The Dollyrots
The Dollyrots are an American pop punk band composed of Kelly Ogden (bass, vocals) and Luis Cabezas (guitar). They have released four studio albums and are currently under their own label Arrested Youth. In July 2013, Cabezas and Ogden announced they are expecting their first child, due in November.
Formation:
Singer/bassist Kelly Ogden and guitarist Luis Cabezas have known each other since meeting in the 8th grade. Both of them attended New College of Florida where they formed a band called No Chef with friends Josh Harrold and Mike Benbow. Ogden and Cabezas played the guitar while Harrold was the singer/bassist and Benbow was on drums. Cabezas described the subject matter of their songs as being "about ninjas, zombies and Charles Manson,".
After being disillusioned with the results of the 2000 US Presidential Election., Ogden and Cabezas decided to make the band full time. As Ogden recalls:
"We were watching the 2000 presidential election results, and at four o'clock in the morning, when we found out that George W. Bush had won, Luis and I were like, "The world's probably gonna end anyway, and I don't want to go to med school," so we thought, "Let's just do the band," says Ogden. "So that's when it happened. We had no future anyways, so let's just be in a rock band!"
Josh Harrold did not want to become a full time musician so left the band. Ogden took over his duties on vocals and bass. Mike Benbow left and was replaced by Frank Beasley. The band then changed their name to The Dollyrots. The band soon left Florida and embarked on a road trip to find a new home to accommodate their musical aspirations. In January 2002 after visiting various cities they finally settled in Los Angeles. Ogden described Los Angeles as having "everything we needed--record labels, venues, other bands. It seemed like the right place." Beasley left the band and was replaced by Josh Valenti. In 2003 the band self recorded and released an EP Feed Me, Pet Me. In 2004 they signed a deal with Panic Button Records/Lookout! Records and released their first studio album Eat My Heart Out. Josh Valenti left and was replaced by Amy Wood.
Blackheart Records and Because I'm Awesome:
The band started work on their second album but were forced to find a new label due to problems with Lookout Records. Kelly Ogden stated: "We started recording and then had everything ready. Then Lookout went out of business for all intents and purposes. They had troubles with Green Day and financial problems, and so they pretty much told all of us that we had to go find a new label." In 2006 the Dollyrots signed to Blackheart Records. Ogden had given a compact disc of the band's music to Joan Jett, the co-founder of Blackheart Records, while the Dollyrots were on the Vans Warped Tour. The same year, drummer Amy Wood left the band. Wood suggested that Ogden and Cabezas ask Chris Black to replace her.
Their second album, Because I'm Awesome, was released on March 13, 2007. A review in the webzine PopMatters noted that "the Dollyrots' sound is the same as it ever was, with clever, catchy lyrics running around a track of straightforward, chugging pop-punk." The title song was featured in a Kohl's commercial during the fall of 2007 where the band made an appearance at the end.
Winner of the 7th annual Independent Music Awards Vox Pop vote for best Pop/Rock song "Because I'm Awesome".
A Little Messed Up:
The Dollyrots promoted their 7-inch single "California Beach Boy" with a feature performance during the Showcase on the CBS game show The Price Is Right.
The band opened for the Buzzcocks on their 22 date North American tour in May/June 2010.
A Little Messed Up is the band's third album, and the second one to be released on Blackheart Records.
The band opened for Bowling for Soup on their Just Can't Get Rid of Us UK tour in 2010. In May/June of 2010, they played six dates supporting The Go-Go's on their Ladies Gone Wild Tour. In August, they again supported Bowling For Soup on a west coast tour.
On August 9, the band released an EP, Arrested Youth, on their own label, Arrested Youth Records.
The Dollyrots decided that their next album would be released on their own record label. On September 12, 2011, the band launched a fundraising drive on Kickstarter to raise money for the production and release of the album in which they received their goal within one day and went on a month later to make almost five times the goal of money raised, donated by fans and supporters.
On November 30, 2011, it was announced that drummer Chris Black was parting ways with the band. In a YouTube video on December 11, 2011, Kelly introduced Alicia Warrington as the band's new drummer. In August 2012, Ogden revealed that Warrington had left to drum full time for singer Chris Rene. For their upcoming tour of the U.S, and their U.K tour supporting Bowling For Soup, the band have enlisted drummer James Carman from the band Images.
They released their self-titled album, The Dollyrots, on September 18, 2012.
Other work:
The Dollyrots recorded a cover of the song "There's A Barbarian in the Back Of My Car" by Voice of the Beehive for Snake Oil Supercharm, a 2003 tribute album to Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction. The band recorded a version of "Santa Baby" for the 2009 album A Blackheart Christmas and also recorded a cover of "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett for the film Easy A. In July 2011 the band announced that they would be teaming up with Bowling For Soup to release a split 7". The 7" featured both bands covering one of the others songs.
Uses in media:
Songs by the Dollyrots have been used in films, TV shows, and commercials.
"Because I'm Awesome" was used in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 and in the trailer for Bring It On: Fight to the Finish. The song has been featured on a number of television shows, including ABC's Ugly Betty, ABC Family's Greek (where they appeared as themselves) and Picture This, Oxygen's Bad Girls Road Trip and the CW's Reaper (as well as several other songs). The song was featured for a month as a "Hip Clipz" on the website of Curly Grrlz Skateboards. The song was featured in a back-to-school commercial for the Kohl's department store chain, where the band was replaced by teen models and actors. It also appeared in the official "Vancouver 2010" video game for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.,
"Watch Me Go (Kissed Me, Killed Me)" was featured on the E! show The Simple Life.,
The Dollyrots cover of "Brand New Key" was used on the Fox sitcom "Raising Hope".,
The Dollyrots cover of the Joan Jett classic "Bad Reputation" was used in the National Lampoon movie Endless Bummer. It was also used in the film Easy A.,
"Feed Me, Pet Me" was used in a 2002 Hewlett-Packard ad campaign in which the band also appeared (with Drummer Josh Valenti).,
"Kick Me to the Curb" and "Goodnight Tonight" were featured on the CSI: NY episode Stuck On You, in which the band crew guest starred as members of the fictional indie band Rough Sects. In the episode, Kelly Ogden played Stephanie O'Dell, the bassist of Rough Sects.,
The band appear as themselves in the film Girltrash: All Night Long.,
The band has also lent their music to The Intellectual Saviors Podcast found on theintellectualsaviors.podbean.com and iTunes, where they also appeared on Episode 10.,
"Hyperactive" was featured in Episode 1 of The Challenge: Rivals II.
Formation:
Singer/bassist Kelly Ogden and guitarist Luis Cabezas have known each other since meeting in the 8th grade. Both of them attended New College of Florida where they formed a band called No Chef with friends Josh Harrold and Mike Benbow. Ogden and Cabezas played the guitar while Harrold was the singer/bassist and Benbow was on drums. Cabezas described the subject matter of their songs as being "about ninjas, zombies and Charles Manson,".
After being disillusioned with the results of the 2000 US Presidential Election., Ogden and Cabezas decided to make the band full time. As Ogden recalls:
"We were watching the 2000 presidential election results, and at four o'clock in the morning, when we found out that George W. Bush had won, Luis and I were like, "The world's probably gonna end anyway, and I don't want to go to med school," so we thought, "Let's just do the band," says Ogden. "So that's when it happened. We had no future anyways, so let's just be in a rock band!"
Josh Harrold did not want to become a full time musician so left the band. Ogden took over his duties on vocals and bass. Mike Benbow left and was replaced by Frank Beasley. The band then changed their name to The Dollyrots. The band soon left Florida and embarked on a road trip to find a new home to accommodate their musical aspirations. In January 2002 after visiting various cities they finally settled in Los Angeles. Ogden described Los Angeles as having "everything we needed--record labels, venues, other bands. It seemed like the right place." Beasley left the band and was replaced by Josh Valenti. In 2003 the band self recorded and released an EP Feed Me, Pet Me. In 2004 they signed a deal with Panic Button Records/Lookout! Records and released their first studio album Eat My Heart Out. Josh Valenti left and was replaced by Amy Wood.
Blackheart Records and Because I'm Awesome:
The band started work on their second album but were forced to find a new label due to problems with Lookout Records. Kelly Ogden stated: "We started recording and then had everything ready. Then Lookout went out of business for all intents and purposes. They had troubles with Green Day and financial problems, and so they pretty much told all of us that we had to go find a new label." In 2006 the Dollyrots signed to Blackheart Records. Ogden had given a compact disc of the band's music to Joan Jett, the co-founder of Blackheart Records, while the Dollyrots were on the Vans Warped Tour. The same year, drummer Amy Wood left the band. Wood suggested that Ogden and Cabezas ask Chris Black to replace her.
Their second album, Because I'm Awesome, was released on March 13, 2007. A review in the webzine PopMatters noted that "the Dollyrots' sound is the same as it ever was, with clever, catchy lyrics running around a track of straightforward, chugging pop-punk." The title song was featured in a Kohl's commercial during the fall of 2007 where the band made an appearance at the end.
Winner of the 7th annual Independent Music Awards Vox Pop vote for best Pop/Rock song "Because I'm Awesome".
A Little Messed Up:
The Dollyrots promoted their 7-inch single "California Beach Boy" with a feature performance during the Showcase on the CBS game show The Price Is Right.
The band opened for the Buzzcocks on their 22 date North American tour in May/June 2010.
A Little Messed Up is the band's third album, and the second one to be released on Blackheart Records.
The band opened for Bowling for Soup on their Just Can't Get Rid of Us UK tour in 2010. In May/June of 2010, they played six dates supporting The Go-Go's on their Ladies Gone Wild Tour. In August, they again supported Bowling For Soup on a west coast tour.
On August 9, the band released an EP, Arrested Youth, on their own label, Arrested Youth Records.
The Dollyrots decided that their next album would be released on their own record label. On September 12, 2011, the band launched a fundraising drive on Kickstarter to raise money for the production and release of the album in which they received their goal within one day and went on a month later to make almost five times the goal of money raised, donated by fans and supporters.
On November 30, 2011, it was announced that drummer Chris Black was parting ways with the band. In a YouTube video on December 11, 2011, Kelly introduced Alicia Warrington as the band's new drummer. In August 2012, Ogden revealed that Warrington had left to drum full time for singer Chris Rene. For their upcoming tour of the U.S, and their U.K tour supporting Bowling For Soup, the band have enlisted drummer James Carman from the band Images.
They released their self-titled album, The Dollyrots, on September 18, 2012.
Other work:
The Dollyrots recorded a cover of the song "There's A Barbarian in the Back Of My Car" by Voice of the Beehive for Snake Oil Supercharm, a 2003 tribute album to Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction. The band recorded a version of "Santa Baby" for the 2009 album A Blackheart Christmas and also recorded a cover of "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett for the film Easy A. In July 2011 the band announced that they would be teaming up with Bowling For Soup to release a split 7". The 7" featured both bands covering one of the others songs.
Uses in media:
Songs by the Dollyrots have been used in films, TV shows, and commercials.
"Because I'm Awesome" was used in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 and in the trailer for Bring It On: Fight to the Finish. The song has been featured on a number of television shows, including ABC's Ugly Betty, ABC Family's Greek (where they appeared as themselves) and Picture This, Oxygen's Bad Girls Road Trip and the CW's Reaper (as well as several other songs). The song was featured for a month as a "Hip Clipz" on the website of Curly Grrlz Skateboards. The song was featured in a back-to-school commercial for the Kohl's department store chain, where the band was replaced by teen models and actors. It also appeared in the official "Vancouver 2010" video game for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.,
"Watch Me Go (Kissed Me, Killed Me)" was featured on the E! show The Simple Life.,
The Dollyrots cover of "Brand New Key" was used on the Fox sitcom "Raising Hope".,
The Dollyrots cover of the Joan Jett classic "Bad Reputation" was used in the National Lampoon movie Endless Bummer. It was also used in the film Easy A.,
"Feed Me, Pet Me" was used in a 2002 Hewlett-Packard ad campaign in which the band also appeared (with Drummer Josh Valenti).,
"Kick Me to the Curb" and "Goodnight Tonight" were featured on the CSI: NY episode Stuck On You, in which the band crew guest starred as members of the fictional indie band Rough Sects. In the episode, Kelly Ogden played Stephanie O'Dell, the bassist of Rough Sects.,
The band appear as themselves in the film Girltrash: All Night Long.,
The band has also lent their music to The Intellectual Saviors Podcast found on theintellectualsaviors.podbean.com and iTunes, where they also appeared on Episode 10.,
"Hyperactive" was featured in Episode 1 of The Challenge: Rivals II.
