The Dollyrots will be releasing Night Owls, their 11th album (or 8th depending on who you ask) on October 13th. The husband and wife duo of Kelly Ogden and Luis Cabezas have been rocking crowds for over 20 years and they still are going strong. As the band was preparing for a tour, they paused to talk to us about touring with their kids and what life on the road is like now with their two children joining them. The day this interview was conducted Kelly and Luis had a full day of interviews and I’m Music Magazine was interview number six for that day.  

How do you do it with that many interviews?

Kelly Ogden: I don’t know, we’re going until 6 pm. So we’ll see how it is at the end of the day. It’ll be fine.

Well, speaking of doing that many interviews, do you ever just get tired of answering the same type of questions over and over?

Kelly: You know, I haven’t gotten asked the same question yet today. 

Luis Cabezas: No, you know what? We don’t get we don’t get tired of it just because we just take every question and we pretend as it is the first time it’s ever been asked as much as possible.  

Kelly: I mean, we’re not so arrogant to think that people already know everything about us.  The whole idea of doing something like this is maybe someone new is going to like our band, so they don’t know all the answers yet.

Kind of in the same vein, when you’re playing your shows and you’re doing your tours, do you ever get tired of playing the same songs night after night? Or how do you make it exciting for you?

Kelly: It’s always exciting. There’s always something going on. I mean, it’s a live show. 

Luis: So yeah, we don’t really have any like scripted sort of show, you know how you go see a band.

Kelly: No synchronized dancing or wu boxes. 

Luis: There’s no like there’s no banter that we plan ahead of time. And that’s kind of part of our show. It’s like you never know what we’re going to say.

Kelly: For better or worse.

Luis: Sometimes we’ll get to a venue and it’ll be like so how long is the show gonna be and I’ll be like it’s gonna be between an hour and an hour and a half depending how talkative Kelly feels.

You’re getting ready to do the east coast leg of your your current tour so how did the the mid-west and Texas portion of the tour go?

Kelly: It’s been amazing it’s been the best yet every time. 

Luis: It’s awesome I feel like our band is always like on this like steady consistent incline 

Kelly: We are the tortoise 

Luis: We are the tortoise not the hare. 

Kelly: which is ironic, ’cause we always use hares in all of our art. 

Luis: But we try to hit up the same parts of the country at the same time of year. We tend to do the Midwest in the spring during the kid’s spring break and then we do Texas and California in the summer and then we typically head up north. 

Kelly: Which we’re gonna have to move Texas next year. That was hot.

Yes, it is very hot here in Texas.

Luis: Yeah, it is then we do the northeast like at the end of the summer or in the autumn. I think at this point, the people that follow our band or care about our band know that we’re coming during certain times of the year, which is good.

How has touring changed for you now with the kids as prior to the having kids?

Kelly: There have been a few phases. There was the baby phase, which we were just stoked that we were actually still touring because there was a question of whether we could do it with kids. I think that was kind of crazy and wonderful because for a while touring we had been doing the same thing for so many years and it didn’t get old, but it was kind of the same thing all the time.  Then if you throw some kids in there, nothing is the same all the time and we’ve had to find ways to make it entertaining and fun. We go out and we do all sorts of things that we used to not do. We had to day off and we went to go see some giant redwoods instead of sitting in a hotel eating Chinese food and when we were in Seattle we went up the space needle with them.  We try to do things that will show them the places that they’re at so they don’t just see the back door and the stage.  

Luis: Yeah, it’s like when you’re touring, of course the show is the fun part and everybody talks about how you just do it for that one hour on stage. But the rest of the time, of course it can get boring if it just feels like you’re just looking out the window or you’re just stuck in a venue or hotel room ’cause they all look the same. But with the kids, they just kind of bring an air of like unpredictability and,It makes us more, entertained it makes us more inspired.  Plus you show up to a venue and you’ve been traveling for however many hundred miles and you brought the kids and you’ve done the whole thing and you really feel like you owe it to everyone to put on the best show you can.

How have the kids adapted to the touring?

Luis: Easy, I mean, kids are adaptable. I feel like adults have a harder time adapting to change than they do. We get asked that question a lot and it’s like, well, 

Kelly: Kids are about their routine and they have a tour routine and they have a home routine. 

Luis: We do bring a tour nanny with us at all times. But but they’re, I don’t know, kids are plastic, you know, they will find a way to find to find the good in a situation if you allow them to.  So we just kind of trust them to follow our lead and they do. We’re very lucky that we have kids that will do that.

The new album coming out is Night Owls, and I think if I counted correctly, it’s your 11th album.

Kelly: So Luis always says eight, but I count the acoustic album and the live album and the B-Sides album, which is what you did. I agree Tim.

Luis: I guess in my mind, it’s like the proper album quote unquote or albums are the ones that we like crafted in a studio environment, but yeah, we have tons of releases that aren’t in that category. We have like splits and we have singles and we got EPs.  

Kelly: Christmas album.

Luis: Yeah we have a Christmas album.

But even those you have to do some crafting.  The live album, you’re not crafting in a studio but you’re still crafting a show.

Kelly It’s true.

Luis: Yeah, that one was, oh my gosh, that one almost didn’t happen.

Kelly: Yeah, fortunately that one was at the Roxy on Sunset Boulevard, which was close enough to a guitar center to go buy a whole new mixing.

Luis: I had to go at the last second and buy two interfaces to be able to get enough inputs to mic the whole stage. That literally happened like 30 minutes before the show. But yeah, that, that one’s kind of a greatest hits. But, but yeah, we, we try to, we try to vary our records and, you know, records and kind of give people something different every time.

Looking at Night Owls being the 11th or eighth, whichever number you want to use, When you look back at where you are today, have you ever thought you would have released this many albums and you would still be doing this?

Luis: Oh, no way.

Kelly: Yeah, it seems crazy to me.

Luis: We didn’t even think we’d have one. I mean, it’s never really the plan. I think we would always be, regardless of whether we had a band or not, we’d always be pursuing some sort of creative pursuit regardless.  So, and I think we have at least, I mean, both of us have like a drive inside of us to make music otherwise we wouldn’t be doing this.

Kelly: You got to really want to do it.

Luis: Yeah, but we’re lucky that, we just kind of stuck with it and we have an audience that wants it.

Kelly: That has stuck with us and somehow keeps growing.

Luis: And trust us to make music that they like.

Listening to the new album, I really like the song, “Hot Mom with Skinny Pants On.” Talk about that song; that’s a good song.

Kelly: So we’re of the very tail end of Gen X went through, you know, the early pop punk phases of Warp Tour. So it’s kind of about how if you spot a mom with skinny pants on, like, I know that she could be my friend ’cause I mean, I’m also a mom with skinny pants on. So, you just know you’re gonna like kind of similar music and maybe you grew up doing the same kinds of things. So it’s a celebration of the moms we know.

Luis: You had your emo haircut 

Kelly: and you got Rancid on the radio picking up your kid.

Luis: Yeah, it’s like the rock and roll mom thing, which, that’s kind of like our category now.

How long had you been working on this album Night Owls.

Kelly: It’s been about four years.

Luis:Then the world took a break for a couple of years. And we really, during that time focused on our kids and, it wasn’t really a very inspiring time, but, despite that, we tried to make music. We just couldn’t finish anything.

Kelly: Yeah, lots of bits and pieces that didn’t quite go together yet.

Luis: Yeah, it was like, well, here’s a verse and a chorus. Or here’s a, what could be a chorus, maybe it’s a bridge. Here’s like, well, let’s put two choruses together. That’ll make a verse and a really good verse and a chorus, like, like Beatles style or something.  So we had a ton of pieces. No joke, I think it was like 50 pieces.  So when it was time to put together the record, and we felt like, all right, it’s time. It was more a matter of putting together a giant puzzle then going in and deliberately writing song after song.

You have 13 tracks on the album, and you mentioned 50 pieces. What was the deciding factor to put all those pieces together to come out to those 13 tracks? How many did you have to throw out?

Luis: A lot of trial and error.

Kelly: I mean, a lot of it just made sense. Once we got out and we started touring again and we felt inspired. We came back and we would start looking at things and we finished a lot of the bits and pieces and then there would be some parts like you said that we would craft together into one but we had a lot extra ideas.

Luis: Yeah, we have a lot left over.  The way we tend to write is, we’ll create the music first and then write the lyrics based on how the music makes us feel.  So a lot of it was like instrumental and putting together instrumentals that are cohesive and good or like moving keys if we had to or whatever.

Kelly: Changing drum beats.

Luis: We’re lucky because we have a home studio where we put all the parts together here and then when the skeletons are kind of done, we take that and do the proper studio treatment with our producer up in Minneapolis.

Kelly: John Fields. We’ve been working with him for 20 years.

Working with him for 20 years, he pretty much knows you and knows what you’re looking for.  Is it easy working with somebody that long?

Kelly: Absolutely. I mean, pretty much our whole team that we still work with has been with us since then.

Luis: Yeah, with John, it’s like, we don’t really have to say anything.

Kelly: They don’t even talk.

Luis: He’ll just, I’ll just cut a guitar part and then he’ll be like, okay, and I’ll be like, well, I’m going to double it. He goes, yeah, okay, while he’s already setting up the track.You know, we’re just very, very intuitive.

Kelly: He knows if he can push us to get better performances. We just understand each other in a way that gets the best out of us.

Luis: He knows how far he can push me before I just want to leave and cry.

Kelly: That only happened once this time.

Luis: Right. That only happened once on this.

Looking at the 13 tracks, is there one track that just really stands out to you? One that’s a little bit closer to your heart than the others? I know you love them all just like your kids, you love them all equally.

Kelly:  It’s hard.

Luis: I know the answer for myself. I don’t know for Kelly. I think “Tree Sway” is kind of…… 

Kelly: Yeah, I was gonna say that.

Luis: It’s special because what it does is that song wasn’t something that was put together like in the way the others were.  That one just kind of came actually in a dream and just came out like as it was like I woke up and I grabbed an acoustic guitar and it’s like Kelly can you record this record this so she took out her phone or like voice recorder whatever and I played it and that was it and it was done.  Then she sang it and it was just one of these things that just kind of happened. 

That song is a little bit different song compared to the rest of the songs on the album 

Kelly: Yeah it starts off just kind of naked acoustic sweetness. 

Luis: Yeah that but then again I feel like it fits, it fits in on the album.  We’ve always been fans of albums that have varied textures and sounds. I mean obviously it’s a it’s kind of a power pop pop punk type album because that’s our that’s our when you boil it down that’s our style but I always love growing up albums that would take a departure and and give you a different side of the band.

You’re a little bit of a rarity these days in releasing albums. Most bands now are just doing singles every so many months to keep their name out there. What’s your thoughts on albums versus singles in this age of streaming?

Kelly: I think it’s not as important to have full albums. I mean, people are just putting out EPs now.They’re not even putting out albums. Even Joan Jett just put out an EP.  I think it’s not that important to the vast majority of people, but for us, I think we’re gonna always want to put out albums.  Not only just because we feel like that’s a cool way to digest music, but, hopefully we can influence some of our listeners, especially younger listeners, to look at music that way.

Luis: Yeah, and plus we’re not beholden to anyone.  We can do whatever we want, so we don’t have to do whatever everyone else is doing. We put out stuff through our own label for a few records there. We were on Joan Jett’s label and on Lookout and all that, but we can function independently perfectly well and that gives us the latitude to do power music however we feel it should be heard and working with Wicked Cool we’re putting out this record and we put out the last one through Little Steven’s label and they give us that latitude as well so feel like there is a subset of people out there that do believe in the album concept.

Kelly: Stevie Van Zant’s one of them.

Luis: Stevie Van Zant’s one of them and having the experience of listening to a record front to back and having it inspire you or make you feel good is a strength.

Kelly: We put out vinyl and I hope that a lot of people listen to it on vinyl. We sell a lot of vinyl.

Luis: You know what I feel like one thing that I can say about our records is if especially you like the band you should be able to listen to it from front to back and not feel like there are any like severe duds in there.

Kelly: No duds at all.

Luis: And I challenge any other band to be able to.

New album title, No Duds At All.

Luis: No milk duds at all. But I feel like, yeah, it’s like, how many bands can you think of that do that now, or able to do that now?  I’m not saying that we are definitely in that category, but I’d like to be in that category.

When you look back at your career over 20 plus years, what are some highlights for you guys?

Kelly: Oh, wow. That’s a good question. Oh, playing on stage in Dublin and having my dad come out was pretty epic. My parents had always wanted to go to Ireland and we were on tour with our friends Bowling For Soup and we actually convinced them to go on a vacation to Ireland. It was my dad’s first time overseas.I got to bring him out on stage.  We have Irish English heritage, so it really meant a lot to him. It was it was one of those moments where it was like, hey, look, look, dad. Yeah, we did it.

Luis: Or  when Kelly handed Joan Jett our demo on Warp Tour in 2006, and three weeks later, they called and they were like, hey, do you want to be on her label? We’re like, sure. That started that whole roller coaster.  There have been all these like little occurrences that we’ve been really lucky to be a part of that kind of like pushed us along.

Kelly: I always say that we’ve always got a little carrot at the end of the stick and we keep getting like just these little nibbles that propel us forward. I mean, since the beginning of our existence as a band.

Luis: Right, because there was no intention to do this.

Kelly: No, it was like, all right, we’re gonna do it just one year. Like, that was literally our plan. We were gonna move to California, we could do this silly band thing.  If it works out, if not no big deal, we’re just gonna go to grad school and med school. And every year, it’s like, are we gonna do this again?

Luis: Then something comes along and it’s like, what have you got a placement in a movie or you got this?

Kelly: You got this tour, you’re gonna do it, and we always say yes. And look at us now.

Luis: You just kind of, you just kind of just persevere and obviously being in the music, in music, you don’t think of it starting out is it’s going to be quote “a career” because I just  feel like it’s silly to call it a career, That’s not a career it’s more of a pursuit I think and we just we just kind of have stuck with it and we have each other too.

Kelly: It’s like sibling bands they seem to stick around, married bands don’t usually though. 

Luis: That’s because we decided I mean we decided we’re gonna do it but you know really we did but we do for each other too. It’s like if I quit, she’d be up the creek and if she quit, then I’d be depressed. 

Kelly: We’ve gotten close a number of times, not quitting each other, but quitting music, and then one of those things happens. Start a backup again.

Luis: Damn it. I guess we’re gonna have to do this again.

How do you find, define success for you? How do you define success for the Dollyrotts?

Kelly: If there’s growth, I think that we’re on the right path, and we’ve had such consistent growth throughout our career and it is still growing. We still are happily surprised by things like last week we were an NPR’s new music playlist and we just found out that we had a really cool placement on a show and a Netflix film and all of that all kind of happened all at the same time and we’re like, “Wow! We are still making new fans, still happy, still able to make things flow, spinning many plates, but still able to keep going.

Luis:  I think the fact that we can do this as, I mean, I don’t even, in the same way I don’t want to call it a career really, or, but it’s not really a job either the fact that we can do music as our thing 100% of the time, and at the same time be able to, raise a family and stuff. I feel like that’s, that’s all the success that, we could ever ask for.

Thank you so much for taking time to do this. I greatly appreciate it. Wishing you much success with the tour.

Kelly: Thank you.

Luis: Hey, and thank you for mentioning this. We can see your tweets and things like that.So thanks for always covering our stuff and letting people know that we have music coming out or whatever.

Interview: I’m Music Magazine Writer Tim Board

Tour dates:
10/11 • Milkboy • Philadelphia, PA
10/12 • Metro Gallery • Baltimore, MD
10/13 • Album Release Party at Heaven Can Wait • New York, NY
10/14 • Cafe Nine • New Haven, CT
11/1 • Jack Rabbits • Jacksonville, FL
11/2 • The Earl • Atlanta, GA
11/3 • The Cobra • Nashville, TN
11/4 • The Bark • Tallahassee, FL
11/5 • Crowbar • Tampa, FL