Four years have passed since Teenage Bottlerocket’s last record, but little has changed for the punk rock pride of Wyoming. With the closure of their longtime label, Fat Wreck Chords, the band made the move to Pirate Press. For Ready to Roll, they returned to The Blasting Room in Fort Collins, CO—the studio where they’ve crafted much of their catalog—once again teaming up with the same producer. The result is another impressive batch of wildly catchy, distortion-heavy, guitar-driven pop punk.
The band went into this record with no overarching musical concept and very little pressure. “We just wrote songs that felt good to play,” says bassist Miguel Chen. “That freedom brought something fresh. It reminded us why we started doing this in the first place. The vibe is all about reconnecting with the joy of making music together.”
That pressure-free, back-to-basic mentality results in one of the band’s best records in years. The album’s opening title track not only sets the pace for what follows but acts as a call to arms for those ready to party. “She’s the Shit,” the very next song is a punk rock love song to singer/guitarist Ray Carlisle’s wife—and it manages to be both parts surprisingly/humorously sweet and a fucking rocking good tune. “Taquero” is about selling Mexican food—That’s it.
But they delve into deeper themes as well, like on “Post Mortem Depression,” a song about death with blistering guitars, initially meant as a little joke, but one that took on a much more emotional significance when songwriter (and the other guitarist) Kody Templeman’s mother passed away.
And it’s not just subject matters that change throughout the record. While most of the songs here adherer to the standard pop punk formula, “I Just Found Out That I’m Stupid,” while still anchored in the genre, meshes in a classic new wave sound.
While Ready to Roll stays true to the sound of their earlier records, there are a few unexpected twists—making it a great album overall and worth the wait.
