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BulletBoys is an American hard rock/glam metal band that was formed in Los Angeles in 1987. Their first self-titled album achieved platinum status in 1988, and their success continued for several years before the original band members went their separate ways in 1993. Marq Torien kept the band going throughout the 90s and beyond, releasing several albums with various lineups. In 2019, the original BulletBoys lineup reunited, but their comeback was short-lived, lasting only two years before they disbanded again in January 2022. Since then, Marq Torien has assembled a completely new lineup featuring guitarist Ira Black, bassist Brad Lang, and drummer Fred Aching, effectively starting the band anew. I had the privilege of meeting Torien in early March in Great Yarmouth, where the band performed at the Hard Rock Hell -festival. Here is a summary of our lengthy and fascinating conversation, which covered a range of topics from the early ’80s to the present day and beyond.
THE STATE OF BULLETBOYS
Marq, you are now back in Europe after a long break. BulletBoys has experienced quite a bit of turmoil in recent years. You had a short-lived reunion with the original band, but after that, you essentially started BulletBoys again from scratch with a completely fresh lineup. How did this situation come about, and what kind of plans does the band have for the future?
Marq Torien: You’re absolutely right. We did start up and began a reinvention of the band at that time. I’m trying to find the right words for this. Here’s one thing that I won’t do and never have done: I don’t speak disparagingly about people. It’s not in my character. Things that happened before we formed this lineup didn’t work out. And I think that when you’re going to reform something, there has to be due diligence in having a plan and everyone agreeing to move forward with it. For me, I’ve been out here for so many years doing my own thing, and I wanted to create something really special. So, they didn’t want to.
Then, I moved forward. What happened was we had booked a show at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood—my stomping grounds, my home away from home—and those guys decided to blow it up. I don’t cancel shows; I never have. I do as much as I can for my fans, family, and friends. I wanted to retire. I was already working on another project called Secret Weapons of Love. I was getting ready to do an EP, and I had all the music done for it. Ira and our manager Jessica (Chase), especially Ira, said, ‘Listen, don’t cancel the Whisky show. I know some of your songs, Marq. I love you. I’m not going to let you cancel this. We’re going to do it acoustically.’ So, I was like, ‘Okay, we’ll do it acoustically.’ I said, ‘I don’t know if I really want to do that.’ He replied, ‘You have to do it. You can’t let these people down. You never let anyone down.’ I said, ‘Okay, okay, so we’ll do it.’ It went well.
In the next couple of days, he said, ‘Listen, I have a plan. There are so many musicians who would love to play with you. Can we put together a mini supergroup, BulletBoys, to write a new record and put out a new single?’ I was very motivated to push forward. But I thought, ‘I don’t know if I really want to do that.’ I was kind of retired and beaten down from trying to get back with the original members, who just threw it away. It really hurt me that a couple of these individuals in the band, except for my brother Lonnie Vencent, said some really awful things about me. I’m not that type of person; I don’t have it in me to say such things. All of it was falsehoods. I mean, it really was. That hurt me too because I was just like, ‘God, I walked back into this thing, and I really wanted something special to happen for us and the fans. I thought everyone was ready for it, but they weren’t.’ After it imploded, I was the one who took the heat. I saw the comments from people who made a lot of negative remarks about me. What’s ironic is that many of those people really don’t know me personally. I do that on purpose because I’ve been very hurt by people in this business. My heart has been hurt, and, uh, I’m a tough motherfucker, but sometimes you just think, ‘You know, I have a heart too,’ and I’ve been in this for a minute.”
So, I said, ‘Okay, you know what? You gotta pull your shit together, and we gotta do this.’ Ira responded, ‘Let’s start auditioning people.’ He asked, ‘Do you have anybody that you’d like to work with?’ I said, ‘Well, let’s check out who you think.’ So, he put it out there privately to people, and we ended up getting 50, 60, even 70 people who wanted to play. I was just going, ‘Oh shit.’ He said, ‘See, look, look.’ And I was like, ‘God, don’t stop it.’
Finally, we started getting auditions and wanting to audition people. He asked, ‘Well, what do you think?’ I replied, ‘Well, first off, Fred Aching, who plays at the Whisky Ultimate Jams, is incredible. Every time I see him play, he can go from Latin salsa music to hardcore, full metal, and thrash. He can play rock, and he’s just so multifaceted. On top of it all, he’s just rad, sweet, cool, and very low maintenance. Real low maintenance. So, there were all these drummers, and I said, ‘No, I want him.’ He replied, ‘Okay, we can get Fred. Let me give him a call.’ Fred was like, ‘Hell yeah, I’m in now. Oh, my gosh. Thank you. What an honor.’ And blah blah blah. I was like, ‘Let’s go do this.’
Next, we started thinking about bass players. There were so many bass players that I can’t even tell you. It was just a plethora of them, and they were all really sweet and kind. But I loved Brad Lang. He used to play in Y&T, and he has the voice of Michael Anthony. I knew that with his voice and my voice, we could do this. With Ira on the bottom, it was going to be great. They had literally two rehearsals, and I went to the second and third ones. We just started, and I said, ‘Okay, let me come in with you guys and start playing.’ It sounded great. It was at another level. Trust me, I’ve rehearsed with the old guys, and it didn’t sound like that. I thought it would, but when you’re playing with individuals who have high musical qualities, it just brought it to life again for me. It brought both songs to life. I thought, ‘Well, if I can sound this good, maybe we could give it a go.’
I recently saw your show in London, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by how heavy and fresh the band sounded.
Marq Torien: Thank you.
The sound was definitely heavier than before, and the entire band had a fantastic attitude on stage. I believe that was one of your goals with the renewed lineup.
Marq Torien: Yes, very musical. We play at a high level and blow the roofs off of places—that’s what I like to do. But what’s great about this is that we get along like a family, and most bands don’t. We get along so well. People will say, ‘Oh, that’s just a facade. He’s full of shite. That’s not true.’ But it is true. We eat together, sleep together, and everything. There’s this camaraderie that feels weird, kind of like we knew each other in a past life or something. Everybody has their thing, but we all harmonize, and it just sounds amazing.
We started going, and it’s been two years now. Our first show was at the Rock Island Festival, and people were shocked at how good the band sounded. Mava, my agent, said, ‘I was right; you were going to pull this together, Marq.’ He added, ‘And I know you really didn’t want to do it.’ I replied, ‘You’re right.’ But I did it because I love my fans, family, and friends more than I love myself. I’m here to fulfill my purpose from the Lord. I’m here to spread love, light, and goodness. There’s a lot of darkness in the world right now, and BulletBoys has never been about the dark. We’re always about the party.
When you say that after the reunion, things fell apart, you kind of retired for a while. How long did that actually last?
Marq Torien: They didn’t let me retire! They pulled me back into this. [laughter] ‘You’re not retiring.’ I had people calling me, really big artists, saying, ‘I heard you’re going to retire.’ I responded, ‘Yeah, I’m thinking about it.’ They replied, ‘No, we’re not going to let you. There’s no fucking way. You can’t do this. Marq, you look better than all of us. You’re on top of your game right now. You look incredible. You still look the same. You’ve taken good care of yourself. Your voice is soaring. Why would you want to quit?’ I said, ‘Because I can’t stand this business anymore. I just can’t take it.’
People, for all intents and purposes—and I hate to say this—are very egotistical and nefarious in many different ways now. I believe that everybody has agendas, but I don’t have an agenda. Ego is not my amigo. That’s just not me. I’m punk rock, rock and roll, R&B, and soul music. I want to put out great music and be respected for what we create. Unfortunately, many musicians don’t understand that.
For me, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. If I had retired, I would have gone right into teaching tennis. I’m an avid tennis player and have been playing all my life. I was ranked when I was a kid in California and should have actually gone to USC on a tennis scholarship, but I didn’t do that. I went into the music business and broke my dad’s heart. My family’s very musical; my father played with Stan Kenton’s orchestra and side-played with Frank Sinatra’s orchestra when he came to L.A. My mother was an amazing musician in her own right, a fantastic singer. My oldest sister was invited to join the Metropolitan Opera when she was in high school. So, we’re a musical family. I’m very blessed with what God gave me and my talents.
REMEMBERING THE OLD TIMES
What are some of your fondest memories from when you first entered the Los Angeles music scene and met some of your early musical heroes?
Marq Torien: I was just going to tell you a story about when I first met Don Dokken. I was 16 years old, coming up from Monterey Park, where I grew up in Montebello, and taking the bus up to Hollywood. My place was the Troubadour—that was my stomping ground. I would see Don and think, ‘Oh my God, there’s Don Dokken talking,’ and I was there with my bass player from my high school band. One of those days, we got to meet him. I admired him so much because he was such a rock star. He had a leather jacket, a striped shirt, and lots of cigarettes. [laughs] I used to see Stephen Pearcy and Jake E. Lee when he was playing in Ratt, and all these guys had no idea who I was. So, I just came into it. The person who really helped me back then was Kevin DuBrow. He had a band called DuBrow—before Quiet Riot, it was called DuBrow. He had seen me a couple of times, and one night, he walked up to me at the Troubadour and said, ‘Your name’s Marq, right? You play in the band Torien.’ I replied, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘What do you think about opening up for DuBrow? I saw you guys play the other night, and I think you deserve a shot.’
Was Rudy Sarzo in the DuBrow band when this happened?
Marq Torien: No, it was Chuck Wright, Carlos (Cavazo), and Frankie (Banali). I was completely shocked and blown away. I said, ‘Anything, yes. Just suggest anything to me. That would be great!’ He said, ‘Good. I’m asking you one thing, though. Just one thing if you play with us.’ I replied, ‘Anything.’ He said, ‘Don’t suck.’ [laughter] Bro, I was just like, ‘Oh, no, I promise we won’t.’ We were scared to death; we were all young. He was a fabulous person in my life when I was very young, and he recognized my talent.
Another person I first met then was Tommy Lee from Mötley Crüe. We won’t get into the whole backstory, but Tommy was the guy who came and believed in me before a lot of other people did. He said, ‘No, this guy’s one of the badass guitarists; you gotta hear this guy.’ I love Tommy, man; he’s always been just an amazing sweetheart of a guy. Those are the guys I met when I was coming up. Then we’d go to Gazzarri’s or something to see Ratt, Mickey Ratt, you know. We got a chance to see Jake play with Stephen, and Stephen was just unapproachable. It’s like, ‘Oh, fuck that. I wasn’t going to chill with this guy; he’s just so rad.’ Eventually, we all ended up being friends, and I played in the band for a while. Starting up in Hollywood was a whole different experience for me. I never considered myself a Sunset Strip band because BulletBoys were never about that; we started at the Troubadour on Santa Monica Boulevard. We didn’t want to be associated with any of the Hollywood bands because we were from the Torrance area, South Bay. That’s where we started the band.
I think it’s right to say that the big difference between BulletBoys and many other bands at the time was that BulletBoys was always a high-quality musical group.
Marq Torien: Right. We worked very diligently to get to that. Our rehearsals were just ridiculous. Even before Jimmy D’Anda joined the band, the three of us were writing constantly. We wanted to do something nobody was doing at the time, and we worked hard on it. A couple of big producers came up, and we eventually went with Ted Templeman because he was our Phil Jackson, per se. We were very blessed that he came in, but we were driven. I’ll never forget telling people the stories of when Lonnie and I were hanging out—Lonnie’s from Carson. His father, God rest his soul, Big Mike, lived in a trailer park. He had a trailer, so Lonnie and I were always there. I’m telling you, we were piss broke. I drove around in a little green Volkswagen Rabbit with the floorboard out. We barely had enough money for two tacos for 99 cents back in the day. Lonnie’s father would feed us bologna sandwiches and believed in us. He believed in Lonnie and me, and he believed in what we were doing. We would say, ‘Fuck man, one of these days, we’re going to be on MTV.’ And Lonnie would say, ‘Dad, we are going to be on MTV. With your voice, with this and that and the other, Mick. We got this, man. We’re better than all these guys.’ He was the force that really drove us. Lonnie was like the sentry; he would push us and push me.
THE BREAKTHROUGH
When the first BulletBoys album came out, the band received a lot of publicity, and you were a very visible band in the press. I always remember seeing some metal show on TV where they compared you to David Lee Roth. I think you heard it a lot then.
Marq Torien: Yeah, I did.
Did the comparison to Roth and Van Halen bother you at the time because it probably wasn’t something you did on purpose?
Marq Torien: No, it wasn’t at all. I think people just gravitated toward us because we were a four-piece band, kicking ass and taking names with a big attitude, and we were very punk rock. Anyone who looked at us the wrong way—well, we were all known for fist-fighting and knocking people out. And that’s the truth. People were scared of us because we would drink a lot and didn’t mess around. We were real about what we did.
So, you were a dangerous band, in a way?
Marq Torien: Not in a way. We were a dangerous band. Some people did not want to mess with us. They wouldn’t even talk—especially Lonnie. Don’t look at this guy the wrong way because he’ll knock you out. Plus, we were drinking a lot, and it was just a whole other thing. But we were very loving to each other at the time and very loving to our fans, and we had a goal in mind. Jumping forward, that’s what we have right now. We’re trying to create the type of music that isn’t present in rock and roll today. When I say that, I mean party music. When you listen to a record, you want to crank it up like a Van Halen record or something from The Who or the Stones. We’re a different band. We’ve always been like that. Currently, we’ve been working on a double album. We’re really into it, trying to finish it up. I believe that we’re going to release our first single in the next two to three months, probably in the summer. We’re also working with my mentor, Kerry Ashby Gordy Jr., who is Barry Gordy’s son. He came back into my life again, and we started talking. It was like, “Hey, what are you guys doing? Let’s cut a hit.” I said, “Let’s do it.” So, we’re back in the studio, doing it the old-school Motown way—putting it together and taking it apart.
This is real, real. I mean, this is a labor of love. People go, “Yeah,” or “Whatever, Marq. You’re so full of shit.” But I’m not. I personally need an album out there in rock and roll that’s going to make me fucking happy. Just something that’s like, “Oh, man, that sounds great. This reminds me of the times when music was uplifting, still dangerous but uplifting.” A lot of the music right now sounds very… there’s no heart. There is no light. We’re taking the time, so when people hear it, I’ll play a little something I have on my phone. We’re taking that time so when it comes out, people will say, “Fuck, Marq. Motherfucking BulletBoys, man. How did they do this?” Right? It’s going to be like that for a lot of people. In fact, I played it for some of my high-quality musician friends, and they just looked at me and said, “Fuck you, man! What are you talking about? It’s your voice; the fucking band’s crushing.”
When you said that you’re now making a double album, it doesn’t make sense, but I still like the idea.
Marq Torien: Yeah, I know people think we’re crazy, but crazy is what crazy does, right?
Do you have a record label already?
Marq Torien: We have a label that, God willing, we are going to sign with, but all the particulars are going to—
Let me guess… it’s Frontiers?
Marq Torien: Yes, yes. We are working on something, most likely with a production company. We’ll see how it goes, but we’re just trying to finish up everything we have right now and get it to a certain point. A lot of the vocals are done; some of them aren’t. I want to come in and sing some of the lead vocals in their complete form. We’re adding different things. Just like that, we’re really working hard on this new album, and we want to drop this new single within the next couple of months. That’s all we’ve been doing. We’ve been touring for two years, playing everywhere in the sun. I really wanted to come out here and bring the guys because I haven’t been out here in six years. This is a foot in the door for us. We haven’t been out here in a while, so, like you said, we’re rebuilding and kind of starting over again. But with starting over, there are a lot of amazing opportunities that we didn’t really have before because you have what we have now, and it’s a whole other thing. It’s heavier, it has more light, and the show is better. All four of us together as a whole, we just kill it. The biggest thing is that it’s a lot of fun.
I have to say that it’s admirable that you have always wanted to create something new, unlike many bands nowadays. You don’t want to be limited to being just a nostalgia act.
Marq Torien: No. Ever. I wasn’t taught that. I was always taught to create new music: keep writing and always put out something at a high level. New music is the lifeblood for me in this business. I don’t want to sit around and do songs from 1991. We will do them, but we’ll do them in a different way—sounding the same but with more conviction and a bigger sound to make it more 2024.
NEW GOALS
After releasing three studio albums, the original BulletBoys lineup disbanded for the first time in the early ’90s. However, you later continued the band with different lineups and released six more albums. Looking back, what is your opinion of those records now?
Marq Torien: I love those albums. They’re great. 10¢ Billionaire, Sophie, From Out of the Skies, and especially Elefante—I worked diligently on the songs and writing. I wrote all those albums on my own and brought in people who wanted to perform and go into the studio to do these things. But this is way different because we’re writing together, and the process is easier. Ira has written some amazing songs for this. I’ve written songs, and Brad came in and finished some bass parts for a couple of songs. He’s just amazing. We have all the material, and there’s just something about this album that I feel is going to do very, very well for us. I want a number one top ten Billboard hit on rock radio, and that’s my goal.
That’s a good goal.
Marq Torien: That’s my goal.
But hey, nothing is impossible if you believe in what you’re doing.
Marq Torien: No! Listen! How is it impossible? Everyone said, “Marq, you’re crazy. You’ll never get to England. They don’t want you there.” I said, “Really? Let’s check this out. I think we will.” Manifestation. Get there. Speak it out into the universe. Let the Lord take over—let go and let God because that’s how I roll. But it’s just like that with us. These opportunities come one after another. It’s been really, really great for us.
Anything is possible. A good example of that is the latest Ace Frehley album’s great success in the States.
Marq Torien: I believe that. He was in KISS. Yeah, that’s good for him, too. The record sounds like KISS; it’s rad. It’s good stuff.
Have you heard the entire album yet?
Marq Torien: I’ve heard some of it, yes. I just want to make a quick shout-out of love to Steve Brown, who produced the album. I love Steve very much. So, if you hear this, Steve, I love you. Kisses to you. I’m so proud of him. He and PJ worked their butts off.
CARMINE APPICE TALK
Before you, Mick Sweda, and Lonnie Vincent formed BulletBoys in 1987, all three of you briefly played together in Carmine Appice’s band, King Kobra. Can you share some insights about that period in your career?
Marq Torien: All respect for Carmine. He says some things that are a little trippy, a little obtuse, a bit. I read an article in which he said a bunch of stuff, and I don’t even really want to get into that. But I think he might have a little Alzheimer’s creeping in because I don’t remember any of the things he’s talking about. What is he talking about? It’s like, oh my gosh. But no, he’s… I think he said something like our songs were average, and we wrote those songs, and they were supposed to be King Kobra songs, but we didn’t even have those songs when we were in the band. I was just a scab guy. None of those songs were written at all. We wrote all those when we left.
It’s, you know, it was like, “Hey, what do you got? I got this. Oh, I got this, blah, blah, blah.” And yeah, you know, I have a lot of respect for Carmine, but sometimes I wish he would spread a little more love and be a bit more respectful, which I always try to be. I will never do an interview and talk badly about somebody. Yeah. I won’t do it. I just will not do it. It’s not me. I’d rather uplift people. But I love Carmine. You know, he says some weird things sometimes, but hey, he can do that. He’s Carmine, you know.
And he loves to talk.
Marq Torien: Oh, yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah.
That’s kind of awful stuff. But when I talked with Mick, he told me same kind of stories—that Carmine is an interesting case.
Marq Torien: Yeah. I mean, Mick was in King Kobra. He had the poodle hair and did the whole thing with those guys. When he met Lonnie and me, we were just not about that. When we joined the band to play with them, you know, we were just like, what’s going on with this thing? Carmine’s ruling with an iron fist. So we were like, “Nah, we’re outta here. We have plenty of music. We’re going to start another band.”
MUSIC PROJECTS OUTSIDE OF THE BULLETBOYS
One interesting aspect of your career as a musician is that, after forming BulletBoys, you have had several kinds of solo projects, but you have not joined any other bands full-time, at least, not to my knowledge. Is that correct?
Marq Torien: I wrote a lot of different music for different people and for different artists. I’m kind of like Steven Tyler; I’ve never left BulletBoys. Steven Tyler never left Aerosmith. It’s always been about Aerosmith for him, so I know sometimes it’s like that. But I do have a lot of music that I like. I’m probably going to be doing a solo album or an EP here very soon. I think it will probably be at the end of the year, and I guess I can let the cat out of the bag: I’m working on a project right now. I’m very humble about what I do. He is a huge legend— Robert Trujillo—and I know you know who he is from Metallica. He asked me to do a new project with him, so we’re working on that right now. We cut a track, and I’ll probably start finishing it up in the next couple of weeks.
But for Robert to call me and want me to sing in his project was quite an honor. Robert is my number-one favorite bass player ever. You know, he’s an amazing man, just such a sweetheart. I love him so dearly. I was very emotional when he called me because I don’t get those calls very often. I get people talking about my musical skills and that I’m at this really high level, but I never get people calling me. It was hard for him to find my number; he couldn’t find anyone to get it. He goes, “Dude, you’re not a name, my man. I couldn’t find anybody. Does everybody know him? Can I get Marq’s number? I need him to see. Come on, let’s go.” So, it’s been fun working with him. We didn’t really know each other too well, but through certain people—his best friend and Ira helped get my phone number to him. I just love chatting with him because he’s one of the most down-to-earth, loving souls I’ve ever been around. He has a big heart, and he’s all about music. I think that’s why we click; I’m the same way.
Do you have a name for that project?
Marq Torien: No, not yet. I’m really excited about that. His writing partner, Armand, who has actually worked with him, and they’ve had this stuff for a couple of years, told me they had a couple of singers, but the guys just kind of fell out and didn’t really want to do it. I was like, “Well, how is that possible with what I’m listening to?” He goes, “I know, see, because you know what’s up.” I said, “Yeah, dude, gimme that mic. Let’s go.” The first time he played me the song, we were in the studio, and I asked, “Do you mind if I start singing some melodies?” He goes, “Oh, please,” so I started singing some melodies, and he’s going, “Oh shit.” You know, he was just going, “Yeah. Yeah.” So, it’s just one of those things. It’s a side project for him—a labor of love. I’m really excited about it. I’m really, really looking forward to it; it’s very funky. It’s very funk-oriented, with a little bit of punk rock and a little bit of R&B, but very funky. And now RT’s playing in Infectious Grooves again, so I will see him when I get back on the 27th, and I can’t wait to see him play. I just love it. And his son—I might give a shout-out to his son’s band, OTTTO. They’re one of my top five favorite bands right now. Are you familiar with OTTTO?
Yeah.
Marq Torien: Those kids can throw down. I saw them live, and I was just saying, “Okay, I like this. These guys are dangerous. They’re not scared, you know?” They get out there and do their thing.
I think that answer is a perfect way to finish this interview. Thank you so much, Marq!
Marq Torien: You’re awesome. Thank you so much. We gotta do it, right?
