BULLETBOYS Frontman Says He Is Open To Playing More Shows With Original Lineup

BULLETBOYS frontman Marq Torien, was interviewed for a recent episode of Steve Mascord's "White Line Fever" podcast. You can now stream the chat using the SoundCloud player below. (Note: The Torien interview begins around the 26-minute mark.)

When asked about the reunion of BULLETBOYS' original lineup — Torien on vocals, Mick Sweda on guitar, Lonnie Vencent on bass and Jimmy D'Anda on drums — for a one-night-only New Year's Eve weekend show on December 30, 2011 at Hollywood, California's Club Vodka at the legendary Key Club on the Sunset Strip, Marq said, "It was a wonderful, wonderful night — a magical night. It was for one night only, to get together for the fans right before the New Year."

He added, "I love Jimmy and Mick and Lonnie — very much so. We're all like brothers; sometimes we're feuding, sometimes we're loving, sometimes we're not talking. But we made some amazing music together. And it was just a wonderful night, man. And hopefully we'll be able to come, at some point, to some resolve in the future to hopefully play some more shows. I know I'm open to it. I know I would love more than anything to continue on with it with my three other mates."

Regarding Jimmy D'Anda's recent Facebook posting in which the drummer claimed that "Marq wants to continue to tour and record without the original members of the band so that he can maintain 100% control of the name BULLETBOYS," Torien said, "Jimmy's statement was a complete falsehood. Basically, he wasn't being honest, not only with himself, but with our fans."

He continued, "I penned a letter to all three of my mates to talk about doing something in the future, and Jimmy just never really read the letter and just decided that he was going to air dirty laundy out in public, and myself, Mick, Lonnie, we've never done that with this band. It was very hurtful, because I was trying to be very open with my feelings with the letter . . . I also mentioned that I wanted to create something for our fans and our friends, which would be something new musically.

"I don't like to go out and constantly play old music; I don't think it's fair. I think if you're a band, you need to come out with something a bit special for your fans, as good as it can be, and there's a lot of different things that I'd like to do before we start playing again.

"I happen to own the name of the band. There's other people in other bands that happen to own the name of their band. For whatever reason, the guys trust me with the name of this band, and I'm supposed to be handling it in the best way that I possibly can, and that's all I've been trying to do.

"Anything I've been saying about Jimmy D'Anda, I just want everybody to know that I've known Jimmy since he was probably about 16, or 15, years old. And to me, he's always been the greatest drummer that I've ever worked with. But sometimes when you get older in life, sometimes it's harder to trust people, and when that trust isn't there, or maybe they don't want to trust or they're scared to trust, it's a big thing, man. It's really hard to walk back into something.

"I know that Lonnie is going to be playing some shows with me. I spoke to him a couple of days ago. I'm hoping that Mick comes and plays some shows. I spoke to Mick about possibly producing the new BULLETBOYS record. He's very, very open to it. I think he's an amazing engineer and singer/songwriter, and amazing person; he has a heart of gold. Extremeley, extremely talented, and the best guitar player I've ever played with ever in my career."

BULLETBOYS was one of the prominent bands in the flourishing Hollywood metal scene during the late 1980s, with numerous smash hits such as "Smooth Up In Ya", "For The Love Of Money" and "Hang On St. Christopher" off the group's platinum-selling classic self-titled debut and follow-up, "Freakshow", dominating both MTV and radio airwaves.

"White Line Fever" podcast featuring Marq Torien interview:

Performance footage from December 30, 2011 Key Club concert: