Los Angeles’ alternative pop/punk band The Dollyrots have produced another set of fun, offbeat, hard-core progressive punk/pop rock songs. This collection revisits some of the themes addressed in the band's previous albums, exploring mostly innocent tales of romantic love, lust, rivalry, and adversity. While A Little Messed Up (Blackheart Records) still features the band’s staple of pop/punk rock anthems, it also contains a few early 60s style girl-group, pop songs as well. These songs take full advantage of lead singer/bassist Kelly Ogden’s sweet and sassy vocals.
The Dollyrots (comprised of Ogden, guitarist Luis Cabeza, and drummer Chris Black) gained notoriety from having the title track of their second album, Because I’m Awesome, featured in several television commercials and television shows. The up-front sense of humor conveyed in the lyrics of Because I’m Awesome is still prevalent on A Little Messed Up, but it comes in smaller doses and is a little more subtle. The one exception might be “Bigmouth," a song about a two-faced backstabbing girlfriend.
“Rock Control”, the opening track of the disc, gets things off to a frenetic pace. It rocks with a no holds barred sense of urgency, just enough to peel the paint off the inside of your garage. When Ogden sings, “Just try to scream along, this is not rock and roll, it's rock control”, she’s not just asking for your attention, she’s demanding it." Right off the bat, you also find that the rhythm section of Ogden and Black is in good form as well.
“Some Girls” is another bouncy, onslaught of slightly overdriven electric guitar power. Luis Cabeza’s power chord riffs and Ogden’s bass propel the song throughout. There’s a nice key change in the last quarter of the song that helps put an instrumental accent on Ogden’s strong message. While Ogden, in her role as the song’s narrator, insists she would ignore a guy’s silly sexual advances, she also knows that there are some girls who would not even consider taking her advice.
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