The Dollyrots: California Beach Boy

The Dollyrots 

       If you stuck the Ramones, and the Go Go's in a blender and set it to puree for about 30 seconds the band that would emerge would be the Dollyrots.  Their song California Beach Boy captures the garage band stock car racer energy of Rock Away Beach by the Ramones, and the contagious excitement of the Go Go's We Got The Beat.  

The Ronnette's 

        The band itself is a traditional power pop trio with childhood sweethearts Luis Cabezas on guitar and Kelly Ogden playing bass and singing.  The band has had a few different drummers since their inception in 2000 but it hasn't seriously effected the quality of the music they've produced.  
      After the bands initial formation they left Florida after the election of George. W. Bush.  They said they believed it probably meant the end of the world so they might as well become a full time rock and roll band and go out doing what they love.  
       They soon arrived in California where they were signed by Lookout Records which was the home of Greenday and The Donna's.  While there they released the album Eat My Heart Out which featured a fun cover of the Ronettes Be My Baby.  Whereas Ronnie Spector's reading was sincere and a tiny bit desperate Ogden's is confident and even a little bit bratty.  Spector hopes she can get the guy whereas Ogden already know's the guy is hers but she's coyly allowing him to think he's calling the shots.

The Go Go's
The original valley girl rockers

The Ramones
punk music for the pop charts

       Soon the band moved over to Joan Jett's Blackheart label where they released two more albums.  The first one was called Because I'm Awesome and it included 3 songs that were featured in movies and on TV.  The title track Because I'm Awesome, made an appearance on the TV sitcom  Ugly Betty and Watch Me Go (Kissed Me, Killed Me) popped up on the show A Simple Life.   Because I'm Awesome was selected to be part of Khol's ad and it made it to the big screen in the very popular 2008 chick flick Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants.  Which means even if you haven't heard of the Dollyrots there is a very good chance you have heard their music.
      Their third album and second and final recording for Blackheart records was called A Little Messed Up and that's where the song California Beach Boy appears.  It was released during the late summer of 2010 and I heard it as the feature song of the week on Sirius/XM channel Underground Garage.  I was completely blown away.  The song is the same old familiar story of Pretty In Pink or Valley Girl.  Two kids from differing social and financial strata meet and fall in love.  In the movies the protagonists have to deal with the disappointment and expectations of family and friends poo pooing the inappropriate love affair.  With California Beach Boy Ogden realizes the differences in their origins but it has absolutely no bearing on the destiny they hold in their own hands.  Her observations are wry yet absent of the cynicism you would expect from someone who fled conservative Florida for the unorthodox SoCal shoreline.

Cabezas on guitar and Ogden on bass & vocals

      Most of the time rock bands that are fronted by an attractive young woman reach their breaking point because of the media attention the girl receives.  This has occurred repeatedly over the years to bands like Blondie, No Doubt, and the Cranberries but it probably won't happen to the Dollyrots. For one thing the band records and preforms as a trio but doesn't really have a permanent drummer which in reality makes them a duo.  In this case Cabezas and Ogden, the duo, really were childhood sweethearts that got together in the 8th grade and are, at this posting, expecting their first baby.  Perhaps they will defy history and become more like Pat Benetar and Niel Giraldo as opposed to Carly Simon and James Taylor.  I hope so, they are a great band and you should listen to California Beach Boy because it's a really fun wonderful summertime song and perfect for a Friday night in the middle of the summer.