations, past experiences, people I have known and all kinds of other things that go through my head.

I was born in Rugby England and had an average boring life. I moved a few times with my family although I spent most of my life living in Coventry. It was here at the age of 15 that I started my musical (not quite yet a) career. A friend asked me to play drums in a band with him and having no idea of how to play drums I decided that this would be a good idea. It took me all of about three weeks to master the basic drum beats and then we split up because we were crap.

I played with several bands so as I would't spend too much time studying and actually gain a proper education before I somehow made it into University. I think this was maybe a clerical error made by the board of education. I then proceeded to waste four years of my life watching Jerry Springer and cartoon network and playing Mario Kart.

I managed to graduate University, presumably by the mistake of another clerical error, and went back to Coventry to work in a bank and play the drums some more. After a year I realized that I would never get a decent job in the UK as people could tell that although I passed Uni I really wasn't the type of person that was cut out to have any sort of responsibility. So, I moved to Japan.

Here I spent another two years of watching cartoon network before I met Pete, who is still trying to convince me that cartoons are for children. He told me that he had a band and I asked if he wanted a drummer. I joined and our friendship started. I also get out a bit more nowadays.

I’ve always been in love with music. I remember as a really young child listening to records and the radio at home with my mom. Everything from The Beatles to the Doors, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Blondie, Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, The Who, and countless other bands. My earliest memory of actually seeing somebody play an instrument in front of me was watching my Uncle Sam jamming on his bass along to James Brown and Earth Wind and Fire. I remember seeing him and thinking, “this is amazing, I want to do that!” Unfortunately, my life as a musician only consisted of pretending I was playing songs, using one of my uncles’ broken basses, along to records with my cousin in his room. Seed planted. I always thank the two of them in my head for opening my ears to so many different styles of music, and keeping my musical tastes open to such a wide variety of musicians.

My first go at playing an instrument was when I picked up the trumpet in the third grade of elementary school. Unfortunately, the only success I had was in driving my neighbors crazy, and giving my nana a good laugh as she watched (or should I say heard) me, walking down the hill from school trying to play that trumpet. I got so frustrated at not being able to read music, or play, that I gave up. Luckily my love and desire to hear and play never disappeared, and I spent the next eight or nine years playing AIR guitar.

My next go at playing was when by chance I met a bunch of guys in a park in Boston one day. They were a bunch of guys from Elma N.Y. who had come to Boston to play the local scene. I went to visit them one day shortly after that and I met up with Shawn Gauthier and Brian Quinn. I was so excited to be meeting guys who actually played in a rock band. Shawn told me that he played drums and Brian played the guitar.

I told him that I really wanted to learn how to play the guitar, but I was a lefty, and it was tough to get a cheap left handed guitar. As it turned out, he was a lefty, and he showed me one of his guitars and let me hold it, and I swore to myself that day that I would get a guitar and learn how to play it. Being the great guy that he was, Brian put together a guitar for me from spare parts he had, and I was on my way.

Shortly after that I ended up living with those guys and that’s when I started to really learn about playing, making, recording, and living music. I haven’t stopped since and can’t imagine I ever will. My love for music is inexpressible in words. I owe so much to those guys, especially Brian, who always let me play his beautiful vintage fenders and play through his gear, and was always patient in answering my endless questions about the guitar.

When I was twenty, I moved to Japan and have played in a couple of different bands and with a wide variety of musicians, playing all different styles of music. It was all fun and a great learning experience, but the music I was playing didn’t feel right and I just wasn’t happy. One night, I went to a friend of mines birthday party and I saw a band that kicked me in the balls. I sat there in a daze watching this three piece band that had so much raw power. It was exactly the kind of music I had been dreaming about playing. When they finished their set I went to congratulate them on playing some of the best rock and roll I’ve ever heard. I told them I played guitar and they told me they had been thinking a bit about getting another guitarist in the band and ended up inviting me for a session. I guess the rest is “history” as those guys who invited me into their world were Pete, Bruce and Kengo, my brothers and band mates.

My earliest memory of really getting into music was when I was about 6. I put on the Band on the Run album dad gave me, moved the stereo speakers so they were facing each other about a foot apart, and then laid down with my head between them and put a cushion on my face. Weird! I can’t really explain why except maybe I didn’t want any of my other senses to interfere with the next 40 minutes of my life. Headphones probably would have done the trick.
 
I had played, or tried to play other instruments when I was growing up, but my love for the bass started after I had left home for uni. This was right at the start of grunge. I loved that music, the scene, the fashion, and the attitude that went with it. I would go and see bands as much as I could, and I just wanted to get into a garage with some friends, get trashed and make noise. Some of my friends played the guitar, so that wasn’t an option for me. I really started listening to music and dissecting it, and what I kept hearing was the bass. After seeing the sick bass playing in local bands like Reguritator, Pangae, and Powderfinger, I knew what I wanted to do. My birthday was coming up, so I told everyone in my family I just wanted money so I could buy a bass. That money and my dismal savings bought me my first bass. I started playing every spare moment I had, even though I didn’t have a proper amp. Being the ‘povo’ student I was I couldn’t afford one at the time. In my first band, I used to share the guitar amp with the guitarist. For all of us, I think the band was mainly just a release and learning experience. We would get drunk and make a tonne of noise, and a little bit of music, and just have fun. My initial goals of getting trashed and making noise were fulfilled. I was a happy bass player, but was also ready for the next phase.

I started out learning grunge songs and anything a little on the heavy side. Bands like Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Ministry were huge influences at that time, but as soon as I heard the funky slap coming out of a friend’s Primus CD, I knew that was the next step in my development. I could always dream anyway. Les Claypool is in a league of his own. I also got into Jaco, as many bass players do, and for a long time he was the man! Very big contrast to the grunge and rock I loved playing and listening to, but so impressive.

I stopped learning funk and jazz when I started a band with two of my mates in Brisbane. We were a heavy rock band and only played originals. I played with them for 2 years until the drummer decided his calling in life was pastry. He headed off to do his baker’s apprenticeship, and that was the end of that band. Good times. When I finished my degree, it was time for me to take off into the world again. I came to Japan and fortunately met the guys from Molotov u.s.k. When I saw them play, I thought they were awesome. I chatted to the guys after the gigs I saw, and was so surprised 5 months later to receive a phone call from Pete asking me if I was interested in trying out for the band. The first jam session was wicked, and although I was a little rusty after not playing in a band for so long, it felt right. The guys are incredible musicians and great people. The music feels amazing to play and the gigs are a blast. Keep the good times rolling!

 

DAVE LEONARD (Lead/Rhythm Guitar)

PETE LYON (Vocals/ Guitar)

BRUCE WINCHESTER Drums/Vocals

ROB MCKAY Bass