It sounds like it should be a semantic
debate, but The Dollyrots make the
difference between pop-punk and punk-
pop very, very obvious on their
sophomore album.Pop-punk is the soft
stuff – the best-known of the lot
would probably be Green Day, No Doub
t and Sublime – but punk-pop is ro
ugh, tumble and poppy of course but also
incredibly sarcastic and sardonic &
ndash; all traits that The Dollyrots sho
wcase masterfully o
n Because I’m Awesome.<
br />
Singer Kelly Ogden sets the
tone right off the top with the ar
rogant sentiment of the title track tha
t is the sole moment on the album not
meant to be sarcastic; where pop-
punk is invariably self-conscious and a
lmost apologetic in its lyrical bent, th
is song – and every one that fol
lows it on the record – bri
ms with confidence and is backed up ha
ndily by Chris Black’s pounding
-but-pop-informed drums and Luis Cabeza
s’ razor-wire guitars. It’
s less doe-eyed and more self-confide
nt smirk and the most obvious example
is the “rah rah rah” cha
nt after Cabezas’ solo. Ther
e are no apologies here because th
ere don’t need to be; apologizi
ng for rocking out or covering up dw
eeby sentiments with loud guitars is lam
e and The Dollyrots know it so simply
don’t bother.
With t
hat tone set, the band blazes through a
dozen more stellar examples of how
muscular the typically limp-wristed c
ombination of pop and punk can be and
somehow manages to improve upon the
framework along the way. “My Best
Friend’s Hot” bludgeons a
beat and riff into the bodily rhyth
ms of listeners, “Brand New Key&r
dquo; gives Melanie Safka a new day-g
lo haircut and “Watch Me Go&rd
quo; actually gives the kiss-
off that it promises to an unfaithfu
l lover rather than just implying it or
cravenly pining. The really
great moments are the understated
ones though; as the Sex Pistols did
about thirty years ago, The Dollyr
ots skirt the censors in “Hysteria
” (where the Pistols stretched &
lsquo;vacant’ into “vay-
cunt,” Ogden slurs ‘calm&rsq
uo; so it comes out like “som
e of the only thing that makes me cum&
rdquo;) and weasel in a little blink-
and-you’ll-miss-it innuendo that&
rsquo;ll make the tweens giggle and is
worth the price of admission for any
one that thinks the art of subtlety is
lost in punk.
Elsewher
e, the band preaches empowerment and ins
tructs the impressionable to never ba
ck down for anyone (“Cat Callin
g”) and “Turn You Down&
rdquo; respectively) and blessedly, the
band doesn’t break the trend for a
nything; there isn’t a heartfelt
punky power ballad anywhere to be found
on Because I’m Awesome
and the band always chooses a taunt ove
r a bittersweet moment.
Now
that pop-punk has become formulaic
and weak, it was bound to happen ev
entually that someone would turn it on
its head and, with Because
I’m Awesome, The Dollyrots
have turned the sound inside o
ut to make it their own. Because I&rs
quo;m Awesome doesn’t play well
with its’ peers; The Dollyrots d
on’t content themselves
with putting razorblades in
candy apple p
unk, they’re more ambitious t
