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M&C Exclusive Interview: Kelly O. talks Dollyrots, SXSW, and why the Dollyrots are "Awesome"
from: music.monstersandcritics.com
by Ben Rhudy
M&C had the great pleasure of chatting with Kelly Ogden, also known as "Kelly O", the lead singer and bassist for the pop punk trio The Dollyrots. Hailing from L.A. and proud of it, The Dollyrots are a pop punk band with a fun, spunky attitude that lends itself to late night sugar rushes and midnight horror movies. Ogden’s syrupy sweet vocals are often backed up with punchy lyrics that kick you in the face while tickling the ears.
Refusing to fall in with the typical crowd of the genre, Ogden and her bandmates (Luis Cabezas, Chris Black) have created a sound that puts a fresh spin on a familiar style. The band recently made the jump from Lookout Records to JOAN JETT’s BLACKHEART RECORDS, and will be releasing a new album entitled ‘Because I’m Awesome’ on March 13. They will also be appearing on stage during South By Southwest in Austin at Emo’s as a part of the BLACKHEART RECORDS performance.
M&C: You guys played at SXSW last year. How was that?
Kelly O: It was so much fun! We got to meet a bunch of people...it's kind of like summer camp for bands. Like, you get to go out and watch other bands and hang out and get too drunk on St. Patrick's Day all together. It's a pretty awesome thing. We didn't get to go to many of the panels last year and we want to try and do that this year. It's just really neat to have all those bands in one place and you can just wander in and out of shows all the time.
M&C: Are you looking forward to this year's festival?
Kelly O: I can't wait! It's going to be so much fun...we're playing at least two shows this time. We get to play at Emo's, which, I don't know...it's like one of the coolest venues to play at in Austin. We're thrilled.
We get to do a grand finale thing with JOAN JETT so that'll be really cool.
M&C: Not too many people get to do that!
Kelly O: I know! I'm like, "Mom, dad...guess what!" [laughter]
M&C: Speaking of JOAN JETT, how does it feel to be a new part of BLACKHEART RECORDS?
Kelly O: It's awesome. I mean, she's been someone that I've always looked up to....just a cool woman, strong, does her thing and is still making it. To have her think that we're cool is a nice validation. [Lookout Records] when I was growing up was one of my dream labels, and then [Panic Button Records] and then to meet JOAN JETT next, we feel pretty lucky.
M&C: How did that whole thing happen? Was it something that you knew was happening for a long time?
Kelly O: No...when we left for Warped Tour, we had heard from Lookout that they weren't going to be able to put out any records for a while, and we had had a record deal all ready to go. And so when we got to Warped Tour, we said, "We've gotta go talk to JOAN JETT." And we knew that if we were going to talk to JOAN JETT, Fat Mike that we were going to get a record deal. By the end of Warped Tour we had to get a record deal.
I would go watch the BLACKHEARTS play everyday and stand backstage and I'd watch Joan Jet finish and talk to everyone and I was totally wussing out. So, we had two days left and our little mantra during the tour was "Stop being such a pussy!" in an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice. [laughter] And so I sat next to the stage and just kept repeating [that] to myself. Finally I just walked up to the stage after somebody else had finished talking and I introduced myself.
When she said that she already knew who we were, I was like, "Ok, ok...I can do this! I can totally do this!" I gave her our CD and they listened to it and really liked it. It was a pretty organic way for it to happen.
M&C: Ok...tell me about the new album.
Kelly O: It's awesome!
M&C: [laughter] I mean, what was the band's goal in making it?
Kelly O: I think, by default, we've grown a bit as musicians and we've done a little more growing as people. We're more secure in that we say what we mean. I feel like with this album, we wanted to be more honest and put ourselves out there a little bit more. Not be so coy and talk about things that we were afraid to talk about before. You know, a song that could be slightly political. Before, we were like, "Well, we don't wanna do that because then all the political bands will think we're hypocrites!" We were always too worried to just stand up for what we wanted to do. So I think this time around, we're ready for it.
M&C: What do you think about people comparing you guys to The Pixies?
Kelly O: That's awesome!
M&C: You take it as a compliment then?
Kelly O: Yeah! Kim Deal is one of he best bassists in the world! We like The Breeders too...we got to play with the Breeders once.
M&C: Cool!
Kelly O: Yeah...I was working at a science museum, and I had to take my cat to the vet. And so I go home from work early so I can take the cat to the vet. I do a U-turn in front of my apartment building and got in this horrible car accident. Totaled the car and split my head open. The worst thing is that the car was spinning, and all I'm thinking is, "Please don't die! We get to play with The Breeders tonight!" That could've been my last thought alive and that would be so sad!
So the car is spinning and I have a bloody head. The ambulance pulls in and the EMT comes over and was like, "Yeah...we've got to take you to the hospital." And I said, "I'm really in a hurry! Is there anything you can do?" He said, "You just got in a car accident, you probably have a concussion...you're not going anywhere."
I asked him if he knew a band called The Breeders, and he said, "Yeah..." and then I said, "We're opening for them tonight!" He was like, "Oh my gosh, I totally understand!" So they took me to the E.R. And put me in a little separate room. Lewis brought a change of clothes for me, and we made it to the show later. I kind of lost it during one song though...I couldn't remember any of the words and I didn't know where we were.
M&C: I've been in small bands myself...how do you guys keep from getting bored with songs you've played thousands of time?
Kelly O: I think that's just one of the trials of being in a band. We've been playing some of the songs from our first record for about six or seven years now. I think the toughest part about it is trying to sing them the same way. I feel like, when I get bored with them, I'll try singing them a different way. But that's not really fair to people who listen to the record because they want to hear it the normal way so they can sing along.
I don't know...there's always new stuff to do. We can always try out new dance moves or play with somebody in the audience.
I still really love that first record, so I don't mind playing those songs too much. It's kind of a nice break when you've got a new set list and there's a bunch of new songs, and then you get to go to one of the old ones that you don't even have to think about.
M&C: How did you all get your start in music? Where do you pull your style from?
Kelly O: Lewis started playing piano when he was a really little kid. He's a classically trained pianist. One of his favorite older uncles bought him a guitar from a garage sale one day, and he just loved Nirvana and the Sex Pistols and the Ramones. So, from about age thirteen on, he sat in his room and listened to every record he could get his hands on.
Chris has been playing drums since he was a little kid because his big brother did. He kind of did everything his older brother did. He liked a lot of punk and a lot of the early Lookout bands.
I started playing guitar when I was about 15. Nobody in my family really played instruments or anything. I had tried sports and dance classes and stuff like that, and I was never really good at any of it, but it kept me busy. I started playing guitar while I was listening to a lot of 60's and 70's music, kind of "hippie" music. I bought an acoustic guitar with my baby-sitting money one summer and started learning Simon and Garfunkle or Joan Baez songs. At that point in my life, that was the kind of music that really spoke to me because I lived in a small town, and I felt like it was really hard for anything to change.
I just fantasized about being alive at a time when there were all these movements...social movements, anti-war movements...and all these people caring collectively, cause I felt like nobody cared.
Then I went to school, and Lewis and I started playing music together. He's been my friend since I was 13. As I grew, I started listening to a lot of punk rock. He would kind of hand me stuff. I listened to a lot of Hole and Bikini Kill, and of course Nirvana and the Pixies. I feel like a have a pretty broad range of things that we draw from. Lewis and I just started playing guitar together, and it turned out to be this! [laughter] It's being called "bubblegum punk" in a lot of interviews for this record, but a lot of them just call it rock & roll, which is kind of what I think it is.
M&C: So why did you pick punk and not some other style?
Kelly O: Well, none of us had ever really been in a band before, so when we would get together for practice we would just play cover songs that we had learned. And the easiest songs to learn were punk songs. So we would learn a Ramones song or a Generation X song or a Donnas song. The first Donnas album had just come out, and we loved them. And I think that's really how we learned to play as a band.
I feel like our first record is more of a reference to that kind of stuff than this one. This one is a little more broad in its range of stuff that it draws from.
M&C: What can fans expect from The Dollyrots in the future?
Kelly O: Lots and lots of live shows. We want to be on the road for at least the next years straight. We're definitely doing some Warped Tour. We're still trying to figure out all the spring tour dates and the summer tour dates, but we've been putting them up on Myspace and our website as we go along. We're just ready to get out there and have some fun with everybody again. The studio is really cool in a different way, but now it's time for us to go really crazy and show everyone what we did.
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