Interview with Molly Ringworm at Anchor Rock Club

Molly Ringworm photographed by Nicole Rochelle @ennaresea

Starting almost a decade ago as a solo project, Molly Ringworm is a 4-piece band based in Atlantic City, New Jersey. With sounds from the late 90s and early 00s, they combine noisy alt-rock elements with bubbly pop melodies, painting a wildly creative sonic landscape. Front-woman Sarah Holt writes songs riddled with passion, and drummer Michael Auble, guitarist Johnny Zapas, and bassist Andrew Simpson follow suit in creating instrumental parts filled with life. Their latest album, Perfect Dog, was released on October 24th, and is a great display of their sound and how it has matured through years of collaborating. With film and literary references, to a song title based on Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi throwing a shoe at George W. Bush, there is never a dull moment in Perfect Dog. To discuss the making of the album, I caught up with the band at their own album release show.

This interview took place on October 24, 2025.

You guys had a great set, great album, great show. The costumes are from A Clockwork Orange, right?

[Sarah] Yes.

I knew it. Could everyone introduce themselves?

[Sarah] Hi, I'm Sarah from Molly Ringworm.

[Johnny] I'm Johnny.

[Mike] I'm Mike. 

[Andrew] I'm Andrew.

Perfect Dog is out today. What has been the best part of this album's process for you guys?

[Johnny] I really enjoyed going into the studio and recording with everyone and putting everything together. I thought that was super fun, and being there with Oscar, too. I think arranging everything together and being pretty meticulous about how we wanted stuff, to just be creative together. 

[Mike] Fully agree.

You said that the film Crash (1996) was part of the inspiration for “Passenger Princess.” Do you find that any other forms of media, outside of music, influenced this specific project? 

[Sarah] Definitely. There are some references to The Grapes of Wrath in one song. There are some other literary references, I feel like. 

[Mike] There are other media references, like Heathers and Twin Peaks. 

[Sarah] Yeah, Heathers and Twin Peaks in the last song. 

[Mike] One of my favorite lyrics. 

[Sarah] Yeah, so definitely literature. I guess I can't think of anything, maybe specifically, that spawned a song so much, rather than I'm always alluding to something in one way or another. There is a [The] Clash reference in another song.

If you guys could cover any Halloween song, what would it be?

[Mike] I liked tonight's cover (“I’m Afraid of Americans” by David Bowie), it was good. I think it went well. It was fun.

[Sarah] We did “Decode” by Paramore like two years ago. That was good. But if we could do any -

[Johnny] “Monster Mash”

[Mike] “Time Warp” I don't know. I’m pitching.

[Sarah] Wait, this is tough.

[Mike] You know, actually wait. Another one that I liked in the past was when we first covered “Psycho Killer.” That was a fun one. That was around when I first joined.

[Sarah] Maybe The Hex Girls or something.

[Mike] I agree. Put that one in print. 

The artwork, the photography, and the videography for this album were all very particular. What did the drawing board kind of look like when you were putting that all together? 

[Sarah] The photos had no drawing board at all. I kind of had an idea of what I wanted the album cover to look like. Definitely the outside kind of sporty vibes, but Nicole, who took our pictures, was like, “Can you do a split?” I was like, “No.” She was like, “Just do a split.” And then she was like, “Run around fast. Faster! You're not fast enough.” The rest is history. The video though, I had a vision for. I guess I just … yep, I had the vision and that's it. 

[Mike] And she did. And that's my friend. 

With the album, what song is each of your favorites from a behind-the-scenes standpoint of playing, performing, and writing?

[Andrew] I don't know, it's tough. I keep going back and forth, but I think “Shoe” has a place in my heart. I do really like “Passenger Princess,” too. 

[Mike] My favorite is “Kys.” It was so much fun to arrange. It started from Andrew's bassline, and we built around it. It's just the behind-the-scenes things. “Didn't Say” was fun because it's an older song that we resurrected from Sarah, and the harpsichord part was fun to play. I liked playing that. That was a stroke of luck because it was just there in the studio. I really took advantage of it, and it was magic.

[Johnny] I'm looking at the album right now. I think I'd probably say, “Fall into Place,” “Didn't Say,” and, honestly, bringing back “No Matter What” was fun. That's one of my favorite songs to play, and when we wrote it, I thought it was cool. 

[Mike] The arrangement is so much different now, too.

[Sarah] I think “No Matter What” and “Kys” are also mine. “No Matter What” is one song we put out on the first EP together, but then played with Kate on violin. She did not even practice; we just played it with her, and it sounded so great. I was like, “Damn. Maybe we should record this again.” “Kys” came kind of quickly, and I think I like the lyrics on that the best.

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