by Jeff Mozey
Back when you were wearing Vans, black eyeliner and studded wristbands, The Dollyrots’ all-time banger “Because I’m Awesome” was probably the soundtrack of your no-one-understands-me teenage rebel life. Yet this spiky punk-pop gem from 2007 — with a wry take on self-confidence and a wink toward Nirvana’s ”Smells Like Teen Spirit” — has only gotten more unstoppable over time.
“We always end a show with ‘Because I’m Awesome,’ ” singer and bassist Kelly Ogden tells PureHoney. The song’s charmed life — it appears in everything from a Kohl’s commercial to “Ugly Betty” to “Reaper” to “Billions” — practically demands it be on the set list.
But the irresistible goodness doesn’t stop there for this self-taught, Sour Patch Kids of a band from L.A., originally by way of Gulf Coast Florida, and currently on tour with fellow Warped Tour alumni Lit and Bowling For Soup. The husband-and-wife duo of Ogden and guitarist-vocalist Luis Cabezas boasts a punchy, sweet-and-tart repertoire sturdy enough for eight LPs including the brand new “Night Owls.”
As the band name suggests — and Ogden says this was the intent — there is some polarity at play here: Sugar and spite, churning instrumentation and feminine vocals, and lyrics spanning the volatile teenage spectrum. Think Sex Pistols, The Ting Tings and Machine Gun Kelly’s “Bloody Valentine.” Ogden also credits the moniker with some of the band’s lucky breaks. “Maybe it’s because our name sounds like we’ve been around a lot longer than we have,” she says.
They’ve been around long enough to catch the punk-pop nostalgia wave from peak blink-182 and Avril Lavigne times, but without depending on it for their sound or their survival. “Night Owls” lives in the present day, and topically covers more grown-up territory such as navigating relationships over time — Ogden and Cabezas are parents. But certain things are non-negotiable. “We are not going to change the sound because we have a lot of fans that like what we do,” Ogden says. “The Dollyrots will always be The Dollyrots.” And what is that? Ogden sums the band up in three words: “Raw. Rock. Smile.”
The Dollyrots perform with Lit and Bowling For Soup Sunday, January 21, 2024, at Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale. dollyrots.com ~ Amanda Moore
