Teenage Bottlerocket Interview: SXSW 2010

Teenage Bottlerocket, featured in Alternative Press magazine as a "Band You Need to Know in 2009," is bring their classic pop-punk sound to Austin's SXSW festival. Spinner caught up with singer/guitarist Ray Carlisle to discuss the origins of the TBR name, juggling the rock star lifestyle with a day job, and why TBR is "the cutest twin band since Nelson."

How did you guys get together?

Brandon and I used to play in a band called The Homeless Wonders, and we used to play with Kody's old band, The Lillingtons, all the time. Me and Brandon used to always play together, sort of like Alex and Eddie Van Halen -- we're the cutest twin band since Nelson. Miguel was just a punk rock kid playing in bands around Laramie and thumbing through his record collection. We have the best-friend lineup ... everything just worked out.

How did you get the name Teenage Bottlerocket?

Our first guitar player, Zach, who was in the band for, maybe, three months, came up with the name. It was based on a nickname that his dad had for this car he owned in high school. We just thought that it had the edge that we were looking for as far as the excitement of the name and then explanation of the sound -- explosive youthfulness and energy. But I might change my answer to something about the Wes Anderson movie, just because that's what everybody seems to think.
How often do you guys tour?

We tour as much as we can. Our record, 'They Came from the Shadows,' came out on September 15, and we followed that up with a six-week tour. Then we're going out with NOFX on April 21 for about three weeks, and we're doing another week in July. I'm a fan of the ten-day stints whenever we can get around to doing them, and then doing fly-ins at certain festivals we're playing. In 2009, we ended up playing somewhere around 80 shows. We feel real fortunate to be able to get away from our jobs and be able to tour.

So your bosses are cool with you taking the time off?

Yeah, they are, and it's just one of the cool things about my job. I work for this oil company, and we travel around the world and let people know how much oil is left in their reservoir. Brandon, my twin brother and our drummer, works for the same company. Kody is a manager at a grocery store, and they're really cool about him getting time off. Miguel is unemployed, so his boss is cool with it.

Have you ever had trouble juggling your day job with touring?

Just a lot of stress. Like, I wasn't sure whether or not I needed to buy a plane ticket for SXSW, because there was a chance I would be done with this job beforehand and could just ride down with the guys. And then I found out yesterday that chances were I was still going to be here, so I went ahead and bought my ticket. There have been no huge catastrophes with the overlap with both jobs.

How would you describe your sound?

I usually say that it's influenced by the Ramones. Just real simple punk rock music. A lot of the bands just sort of yell nowadays. You might think I'm in some sort of metal band where you scream and you can't hear the vocals, but we actually sing. Lyrics are a huge part of the music to us.

You mentioned the Ramones ... any other influences?

We're huge fans of Screeching Weasel, the Riverdales, the Queers, and Green Day -- the pop-punk stuff that we grew up listening to. That's just the sound that we've always been into playing because that's the music that we love. It's really hard to pinpoint some influences. I think day-to-day life is really what's most inspiring to us. If there's a song about a girl on our record, it's most likely a real girl.

What can the SXSW audience expect from your show?

They can expect four very attractive young men [laughs]. I'm just kidding. We try to put on a very energetic show and, at the same time, not take it so serious and have a lot of fun. It's the Fat Wreck Chords showcase, so all our friends at Fat Wreck Chords will be there.

Do you have any advice for someone attending his or her first SXSW?

It's all about the party. Just go and have a good time. My best advice would be, take a chance and walk around. Grab CDs from these people that are out there trying to get their music out. You never know who you're going to grab a CD from -- it could become one of your favorite bands. Take a walk around 6th Street and Red River, and try to take it all in. That's what I think SXSW is more about. But then, I probably would be the person that goes there and stands in one spot the whole time because all the bands in the show that we're playing on Saturday night are incredible. Riverboat Gamblers, Cokie the Clown, Dead To Me, Smoke or Fire, Banner Pilot, Tony Sly, and Cobra Skulls -- I would love to see all of the bands, so I would be the person in front of the bar all night at the same show.

Do you have any favorite songs in your set?

I love performing all the songs from 'They Came from the Shadows.' I like the songs that grab the audience and stoke everybody out. Pretty much all of the ones that all four of us agree with are the songs we're excited to play. I don't feel as if there's any filler in this set.

Are you working on a new album?

We are writing songs right now; we have four or five. They're young enough that we're not going to be playing them. At the moment we're just focusing on the songs from the recent album.



Jill Jackson is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.