Teenage BottlerocketStay Rad!

On March 15th 2019, Teenage Bottlerocket released their latest album, Stay Rad! In combination with their signature style, this compilation delivered fans an innovative shuffle of what we love the band for; humour, enthusiasm, and ultimately, a bunch of guys still doing what they love.

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Opening with an obvious insider, You Don’t Get the Joke charges the album into a bouncing upheaval of bratty choruses, reverberating amps and a string of catchy guitar licks.

While taking us for a spin on their Death Kart, we roll along “the open road, rockets ready to explode”, which winds us along alongside the band on a bumpy journey of their own as the song progresses into their lively rhythms.

An amicable ode to Ray Carlisle’s son, Everything to Me sings to us his paternal nature in the sweetest, most punk-rock dad way possible. The smile-curving humour carries within the songs liveliness. As the guitar strumming accompanies the punchy bass hooks, you’d have to be a pretty stoked kid to have this written about you.

Again, reiterating their humour with I Wanna Be a Dog, we’re given the other side to adulthood that sometimes we’d rather not have the responsibility for; as if you wouldn’t rather being “the best fucking friend you’ve ever had.”

Stay Rad! is a realistic representation of where Teenage Bottlerocket are at now, and just how far they have come as a band.

Probably one of the evening’s with a story we’d rather hear than be a part of, Night of the Knuckleheads tells the reminiscent story in a tone that makes the experience sound more appealing than it probably was.

Creature from the Black Metal Lagoon has an eerie tone that’s accompanied by “wo-oh-wo” choruses and bass riffs that drive us straight into the cymbals of Darren Chewka’s drumming.

“I’m gonna throw up, I’m gonna fuckin’ shit my pants” gives a good indication of what being Anti-Social Media just might be like. Its stalling choruses give you a minute to grab the bucket just before the breakdown hits, which convulses us into Wild Hair (Across My Ass). Another number to prove that their humour is pensive with age, the lyrics drawl through these verses that you might not wanna sing along to. The First Time That I Did Acid Was the Last Time That I Did Acid warns you about some of the dangers of tripping out through hallucinogenic fears during choruses and thunderous upheavals of instrumentation, giving a good caution for any kids thinking of dropping tabs this weekend.

I Want To Kill Clint Carlin is an abstract homage to their undoubtedly favourite roadie, which is followed up with I’ll Kill You Tomorrow … the back-to-back titles don’t sound convincing, but the melodic verses of latter song doesn’t sound like these guys have an actual vendetta. Despite the title, Stupid Song isn’t so stupid; it emphasises the way that we use music as escapism from the pains of day to day life. Little Kid is ridden with a Ramones-esque style that encapsulate the memories that Ray shared with his late brother, Brandon Carlisle. Closing their album with the only song apparently written about a girl, I Never Knew reminisces of the band’s earlier days while encapsulating their musicianship within the band.

Released via Fat Wreck Chords, Stay Rad! is a realistic representation of where Teenage Bottlerocket are at now, and just how far they have come as a band.

STICK THIS NEXT TO: Ramones, Millencolin, Screeching Weasel.
STANDOUT TRACKS: Anti-Social Media, You Don’t Get The Joke, Creature from the Black Metal Lagoon