Photo courtesy of Bartosz Madejski

We start at the very beginning. “My dad came to the UK from Nigeria, sent with a big trunk full of belongings to get educated at an English boarding school”. Eventually he met up with Molara’s mum and the pitter-patter of Molara’s tiny feet would soon follow.

They kept in touch with family back in Africa though, “My cousin married Fella Kuti and my first visit to Nigeria coincided with Fella being released from prison. He did a big coming out gig at his club the Shrine and we were privileged to be able to sit right next to the stage during his set, our family were very close. I can remember Femi Kuti being interviewed live of radio five so I phoned in and said ‘why is that I have to go through the BBC to speak to my cousin’, which was quite funny. We do get together and perform occasionally.”

Live @ Endorse It In Dorset 2006 (Ig Pic)

With such a musical background, it is no surprise that she followed in her family’s footsteps. At 18 she worked in France for a year then she became lead singer in legendary Glossop combo 'The Mambo's' for a couple of years. After studying Drama and French literature at The University of East Anglia, she eventually moved to the metropolis. “I was living in London and doing stuff with Shaka Dances. Originally Neil’s girlfriend sang vocals with Zion Train for the Power One single but in 1991 Nicky Ezer introduced me to Zion Train and the rest is history! I moved into a flat and Zion Train were around all the time. Colin and I got together almost from the word go.”

Eventually the whole Zion Train outfit moved to West Wales setting up base in on a farm with their own studio, but things were not to last and in 2006 Molara and ZT parted company. Neil Perch continues with The Train from Germany, but Colin and Molara have remained in Wales. (click here for a recent interview with Colin)

With the Powersteppers, doing her Sighourney Weaver (circa Ghostbusters) impression, Narberth 2009 (Ig Pic)

“I do miss London a little. After we first moved to West Wales I hated even visiting but I quite like going to visit now. I would never take my kids there to live, people in London have a different outlook on life and I don’t want my kids growing up with that city mentality. I love my kids, they are the most important thing in my life and would not let any thing or anyone come between them and me”. Zion Train have been an integral part of the Iguana soundtrack for many years, so we assume that everyone has heard of them, but that is not quite the case. “The kids get treated the same as everyone else here, hardly anyone had heard of Zion Train before we moved here, so we are just like any other family in the area, it just happens that we play in a band. My kids teachers come to our gigs and everyone just joins in like one big happy community.”

These days Molara has her own backing band, which is basically the remains of the old Hereford hip hop dub outfit, Dubmerge. She also does a lot of stuff with her erstwhile partner Colin who now performs as The Powersteppers. “It is difficult to say who would have been the best artist I have worked with” long pause for thought. “Bim Sherman is very nice, a really mellow character. One of the most amazing people I ever met was John Peel, it was a real privilege to interview him. I interviewed quite a few people over the years and never got around to doing anything with them. The John Peel thing is on the website but nowhere else, there are others that I have not got around to writing up properly. I did some stuff with Jamie Reid, he is a really nice bloke, we keep in touch and he sends me these really nice hand made Christmas cards so I have lots of unique Jamie Reid art work on my fridge. I worked with Rhys Mwyn of Anhrefen about 13/14 years ago, he is an amazing character.”

On stage with Daddy Spliff of Soul Syndicate (and her backing band, and Dubmerge) (Pic nicked from Soul Syndicate myspace)

“Oh my god! I nearly forgot the Ruts. They are gorgeous, gorgeous people and really good friends. I persuaded them to get together and play the Rocket back in 98, they insisted that I get up and sing Jah War with them, again I felt really privileged. Then in 2007 when they did that gig with Henry Rollins They asked me to sing with them again, it was a bit manic, I had performed at a Polish wedding, I was on my way back and stopped off to sing with the Ruts. I did the Peel Sessions with Ruffy and Segsy, that was lovely. I am probably in touch with them more than anyone else.”

“I am hoping to do something with the mad professor, but we never seem to get the time. It will happen though, hopefully.”

Coming back to the present, we chat about her current band. “My solo band came about organically. I started out with local boy Jel king on drums, Ed from Headmix on Bass, Nula from Headmix and Dave Lloyd . Jel wanted to move to guitar so Marcus from Dubmerge contacted Paul from Dubmerge to come and play drums for us. Ed was pretty busy with his family life and things so he suggested Lofty should play live instead of himself. It clearly made sense that he should take Ed’s place altogether, which Ed was actually quite cool about because of his other commitments. Then Pat came in on keyboards and percussion and Dave came in on Decks and the next thing you know we virtually have the whole of Dubmerge as my backing band. Dubmerge do play the odd gig in their own right but Steve, vocalist cum rapper, lives in Goa with his Nigerian wife so those gigs are few and far between.”

On stage with Baka Beyond, Narberth 2009 (Ig Pic)

“We will probably get around to doing a proper studio album one day but I find working in the studio a lot harder than playing live. Zion Train was very different, Colin crafted the albums then I stepped in to do the vocals. I am considering doing an album of collaborations with various people but I can be very lazy when it comes to music. Give me a paintbrush and I will get stuck into DIY all day, but recording and things are a different kettle of fish. My website has not been updated for ages and someone told me they thought my blog was great, that was about two years ago and I have not updated it since.”

“I have a very, very, varied taste in music. Colin has introduced me to a lot of the experimental stuff like Acid Mothers Temple and Merzbow and I quite like a lot of that sort of thing, the really hardcore stuff. I love Linkin Park, I think they are fantastic. I like a lot of Dubstep but I hate trance. I like ‘Heavy Drop’ music, stuff that really grabs you. I also like a lot of World Music, I have sung with Baka Beyond, now that was without a doubt the hardest thing I have ever done. I also sing with Soul Syndicate and the One Voice Choir.”

With Zion Train back in the day (Pic source unknown)

A very busy lady then. Hold on… there’s more! “I also teach singing, which is very rewarding. I got commissioned by the local primary school to get the kids to ‘do something’, so I got the kids to write and perform their own songs, which worked out so beautiful it made me cry. I get very irate that people are not encouraged to sing, so id do my best to motivate people to use their voice.” On top of this you will find her running the children’s space at the Celtic Blue Rock festival and generally having an input to so many things we cannot keep up.

On stage with OK, Queens Hall, Narberth 2009 (Ig Pic)

“We used to have parties on the farm, we just invited local bands to come and play with a local crowd, very low key. But as is often the way it got a bit messy, some people took advantage and we had some stealing so it had to stop, it was all a bit risky”. She still finds time to bring harmonious vibes to Wales though, often promoting gigs in the Queens Hall in Narberth, brining some of her ‘friends’ down for the night, like Baka beyond and Mad Professor. We think the other mums on the school run might have sussed by now that she is a bit of a player.

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