The Dollyrots… Because They’re Awesome

By Brandon Caylor

Their web site explains that, although they sound really pop on their latest CD, "Because I’m Awesome," they are really a punk band. The album offers some very catchy songs about hot friends, dangerous crushes, being awesome, and roller skates. On stage, however, the Dollyrots take no prisoners, and have absolutely no problem at all getting even the most sour person in the room to crack a smile and start dancing along.

The first song I heard from the Dollyrots was a cover of "Brand New Key," a very old song that I remember singing along to when I was a kid. This would be the song about roller skates, by the way. I was lucky enough to hang out with the Dollyrots in their van before their recent appearance at the Fire Escape in Citrus Heights. I was curious as to why they chose to cover "Brand New Key."

"It’s a funny story, actually," Kelly (vocals/bass) began. "It’s completely random that I knew that song. My best friend’s dad was this cool hippie guy and we used to listen to his records and when I hear that song, I was like, ‘I LOVE IT!’ I was about 16 years old though, and I would listen to it when I was learning to drive."

The Dollyrots are now part of the Blackheart Records family. How did that happen?

"That’s very interesting," Kelly said. "We were playing on the Warped Tour the year before last, and Joan Jett was headlining. We had already recorded most of our latest album. Our first album was out on Panic Button/Lookout Records. We were out on Warped Tour and Lookout said, ‘Hey, we’re not going to be putting out any more music for a while. Green Day pulled their back catalog.’ And so we were left with an almost finished record, and no record label. So I just said, well, Joan Jett is on this tour, and she has a really cool record label, and I’ve always looked up to her, and so after a month and a half of standing about 10 feet away from her every day like a weirdo, I finally got the nerve to go up to her and give her a CD. She was like, ‘Yeah, the Dollyrots! I talked about you in an interview today!’ That’s pretty much how it happened. I just passed the CD off and things happened. "

Has life for the Dollyrots changed since signing with the label?

"This band has now become our full-time job, which was always the big plan," Kelly explained. "We’re almost at our year anniversary of quitting our day jobs. We’ve gotten our songs on Reaper a bunch of times, and also a song on a Kohl’s commercial for their Back to School campaign. "Because I’m Awesome" is the song, which is funny because it’s such a sarcastic song, and I don’t think they quite got that. We still do most of the work ourselves. The label is very indie. They do support us and get the music out there. They’ve been releasing the singles to the radio and stuff like that, and they also got us on Radio Disney. We’re actually like rock stars in some places, because we’ve been played on top 40 radio stations right next to things like Fergie and 50 Cent. It’s kind of strange. The label has put us on some really big shows, and then we go out and do the little punk rock shows on our own."

And their favorite places to play? This time Chris (drums) chimed in.

"The Troubador in Los Angeles. I know, it’s a home show, but we really like playing there. Outside of that, I like Minneapolis, New York…"

Kelly added, "the most surprising would be Dalton, Massachusetts. They have a thriving music scene. The high school has a proper radio station and it’s like really cool. We played at a VFW hall there and it was really packed. I think the whole town was there."

"I like Texas a lot, Texas is a lot of fun," Chris added. "We know a lot of bands there."

The band hopes to do a summer tour and then return to the studio to do another album. That is, unless Europe beckons.

"Yeah, we’d love that." Chris said. "The label just released ‘My Best Friend’s Hot’ as the next single of this CD, so we’re constantly looking for ways to keep promoting this CD and keeping it fun. Europe would be an great opportunity to do that."

"Forget Europe," Luis (guitar) added, "I want to write! It’s so hard to write music while on the road."

"Yeah," Kelly said, "we drive for hours, then we’ll stop at a truck stop and sleep in the van for three hours or so, and then hit the road again."

Right here I have to add that Chris is the lucky one. He gets to stretch out on the floor of the van on a nice, comfortable air mattress, while Kelly and Luis sleep in the seats. I asked if the van was owned or rented.

Kelly answered, "Oh, it’s ours. We had to buy it because our last van died while we were on our way to a show in San Diego. We were on the freeway and it started making a screeching noise. We thought it was coming from the car next to us."

"Yeah, we were making fun of that car," Chris said, "and I looked down at the gauges and I’m like, why is my power steering going out?"

Luis added, "The battery indicator was going down, and the temperature was going up, and this horrible noise was happening. The alternator was shredded and the one of the bearings on one of the pulleys froze. We replaced the pulley ourselves and pulled into a van lot and sold it."

"Our old vehicle just basically said, ‘Okay guys, listen. We’ve had some good years, but now it’s time.’ It was convenient because the van broke down right at an auto mall," Chris said.

"Yeah," Luis, continued, "it was like God’s way of telling us that we needed a new van."

Also travelling with the Dollyrots is Sniffy, the band’s pet rat, a cute little one they saved from becoming snake food at a pet store. Sniffy goes with the band everywhere. She even has her own MySpace page.

At this point I let the band loose to take the stage and rock the heck out of everybody, which of course they did, for the second time that day. They had just arrived from an earlier afternoon gig in Stockton. Two shows in one day, and then it’s off to Portland for the next stop on the tour. It’s a lot of work, but they can do it. Why? Because they’re awesome!