Album Review: Teenage Bottlerocket: “Teenage Bottlerocket vs. Human Robots”
What were you doing in your spare time in 7th Grade? I was desperately trying (and failing!) to learn blink-182 and My Chemical Romance songs on bass guitar, and wondering why all the cool kids wouldn’t be my friends on MySpace. I’m guessing most of you weren’t releasing your first split 7-inch on Fat Wreck Chords like Milo Carlisle has done. As the son of Teenage Bottlerocket’s Ray Carlisle, he’s already spent years being surrounded by the best teachers in punk rock, and boy does it show on these couple tracks.
The first two tracks on this split 7-inch will be familiar to big Bottlerocket fans. Track 1: “Olivia Goes to Bolivia” first appeared on a flexi-disk for New Noise Magazine in February 2019. Bassist Miguel Chen wrote the track about his baby daughter Olivia (who features on the track too – cute!). Track 2: “Everything to Me” appears on the bands’ newest album, Stay Rad. Both tracks are adorable odes to the band members’ offspring – fitting for the record – as well as super-catchy, punk anthems, as expected from Teenage Bottlerocket.
Let’s face it though, this record is all about Human Robots. As Ray said in the press release for the record, “It wasn’t hard getting his band together, because Milo plays all the instruments and sings on the two songs he wrote. I guess it’s a one-man band (yes, he has no friends).” Which is a pretty INSANE accolade for anyone, let alone a pre-teen in my opinion (the one-man band thing, not the no friends thing. Having no friends is an easy accomplishment, lemme tell you).
“Step on ‘Em All” is 45-seconds of pure old-skool punk rawk rage. With thrashing guitars and angry AF lyrics, this track sounds like a cross between the Ramones and late 80s NYHC.
“I Want to Hang Out With You” could be a Bottlerocket song. They probably wish it was a Bottlerocket song, but Milo got there first. It’s a simple, catchy memorable punk rock song with a chorus that’ll have you singing along as soon as you’ve heard it. Also, you can only imagine Ray’s face when he first heard his young son sing the “I wanna make out with you/ I wanna get expelled with you” lyrics of the chorus.
It really is incredible that the little dude is so talented at a young age – these songs rock HARD. There should be a few Fat Wreck bands watching their backs right now – Milo has the potential to take over the genre in a few years.
You can buy the 7-inch in the Fat Wreck Chords store here, or stream/buy it on Bandcamp here. Best $5 you’ll have spent in a long time.
5/5 Stars
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