Review: Teenage Bottlerocket - Tales From Wyoming
By Chris Reinbold, Staff Writer
[Rise; 2015]
Rating: 2.5/5
Key Tracks: “Nothing Else Matters (When I’m With You),” “Too Much La Collina”
Teenage Bottlerocket is a four-piece hailing from Laramie, home of the University of Wyoming. Over the span of its 14-year career, the band has released six albums, the newest being Tales From Wyoming. Throughout each of the punk outfit’s releases, it has stuck to the tried and true, classic pop punk formula: goofy, fun, light-hearted lyrics backed by the same drum beat and three or four chords for each track. Teenage Bottlerocket is not exactly groundbreaking and has always worn its influences on its sleeves--a hefty helping of The Ramones with a side of the Misfits and a dollop of The Bouncing Souls on top.
“Nothing Else Matters (When I’m With You)” is the greatest example of light-heartedness on this album, with Metallica puns by the boatload, especially in the second verse, “I’ll probably fade to black someday / Unless you hit the lights and escape with me / I jumped into the fire and found / A blackened out heart because you’re not around.” The song is nothing special from a technical standpoint but is quick and catchy, similar to a Screeching Weasel track from the ‘90s. Vocalist Ray Carlisle even channels his inner Ben Weasel, with his voice bearing an uncanny resemblance. Also similar to Screeching Weasel is how the lyrics express the theme of love in a humorous context.
Track eight on the record,“Too Much La Collina,” has a very similar feel to “Punk House of Horror” from Bottlerocket’s 2012 full-length Freak Out! “Too Much La Collina” is, like all of the group’s work, unbelievably simple, but its tones, especially on the bass, absolutely shine. The pitches are full, rounded out and are a fantastic complement to Carlisle’s Joey Ramone-esque delivery. The song also bears the Teenage Bottlerocket stamp on its goofball lyrics, spinning a tale about a dining experience at the Italian restaurant, La Collina.
The band’s almost teenage humor also manifests very strongly in the silly, twisted love song “I Found the One.” It’s the typical “she’s perfect for me” love song. Incredibly sexual overtones like “She’s as perfect as she seems / The star of all of my wet dreams” will be sure to upset a handful of people that take the piece far more seriously than it is meant to be.
Teenage Bottlerocket comes nowhere close to breaking new ground on Tales From Wyoming--not just by the standards of past bands, but also its own. The boys rely on their trusted punk rock formula to crank out another raucous rager of an album. As opposed to previous releases, this Rise Records debut features the tightest production the ensemble has ever had. Unfortunately, the result is the percussion is compressed to the point that it sounds almost like a drum machine. The higher production quality actually makes the LP more stagnant than earlier work.
