Interview with The Dollyrots’ Kelly Ogden
by Ana Wolken on July 3rd, 2008

The Dollyrots singer Kelly Ogden sat down to share some of the band’s favorite Austin memories and how they got signed to Joan Jett’s Blackheart Records. Excerpts of the interview are below. You can read the entire interview in this month’s InSite Magazine, on stands today.

The Dollyrots are playing Emo’s tomorrow, 7/4. If you aren’t too worn out from 4th of July festivities, stop by Emo’s for a great pop punk show. The Dollyrots are playing with Pink Spiders, The Higher and Poor People.

Kelly Ogden interview excerpts after the jump.

On Emo’s, BBQ and sneaking into Stubb’s to see Iggy Pop during SXSW:

AW: I see you’re playing at Emo’s (on July 4th).

KO: I’m excited. I wonder if they’re doing barbeque. I mean that would just be kind of weird if we were there for 4th of July in Austin and there was no barbeque.

AW: You could always go down the street to Stubb’s.

KO: You know, I don’t think Stubb’s has veggie burgers, so I’m kinda screwed when I eat there. I do have a good story about Stubb’s though. Two SXSW’s ago we learned how to sneak into Stubb’s to watch concerts. We had our badges and everything, but of course we couldn’t get in to see Iggy Pop and we were just kind of crushed.

We were like, “Well, it’s our last day anyway. We’ve already showcased, so what’s the worst that they could do?” So we tried to sneak in through the restaurant. Two of us got through, and then Chris our drummer got caught. So, we had to walk back out and then we decided to walk along the sidewalk… [Actual instructions withheld for the writer’s use… I mean, to protect the innocent]

On how The Dollyrots got signed to Blackheart Records and what it was like meeting Joan Jett for the first time:

AW: You’re currently signed to Blackheart Records (Joan Jett’s label) but I see that you were originally signed to another label. So how did it come about that The Dollyrots ended up on Blackheart?

KO: Well, we were originally on Lookout, which was like Green Day, The Donnas and The Offspring’s early stuff. We were really excited to do our first record with them. Then the second record, you know, we started recording and then had everything ready. Then Lookout went out of business for all intents and purposes. They had troubles with Green Day and financial problems, and so they pretty much told all of us that we had to go find a new label.

We had already recorded a bunch of demos and part of the record and then we went on Warped Tour that summer. It was the summer that Joan Jett was on Warped Tour. And I was determined to have the balls to walk up to Joan Jett and give her my CD.

Everyday I would just stand there and kind of twiddle my thumbs and watch her and The Blackhearts play. Then she would walk off the stage and I would just stand there and just wish I had the nerve to walk up to her. I had all these horrible scenarios in my head.

Then finally, when we had two days left (on Warped Tour), I was worried it was my last chance. So, my body just started walking before my head agreed. I just ended up standing in front of her and introduced myself. She was actually really cool. I told her we were looking for a new record label and gave her the CD. They really liked it and we just went from there.