Band : Teenage Bottlerocket
Album title : They Came From the Shadows
Label : Fat Wreck Chords
Distributor : Sonic Rendezvous
Release date : 15/09/2009
Release : CD

Following the demise of their previous band Homeless Wonders, twin Carlisle brothers Ray (bass & vocals) and Brandon (drums) formed Laramie, Wyoming based SkatePunk act TBR as a 3-piece with Chicago born guitarist Zach Doe, in 2000. Soon after the band’s release of their debut EP A Bomb on local label One Legged Pup in 2002, Doe left and went back home, leaving the brothers without a guitarist until they found Joel Pattinson (a music major at University Of Wyoming). On Halloween 2003 One Legged Pup issued the band’s debut full-length album Another Way (on vinyl only). Still playing gigs primarily on local front, the band nevertheless managed to get support slots for the liikes of All (one of the band’s influences) and The Ataris.

When the band was to embark on a short tour of the Midwest during Summer 2004, and Pattinson was unable to make the trip due to his obligations to the University Orchestra, the twin brothers called in the help of their old friend Kody Templeman (of The Lillingtons), just to play guitar on the tour…but the tour went so well, and the band ended up playing some of the songs Kody had written…and by the end of the tour he’d become a permanent member of the band! To improve the band’s sound, Ray switched to guitar, and TBR recruited Miguel Chen on the bass. In April 2005 the band released Total (featuring Ray and Kody doing dual vocals) on the Red Scare Industries label, and soon after they got noticed by Groovie Ghoulies, who promptly offered TBR a spot on their Space Station stage at the Vans Warped Tour. But then Groove Ghoulies dropped from the Vans Warped, and instead invited TBR and The Teenage Harlets on the Teen Kicks Tour 2005. TBR went on to play shows with the Methadones, Chixdiggit, and The Mr. T Experience. During Summer 2006, TBR went on a nationwide tour in support of Fat Wreck Chords act Epoxies. Prior to the January 2008 release of their Warning Device album (again on Red Scare), the band filmed their first music video for the track “In The Basement” (off the upcoming album), releasing it in October 2007.

TBR signed to Fat Wreck Chords on February 10 of this year, and returned to Ft. Collins (Colorado) based The Blasting Room studio (where they’d already recorded their previous album) in May to record their new album. As mentioned above, the band’s style is SkatePunk, meaning you get pumped with relatively fast played but melodic Punk Rock (described on Wikipedia as being “…heavily influenced by Kody’s other band, The Lillingtons, and earlier Pop Punk acts such as the Ramones, ALL, Screeching Weasel, and the Groove Ghoulies…”, and being familiar with all mentioned, I can only agree with that)which has the added advantage, in this case, of having two lead singers which back up each other when not doing leads. With a relentless tempo, the listener is pulled through the 14 songs, and (s)he will find (her/him)self amazed when after a mere 32 minutes the album’s already finished. If the above description of the band doesn’t mean anything to you, or leaves some doubts, you can still check out some songs (besides 2 off the new album, there’s also two off Warning Device and Total, and one off Another Way) at myspace.com/teenagebottlerrocket (and if that ain’t enough, you might check whether they have pages at Purevolume.com or Last.fm with different songs – alternally, you can check out samples of the whole album at Amazon.com…ooh, and if you’ll check the blogs at the band’s MySpace, there’s a link to an additional song posted at Alternativepress.com).

Meanwhile (hey, we can’t help it if the promo material took some time to  get to us, and then also took some time to get processed – at least you’re getting the review within a week after receipt by yours truly), the band’s filmed a video clip for the album opening track “Skate Or Die”, and in October the band did a full US (headliner) tour (with Cobra Skulls as support), which included dates with Joey Cape, John Snodgrass, Head, Broadway Calls, Teen Idols, The Dead Milkmen, and West Coast dates with Laramie Arms. As for my personaly appreciation of this band’s music, I hope you won’t mind too much, but the days when I could be aroused beyong compare by such relatively simple music are long gone…which don’t mean I can still appreciate a dose of it, mind you! Of course, as usual, you’ll left free to form your own opinions!

80/100

Tony.