Teenage Bottlerocket – Sick Sesh!

Wyoming punks Teenage Bottlerocket’s latest full length Sick Sesh! dropped this week via Fat Wreck Chords. This is the band’s second full length of original material since joining back in 2017, and first following 2019’s Stay Rad!

Sick Sesh! sees Kody Templeman, Ray Carslisle, Miguel Chen and Darren Chewka in top form, churning out another record full of the skate punk bangers they are renowned for. It’s no secret that the band have seemingly taken the “This is a chord. This is another. This is a third. Now Form a Band” mantra that appeared in an issue of the fanzine Sideburns in 1977 to heart and have stayed the course through their 20ish years as a band.

While some bands thrive on constant innovation, often to the frustration of their fans, there is something quite reassuring about just sort of knowing what to expect with a new Teenage Bottlerocket record. The 12 songs that make up Sick Sesh! clock in at just under 35 minutes and include the usual blend of seemingly random irreverence alongside tales of love, unrequited or otherwise. The LP was recorded back in November 2020 at Bill Stevenson’s The Blasting Room studios in Colorado and produced by Andrew Berlin. References to the pandemic are dotted across the album through the songs Strung Out on Stress, Statistic and with the opening line of the The Squirrel (the best, and probably only song I’ve heard written about a squirrel); “Now I’ve been inside for so long, just staring out my window at you. You’re always running around my backyard, acting like you’ve got shit to do”. Teenage Bottlerocket are one of the only bands who could take a song about collecting acorns and make it sound this good.

Ghost Story, the LP’s lead single was written by bassist Miguel Chen following a conversation with his wife about what would happen to the family if he ever died and despite the morbid beginning, its upbeat, funny and catchy as hell – that sing along chorus will stick with you for days. The aforementioned Strung Out on Stress took me back to I Wanna Die from 2015’s Tales from Wyoming and in the lead up to the LP’s release Ray (Carlisle) had talked about getting the guitar tones a little more noisy like on some of their earlier records and while it is noticeable across the LP as a whole, it really hits you square in the face here as well as in the first few bars of album opener Semi Truck (which should soundtrack any future reboots of the Stephen King classic Maximum Overdrive), Never Sing Along and the anthemic pounding riffs of Statistic. The record finishes with another Chen penned track, Moving On is a lovely parting homage to Laramie, Wyoming following his decision to leave for family reasons. It also marks the first time ever Ray has sung one Chen’s songs, and he strikes the tone perfectly.

The reality is Sick Sesh! will tick all the boxes for fans of the band, but doesn’t do anything to stretch boundaries or try to win over any skeptics. And that’s fucking fine by me, I’m off to stare out the window at squirrels with this on repeat.

Sick Sesh! Is out now via Fat Wreck Chords.

Teenage Bottlerocket Bandcamp