Waterfall marks the third chapter in a remarkable international partnership between noted veteran Italian guitarist/songwriter Dario Mollo and Glenn Hughes, the former bass player/vocalist for Deep Purple and it is a record that demonstrates that virtuosity and rock and roll vibrancy knows no borders.
Released under the band name Voodoo Hill, Waterfall sees Mollo at his melodic shredding best, and is arguably some of his best work. While Hughes, who has undergone an incredible renaissance in recent years through the Black Country Communion and California Breed projects, is singing as well as he ever has with a power, range and emotive intensity that harkens back to Purple’s Burn and Stormbringer era.
In a recent interview with Music Life Magazine, Mollo talked about the partnership between he and Hughes and how there always seems to be some amazing music coming out of their collaborations.
“The agreement to do the first Voodoo Hill album [self-titled and released in 2000] had been made before our first meeting. My manager contacted Glenn asking him if he wanted to sing on my album. Glenn asked to listen to the music first, and then he agreed,” said Mollo.
“Glenn was one of my favourite singers. I loved Deep Purple Mark III; for me it was a dream come true. It’s a real pleasure to see Glenn recording. He’s a real genius. He can sing an entire album, including backing vocals, in a couple of afternoons and his songwriting is amazing too. Glenn played the bass also on a couple of songs from the [second Voodoo Hill] Wild Seed of Mother Earth album. He’s a very nice guy with huge talent. It’s just a pleasure to work with him and there was no stress at all.”
Thanks to technology, much of the collaboration was done online with Mollo sending Hughes partial or completed musical tracks.
“Glenn then writes the melody and the lyrics. After that he comes over to my studio for the final recordings,” Mollo said.
Besides his work with Hughes, Mollo was an integral figure in the early 1980s Italian metal band Crossbones, before going on to release a string of solo and collaborative albums. He wrote, recorded and toured three albums with former Black Sabbath frontman Tony Martin in a project called The Cage. Their first album came out in 1999 followed by The Cage 2 in 2002. A decade later, The Third Cage was released. Moll also toured with former Rainbow, MSG and Alcatraz singer Graham Bonnet.
“It’s a completely different experience working with Glenn. Glenn is fast, while Tony takes a lot of time to write the songs. He wants the best melodies. And with Graham I have only played live shows,” he said when asked what the difference was between the three experienced and acclaimed artists.
Voodoo Hill’s sound definitely highlights the best elements of the heavy melodic rock genre and Waterfall is an album that has a uniquely dynamic range throughout the 11 tracks. It is undoubtedly also a showcase for two gifted musicians, allowing them to strut their creative stuff.
“I never plan how an album sounds. I try to write the best possible songs in the most natural way. The final result is always a surprise for me. I hope the listeners get all the work and passion that we have put into this album. It took a huge amount of time to achieve the results in the production and sound of the album,” Mollo said, as he talked about some of the individual songs.
“All That Remains is a similar kind of song to the one that opens the first Voodoo Hill album, Sensitive – it has a Van Halen flavour. The Last Door is one of Glenn’s favourites on the album. I had rewritten entirely the riff to better fit the vocal parts and at the end it became a totally different song. Evil Thing has a Kiss flavour to me and it’s very catchy. My favourite is Underneath and Down Below – I’m very proud of this song.”
While Mollo is doubtful that he and Hughes will be able to share a stage and tour as Voodoo Hill due to both of their busy schedules, he did say that he is hoping to put a band together and tour material from the breadth of his career, including Voodoo Hill.
“And right now I am mixing a new project with a fantastic singer – Carl Sentence (Nazareth, Don Airey),” he added.
In the interim. Voodoo Hill’s Waterfall is available worldwide in hard copy and digitally through Frontiers Music. For more information, visit www.dariomollo.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
