“This journey began over four years ago, and after all the blood, sweat and tears I put into creating my debut album, I am beyond excited and proud to finally unleash Exorcism to the world. This record expresses my personality better than anything else ever could, and the energy and passion on it are going to hook you the moment you listen to it.” ~ Living Dead Girl frontwoman Molly Rennick.
We heard Living Dead Girl and was immediately hooking in based on the music and Molly Rennick’s powerful voice. Then, we saw the music videos for the song “Alive” and “Poltergeist.” You would have to be blind not to notice that Rennick is a very attractive young lady who oozes sexuality. If you’re going to let that be the only think that you take away from the videos then you’re really missing the bigger picture. The visuals are a very strong part of this band, but they are a powerful compliment to the equally strong sonic layer to this band. This girl has one helluva set of pipes to slay any pre-conceived ideas that she’s just another “hot chick fronting a band.” She’s a rather intriguing combo of Avril Lavigne and Marilyn Manson. Yeah, that one probably has you scratching your head, but if you take the time to carefully check Living Dead Girl out, then I guarantee you that you’ll be going “oh yeah.”
We sat down with Rennick just a few days before the release of her debut album for a chat. We talked about the making of the album, the importance of visuals in her musical journey and where her musical journey began. I highly recommend that you check out the band’s debut album Exorcism which can be purchased here (https://livingdeadgirl.ca) and streamed here ( https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/liv…).
Growing up, what kind of kid were you? Were you the class clown, or were you the shy introvert?
Molly Rennick/Living Dead Girl: I’ve always been extremely extroverted and I’ve always loved performing. I was always the first kid to sign up for every talent show, any school play, or just anything where I could dance and be in front of people.
I started modeling when I was 10 years old, so I was always going to tv auditions, commercial auditions, and fashion shows. When I was younger, I actually used to make tickets and charge my full family. They started at like $1 but ended up going up to $10 after years. I used to set up chairs in my bedroom and make my family watch me sing Avril Lavigne albums front to back. (laughing) So that’s the kind of kid I was.
Oh my goodness. Wow. That’s pretty awesome. That’s a first.
I loved performing! It was a big thing I did every Christmas or whatever, I’d put on a concert for my family.
Wow. That is so awesome. So, you were doing the modeling thing. How did you transition from performing in your bedroom for your parents to an actual real music career?
Honestly, it took so long because it’s the kind of thing you can’t do by yourself obviously. I played a few shows by myself. I’d play acoustic, and I even did a few when I was a teenager that I’d just play shows to a karaoke track because I didn’t have a band. So I always wanted to do it, I was always trying to make a career for myself. For the longest time it was so hard for me to find band members. It just took a long time to find the right kind of people who
I was always ready to go out and play shows, but I needed a guitarist and a bassist and drummer and everything. I’m from a really small town, so it was hard to find people. It’s not like I live in a huge music city and musicians are a dime a dozen. I had to post ads on Facebook and stuff just so many times looking for people to work with me. It really started happening when I was 17 yrs old and I had my first official band and we would practice in my basement. I didn’t actually start playing shows in a band until I was 18. So like four years ago.
But what you were doing four years ago. How close or how similar was that to what you are doing now?
Even now, we’ve come a long way in four years. I was just working with a local producer who was just one of my friends who was writing music in his living room and recording it on his laptop. We were just playing small bars, local bars around town. But things didn’t really get real for me until I reached out to Mitchell Marlow, the producer who did our album in Los Angeles.
Absolutely no hate to the local producer, but I knew what I wanted was only going to come from working with someone on the level with Mitch. I knew if I wanted to play with those leagues I needed a producer that plays in those leagues.
So I waitressed 60 hours a week to save up and I went to Los Angeles. It was 2 trips, one for almost 2 months and one for like 6 weeks. I just rented a condo in L.A. and worked as much every single day. Wrote and recorded an entire album. I just knew if I wanted to get it off the ground and get where I wanted to be, I needed to do something that dramatic. You know what I mean? It’s never going to happen making music in my friends living room. I need to go to L.A. and pay a huge producer to work with me.
So the visuals play a very big part. I’m the type I can listen to a singer-songwriter doing an acoustic set on a barstool or something, but my brain seems to be more captivated when there’s visuals behind it. So that was a big part of what struck me about what you’re doing. The visuals seem to be very important to you, from your look, your band members, and everything. Was that also a transformation over time? Or did it come from working with Mitch?
That was a transformation over time. I’ve really changed the look so many times, I like to try everything and see before I completely rule it out. There was a point when I had my band members all wearing masks, and I was the only one not wearing a mask. There was a time when all of us were white-color contacts, but we had to scrap the idea because backstage at shows I was holding my band members eyes open so I could stick contacts in them. (laughing)
We used to cover ourselves in body paint, which we got all over our instruments and made a huge mess. I’ve had so many ideas and we’ve tried pretty much everything to get to the look we have now. We’ve crossed so many things off the list.
But I’ve always loved fashion and I could do graphic design, photography, I’m very into visual art and designing outfits and everything. So I basically just use my band members now as my Barbie dolls. For the “Alive” video, I set up a fashion designer and got them custom made shirts. I love that just as much as the music. I think the visuals are just as important at this point. People look and judge before they even listen.
When you’re up on stage, I’ve gotten some comments and criticisms from people saying like “Oh, why are you half naked?” Things like that. If we came out in sweatpants and I had no makeup on and my hair in a bun? You would just decide that I’m awful before I even start singing. You have to look cool, that’s so important. (laughing)
That’s true. I mean, you look at a lot of the greats through out history and they did catch your attention. Whether it was shocking you in some way, and over time it maybe settled down a little. But then the talent rises to the top.
Yeah. For sure. Getting people’s attention in that way is so important. People form an opinion before they even listen to it. If we all just shut up and my band is in cargo shorts and t-shirts, and I was in sweatpants or yoga pants. They’d think these guys don’t look like rock stars and not even listen to it.
As far as the videos go. I’ve watched “Poltergeist” so many times.here’s just so much to see in that video and it’s different. With so many people just doing a lyric video, or just a straight performance video, you’ve put a lot of time and effort into the full music video. Was that your vision? Did you work with the director and let them know what you want to do?
I like to have as much creative control in absolutely everything I can. For the “Poltergeist” video, I think I actually contacted the director about my idea for it in January and we shot it in March. So we planned it for about 3 months. He and I kept talking on the phone, we were making vision boards and sending pictures back and forth with ideas. It was just a lot of back and forth creative collaboration. Even when the editor was sending us the first cut, I’d send back a huge list of things I wanted changed. I always try to be as involved as possible.
Once I have a vision in my head, I want it to be exactly like I have it in my head. There was definitely a lot of creative planning beforehand. We had the full thing completely mapped out before we even went to film it.
That’s interesting. With that being said, I’m kind of curious about working with Mitchell Marlow. There’s nothing wrong with an artist and producer, or artist and bandmate butting heads. Was that easy for you to kind of turn over the reigns to Mitchell and let him drive this?
He actually let me have a lot of control over it and I was surprised with that. Going to work and having not met him before, I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know if he was just going to do his own thing basically. I didn’t know what to expect.
He actually let me have a lot of input, which was great. I think us working together worked so well because he let me have my say on things. I’d say “for this song I want the energy to be like this, the emotions to be this” and he’d start playing a riff on a guitar. I’d either say “yes I like that” or “no I’m not feeling that,” he would really listen to me and let me have my opinion. Which is why part of working with him was just so great.
Sounds like he got it, what you were going for.
Yeah.
You don’t always hear that with a musician and a producer. Sometimes you think you’re going to go with this big name producer and then they get into doing the sessions, and the producer takes them another way. It’s very refreshing to hear you saying that about him. That’s pretty cool.
Yeah. I’ve had managers in the past and I’ve had offers from record deals. A lot of the times those kind of people try to tell you to do this instead, or you better change this. I’ve never responded well to that. I don’t like being told how to dress or what kind of music. I’ve had people I’ve worked with in the past say “less singing, more screaming” I’ve had people try to completely change my vision before.
I’ve never responded well to that. It’s my music, it’s my self expression. At the end of the day, I’m going to do whatever I feel like doing.
Being somewhat of a perfectionist when you started recording this, was there any song that was maybe tougher than the others? To get it to that final product you had envisioned?
I think the first song that comes to mind would be “Beautiful.” That song I had a very specific vision and I knew what I was trying to talk about, but it was a pretty difficult song to write. Long story short, that song is about the dangers of becoming addicted to things like plastic surgery and cosmetic enhancements. I wanted to write a song talking about it, but the way we had to write it I had to make sure it was clear enough that people wouldn’t take it the wrong way. So that they wouldn’t think I’m body shaming or I’m making fun of anyone, or anything like that. So I remember when I was in the studio working with Mitch on that. I had the idea and the concept and I was showing him my lyrics. And we had to kind of rearrange things a bit. The way that we did the vocals, we kind of had a playful add on the vocals, so you can kind of tell it’s a satire, almost sarcastic. We kind of had to keep playing around with it and make sure the message was being delivered properly. It felt like something that could be taken the wrong way if we weren’t very specific with it.
Gotcha. I should have asked this one before. With the image and everything, like with the video and people asking you why you are half naked in this video. How do you handle a response like that when people are questioning the image that you have with the sexuality?
You have to have such a thick skin to be any kind of artist or performer. But I feel like especially as a female fronted band, you know you’re going to get more hate than anyone else. It seems like there’s so many guys out there that don’t want women to be singing. You’re going to get those kinds of comments, it’s inevitable. You can be the most talented female vocalist on the planet, and you’re still going to get those kinds of comments. You have to have a thick skin and just understand this is not personal. This guy is going to say that to anyone that’s like me.
But I also kind of figure, I’m damned if I do, I’m damned if I don’t. If I came out on stage dressed super conservative and completely covered up. People would say that’s boring. She’s a prude. Whatever. You’re going to get a reaction regardless of what you do. You might as well just do whatever you want and then confidently rock it. You can’t please everyone. Make it your goal to just please yourself and do what you think looks best. I’m comfortable and love dressing the way that I do like in the “Alive” video. I’ve modeled for so long, I’m completely desensitized at that kind of stuff.
I figure if I just came out wearing a turtleneck and pants, people would say “Oh I paid to see a show.”
The album is coming out on June 11. With everything opening back up, are we looking at possibly doing some live stuff? What’s the next step in this whole process?
At the moment, we do have a virtual concert planned. We haven’t announced it yet, but we are planning it right now. We’ll be doing a virtual show this summer. Unfortunately we live in Ontario where the lockdowns are now being extended until December. If you leave your house, people will call the police on you here. It’s ridiculous. So we don’t expect to do live shows in Canada any time soon. But we’re going to go ahead and do a virtual one. We’ll be playing an empty theater with no audience, but we have a videography team that will be filming the whole thing, and we’re just going to sell virtual tickets so people can watch online.
That’s the first thing we’ll be doing after the album comes out. And we also have another music video shoot planned as well.
Cool. I did not realize that about Canada. Things are starting to open up here, sometimes I think a little too fast.
Yeah. Ontario has gotten so bad, I’m actually getting the paperwork to move to the States at this point. We’re planning to move to Nashville because we’re under the impression nothing may ever happen for us staying here.
We normally end these things with something we call “3 For The Road.” They are three kind of fun questions to learn a little more about you and who you are. First off, who was your first celebrity crush?
I actually don’t know. (laughing) I remember when I was younger I was never into like every girl my age liked Justin Bieber and stuff. I liked the singer of Black Veil Brides. I’m gonna say Andy Biersack probably.
Nice. Super cool dude, I like him. Do you have any pet peeves?
Um. I have a lot of them! My biggest pet peeve is if I can hear someone chewing. I think that’s probably the biggest.
Oh yeah. I can relate to that one. Last one, if music was over today and you had to go into professional wrestling, what would your pro wrestling name be? Would you stick with Living Dead Girl?
Yeah. Probably Living Dead Girl. (laughing) That’s my name for everything at this point. It could say it on my driver’s license.
Interview by I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price
