Infidels singer Molly Johnson does double-duty on current tour with Tom Cochrane

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON NOV. 1, 1991

By Steve Newton

Showcasing your band for a record mogul like I.R.S. chairman and visionary Miles Copeland can be a daunting experience at best, made even more scary if the guy’s in the foul mood when he enters your rehearsal space.

But Toronto’s Infidels overcame that challenge, used their music to soothe the savage beast, and walked away with an eight-album recording and publishing deal.

“Miles came to our rehearsal in the pouring rain,” recalls Infidels singer Moly Johnson. “He was very hungry and quite grumpy, and we had to take him down an alley where this drunk was peeing in a corner. It wasn’t the best circumstances to see a band, that’s for damn sure. But we were in a little room with him, and played really loud and tore his face off. And he loved it.”

One of the tunes that got the cranky label chief cranked up was “100 Watt Bulb”, the current single and video from Infidels’ self-titled debut album. It’s a funky, hook-laden rocker about death on the mean streets of Anytown, a gritty, dark tune that, according to Infidels guitarist and co-songwriter Norman Orenstein, evokes images of a Martin Scorsese film.

“Norman does a lot of soundtracking,” says Johnson, “and he loves atmospheric music. He’s the kind of guy that will tape the audio of Taxi Driver and sit on his back porch and listen to it over and over again. And we kind of write in moods, rather than, ‘Is this a rock tune?’ I try to write a lyric that’s open and ambiguous, where everybody’ll feel something in it that they’ve experienced.”

The Johnson/Orenstein partnership goes back a number of years, and both musicians have made their individual mark on the Toronto scene. As well as scoring for feature films and TV, Orenstein produces independent acts. Johnson did a lot of jazz and R&B gigs, venturing down from her loft above the Cameron House Pub to sing for her rent.

“We were sort of around the same musical scene in the early ’80s,” she says, “playing in R&B, cover-type bands. But we both had the same kind of goals–to write our own songs–so we gravitated to each other that way.”

The duo’s first collaborative project, a band called Alta Moda, released two singles–“No Town” and “Julian”–but didn’t achieve much else. Now Johnson and Orenstein are taking a full-fledged shot at success with Infidels and are opening for Tom Cochrane at the Orpheum this Monday and Tuesday (November 4 and 5).

Johnson met Cochrane at the wedding of Murray McLauchlan and MuchMusic veejay Denise Donlon last year, and sang on fives tunes on his new album, Mad Mad World, which she performs with him when her own set is done.

“I do Infidels then go smoke about four cigarettes, have a cup of coffee, and hit it with him. So it’s gonna be a gruelling tour, but I’m bringing my cocker spaniel, Sophia, who’ll be great company on the bus.”