Freshman Featured Interview
The place where we feature Singer-Songwriters, Bands & Instrumentalists who record and/or perform with our instruments.
As Freshman Guitars have developed & evolved as a world renowned musical instrument brand for nearly twenty years, the most uplifting thing for us is the positive impact our instruments have had on musicians all over the world, inspiring them to make great music and from across a wide array of genres. And talking of great music, we chat to another fine musician, Singer-Songwriter Molly Anne from Molly & The Moon, who hail from Gloucestershire. England. Molly has played Freshman guitars for many years.
Molly says...
"I first picked up a guitar when I was 10 years old. I wanted to be just like my idol Billy Joe Armstrong of Greenday and hadn’t discovered my singing voice yet. From that point I spent every moment I could between school lessons tinkling on the battered old guitars in the music block at my school and learning old punk rock covers to play with my friends. My first show was when I was about 11 or 12 and I played a handful of Greenday covers to about 10 people in a field at my local festival - I had a blast "
Q: How long have you been playing with the band and Is it always the same people or does the line up change at all ?
"Molly & The Moon is more of a concept than a set band. There’s probably about 7 of us involved in total but the main core of the group is Andy #1 (double bass, guitar, vocals and just about every other instrument you can imagine) Andy #2 (my dad, on percussion) Beth (clawhammer banjo, double bass, vocals) and myself. We have several other members including a fiddle player (Jules Miller) a drummer (Jason Titley) and a handful more collaborators that dip in and out. That’s the beauty of the moon, it goes through phases. Sometimes we’re a half moon sometimes a full moon, it’s a bit of a joke we share in the band."
Q: How does the songwriting process work and do you collaborate with other musicians?
"If I’m totally honest my songwriting process is rather erratic. I’m trying to improve my consistency and have taken lots of creative writing and songwriting courses to iron out the creases, but I’m the sort of artist that will write something breathtaking in an hour and then have months of garbage. For me it’s about inspiration - alot of my songs are inspired by travel and natural imagery, something that has been stunted by the lockdown."
Q: When did you first start using Freshman guitars ?
I bought my first Freshman when I was 15 and performing in my first serious band (Inkerman Street). It was a beautiful guitar I bought from my local music shop in Dursley, Gloucestershire and had a really sweet tone to it. The guitar I was using before I bought off a hippie at a festival so I was looking for something more serious, with the capacity to plug in and I stumbled on Freshman. I fell in love with the intimacy of the brand and felt my first little guitar really sang along with me. I still have her somewhere, gathering dust probably but I’d never sell her - she means too much. I have a new Freshman now and I’d never buy a different guitar brand. It feels like she was made for me."
Q: Do you also perform solo as well as with the band ?
"I do perform solo too, I’m due to play The Greennote in Camden as soon as life gets back to normal and that will be a solo show. I’m different on my own."

