Marq Torien and The Bulletboys Visit Dayton; New Interview
Friday, August 5, 2016 at 12:01AM 
I recently interviewed Marq Torien of the Bulletboys for The Dayton City Paper. The band is coming to Dayton, Ohio this weekend and is also gearing up to work on a new album. The full article is below.
There’s a lot of chaos in the world around us, from terrorist attacks to deadly mass shootings to an increasingly divided political scene. Sometimes, something as simple as a shared bond over a favorite song or band can build a bridge between different groups of people.
For the BulletBoys, their shows and music are a gateway to bring people back together again.
“I use music as a means to bring people together,” BulletBoys singer and guitarist Marq Torien tells theDayton City Paper. “We’re not a band that discriminates against any color or sexual preference. We love everyone that is walking this planet. We show them love and we have a diverse following. We don’t take ourselves seriously, but we do want to bring joy in the world.”
The BulletBoys will play their first show in Dayton in six years at Oddbody’s Saturday, Aug. 6. The stop is part of the Long Hot Summer tour, which will see the California-based band zigzagging across the country through most of August and September.
“I’m so blessed because we do shows and people say, ‘I was so down and I came to your show and it was uplifting.’ We kind of try to bring some love to each other. I know it sounds weird from a hard rock band, but we want to open doors for everyone who comes to see us,” Torien continues.
The BulletBoys are flying high these days. Best known for their 1988 self-titled debut with hair metal songs like “Smooth Up In Ya” and their cover of the O’Jays hit “For The Love of Money,” the band has kept on chugging, writing new music and evolving their sound. Their most recent release, Elefante, came out last year and was both well received and much heavier than other BulletBoys albums. Now, the band is celebrating a new two-album deal with Frontiers Records. For Torien, Elefante was the catalyst to landing the new recording contract.
“I really think that Elefante, for all intents and purposes, did well for us. We’re really grateful to our friends and family for really pushing that record and for everyone in our camp. I think that album really opened the eyes and ears of Frontiers. They loved some of the new material I’ve been writing for a new record. That basically got us our deal.”
The BulletBoys won’t head in to the studio to record their new album for a few months. Torien has been working hard, writing new songs and readying content for the recording studio.
“These days, it is about getting a record to flow. People are starting to listen to full albums instead of just piecing each song. A lot of music is just linear, especially in the rock world. I like to have peaks and valleys. Like the albums we grew up with back in the day. It makes things fun to listen to when talking about a whole record.”
Torien’s goal with the band’s new record is to create a sonic experience. He encourages music fans to listen to full albums from the top to the bottom. That way, you get to understand the full prowess of the artist when it comes to songwriting and really enjoy the melodies and meanings of each track. The end game, of course, is to create long lasting music, just like the band’s ’80s heyday.
“I think the quality of the music in the ’80s was exceptional. It’s long lasting,” Torien says. “People really want to see a performance and a performance that’s not riddled with samples. I really love the plug and play of the old school.”
The frontman promises an old school rock performance in Dayton. The band doesn’t use tapes to help with backing vocals – what you see is what you get. There’s also a promise of high energy, since Torien swears his BulletBoys play every show as if it were their last. They don’t stand in one spot and they sweat, too!
“I sweat down from my hair to my shoes. I put my all into it and we’ve gone full circle as a band,” Torien says proudly.
Finally, Torien says he can’t wait to get back to the Buckeye state. In addition to Dayton, the band will also play a stop in Cleveland during this tour:
“There’s been times when we haven’t had a place to sleep and Ohioans have opened their homes to us. We’re so glad and excited to be able to play Dayton again and to make it an awesome, joyous occasion.”
The BulletBoys perform Saturday, Aug. 6 at Oddbody’s, 5418 Burkhardt Rd. in Dayton. Tickets start at $10. Doors open at 7 p.m. for patrons 18 and over. For more information, please visit bulletboysofficial.com.
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