Ramones-core pop punk is a genre that is very much on the
rise. In America there are bands like Masked Intruder and Teenage Bottlerocket
making names for themselves, here in the United Kingdom The Murderburgers are
doing very well for themselves. Earlier this year Teenage sixth - Tales From
Wyoming. It amazes me that this band are already on their sixth album after
only forming in 2001. I checked out Tales Of Wyoming.
The opening to the first song In My Head is a nice little
metaphor to what Teenage Bottlerocket are all about, short, fun catchy pop punk
that will get stuck in your head. From the first second of the song the chorus
shouts "In My Head, You're In My, In My Head." Straight away the
Wyoming based four piece have set out their statement of intent for the album. I
Found The One slows things down a bit and see's former Lillington Kody
Templemen take lead vocal duties. As you can probably guess from the title this
is a love song. Kody sings about finding the girl of his dreams. Lyrically it's
incredibly childish but also very entertaining. Lines such as "The Star Of
My Wet Dreams" and "And I'm So Horny I Just Don't Know What To Do,
And Now My Balls Are Turning Blue" are not going to win the band any song writing
awards but they will put smiles on many a face. The third song is named Nothing
Else Matters (When I'm With You) is another love song, this time sung by front
man Ray Carlisle. It's another played at a mid tempo pace that we're not that
accustomed to with Teenage Bottlerocket. The line "When We Were Sticking
Up For Jason Newsted, That's When You Said You Loved....And Justice For
All" is a reference to a much maligned Metallica album.
They Call Me Steve was one of the stand out songs on my
first listen to the album. Starting out with a solid drum beat before some
trademark Bottlerocket guitar tones the song is about the rediculously popular game Minecraft. The chorus is infectious and I imagine it gives anyone named
Steve a real buzz when they hear it played live. Dead Saturday is a much darker
(though still fairly light-hearted) song than the opening four songs on the
album. It's about a zombie apocalypse....obviously. It tells the story of being
attacked by an army of zombies attacking your house. Lovely bit of horror pop
punk. Cockroach Strikes Again is another
darker feeling track. This time Kody is singing about a mass murderer who keeps
getting away his crimes. Whoever said all pop punk songs are about not getting
the girl? This is another slower track. I'm enjoying this as it's good to see
that the band are able to change up their sound a bit rather than just playing
as fast as they can all of the time. I love how the drums, guitars and vocals
are all played with different melodies on the seventh track It's Been Too Long.
Another stand out song on the first listen, it's a chance for Kody, Ray, Miguel
and Brandon to show off what fine musicians they are.
Too Much Collina is a classic Teenage Bottlerocket song.
It's played fast and makes you want to bang your head for the entire two
minutes and 9 seconds of the song. The song is about the super serious subject
of eating too much pizza, a problem we all have. Can't Quit You is a song about
falling for someone massively and not being able to get them out of your head,
we've all been there. Ray sings about being able to quit everything in life,
from drugs to skateboarding to fast food but not being able to forget that
certain someone. This is a good fast paced song which I predict gets a great
reaction from a live crowd. Haunted House is a song that the band released a
music video for to help promote the album. Here the band go back to the science
fiction/horror genre of pop punk music. Other than the story of the song makes
for a cool video I didn't originally thing that this was a great choice of song
to help promote Tales From Wyoming as I thought it was quite a weak song
compared to the high standards set on previous albums. But I have to say that
it is without a doubt a grower and now puts a smile on my face every time I
listen to it.
Bullshit is a short blast of pop punk aggression. It feels
like there is some real venom in Ray's voice as he calls out the people who
talk rubbish and lie a lot. It's only a short minute and a half song but it
definitely does the job. Certainly a case of less is more is displayed on this
song. I Wanna Die is another stand out track from Tales Of Wyoming. The intro
is everything we've come to love from Teenage Bottlerocket. It's fast and loud
and really gets you pumped up for the fast approaching song. In this song Ray
is very very dark and is singing about giving up on life. As subject matters go
I can't imagine getting much blacker but the song is done is such a way it's
hard not to have a good time with the track. The penultimate track is called TV
Set and it see's the band slow things down again. This is a great song about
fear mongering in the media, and how you should ignore it. Tales From Wyoming
finishes in a very surprising away with a really stripped back acoustic track.
I believe the first time that I heard the song I had iTunes on shuffle and when
it came on I had no idea it was on shuffle. Named First Time it is an emotional
song that really pulls on the heart strings and is a great way to finish the
album.
Teenage Bottlerocket will never be accused of reinventing
theit sound when it comes to putting out albums. Bu when they consistently put
out such great albums why on earth would they?
Like Teenage Bottlerocket here: https://www.facebook.com/teenagebottlerocketofficial
Now listening to Easy Target by Stay Clean Jolene
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