TEENAGE BOTTLEROCKET – SICK SESH!

Ray Carlisle – vocals/guitar // Kody Templeman – vocals/guitar

Miguel Chen – bass/vocals // Darren Chewka – drums/vocals

 They’ve toured the world countless times. They kept the leather jacket-and-Converse look alive through an increasingly neon landscape. They’ve written songs about KISS, Top Gun and Minecraft. Hell, they’ve even been on CNN a few times! Please welcome back to the spotlight Wyoming’s own Teenage Bottlerocket, whose ninth album, the 12-track Sick Sesh! — traffic-cone-orange cover art and all — will be released 08/27/2021 on Fat Wreck Chords.

            “This record is 12 songs because 14 was too long,” cracks vocalist/guitarist Ray Carlisle. “We wanna keep the energy up.”

            Recorded in November 2020 at the Blasting Room (the band’s eighth straight full-length with producer Andrew Berlin), Sick Sesh! is a little bit rougher around the edges than the last few TBR albums, from the haunting “Statistic” to the panic-inducing “Strung Out On Stress” to the buzzsaw lead of “Semi Truck.” According to Carlisle, that was on purpose.

            “We spent a lot of time on guitar tones this time around — that was important for us,” he says. ““We made sure to bring the noisy, loud, irritate your fuckin’ mom guitar back. There’s a ton of intentional guitar noise and feedback. We dug up the amps we used for Freak Out! and They Came From The Shadows. This is punk rock, after all. Stay Rad! Is a great record, but it’s very radio friendly. I wanted to do the opposite of that: Let’s get fuckin’ noisy.”

While the bulk of Sick Sesh! was written in January 2020 (with “Statistic” actually co-written between Carlisle and his son Milo), the COVID pandemic allowed for the band to take a little extra time for fine tuning, and the resulting tracks are some of the most stylistically diverse on the record. First up, there’s the Templeman-penned “Strung Out On Stress,” the fastest, angriest track on Sick Sesh!, all about losing your mind during the pandemic. On the flipside, there’s the mid-tempo, melodic track “The Squirrel,” written by bassist Miguel Chen and sung by Templeman, that’s literally about a cute little rodent.

“He had too much time on his hands during the pandemic,” Carlisle jokes. “How did it become a Teenage Bottlerocket song? I’m not sure. But it has the best guitar lead we’ve ever written!”

Chen also wrote the infectious sing-along “Ghost Story” as well as the album-closing “Moving On,” which marks the first time Carlisle has ever sung Chen’s lyrics on a Teenage Bottlerocket album. The song, about the bassist’s decision to move from his hometown of Laramie, Wyoming, to Texas to be with his ailing father, demonstrates a new side of Teenage Bottlerocket that’s reflective, wistful and dare we say a little mature. (“It felt good to sing that one,” says Carlisle.)

With more than 100 original songs already in their catalog, how does the band stay motivated when they’re eight records deep?

“We’re always in competition with ourselves,” Carlisle explains. “The real competition is between me and Kody. It’s like, ‘You wrote a song that destroys everything else on this record. Let me try to do that to you real quick. How’s that feel?” And then he comes back and one ups me.

“It’s all about the songs,” he continues. “The songs carry this record all the way. That’s not to say there are bad songs on our other records — we have a hard time releasing a shitty song. But these songs are especially great. You know ALL’s best-of record where Allroy is dissecting a musical note? I felt we kind of tapped into that record in a great way, not in a ‘Oh no, they’re experimental now!’ way. This is a Teenage Bottlerocket record through and through, but there’s a lot of hidden elements.”

Carlisle’s pride about Sick Sesh! is obvious, but he’s not the only one who loves the album.

“Fat Mike called me and said, ‘Hey, this is your best record,” Carlisle recalls. “I said, ‘Cool, thanks for noticing.’”

With Sick Sesh! ready to drop, Teenage Bottlerocket will return to the road once more throughout 2021 and beyond, and you can expect to hear plenty of new tracks peppered into their already high-energy sets. Given that the band is already two decades old, however, is there any chance of the band slowing down? Carlisle shoots that idea down right away.

“I want to have the best next 10 years,” the singer says. “We’ve grinded the grind. Now we get to actually enjoy being a band, and not think too much about different ways to try and ‘make it.’ We’re riding this wave we built ourselves. I wanna surf it for another 10 years.”

Well there you have it: The three things in life can always count on are death, taxes and Teenage Bottlerocket. But before Carlisle signs off, he has a question for all the fans out there,

“What’s your favorite Teenage Bottlerocket song?” he asks. “Bzzt! Wrong answer. It’s on this record, you just haven’t heard it yet.”

Led by the sneering vocals of lead singer Daryl, The Bollweevils are direct inheritors of a Chicago hardcore tradition handed down from acts such as Naked Raygun and The Effigies.

Undisputed as one the finest Chicago punk outfits during the 1990s, The Bollweevils were, and still are, defined by their spirited live performances and a song catalogue that demonstrates both their roots and creative ability as a band.

Flamingo Nosebleed started in late 2007-early 2008 after the breakups of other local fort wayne punk bands. Founded by Jake Emissions (vocals, guitar), Drew Snyder (bass), and Josh Peebles (Drums). They released S/T album in 2008 which was recorded by Emissions and Kevin Gaskill (bricktops). Shortly after Josh Peebles left and was replaced by Pete Dio. They dudes started to tour and play a lot more shows all over the Midwest and eastern u.s. Including a recording of 6 songs with Jim Tierney at Joe Queers studio in New Hampshire. After a year, Pete and Drew left to pursue Petes band and Jake picked up Philthy Phill (bass), and Turbo (drums). Continuing to play more and more the guys played a ton of Midwest and east coast shows and recorded Headbanger Demos (very limited to 100 copies) which was handed out at some of the shows including insub fest in Baltimore. Wanting to tour more extensively, the guys moved on minus turbo and picked up mad mike in 2010. This has been the main lineup ever since. The guys recorded Headbanger and went on their first full U.S. tour. Followed by more touring and the Recording of “Blood on the Basement Floor” in 2013 on Kid Tested/Go Kart Records. Since this the dudes have continued to play all over the U.S. and Canada, sharing bills with a ton of bands including Agent Orange, The Queers, The Spits, Teenage Bottlerocket, The Lillingtons, Guttermouth, Toys that kill, Mustard Plug, Off with their Heads, Manges, Parasites, Sloppy Seconds, The Business, Suicide Machines…..etc.

Blurring the lines between fanfiction and adaptive reality, The Eradicator, based on the Kids in the Hall sketch of the same name, places the aggressive ski mask-wearing squash player in a restless environment confronting internal demons while combating external challengers as part of his quest to maintain dominance atop his local D Squash ladder. On their third LP, called Forever the Eradicator out October 2022, the Eradicator combines a Melodic Punk foundation with metallic riffs and high energy anthems.  Live in concert, The Eradicator is in character, masked and motivated by dominance over his squash game. The absurdity of the performer crossed with the revolving cast of veteran musicians who have played in Punk, Metal, and Hardcore bands for the better part of 20 years has left audiences amused, bewildered, but surprisingly apt to come back for more throughout the seven year existence of the band, resulting in over 150 performances across four countries.