Before you listen to the Bottle Rockets, it is refreshing to just look at the song credits, they don’t have twelve song doctors on each song, preferring to actually write their own songs. They don’t have a team of “ace’ producers, or a long list of studio musicians. When you listen to their music, you get the same feeling. They write songs that pay equal homage to old school Nashville songwriters as they do garage bands like the Ramones and The Replacements. There is not one shred of B.S. to be found anywhere in their music. And that is not to say they are some humorless wannabe purists. With a songwriting style vaguely reminiscent of John Hiatt, they mix even their most serious songs with a dry sense of humor, and never forget that they’re writing three minute rock songs and not John Steinbeck novels.
Like many artists of their ilk, they’ve paid a price. The Bottle Rockets have had enough record company drama and hijinx to fill up a Nashville Spinal Tap movie. They’ve also had numerous personnel changes which would’ve broken up many bands. Despite all of that, guitarist/ vocalist Brian Henneman and drummer Mark Ortmann, the bands mainstays, have kept the band on the right track. Their latest release, “Lean Forward” is as raw and uncompromising as anything they’ve done. After being together about sixteen years, it doesn’t seem like they’re anywhere close to slowing it down and playing it safe.
The opener “The Long Road” is a fine statement of purpose with the chorus “the long road isn’t the wrong road/a wrong turn isn’t the end/if it’s understood that something good may be coming around the bend” propelled by the two guitar attack of Henneman and John Horton, and the tight, reliable rhythms of Ortmann and bassist Keith Voegele. Throughout the record the same theme resonates: “Hard Times” sings about keeping one’s head up even when things are tough, and the songs “Get On the Bus” and the ballad “Open Your Eyes” talk of survival and resilience.
There is also the quiet heartbreak of “Solitaire”, the anti-war ballad “The Kid Next Door”, and a couple tunes about the losers who can’t get it right with “Shame on Me’ and “Done it All Before”.. The band sings with the knowledge and compassion of one who’s been there before, not one who read Studs Terkyl and John Steinbeck for inspiration.
What makes it all work is that they never forget that they’re a rock band, and while it may seem their preference to rock out on songs like “The Long Road” and “The Way it Used to Be” they don’t forget their older roots, either. There is the swamp boogie of “Hard Times” the country swing of “Get on the Bus”, and the reflective Nashville balladry of “Open Your Eyes” They like to mix it up, even though it seems they like to return again and again to the jagged stomp of “Nothing but A Driver”.
The band on “Lean Forward” is all about staying tough in the face of life’s dramas. The songs have a hard-won optimism that could only be pulled off by a band with the survival skills of the Bottle Rockets. They are played by the band with energy and attitude, not like a band that is ready to slip into the easy elder statesmen mode.
Like many artists of their ilk, they’ve paid a price. The Bottle Rockets have had enough record company drama and hijinx to fill up a Nashville Spinal Tap movie. They’ve also had numerous personnel changes which would’ve broken up many bands. Despite all of that, guitarist/ vocalist Brian Henneman and drummer Mark Ortmann, the bands mainstays, have kept the band on the right track. Their latest release, “Lean Forward” is as raw and uncompromising as anything they’ve done. After being together about sixteen years, it doesn’t seem like they’re anywhere close to slowing it down and playing it safe.
The opener “The Long Road” is a fine statement of purpose with the chorus “the long road isn’t the wrong road/a wrong turn isn’t the end/if it’s understood that something good may be coming around the bend” propelled by the two guitar attack of Henneman and John Horton, and the tight, reliable rhythms of Ortmann and bassist Keith Voegele. Throughout the record the same theme resonates: “Hard Times” sings about keeping one’s head up even when things are tough, and the songs “Get On the Bus” and the ballad “Open Your Eyes” talk of survival and resilience.
There is also the quiet heartbreak of “Solitaire”, the anti-war ballad “The Kid Next Door”, and a couple tunes about the losers who can’t get it right with “Shame on Me’ and “Done it All Before”.. The band sings with the knowledge and compassion of one who’s been there before, not one who read Studs Terkyl and John Steinbeck for inspiration.
What makes it all work is that they never forget that they’re a rock band, and while it may seem their preference to rock out on songs like “The Long Road” and “The Way it Used to Be” they don’t forget their older roots, either. There is the swamp boogie of “Hard Times” the country swing of “Get on the Bus”, and the reflective Nashville balladry of “Open Your Eyes” They like to mix it up, even though it seems they like to return again and again to the jagged stomp of “Nothing but A Driver”.
The band on “Lean Forward” is all about staying tough in the face of life’s dramas. The songs have a hard-won optimism that could only be pulled off by a band with the survival skills of the Bottle Rockets. They are played by the band with energy and attitude, not like a band that is ready to slip into the easy elder statesmen mode.
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