PipemanRadio Interviews The Dollyrots at Respectable Street

0:04 Hey, you have done to censure see why pray young roll, whycoume America. It's time for the Adventures of pipe Man on W four c HY dot com. West Palm Beach is number one internet radio station. Here's your host, the White Man. You'll know. He say he's going in the moonlight. You're dining out until the thanks in the street live sign they bastes.

0:52 This is the pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W four c Y Radio right here in hometown, West Palm Beach, where I'm starting a pipe Man radio tour today with probably the best show on the whole tour that Dolly Rods at one of my favorite venues, respectable streets. Oh my god, this is the greatest. Thank you guys have never played here right, No. And I walked in and I thought, oh my god, this place is awesome, isn't it though? And what you're missing this time? Okay, and I have a funny story for you. But in the back there's another area, but it's under construction right now. Like the floor is all brick and there's a bar and that's where like the hardcore punk bands play.

1:33 So you have a band playing on the stage, you play on and then there'll be a band playing back there, and it gets bread, it gets pretty harry. So my engineer who runs my Louisiana studio, she came into town and I'm like, I'm going to bring you to one of my favorite venues. We were just talking about my show the other day because I was talking about I was going to be here to cover you guys, and oh my god, it was so funny. She was so scared, like she had never been to like a real punk yeah, and it was brick floor and like, there are in this little area and she's like, and you went up to a bar and somebody punched. Sounds like fun right, Oh my god, this is a great place to play, I mean, and it is like a cool vibe down there, right, It feels awesome, and the staff has been super cool. That's always important. Yeah, that's the most important part. Because I don't know if I should say this live, but the Fort Laurerdale venues I don't like so much. Well, how many times have the Dunley Rocks been down here? Yeah? Twice? Well there you go. I don't know, I don't know, but now that we found this spot, I mean, come back yeah right, And you know what, I'm glad you brought that up because you're not the only band like we have. We've lost radio stations here, like because nobody wants to play here. Yeah. Well, I mean part of the problem is the

3:05 drive is you know, you got down Florida and then all the way back up and there aren't really enough cities to make it make sense sometimes exactly. And I think people don't realize that because it is true, like I don't even, like a regular basis want to drive through the state of Florida much less you're on tour and you got waste like three days going down and going back out. Yeah, I mean it's it's long, yeah, totally, but it's worth it that you're here to find Respectable Street because by far the best venue in all of South Florida. Yeah, we're stoked. So tell us a little bit about you know, this tour you're on music. I was so excited when I saw you did that cool cover song, the newest song you have out now it all Lang's Eye. Oh yeah, and I'm like that's pretty cool. And then I listen, I'm like, that's a great version of that song, Like they should play that at Times Square.

4:12 Yeah, well I never really liked that song. We have a Christmas album and every year we do at least one or two Christmas songs, and we've done Turkey Trot, and so it was like, why don't we try something different so New Year's, Like, there are only so many Christmas songs, right, right, so you just kind of you have to like you end up running out of quality Christmas songs, and so it was like, well, what if we just did like a New Year's song, you know, like next year, it'll probably be like I don't know, like a Dradle song, or I know I love it because I'm a chew r do like haba Niguela or something, Yeah exactly. But yeah, you just kind of have to get creative because like we have this like concept of this ever expanding Christmas album and every year I see another one and eventually it'll just be like a thirty song like triple album. You know, you could just do an hour album as like every holiday of the year, like all on one out like a calendar. It could come with a calendar. But no, now you're getting too like conceptual. What it was like a comic book, a photo shoot for every month film. You know, it's like it's good to have holiday songs though, you know it is. It's good to have something on the hell we have Valentine's Day, we got Hallow, we got some Halloween songs. Yeah, so yeah, so it's good to have that sort of thing though, because you never know there might be like I don't know, like a show or something that needs a band to be on. Right, they're Valentine's show or you know what I mean. So and you know it's Halloween songs too, that's cool. And you know what's funny about the

5:42 Valentine's song because I'm both a metal head and a punk and I think the punk ones are the positive ones. The metal ones are the depressing ones. Yeah, so like it's better off having songs from you guys for Valentine's Day. So like it, I didn't stay breaking hearts, but then I could gas because you guys like met in like eighth grade, right we did. You're like, yeah, it's I mean, we're like severe childhood sweetheart situation. You're like the fairytale terminal child that setheart right, But yeah, we met. I was like I was twelve, you know, and she was thirteen, and yeah, I kind of just chased her until nintenior year of high school and then she finally like went out with me. But I asked him to the homecoming day. Whoa, these are all true stories, Like I mean, she was like she was the prom queen and she finally went out with me. I mean, this is all true. And so then yeah, we we were in Florida and we ended up moving to Sarasota for college. So like we spent like four years in Sarasota and then and then we were like, let's move to La So that's how that how this all started. Nice And so what is it that finally that broke you down that he after chasing all that time? I don't know. I mean I always liked him well, but I wanted to be sure because I think I knew that I really liked him. And it was scary because you're like fifteen sixteen

7:13 that I'm seventeen years old, and it's like, well, what if this is it? You know, like it was kind of scary, what if I'm stuck with this weirdo? Think of that bleak future. But we were kids, you know, and I really I don't know I felt like it would be forever. And so what what do your parents think now? Because I bet both your parents were trying to like, oh, they gotta try to talk. Yeah, you know what's wild. Our families were like yeah, okay, nice. Yeah, they all my grandparents, everybody. I think they saw us together and they're like, you know what, this really seems okay. They were smart because you know, the ones that don't do that is when you go and off and do stupid shit. Yeah, well we just end up doing We did all the stupid shit together. See well, but you know, and that's how you grow together. You make mistakes, and you know, you got you kind of have to have those, like misadventures or whatever. And just by being in a punk band, we had plenty of them, and so we definitely got to grow together. And so and doing this together also meant that we had to like stick it out, you know, because if one of us quit, then then you're doing right well, and now it's like our job. So I mean, we've got to keep going and stay together. And we have kids. It's like a whole thing. Now you even you even like, did an album pregnant, right? Yeah? Yeah, I've toured pregnant, like all of it.

8:41 You know what they say though, They say that like pregnant women's voices are more appealing, and there might be there might yeah, something about the warmone surge, but there might be something to that also ovulating women, Okay, only record when you're ovulating. I have thought of it, like, oh, everybody really likes that song. I wonder if I was fertile, right, you know, that was a new adventure when it happened too. But it was like, all right, let's just figure it out. I mean, there were there would be times where she was like, you know, so hot and we're in LA and we don't have air conditioning and it's the middle of the summer and she's pregnant and she's laying on the bed with the microphone singing the song. And but we did it, you know, like you pull it out and if you really love your art, like you will, you will. Just that's the key right there, and so funny.

9:33 I've been gone for several months. The last show I was at Respectables Wash Susie Moon, She's a good friend of mine. Now, okay, so I'm going to do punk rock bowling in a couple of weeks. I met her at Punk Rock Bowling because I interviewed her at puck Rock punk Rock Bowling, and I interviewed him when he was in another band, and they met that day. Oh my god, like I was that, don't tell you. I was like there from the beginning, you know. And then now she just had a baby. Yeah they did. It's so cute too, Yeah they made they made a good looking baby, Yeah they did. It's it's sweet. But that's kind of the thing with with the punk community is it's so small that everyone knows everyone else, and if you don't know somebody personally, then you're like one order of magnitude away. You know, there's you know what, it's six degrees from Kevin Bacon, but you're one degree from the punk rock person in the you know, in the scene, no doubt. And you know what's cool. Why I like talking about this is well, a lot of people don't know that I've always known as the punk scene is like a family. It really is, okay, and people think about I'm sure there's people that thought about with you guys, oh what are they doing having kids being punk rockers, you know, and stuff like that. And I think that's all the more reason because there's that family, and there's it inclusivity too, you know, like we're all the outsiders, so we're all inside here exactly. Our kids they just acquiesced to what to

11:09 what we do, you know, and so they tour with us, and they're they not tonight though, because they've already missed a good chunk of school and so they're with my mom and they have to go to school tomorrow. They're sitting this one out. Otherwise they would have already chimed in nice. But they're part of that family now too. They grew up in it. They've got like aunts and uncles quote unquote in other bands, Like a lot of the people that are part of their life are are parts of you know, other bands, and like it's and it's cool because, if anything, it just strengthens your bond. When your kid is calling the you know, the girl in the band that you've played with a bunch like his aunt, you know, like, yeah, that's cool. It means you're truly family totally. And it means our kids have family everywhere. So yeah, they're never alone. If they need anything anywhere they go, we can call somebody.

12:00 So when you guys started this whole thing. You guys had different plans. Yeah, And now that you're here and we're talking about that kind of stuff, do you think back to those times, like, thank god I made this decision. Yeah. The craziest decision like we ever made was like we're going to put off. I mean, he was going to med school. He already took his MCAT exams. I was supposed to take my GIRE exam, and the night before I was like, no, like, gonna do the band for one year, just one year, We'll go to California and see what happens. I love it, And it was terrifying, Like I don't know. There was some discussion I saw on read it recently or something, and somebody was considering, like, hey, I really want to pursue my art, should I go to LA or whatever? And I chimed in and I was like, yeah, you should. If you really believe in what you do, you should drop everything and go like that's what you should do. And granted, we had each other so it's easier for us, but the truth is, if you really want something, you got to go for it, right. And I said that, and everyone piled on me. I was like, why would you suggest that that's so not responsible to you got your whole life to be responsible. Like, the worst thing that happens is you have to like save up and ride a bus back home, right, I mean that's the time to take the chance. That's the time to take the shot, you know. I mean, Okay, there were worst things that could happen. But if you've got your head on straight and you're serious about your art and you really want to work on it, then I think you should do it. Like our thing was like, look, we're not smoking pot until we sell forty thousand records. Yeah, I mean we didn't. It was nothing. It's like, we're gonna be pretty

13:31 much straight edge because we're moving there to work. Well, what's so funny about that? Is on from the eighties sunset strip scene? Okay, and like it's the exact opposite. Like I was at like the party when Vince Neil left with Razzle, you know, I was at all that kind of stuff. And it's like I think a bands nowadays, Like you said straight edge, and I'm like, yeah, that would have been a lot smarter back then. Well we knew, we knew if we moved to La there would be temptations, and we knew that the like, the more the band grew, the more potentially we could be enticed with, and so we just said a hard no, you know, and I think it. I mean it helped our marriage for sure. I mean we still drank, but you know everything else was in No. I mean that's amazing too, because that is the land of temptation, you know, it truly was like for for Reels Reels. I mean it wasn't. That's not just like a movie depiction.

14:31 That's like, I mean, this is actually there are you end up places and you play shows and you end up in places after shows, and it's I mean it's a huge been there and a big city full of misadventures, dude. I mean there was this one place called Motel Hell. It used to be Motel Hello, and oh was not living Amore and that was the punk rock where all the punk rockers that ran away from home, That's where we were all living. Yeah. Yeah, I think that. I think surviving those sorts of things helps you. It gives you resiliency and helps you endure. Though I know that once you get out on the road you need that. Oh you know, so La really like prepared us in a lot of ways to be able to, you know, like be in any environment and be able to feel like, Okay, I can do this.

15:20 You know. That's pretty cool to hear because it's true. Like my daughter she'll sometimes go to festivals festivals with me, and after half a day at the four day festival, she's like, Dad, I don't know how you do this every weekend. I'm done already. Yeah, I'm like, I don't know how. I don't you know. Yeah, well that's what I do, right right, I have to do it. You come home and you're like, oh, well I do now. Yeah. I kind of like seclude when I get home. I'll even leave my place that has us too. We just it's a post tour depression. Like you get home and you know it's going to hit you after a day or two. You're like, oh man, and it's it's like an anti endorphin rush, right, you know, you're just like, well what am I doing with my life?

16:02 You know? But it's real, like because it's such a such a rush to be on stage. It's such a rush to see live music and such a rush to be a part of that. Like there's no way to explain. Like watching rock and Roll. Oh listen, when we were on that lockdown, I was going, I don't care if a kid gets one up on stage where recorder and it's it's a live show. I'm going And I was just in Costa Ricue. There was this bad play that dude was playing the kazoo during like the chorus awesome, and I'm like, that is the coolest thing ever. You know, music, we need it, man, we need it. During that time, I think that's why everybody got so angry and you know, upset and depressed and like no live music, that's the best therapy there is. Yeah, we we were doing online shows every Sunday. I think how many did we do? We did like twelve or something. It was like, how hard was that, by the way, because it's like weird, right, Yeah, I mean we had been doing these shows like every couple of months already, so we were kind of used to it. But but we were home with two tiny kids, a toddler that maybe would cooperate, maybe wouldn't. Right, we had gotten COVID chickens. We had baby chickens. The kids would bring them in. It was pure chaos. Why did we get a puppy dude, like, well, because now he's a dog and when we go on tour it's easier.

17:25 But yeah, during that time, we did it the first couple times because it was like, all right, we got to perform, We've got to do something, you know, just for kind of ourselves. And then we started seeing people were depending on this a little bit. I need Sunday to come sooner. If so, glad you're gonna help sun Like Sunday is the day I look forward to. Now it's like, oh crap, we can't quit. So yeah, so we just kept doing it, oh like for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks. In the end it was like, all right, we need a break, you know, right, it is a lot. It's a lot too because at least when you're up on stageway crowd, you feed off the crowd and there's energy and there's this whole like I can't see getting like that in the live stream. It's no different than for me. I'd rather do an interview like this than when I do phoners, yeah, because it's a different type of energy. Yeah. Yeah, And we we'd only do acoustic because there were people doing like full band things all the time, and I could like that, I could. I don't think I could do that very well. It feels strange those even with the best production, I never felt like truly engaged with it, you know, right. But the acoustic thing, it's like, I mean, if your songs are good, they should translate, you know, and online it's like the format best for that is acoustic for sure. Oh yeah. It's all about just being expressive. It's not about trying to wow people with production or with loudness. You know. It's like we were literally on our couch with children yelling and chickens flapping. That's great looking back on it though. It was pretty fun, right, and they're all on YouTube. Somebody kept uploading

18:57 them really, so yeah, just our dissension into likegacy. See when people look back on that, and that'll be the most important thing, you know. Like, so, now, in your whole career, could you remember one show in particular that's like your favorite that you've done. That's all they know. But but one just like flew into my head and it's definitely in the tops. We were on black Heart Records and we played peer Peer something one of the big Peers. They had this like summer concert series, and so we opened for Joan Jet. Yeah, it was like Peer forty one or Peer fifty in New York City. So on the Hudson side they have I know what you're talking about. It's like a Peer. I think it's Peer fifty two or six or something like that. And so it was like, Hey, do you want to open for Joan Jet at this outdoor show on this peer on the river in New York City? And you know Joan Jet is the queen of New York City, right, Like Yeah. The best part about well, there are multiple best parts here. The best part about it was being backstage after playing the show. It rained, so everything was like, you know, everyone was soaked and there was lightning and we're playing and whatever. And then after the show you had to get a staple removed from your I had three staples in my head from a show of the week prior Wow, also with Joe Well we had played this this fair whatever long story short, I like I split my head open because they set up

20:30 the stage on a horse track and they took out part of the pipe on the inside and I like went under the stage and up and I went just split my head over. So my mom was taking out my staples backstage while my cousins are trying to talk to Joe jed No. After like when you cut your head open, you immediately like came up like this and it was like gushing blood because you know when you cut your head, like it just goes every it's like Andrew w K whatever. So she's like running back to the trailer, to the back stage right as like Joan and the Black Hearts are like walking towards the stage and they're like, what happened, just like covered in blood, like I'm fine, I'm fine, Really, I'm fine.

21:11 I'm fine. Jony A great set, Joan, it was awesome. Do worry. Yeah, but but my parents were in New York and just seeing my dad like in New York City, Like I was born in New Jersey and so my dad lived in city Nice County, yes, and so you know, that was really cool. And then gosh, my uncle, uncle Joey was a whole bunch of my family came and so it was it was really cool. Yeah that and oh my god, that is like an amazing story because that is so punk rock. It was. It was raining there was lightning and a dog showed up on stage. You remember that, A big weird dog. Maybe it was like a werewolf. I don't know that right. That also made it strange, Yeah, oh my god.

22:03 So if you were to pick a moment that would oh, when are you done? Oh? Not a slight heart attack, Oh, that would go bad. Although I need to it's hard to tell what hour it's on. I know, right, we're looking at my watch and it's just a little, you know, so funny story I'd do with that. Like I interviewed Waddie from The Exploited, like right before he went on stage, I said to him, we need to end the interview, you need to go on stage. And I got him all pumped up that he started yelling at the crowd. Oh jeez. I was like, so my last question to him on So, Wannie, what do you think about pop punk? He went on. I knew he would say. Oh, I got him started.

22:56 I go up on stage. He's like, that's not He's like, it's great, that's awesome. You know, it's weird. You know it's weird about pop punk is like the definition of it has changed so much in the last ten years. They're like to me, it was like okay, right, it's like the Gilman Street thing or you know, well, yeah, Buzzcocks were like the originators, right for for sure you could argue like Ramones whatever, and then the dawn has inspired us to like being a band and then you discover o this stuff like Dicky Corvette. Yeah. Yeah, but the definition, the definition of it has changed so much. Not it scream o right pop punk now and I'm so confused. I know it's weird.

23:40 Right now, it's like this like this non genre sort of blend of like lots of musical elements, but it leans so much more towards like indie like pop, and then the old school pop punk they're kind of transforming more to being heavier and faster like that. They don't want to be that anymore. Yeah, it's like a reaction. And so like when when we define our music, it's like I just say it's bubblegum punk because that's that's I like, that's because it's not pop punk or melodic punk. I mean, I don't know how else to describe it. Sometimes it sounds so nerds, like melodic hardcore or something, you know what I mean, Like bubblegum punk.

24:22 That's our genre. I love that. So funny thing happened too downstairs. So we're at your merch table and she's looking at that shirt right there, and she comes up to me. It's like, would it be wrong to get that shirt? Because it's like it's like it's like Nirvana. Would it be wrong? I'm like, no, it's not the same exact thing, like if you were doing the same And I'm like, wow, you ask Kim shirt manager and then he tells he told her, like the whole meaning behind why the shirt is so you can tell the listen. No, it's like I learned how to play guitar playing along to Nirvana, Like Nirvana is my favorite band of all time, hands down. It Like it's it was the perfect place at the perfect time for fourteen year old I just got a guitar for my birthday, right, you know, and the songs are easy to play and it's perfect teenage angst, Like I just want to be in my dark room playing along to Nirvana and just feeling like, you know what's cool about Nirvana? Like so I was a total thrash metal head, so the whole grunge scene should have been hated by my people because grunge killed metal for that period of time. Yeah, but I freaking loved Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, Like I'm still bummed he's not here. Yeah, well you wonder

25:52 what you know he would have been doing obviously, but you know, having it cut short, I feel like it makes it even more meaningful, even though it obviously the circumstances. And it's strange how there's just like this resurgence of like deifying Kurt Cobain by like you know, eighteen year olds or whatever, if gen Z or what's jen Alpha, Like like there's there's like an undercurrent of people that literally think it's a clothing brand, like for real, like the Beds. So yeah, for us, it was like, let's make a Nirvana parody shirt because like there's a long standing tradition of punk bands doing parody shirts. Oh yeah, of course, that's why I got a Dodger. Sure we got a Coca Cola, Sure we got all sorts of shirts. Yeah. Parody shirts are like I mean they're kind of like part of your part of your thing, part of our thing. Well, if you get a cease and to assist, I mean that's pretty cool. I know exactly that that's punk man and the parody thing that that is. It's always been a normal thing. Yeah, you know. I think that's kind of how you start off because you don't really know what you're doing yet.

27:00 You got to learn somehow, exactly Like the advice that I give to young musicians when they're like, how do you learn how to play it? I'm like, play along to the stuff that you love. Like, if you play along, you will eventually synthesize that to yourself. And that's how you find your voice. It's by taking what you love, making it part of you, and then spitting it back out, not like a direct facsimile, but it's just an element of what of what. By the time it gets filtered through you, it's something new. Yeah, you know exactly, And that's okay, And that's the best way to learn is to just do it. And you can't when it comes to music. You can't play music that you don't like now yeah, and you also can't like, uh, there's nothing original really, you know. Every song's already been written, you know, and so it's just it's about how you express it. So if you do that, then it's Okay, you know that's a great point. So let's tell everybody how they can connect to you guys on socials on the web.

27:59 Check out all your stuff and buy your merch because you have like some of the most badass merch and it gets shipped right from our house. Nice. Yeah, we're totally DIY with the merch. We don't use an outside company or whatever. I mean, we design a lot of it, and the stuff that we don't like, draw or make we like. We try to conceptualize it we don't like, and then and then have somebody who's artistic and talented like make the idea come to life. Right. But yeah, we don't. We don't like put a call out to artists and just have people send in ideas or whatever. We try to be. We try to express ourselves through the merch, for sure. Nice. But it's at dollirots dot com and all the socials are at dolly Rots the dolls. Oh yeah, oh right, I said it wrong. Yeah, it's it's just like you know, Instagram, Facebook, all that stuff. It's just the Dolly Rots or the Dolly rot I think somebody dole the Dolly Rots on TikTok or took it before we got it, So it's the official What do you mean that might have been you? You've been holding you been heart? Jeez, the secret weapon that I think iked it when it first started. Oh my god, I gotta look, I gotta look. You park the TikTok.

29:21 Oh well you never asked me, but you know, Oh my God made that discovery. See I love this too. This proves something because any other couple or band members that this would happen, you would see the daggers in the eyes. And you guys just have like the greatest smile going on. I know when I was married, I would have probably got my ass beat for that. I might be wrong, but I think I'm right. We've been posting on the wrong TikTok or like the last time. Oh my god, okay, TikTok sucks. Oh damn oh if people are awake really early.

30:04 I'm also on the radio five days a week. Really yeah, So I'm on Serious XM twenty one, Nice Little Stephen's Underground Garage. I'm on four am to eight am Monday through Friday. Nice. So anything I else they should check out. If we're going on tour this summer, we're doing the West Coast and the East coast. We're playing like I do on twenty eight shows or something. So wow, catch us in a city near you, and we're going to some places we don't normally go to, name the Southeast US and stuff, and so yeah, we're always posting tour dates. We try to stay active and if you come to a show, stick around and say hi, because we always hang out and say hi, Sign your babies, sign your boobs, whatever. So see, that's what's so punk too, Like it's like even dare I say it because I'm the metal head too, But sometimes the metal bands aren't that way. They're like very you know, gatekeeper bullshit. I don't hang out before the shows because then I'll have like no voice and I'll be tired, and I have to like, yeah, I have to like get in my brain. You can like taking the show seriously or taking the music seriously is one thing, but like taking yourself seriously is kind of a dick move right right, And I feel like part of the part of the cool thing about going to a show is feeling that connection. And so what better way to connect than to be like, hey, high five dude. You know things that out. Thanks for We're just we're throwing a party every night, so thanks for coming to our party.

31:32 That's the attitude. I love it way cool. So anybody that hasn't checked you guys out has to check you out because not only all this cool stuff, but your music is badass and I can't wait for this show in a little while that you almost missed or thought you did, it was like, oh crap, we're playing in five minutes. Well, thanks a lot, and thanks for being on the Adventures pipe Man. Thanks for having me, thus for having us again. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipemin on W four c u I Radio. Hey I'm Kelly, I'm Lewis.

32:16 Where are the dally Rads? And you're listening to the Pipemin on W four c Y Radio.