HOT SPRINGS NATIONAL PARK, Arkansas — Hot Springs’ favorite band, The Molly Ringwalds, will return March 17th to rock the crowd immediately following the First Ever 22nd Annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade on 98-foot Bridge Street.
“Fans love the Molly Ringwalds,” Visit Hot Springs CEO and parade founder Steve Arrison said. “They’ve kept crowds rocking at the parade before, and they’ll do it again as soon as the parade ends on March 17.
“The concert is free and open to the public, and the Molly’s will deliver once again the good-time vibe that surrounds this great little parade.”
The band will join a stellar lineup of entertainers announced previously, including celebrity grand marshal actress Valerie Bertinelli, official parade starter hip-hop legend Flavor Flav and the legendary band Grand Funk, which will perform a free public concert March 16 the evening before the parade.
The parade annually attracts crowds of upwards of 30,000 people to watch an insanely zany collection of Irish Elvis impersonators, marching units, floats, dancers and the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, as well as other unique units cover the 98-foot length of Bridge Street.
The Molly Ringwalds are making a career out of the music of the 1980s. A New Orleans band loved in Baton Rouge, the group specializes in the songs of such ’80s acts as Duran Duran, Boy George and Culture Club, Flock of Seagulls, David Bowie and Adam Ant.
Band members also perform in costumes and makeup inspired by the era when Prince, Michael Jackson and Madonna ruled radio and MTV launched stars.
It all started in late 1999 when singer, guitarist and synthesizer player Sir Devon Nooner and three other guys formed a band named after actress Molly Ringwald, star of the now classic John Hughes films “Sixteen Candles,” “The Breakfast Club” and “Pretty in Pink.” Guitarist and singer “Platinum” Randi Wilde joined the band about six months later.
The current Molly Ringwalds lineup, together for 21 years, also features singer and synthesizer player Dickie English, drummer Sir Liam Thunders and bassist Lord Philip Wang.
The choice to play ’80s songs was an easy one.
“We grew up with that music and we loved those bands,” Wilde said. “Duran Duran, Depeche Mode, Def Leppard, things like that.”
The group played ’80s music in the early 2000s even though the music was out of fashion at the time.
“This wasn’t the cool thing to do,” Wilde recalled. “It was musical suicide to play ‘Girls on Film’ when everybody was listening to grunge rock. But we wanted to be different and we wanted to believe in what we were doing.”
Echoing the preponderance of British acts during the 1980s, three members of the Molly Ringwalds moved to the United States from Sheffield, England.
“Our families came over for jobs and whatnot and we ended up playing music together,” Wilde said.
Early on the Molly Ringwalds played in mostly empty venues.
“We had an audience of just a few blokes in New Orleans,” Wilde remembered. “Lafayette was even worse. Nobody. We’d do our makeup and the hair for two people in the venue. We had a hard time taking ourselves seriously at that point.”
But things began turning around, albeit not in the band’s hometown.
“In those early years, we weren’t really hitting in New Orleans,” Wilde said. “But then we got up to Baton Rouge and it started to take off. To be honest, we owe everything that we have to Baton Rouge. If it wasn’t for Baton Rouge’s belief in us, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
For more information call Steve Arrison, 501-321-2027.