Being funded entirely through a Pledge campaign, The Dollyrots’ ‘Whiplash Splash’ celebrates community and a love for music. Not content with sending pledgers vinyls, guitars and one-of-a-kind polaroids, The Dollyrots have allowed pledgers access to the album a month early. Focusing on your fans when promoting an album can’t be a bad thing, but do they have an album that will satiate their fans’ excitement?
It’s not unpredictable to say that fans of The Dollyrots are big fans of a classic pop-punk sound, and fresh from touring with Bowling For Soup, ‘Whiplash Splash’ definitely delivers on the pop-punk front in all areas. Second track ‘Babbling Idiot’ is as upbeat as ever even though it’s themed on making a fool of yourself in front of someone you like; opening with some raspy guitar riffs and punky sounding drums, it’s suitable to draw people into the album hook, line and sinker.
‘Just Because I’m Blonde’ is a tongue-in-cheek look at stereotypes that’s fun enough to keep the tone of the album positive and enjoyable rather than becoming bogged down in social commentary. The track features a spoken-word bridge, which whilst coming across as a little cheesy, does add to the fun of the album, which is definitely the theme that everything revolves around in the world of The Dollyrots.
Some tracks stand above the rest in terms of memorability, and one of those tracks is ‘Saturday Morning’ which depicts the morning after a night out between a jumping melody and a chorus that’s sounding very close to Bowling For Soup, in a knowing way. This is a band that know how to make fun of themselves as well as everyone else, and it pays off on ‘Whiplash Splash’ as they’re not afraid to hold back on the cliches and obvious influences.
To enjoy an album like this you have to go into it knowing that it’s abundant with cliches and moments that’ll make you cringe, but that’s the best thing about it. Not too self aware and pretentious, ‘Whiplash Splash’ is a joyous record that’s been written for people to dance and sing terribly to, but there’s no judgement from The Dollyrots – they’ll almost certainly join in.
ELOISE BULMER