Interviewed by: Lindsey Appelton
Pictures Sourced from: The Dollyrots Facebook Page
The Dollyrots are a pop punk band from L.A, who have had a #7 Chart debut on Billboard Magazines ‘Heatseekers Chart’. They have also had their music featured in movies such as ‘Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants’, and Disney Pixars ‘Brave’. They have also had their music featured on shows such as CSI,Ugly Betty and Vampire Diaries. The Dollyrots have toured with the likes of Paramore and Joan Jett, and have played over 1000 shows.
M.G.M – I’m Lindsey Appleton from MyGlobalMind Webzine, and I’m here with Kelly, Luis and Rikki from ‘The Dollyrots’ – Hi guys…
Dollyrots – Hi.
M.G.M – You were in Liverpool last night, how did you guys find that?
Kelly – You said that and I’m said here thinking – really? (we all laugh)
Luis – It was cool, its always an awesome repsonse when we play there. It went really well.
M.G.M – So you have just released your new EP: ‘Mamas Gonna Knock You Out’, and you will also be releasing your new live album CD ‘Family Vacation’ on the 11th March, can you tell us a little bit about that?
Kelly – Yeah, we have had a couple of records, we have been a band for about 15 years now, it is crazy we used pledge music.
Luis – You know we have done this and that, and we wanted to create something nice for the fans who have pledged, they are the ones that have helped funded this record. So we were like ‘ok’ lets create something new. So we decided to write 3 new songs, in 2 days.
Kelly – Like we weren’t busy enough, we then had 2 days to record the new songs.
Luis – ‘She is being sarcastic’. The producer only had 2 days available, so we had to get in and get them nailed.
Kelly – We also have a 2 year old together, named River, so between being parents and musicians and no sleep during this period, the outcome of it all was awesome.
Kelly & Luis – Becoming parents is the best thing we have ever done.
M.G.M – How are you finding juggling being touring musicians with being a parent?.
Luis – Our son is 2 years old, this is part of the reason we wanted to do the live thing now. We don’t have the capacity between us right now to write a new full length album at this moment in time. That to us seems like a hill that we just couldn’t climb right now. We wanted to enjoy some time being new parents ya know.
M.G.M – I totally get that and I think your fans would understand that as well.
Kelly – Jaret from Bowling for Soup was like: ‘hey do you guys want to get the band back together? We are going to do a U.S. and U.K. tour’. We were like ‘yes’. Then I said to Luis ‘hey we should do the live album now’.
Luis – So we decided to do the live thing along with coinciding with the tours. We just want to give the fans who haven’t seen us a great experience. So by doing a live music video will showcase what we do for them. Then we came up with this hair brained idea of doing the EP. It seems like it was all part of this master plan when really it wasn’t, it all just sort of fell into place.
Kelly – We like to pretend we are fish making our way up stream. We are living in the moment, hoping we make the best decisions as we go.
Luis – Yeah, it is just one foot in-front of the other, and randomly we manage to land our feet in the right places.
Kelly – We are very lucky that River is a really good traveller. And we brought our friend along who is our tour nanny. River did his first gig with us when he was 3 months old in Austin Texas. So he is used to the travelling and now he is part of the team.
M.G.M – Its amazing how children adjust…
Kelly – We had wanted a child for like 17 years, and had discussed it and then it happened. We traded our tour van in for a family estate car, and we were like “oh my god is this the end?”
Luis – But it is something we both wanted, and we did it. Having kids sometimes you have to make sacrifices you know. We get to do what we love, spend time with our child, and involve him in what we do. We can’t complain you know.
M.G.M – Would you want River to go into music?
Luis – We wouldn’t discourage it. But if it is what he wants to do, then we would totally support his choices. He will see as he gets older it is hard, but he will have the traveling experiences, and be involved in all that we do. He will have the tools, we have the instruments and we have a recording studio at home, so he will have all he needs if he chooses to go into music. We aren’t going to be like this is what you are going to do because we do it. It is not easy. There are so many variables that can be thrown in your way as a musician.
Kelly – Yeah, the music industry is always changing. You have to do something which you are passionate about.
M.G.M – So what sort of hurdles have you had to overcome as a band?
Luis – We have seen a lot with regards to bands having musician change overs. We dropped everything to move to L.A..
Kelly – That was a little scary. But I cant say there have been any terrible experiences.
Luis – You have to make mistakes to learn from them. That is how you grow as a band.
M.G.M – Where do you find your inspiration to do what you do?
Kelly – From each other. Our experiences from when we were kids, our friends and family.
Luis – The fact that we have known each other for so long, we finish each others sentences. I look at solo musicians and wonder how they do it on their own. Then I look at us and I realise we are strong because we have each other. We function well because we work together as a team.
Kelly – Yeah, I think if we didn’t have each other, we would both be in normal 9-5 jobs.
Luis – Yeah, together musically we just make sense to one another.
Kelly – But lyrically I dont know where it all comes from.
Luis – We used to pre-record everything until it sounded perfect. Now it is like: “oh that sounds good lets run with that idea”.
M.G.M – What advice would you give new up and coming bands breaking out onto the music scene?
Kelly – You’ve got to play lots of gigs, and your band mates should be people you like to be around. It is all about positive atmosphere and good vibes.
Luis – Go with your gut. Connect directly with your fans as much as possible, fully commit, don’t let family or your girlfriend or whoever dictate to you. Just go for it. Eventually you will find your way, eventually you will find your audience.
M.G.M – Right guys, thank you for giving me your time. And I look forward to seeing you out on stage.
Follow Kelly and Luis at dollyrots.com.
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