Lesbiatopia

The Dollyrots are a power-punk trio with a pop sound. They were signed by Joan Jett to her independent label, Blackheart Records, after Kelly Ogden worked up the nerve to give Joan a copy of their CD at the end of the Vans Warped Tour.

Lesbiatopia's own Sinnerviewer caught up with Kelly at the Dollyrots Atlanta show last week and gave us this exclusive interview:

Shannon: I have read that the band really got its start born out of political frustration when George Bush won the election. Tell me about that.

Kelly: It was more than political frustration. It made me question whether the earth would exist. I was like “This guy (Bush) is a moron, he doesn’t know what he’s doing and I have zero hope for a future. So I asked myself what I wanted to do with my life. I asked myself, “What do I really care about?” If I had only 4 years to live, what would I want to accomplish?”

For Louis and I, that’s why we started the band. We were in college. We were smart kids. We were there on scholarships and it was really cool but at the same time, if I had five to ten years left to live, which could be anybody’s reality, what do I really, really care about? We wanted to do music. We wanted to do something bigger than ourselves. Not to do music to get off on it personally or to be rock stars. But we had ideas and feelings that other people could relate to and we wanted to help express that for them and ourselves.

Shannon: I must say that Joan Jett is my all-time hero, the greatest rock-n-roll chick of all time and generally the best thing that has ever happened to this world. She’s how I heard of you. Tell me about meeting her on the Vans Warped tour when you worked up the courage to give her your demo and how that sort of set your career path.

Kelly: Well, when you’re about to meet your idol, it’s – wow. I was really little when she was rockin’ and she was always my music idol. And Cyndi Lauper was my fashion idol. Recently, I was at the San Diego “True Colors” tour and Joan Jett introduced me to Cyndi Lauper and I thought that I would melt and die. It’s a really amazing, really special thing that I just … if nothing else happened for me from here on out, I feel that what I’ve done is valid and cool. I’ve reached a lot of people and gotten to meet my idols. Meeting Joan, I was terrified of her because her exterior is so tough and powerful and cool and strong.

Shannon: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. When you are in the room with Joan Jett, there is no room for any other coolness but hers. She just exudes coolness…

Kelly: I now know that she has the coolest heart and she is really kind and she cares about people a lot. Our pet rat (Sniffy) died. We were in New York and we had to put her to sleep before we got on a flight. It was just terrible. Joan and Kenny (Laguna – Jett’s long-time manager) were on their way to VH1 to do an interview on The Who or something and they turned around and they came and took us to their house and Joan was just so compassionate. She cared. She’s a really strong and powerful woman which makes me really look up to her. But she’s also really sweet and caring and kind.

Shannon: I remember when I was 16 and I snuck into a bar where she was playing to try to see her do sound check. Kenny spotted me and invited me to sit with him to watch her. Then, he introduced me to her and I was so freaked out, I was speechless. So she initiated conversation with me. She was so friendly and kind. I’ll never forget their kindness to that geeky teenage Jetthead. And all of the times I have been able to meet her since then, she never disappoints me. She is always so gracious.

Kelly: Yeah, I feel like I can obviously gain a lot from her as a woman who plays rock-n-roll but at the same time as a person. She’s so loving and gracious and I think she gives a shit. When she talks to anybody, she gives you her time and her full attention and she actually cares. I feel like I learn more from her as a person than as a rock star. She cares. She’s cool. Even when she’s really busy and has to play a show, she’s still cool to you. She’s awesome.

Shannon: I know I could sit here and talk Joan Jett with you all night but I guess your fans might like to know more about The Dollyrots. Blackheart Records is sort of a music business ideal. It was the first independent label started by a woman (Joan Jett) and it would be my dream job to work for them. What is it like being on that label and working with legends like Kenny Laguna?

Kelly: Honestly, we feel like we’re a part of a legacy and a family. I can’t think of another example of a record label that could possibly make us feel the way that we feel about them. The acceptance and support that they give us – the genuine belief that we’re going to do something that’s going to work – they’re so cool.

(Luis, The Dollyrots guitarist, comes in with a shot of Jaegermeister for Kelly.)

Kelly: I throw up when I do Jaeger. I love the way it tastes but I think I’m allergic to something in it. (She drinks the shot)

Shannon: You all have been touring like a bunch of maniacs! What drives you to tour almost non-stop like you do?

Kelly: We just want to get to people. We want people to be able to meet us and talk to us and we want to play for them. I feel like with the Internet, of course we can reach a lot of people. We’ve been really lucky with licensing our music out to TV shows like Ugly Betty. We reach people but I want them to know us and I want to talk to people and learn about their lives and be inspired by them so I can write songs that they give a shit about. If I’m not touring, I feel like I’m being lazy to our fans. I want to give them the experience whenever I can.

Shannon: MySpace is a huge tool that you use.

Kelly: Yeah.

Shannon: I read your blogs. One thing I always notice that your MySpace friends say about you is how you are really good about answering your e-mails and keeping everybody posted. How cool.

Kelly: It can be really overwhelming at times. When we had the Kohl’s commercial, (The song “Because I’m Awesome” was featured on a commercial for Kohl’s department stores) I was getting a lot of e-mails. Sometimes, we’re on the road and we just can’t get to them all. I’ve started this new thing called “Utterz” so I can send a text message to everybody and it posts on MySpace. Sometimes, though, you’re tired and it’s overwhelming. And when the band is touring, it gets exhausting. The sheer numbers of e-mails you get can be a lot. But I don’t ever want to not answer them. It just might take me a little longer. I get at least 3 e-mails a week that I feel like I need to forward to Chris and Louis and Fuzzy. I’m like, “Guys! Look at this!”… Everybody is so cool. When people write to us, it really means a lot. That they took time out of their lives to say “Hi” and not know if we would read it or write back.

Shannon: I used to write a letter to Joan Jett at least once a week at P.O. Box 600, Long Island, NY. I had to quit when I started having kids, though…

(Laughs)

Shannon: What are some tour road tips?

Kelly: Whenever you get mad, you have to tell people right then and there.

Shannon: So it doesn’t fester?

Kelly: Yeah. That is my number one tip for life. Relationships… family, lovers, your best friend. The second they piss you off, you have to tell them or forget it. It will never work!

Shannon: I was very sad to read about the passing of Sniffy, the pet rat of The Dollyrots. Has it been hard to tour without her?

Kelly: It’s really hard, honestly. It kind of sucks. Every time that I sit down to eat, well, I used to save her food in perfect proportions of what I ate. It’s a little bit lonely, honestly.

Shannon: I was wondering if on this tour, someone might show up with a new baby rat. What would you do?

Kelly: Honestly, it would be okay. But at the same time, I think it’s good for me to try to focus on things right now. We’ve been doing a lot more fly-ins to shows. It was getting stressful for me to sneak her on planes all the time. So, I don’t know how much my heart could handle of that. If it was a tiny baby rat that I could put in my pocket…. (laughs). I think I might be ready for a dog. When we’re at a point when we can have a bus and I can afford the $50 to fly it legally. Until then, I might just need a lot of attention from my people friends.

Shannon: Mermaids….

Kelly: (GASPS)

Shannon: (Laughs) I heard that you get excited talking about them. You had a concept idea for being a mermaid in the next video you plan to make for the song “My Best Friend’s Hot”. Tell me about that.

Kelly: The guy that we really want to make the video with, he recently did a pilot at Weeki Wachee, which is like a Florida park right near where I grew up. I don’t know… I have always wanted to be a mermaid. You can ask the guys in the band. Sometimes, we overindulge on tour. Sometimes, I might be wasted in a tub full of bubbles and they wander into the hotel room after a show and I’ll be like, “I’m a mermaid!” or “I wish I was a mermaid!” Since I was really little. It might be since I grew up in Florida where my little sister and I grew up in the water. We could be in the water 24 hours a day. We would take naps in the tub. I love the water and I’m trying to convince them to let us do a Weeki Watchee video kind of thing for “My Best Friend’s Hot”. In 2 weeks, we have a couple of days off in Florida and I’m hoping that the director will, too. Then, we can just kamikaze that shit.

Shannon: I’ve been told that you are interested in doing some kids songs (maybe acoustic), possibly educational. I could totally picture that when I heard it – give me the lowdown.

Kelly: When I was growing up, I spent a lot of time at my grandparents house and my grandpa used to sing songs all the time like “Someone’s in the Kitchen With Dinah”, “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad” – all these kids songs. But they weren’t really kid’s songs. He would sing old Irish folk songs and other cool stuff. Every now and then during sound check, I don’t know what to do. I hate to stand there and say “CHECK. CHECK.” It’s so fucking lame. So I sing the songs that my grandpa used to sing. Then, I think I should record an acoustic album of songs that Grandpa used to sing because it would be really fun for me and the kids.

Shannon: You think Blackheart records would be cool with that?

Kelly: Oh, yeah. They’ll let me do it. (Laughs)

Shannon: I know you are still touring for the latest CD – do you plan to go record anything in the near future?

Kelly: We played a new song tonight (at the Atlanta show on July 7th) that we’re still working out but we have a good chunk of songs. We’re hoping to go into the studio this fall unless we’re offered the tour of the century. I’m hoping to release a record next February or March. I love playing our songs but I feel like I need new stuff. I never want to be routine or boring when I’m performing. When I play some of these songs, I’m not thinking when I’m playing and that’s not so good. It’s time for some new stuff.

Shannon: I find myself really looking forward to your blog posts on MySpace. Do you get a lot of feedback from your fans about how good you are to keep us all posted on your every move? Because I, for one, appreciate knowing what you ate for dinner and what kinds of games you played on your DS. Maybe it’s just me…

Kelly: There’s not a whole lot of feedback. Honestly, I kind of question it. Everybody was like, “You have to write a blog!” If you’ll go back to the earliest blogs and read them, I was trying to just blog scientifically. It was like, “This is what we did.” It wasn’t very personal. Touring is really hard. Sometimes I have really bad days. I might be tired or sick or something happened in my family. There are a lot of things that happen and I wasn’t comfortable with telling people about it. Which is weird, because people already know me through my songs. What could it hurt to give more by saying everyday what is real and truthful even though I don’t give it all. I don’t want it to be a weird, neurotic, Courtney Love blog or something like that but it’s still kind of a hard thing for me to do but it’s cool. Especially because I can look back and remember what the hell I did. Time’s going by so fast.

Shannon: Yeah, it’s like an online rock-n-roll diary. I had a blog for a long time and my friends said it was like an online rock-n-roll scrapbook. It was.

Kelly: Yeah! I’m pretty much writing a diary and people who care about us get to read it!

Shannon: I read your blog the other day about your van getting broken into in New Mexico. That sucked.

Kelly: Ugh! I don’t even want to talk about that. Three weeks before that, all my clothes were left in a cab. I lost all of my clothes. Then the other day, the van got broken into and all they took was my extra suitcase with my makeup, my nail polish, all my hair stuff, extra shoes, and rosary beads from my mom – it was all my stuff and some of it can’t be replaced. Man, it sucks! I didn’t really complain about it, I just kind of didn’t talk for 2 days, which maybe you noticed online. But sometimes, when I’m really mad, instead of bitching, I just kind of go away for a few days and I sleep or play Nintendo or something.

Shannon: Okay, last question: I ask everyone I interview this because, honestly, it’s just interesting. Who do you have a girl crush on and why?

Kelly: (With zero hesitation) Drew Barrymore! Since I was little, I have been in love with her. You know the Rolling Stone spread? I don’t know what year that was, but wow! And that is what “My Best Friend’s Hot” is about. I’ve always had boyfriends but I’ve also had serious girl crushes and that’s what that song is all about – a girl crush.

Shannon: Anything else that you want to tell me?

Kelly: Just that I love that you care what my blog says.

Shannon: Aww! I do! I was reading about your stay in the Milwaukee airport and I was really feeling badly for you guys. I honestly enjoy reading it and I wish more bands that I care about would give me as good of a blow by blow as you all do. You make your fans feel like family.

Kelly: Thank you so much! I try.

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The Cliks, a 4 member band from Toronto, Canada is making some big damn waves in musical pools. Besides churning out the hits from their latest CD, Snakehouse, (the videos for “Oh Yeah” and “Complicated” were both at #1 on Logo), The Cliks were also hand-picked by Ian Astbury of The Cult to support them on their recent American and Canadian tours.



Another music icon, Cyndi Lauper, also took notice of them and added them last year as well as this year to the True Colors tour lineup. True Colors is produced in conjunction with HRC and presented by Logo. HRC and this year’s other non-profit partners – CenterLink (the nation’s LGBT community centers) and Parents, Families, Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) National - are joining with the tour to bring together Americans across the country to voice their solidarity for LGBT equality and raise public awareness about the issues that face the LGBT community. The tour kicks off in Boston, MA on May 31. “Part of my mission with the True Colors tour was to provide a platform for some new and exciting acts. A band like The Cliks are all that and more. They are a force to be reckoned with and I am really excited to be sharing the stage with them.” said tour producer and creator, Cyndi Lauper. Lesbiatopia’s special projects editor, Sinnerviewer, recently spoke with Morgan Doctor, drummer for The Cliks:

Shannon: You just finished doing the long Jaegermeister tour opening for one of my favorite bands, The Cult. I read that they hand-picked you to open for them because they loved your sound. I’d love to hear your thoughts about that tour and share any good stories that you have.

Morgan: We sort of did 2 tours with them. One in the states and then, we just got finished doing a Canadian tour. We started in Portland and went all the way across Canada. We went into some really remote places like Grand Prairie. There were some really off the chart places in Canada. It was nice to do the tour with them and then, we went off to do our own thing, and then came back to tour with them again. They are really great guys. We had an amazing time with them. I think what we loved the most was being able to tour with just another rock band whose audience is , well, most of them hadn’t seen us. They didn’t know who we were. To just get up on stage and be received well every night just for our music and our live show - it was really rewarding.

A story? Let’s see… this last tour, there was one. We were in Calgary. We were there for 3 or 4 days because of the Juno’s (awards). We played 2 shows there. The next stop was Edmonton, an 8 hour drive. We were fartin’ around Calgary trying to leave and we were a little bit lost. I got this text from the bass player from The Cult and it said, “Hey, How’s it going? Where are you guys? I’m still in Calgary.” And I was thinking, “Oh, it’s a really nice day to stay in Calgary.” So he calls me up and says, “I missed the bus. I need to get to Edmonton. Can you guys give me a ride?” So he drove with us in the van. The difference between a bus and a van is enormous. It was sort of funny to have this rock star in our van, crashed out and then hanging out with us for the whole day. It was totally fun.

Shannon: You probably won his respect and reminded him of what it used to be like.

Morgan: Yeah, absolutely. I think they all really admired us as players and they really loved the music. We each kind of bonded with one of them. I really got along with the other drummer, Johnny. He played with Helmet and all kinds of incredible bands and people. It was a real honor for me to hear him say “I love your playing”. It was a great experience overall.

Shannon: Cyndi Lauper, she also hand-picked you for her True Colors Tour this year. I thought that was interesting because it shows an obvious pattern here. How does it make you feel to know that you’ve won the respect of all these accomplished musicians?

Morgan: It feels great. It’s really rewarding and it feels like things are happening at the right time. We’re ready for it. What seemed to happen was that Cyndi’s management got a hold of our stuff and really liked it. They played it for her and she really liked it. We were only scheduled to play something like 4 dates on last year’s tour. She had this press time meet-n-greet during the time that we were supposed to play. She moved it to another time so that she could watch us play. She saw us play and that was it! They started changing their schedules and started to move people so that they could add us to more dates on the tour. We seem to really win people over with our live show.

Shannon: That’s pretty impressive to do that. And not just with one person, but with so many people. The True Colors Tour – it’s a special tour. I really see the value of this tour very clearly right now.

I went to see Bon Jovi last week in Atlanta. The thing that struck me was how the band adjusted their pricing structure to their fan base growing older. None of us are 16 year old kids anymore. Most of the audience was suburbian soccer mom-types. Everything from ticket prices to shirts to programs was out of the ballpark when it came to cost. It was disgusting to me how they went from being a Jersey-boy rock band to this huge, corporate entity… a machine. I have to confess, it rubbed me the wrong way.

When I was reading the press release about The True Colors Tour and it’s affiliation with HRC, I learned that the proceeds from the shows will get into the hands of the organizations that work for the rights of all GLBT people. It made me wonder if, besides just promoting your music and expanding your fan base, was there anything that you all hope to accomplish as an act on this tour in that regard?

Morgan: Yeah. Well, I think it’s an honor to be asked to do a tour with such great acts that are on the bill like Cyndi Lauper, the B-52’s, Tegan & Sarah, Joan Jett. To be in that kind of company alone is an honor. I think it makes it even more special to be doing it for such a great cause. The last time we did the tour, it was a really powerful experience at the end of the show during the encore, everyone comes out and we sang “True Colors” together. It was just a very emotional moment when the song would stop and everyone would raise their fists on stage and then they’d shine the light on thousands of people in the audience. It was just this moment of, like, “Oh my God. We’re in this together. You guys are here and we are here on stage. We’re together in all of this.” It was so empowering. It makes it that much more rewarding and takes it out of the realm of being a job… to have a purpose that’s bigger than you.

Shannon: That’s a perfect way to phrase it. One thing that I do know about The Cliks and that is your reputation of having a huge rapport with your fans. You are known for, when your shows are over, to go out there and hang out with your fans. You guys also take an active role in maintaining your MySpace page. You always put up cute little home videos and sending out blog posts and bulletins. It got me wondering: why do you think so many other bands don’t bother to try to make and keep those connections with their fans?

Morgan: Hmmm… it is a lot of work, for one. It can be… when you’re out on the road. That’s pretty exhausting as it is. You’re with all of these other people in the band, you’re traveling all day and you haven’t eaten well. And then to put yourself out there where you have to be social and engaging with people – it can sometimes be a little too much. I don’t know why people don’t do it except for maybe it’s just a lot to manage. I think we’re lucky enough right now where we can sort of manage it. I can see maybe if things continue to grow, we might get to a place where we won’t really get to be out there with our fans as much as we’d like to. It just wouldn’t be possible, you know?

The MySpace is really the best tool to get out and connect to our fans as much as we can. To put up videos and stuff like that…that’s kind of what MySpace is all about – connecting with people. So I don’t know why other bands don’t do those things that help them connect (on a personal level) with their fans. Other than they just might be tired.

(Laughs)

Shannon: You all definitely use that tool well. I am fascinated by the fact that pretty much everybody I know who is a Cliks fan has at least one photo of them with the band.

Morgan: I think we’re also pretty humble people. We’re just down to earth. Maybe it’s just a Canadian thing. It’s just who we are as people. We’re not in it to boost our egos or to be some sort of stars or whatever and I think that when you get off stage and you walk down there and you’re selling your own merchandise, it’s just like, “Here we are. We’re just normal people, too.” I think that it’s just natural for us to engage with people that way.

Shannon: I gotta ask about the song.

Morgan: Okay.

Shannon: Nobody can stop talking about it: the SUV song.

Morgan: Right.

Shannon: I keep hearing about this song and it’s just creating a huge buzz. Can you tell me what’s going on with that?

Morgan: Well, this is a song that Lucas (Silveira, the lead vocalist for The Cliks) wrote for an album of a different incarnation of The Cliks years ago. It was self-titled and put out independently. That song was on there. We decided to just try to play the song again but we totally changed it. It’s a whole other song, basically. Lyrically, it’s the same. Musically, it’s totally new. I think that he wrote that in response to seeing a high-profile band that had done really well and they stopped playing for a while and then they came back to playing and they were riding around in L.A. with their big SUV’s . This is a “socially conscious” band. And he was like, "What's going on here?" - that's how it came about.

Shannon: That one is going to be on the next CD, you think?

Morgan: Yeah, hopefully.

Shannon: Speaking of that next CD (even though I know you all are currently promoting your latest CD, (Snakehouse), when can your fans expect that?

Morgan: Well, if all goes as planned, which often it doesn’t, I can tentatively say that we’re going to try to record it in the fall, which means that it would probably be out in the early spring like February or March.

Shannon: What’s in your iPod, Morgan?

Morgan: What’s in my iPod?

Shannon: Yeah. I always have to know because I’m so interested in what everybody is listening to.

Morgan: I’ve been listening a lot to the new Stars album. A band from Canada. I’m a big Death Cab for Cutie fan. I have some Dave Brubeck stuff… some jazz. The Cocteau Twins, The Pretenders. The Cure.

Shannon: I like The Cure but they’re kind of depressing. Not something you can listen to in the winter.

Morgan: (laughs) Yeah, you don’t want to. It’s dangerous.

Shannon: Tell me about how you got involved with The Canadian Council of Jury for Grants and what kind of work you did there?

Morgan: I was asked to be on the Jury for granting musicians who are professional musicians in the non-classical category. It’s a peer-assessment committee. I’ve gotten a few grants on my own when I went to study in California with my guru and I got another grant to compose my own work. I have a solo album out and it was to compose music for my second album which I am finishing up right now.

They ask people who have gotten grants to be the peers on the assessment committee. They flew me out to Ottawa and it was a great experience. There were just 3 of us and we juried a bunch of applicants who were trying to get some music either to compose or to do travel grants. A lot of them want to go to far away places like India or Mumbai to study more their art form. Usually, it’s in the World Music category so people are studying all kinds of instruments and things that are non-traditional and harder to learn about. You can’t just go to a university for it. I found it really rewarding. I’m also just amazed at the talent that there is in Canada. It’s just really incredible.

Shannon: So was that a one-time deal or do you get invited back later?

Morgan: It was a one-time deal so far but they may ask me to come back. But they try to pick different people for different juries.

Shannon: What a great way to handle that – to leave those decisions in the hands of other professionals who’ve received grants and not in the hands of bureaucrats. (Nice system, Canada.)

You are working on your solo album. What projects are the other members of The Cliks working on right now?

Morgan: I don’t think much, actually. We’ve been really busy focusing mainly on this band. We don’t have time to do much else. Jen plays in a folk band called “August”. Nina, the band that she was playing with, she basically had to drop that so she could play in The Cliks. We haven’t really been home for really a month or two at the longest period of time so it makes it really hard to get into something and then have to leave it. Sometimes, I’ll pick up gigs when I’m in town, but it’s tough to do much else.

Shannon: My girlfriend really wants to know if you and Jen are an item…

Morgan: (Laughs) No.

Shannon: She said, “Well, when I saw them, Jen was playing with Morgan’s hair.

Morgan: (laughs) Jen does that to everybody.

Shannon: Since our readers are mostly lesbians, I’ve got to ask… is there anybody who is single among you Cliks?

Morgan: Nina is single. The rest of us are in pretty long-term relationships.

(Hear that, ladies? Nina is single! Go buy your True Colors tour tickets and introduce yourself!)

Shannon: Who are the chicks that you find smokin’ hot?

Morgan: PJ Harvey & Jennifer Garner.

Shannon: I could not agree more with Jennifer Garner…very nice. The last burning, pressing question that I have for you is what is your favorite junk food?

Morgan: I’m a really healthy eater so even my junk food is sort of healthy.

Shannon: I watched the video on your MySpace page of you all going through your groceries and saw all of that healthy stuff. It is important for everyone who reads this to know what you consider junk food.

Morgan: I’m really into these wheat-free, dairy-free Oreo-type cookies by Newman’s Own. Those are great. I’d have to say that right now, those are my favorite.

Shannon: I shall have to try them. Thanks for your time, Morgan.

The Cliks have been nominated for Logo's New, Now, Next Awards in the "Brink of Fame: Music Artist" category. You can click HERE to cast your vote.

Enjoy Sinnerviewer's favorite Cliks video, Complicated:

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