The Dollyrots: Real Deal Punk Rock

Think you know punk? Meet The Dollyrots: Editor J. Scott Bugher profiles the band below.

Purchase The Dollyrots’ latest album here.

The Dollyrots are simply the real deal with regard to punk rock. They keep the genre’s tradition alive and bypass the folly punk has become today: Hyper and over-produced records, polished as if created by a pop music producer from the ’80s who is addicted to cocaine and thinks reverb makes all things glorious. This band, though—Kelly Ogden on vocals and bass, along with Luis Cabezas on vocals and guitar—knows the underground, and it shows. Besides legends like The Ramones and The Sex Pistols, I get a sense that these two are fans of Operation Ivy, NOFX, Minor Threat, and Bad Religion among others. What makes The Dollyrots stand out, though, is their (for a lack of a better term) mission statement. Ogden says her hopes for the band’s music is to inspire people to entertain their passions, to chase and realize their dreams. She wants fans of the music “to feel empowered to be themselves because great things can happen when you allow yourself to follow your animal instincts.” Their music is the type of punk rock fitting for such a hope. Their current record, Barefoot and Pregnant (Arrested Youth Records), is playful and packed full of wit and satire, which inclines me to believe they simply love what they do and do not take it all so seriously. Check out their music video for “Barefoot and Pregnant.” You won’t get an earful of pissed off and angst. Instead, you’ll get some music performed by a couple of punks who know how to have a good time without shoving any sort of politics down your throat.

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