By Eileen Fortner, Contributor

[Photo courtesy of Kelley Lach]

The Talk Show Hosts are a grunge rock band made up of vocalist Molly, drummer Jace, guitarist Zach and bassist Josh. The Talk Show Hosts were one of four bands that played at the 2024 ACRN Battle of the Bands. After the show, I was fortunate enough to get to speak with the very enthusiastic band about their creative process, influences and what the future holds for the Talk Show Hosts. 

[This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity] 

Eileen Fortner (EF): You’re riding a high right now, I bet. So after your performance, how are you all feeling? Any lingering feelings?

Molly: I feel good! I feel good – I’m tired! 

Josh: I feel pretty good.

Zach: I feel like, I don’t know. I feel like if I jumped off of The Union, I’d Probably Survive. 

Molly: Yeah! The adrenaline is high! 

Josh: Alright if you’re familiar with Dave Portnoy, anybody out there. I’m Feeling a 7, 7, 7, 8 right now. Not the worst, not the best. Feeling a good 7, 8. Niche Reference. 

Molly: I don’t get it, I don’t get the reference. 

EF: So what was the deciding factor in entering Battle of the Bands? 

Molly: I think we did it! I think we just did it! 

Zach: We saw this was going on, and we were like, “Let’s do that!” And so we applied. 

Molly: This is our first Union gig and we really wanted one under our belt, so we decided this was the time to get ourselves out there. We’ve been working on originals for a while. 

EF: Can I get a little history of the band? How did you guys come together? 

Zach: We were a six piece originally, but it wasn’t working out. So, me and Molly had been writing like crazy pretty much the entire time we were formed. Over the summer we got something together with J- scoop [pointing to Jace]. And yeah, I don’t know. We just enjoyed playing with each other and it worked out, so here we are. 

Josh: And then they found me! 

Zach: Well you reached out to me and- 

Molly: Yeah we found Josh on the streets!

Josh: Yeah, yeah, we found a bassist. A homeless bassist somewhere. 

EF: Love it! Where does the name ‘The Talk Show Hosts’ come from? 

Molly: Okay I’m gonna be honest, and I didn’t tell them this upfront. It’s from a Radiohead song. I’m a huge Radiohead fan and I was trying to think of a name, and I was scrolling through my main playlist. And I was like, “Oh, you know what. That would be good.” I always looked up names on google to see if they were trademarked and I was like, “HA! No one’s done this yet!” Thank you Radiohead. 

EF: How would you describe your sound to someone that has never heard you play before?

Zach: Um, like prog rock with a pretty hard edge. 

Molly: I’d say grunge. Grungy, alternative rock. 

Josh: Yeah, the prog.

Zach, Molly, and Josh: The prog! 

Zach: But also, very melodic. 

Josh: You have a primus style bassist, so… yeah. 

Zach: Jazz fusion guitarist. 

Molly: To sum it up, like grunge alternative rock. But we’re kinda weird with it. You know what I mean? 

Zach: We’re Talk Show Host core. 

Jace: It’s very eclectic. 

Zach: We’re eccentric.

EF: What musicians do you all look up to? Is it individual, or is it everyone as a whole? 

Josh: Okay, we’re both [pointing at Zach] Mike Portnoy– 

Zach: Anybody in Dream Theater. 

Josh: Anybody in Dream Theater. John Petrucci, John Young. Besides that, Geddy Lee and Les Claypool. I don’t know about you guys. 

Zach: All the jazz fusion people, as well as jazz players like Guthrie Govan.

Josh: Guthrie Govan too!

Zach: Matteo Mancuso, um Greg Howe– 

Josh: Andy Timmons. 

Zach: Andy Timmons, Frank Gambale, a lot of jazz cats too. Joe Pass, George Benson, I can go on and on man. I’m sorry, I’m done! I’ll pause! But Eddie Van Halen too, I gotta throw that out there. 

Molly: I’d say Jeff Buckley is my biggest inspiration. Just his melodies and his lyrics, he’s super dramatic with it and I f— with it heavy. 

Zach: Yeah, the very eccentric harmony of Jeff Buckley. 

Jace: I don’t really have anyone specific, I just kinda collect things from all over the things I listen to. 

EF: So when it comes to your original songs, what’s your creative process? 

Molly: Honestly, Zach goes, “Hey listen to this guitar riff,” and I’m like, “Great!” And we’re all like, “Great!” And I either have pre-written lyrics or I create lyrics off of a vibe. But, Zach just writes a crazy melody with a crazy time signature and crazy key signatures, and I’m like, “Wow!” And we go from there. 

Zach: It’s a little strange at this point because a lot of these originals are carried over from before where we are now as a four piece. So a lot of it’s just stuff that I had and arranged, and these guys jump in. But that’s not to understate anything that they do. 

Josh: We just cobble a little something to what you got! We cobble something together, we find that crazy s—, and then [Jace] throws a beat and I have to somehow do notes plus beat on top of your bulls—. 

Molly: It’s difficult sometimes, for sure, but we get it! 

EF: What is next for you guys? Are you releasing music? 

Molly: Yeah, we plan on being in the studio at some point. And then we have a gig in two weeks here, at The Union again. 

Zach: For Benefest, yeah. 

EF: Any final thoughts? 

Zach: Yeah! Follow @thetalkshowhostmusic on Instagram!