Need a dental-based band to put on an awkwardly amazing/amazingly awkward performance at your teenage birthday party? Three One G’s Holy Molar might be one plausible option (watch the “Dentist the Menace” DVD, if you haven’t yet, for this scenario to make only slightly more sense). Formed in San Diego in 2001 and releasing a live album that same year (Live at the Metropolitan Correctional Center), the band consisted of Mark McCoy (aka Mark McMolar) as vocalist, Bobby Bray on keyboards, Maxamillion Avila on drums, Justin Pearson on bass, and Gabe Serbian on guitar—all dressed up in crisp white lab coats, medical masks, and sometimes spattered with blood.
In 2003, the band released “The Whole Tooth and Nothing but the Tooth”, a live recording. They have additionally issued a split with Ex Models in 2004 and an EP, “Cavity Search”, in 2007. Like some of the members’ other bands, the songs are relatively short and very brutal, often concluding in under two minutes, before you’ve had a chance to fully process what you’ve heard.
The spastic keyboarding, with its high pitches and shrill samples heard in tracks like “Pissing Off in the Rolex of your Dreams” and “Cavity Search”, almost mimic the sounds of dental drills and help conjure up images of blood-laden tools laid across a sterile metal surface. Coupled with the odd timing, forceful drums and bass, strident and unnerving guitar, and wild screams, the band creates a calculated cacophony that is infinitely more exciting and only slightly less uncomfortable than an actual dentist visit.
All members have worked with a variety of other bands, some preceding or at the same time as Holy Molar, with many represented by Three One G records. Mark McCoy additionally provided vocals in Charles Bronson, Virgin Mega Whore, and Das Oath. Maxamillion Avila had been a part of Antioch Arrow, Heroin, and Final Conflict prior to the formation of Holy Molar, as well as being involved with The Get Hustle during the project. Bobby Bray, Justin Pearson, and Gabe Serbian are all currently play with The Locust. Bray also plays in a two man band called Innerds, with Gabe primarily focusing on Rat’s Eyes, and JP with Retox.
As for Holy Molar, the project has never officially disbanded—you never know, perhaps one day it will emerge from the depths, bringing with it its trademark bursts of shrieks and screams, much like a cavity left unattended or a bad root canal.
-Becky DiGiglio