Features

Teenage Bottlerocket are taking us on a wild ride through their own discography ahead of this Friday's release of Ready To Roll (check out our review here), their tenth studio album and first for Pirates Press Records. To celebrate, we asked Ray Carlisle, Miguel Chen, and Darren Chewka to rank every record from worst to best, spilling all the stories, favorite tracks, and behind-the-scenes chaos along the way. From early hits to their newest punk-powered bangers, here’s how the band themselves see ten albums of pure pop-punk mayhem.

 

10th Place

Ray: Another Way

Another Way will always hold a special place in my heart. I love Another Way. I love the song “Another Way.” My friend Dave says it’s our best record. He really thinks it is. He’s crazy.

Miguel: Stealing the Covers

I love this record — seriously. It only ends up at the bottom of the list by default, because the songs aren’t “ours,” but man, I fucking love it. Digging into these obscure bands we love and breathing new life into their songs was such a blast. It’s also our first record without Brandon, which made the fun factor even more important. We were heartbroken, and this project gave us a way to channel that energy into something joyful. Weirdly, that’s what makes it one of the most special records we’ve ever done.

Darren: Another Way

I’ll admit that Another Way slipped under my radar. I didn’t hear its entirety till I really got into later albums. It’s loaded with bangers (“Opportunity,” “Be Stag,” “Mini Skirt,” “Patrick,” “Rebound”…) and I love playing “Another Way” live. It’s a killer start for the band.

 

9th Place

Ray: Stealing the Covers

It’s a cover record. A cover record that shreds!! I recently watched the band HEAD play in Italy, we covered their song on this record. Cool story, bro. My favorite song on this album is “Don’t Go,” my second favorite is “Robocop.”

Miguel: Stay Rad!

This record is just fun. First all-original LP of the Darren era, and you can feel the fresh energy. It’s high-energy, catchy, and doesn’t try to be anything but what it is: a Teenage Bottlerocket record you can blast in your car and sing along to. Production sounds great. I hate that it’s that far down on my list, because it’s fucking great. Honestly, I could make 10 different versions of this same list and be happy with them all. I love our band.

Darren: Stay Rad!

My first original full length with the band. It’s a bit more of a polished record, and I think that’s what we were aiming for. Drumwise I’m pretty stoked on a few tracks on here (“Creature” and “Clint”) and there’s some “hits” like “Everything to Me,” “I Wanna Be a Dog.” “Death Kart” is super underrated.

 

 

 

 

8th Place

Ray: Stay Rad!

How is this 8th? I think my order sucks. This is a tough one. Ok, I’ll continue…This is our first record of original music with Darren Chewka on drums. Fat [Wreck Chords] knocked the cover art out of the park. “Everything To Me” and “I Wanna Be a Dog” stand out. I think this record is amazing. I love every song, I think I can say that about every record, though.

Miguel: Total

Most people would probably rank this one higher, and honestly, most days I would too — but making this list is fucking impossible, so here it sits. Total rules. At the time, I was just the merch dude, and I’ve always wished I’d played on this record because I love it that much. I still remember hearing the mixes for the first time and thinking, “Holy shit, this sounds incredible!” Touring then was pure fun — everything was new, exciting, and full of untapped potential. We still have fun now, but there’s something about the magic of youth that’s really captured in this era of TBR for me.

Darren: Tales From Wyoming

Lyrically some of the best Ray and Kody have written (“Nothing Else Matters,” “They Call Me Steve”). I love Brandon’s drumming on this one…“Dead Saturday” and “Been Too Long” shred.

 

7th Place

Ray: Warning Device

The yellow one! It’s hard to write your sophomore record. I always thought of WD as our sophomore release. I know it’s technically our third release, but it was our second with Kody. I like how the songs are grouped in 2’s. 2 Kody, 2 Ray. I always thought that was cool. People tell me all the time that this is their favorite TBR record.

Miguel: Another Way

I think this record gets overlooked and forgotten a lot, but the songs are fucking awesome. A few years earlier, Brandon told me: Homeless Wonders are done, Teenage Bottlerocket is the new shit. I basically lived on Ray and Brandon’s couch at that time, hanging around, bugging them every day. It was an important era in my life; my mom and sister had passed away in the previous years, and punk rock had really become my salvation. Ray and Brandon really took me under their wing and helped me find purpose.

Darren: Ready to Roll

I think the album shows the band trying new things and experimenting a bit. It’s still Bottlerocket, but we’re trying to open a new door or two. Miguel sings! “Taquero!” “She’s the Shit!” “Post Mortem Depression!” “High-Speed Yoga!” All rad jamz.

 

 

 

 

6th Place

Ray: Sick Sesh!

The orange record! “Ghost Story!” “Never Sing Along!” “Strung Out on Stress!” This album can be in any place above. I will always be proud of this record. Andrew Berlin (our recording engineer at the Blasting Room) is such a talented dude, and he is the secret fifth member of the band. Andrew can take a demo and make the finished product really shine. He joins the band every time we record with him. We wrote most of these songs during COVID. It’s our COVID record. Stoked we got [drummer Darren] Chewka on the back cover photo of this one.

Miguel: Warning Device

My first LP with the band (besides the Live in ’06 album). It’s the first time I got to throw myself into the studio with TBR, and it opened the world for us — including our first trip to Japan. That Japanese version even had the lyrics translated. Wild. Total has a ton of hits and everyone loves it, but Warning Device edges it out a tiny bit for me.

Darren: Warning Device

When this came out I couldn’t get past the first 7 tracks. They were so good that it took me forever to actually listen to the back half! “Pacemaker” and “Nuthouse” blew me away.

 

5th Place

Ray: Tales From Wyoming

We recorded this record with Bill Stevenson [Descendents, ALL, ex-Black Flag drummer, co-owner of the Blasting Room]. What a rad experience. We recorded 9 of our ten records at the Blasting room. By the time we recorded Tales from Wyoming, we had seen Bill work with other bands enough that we all really wanted to work with him. Bill helped a lot of the songs gel. He completely changed the key signature to “They Call Me Steve” and it added a lot to the song. He came up with the bump up at the end of “I Found The One,” he’s a bad ass. I’m stoked Brandon got to work with Bill before he died; it was a dream come true for him. It was a dream come true for all of us.

Miguel: Sick Sesh!

This record was written and recorded right in the middle of the pandemic, which made the whole thing feel surreal. We couldn’t tour like normal, and the world was upside down, but we still managed to crank out a record that was fun, punk, and cathartic. For me, Sick Sesh! captures that strange, claustrophobic energy of the era while still sounding like us. It’s pissed off, it’s fun, and it proved we could keep pushing forward no matter what was happening outside.

Darren: Sick Sesh!

I love how the record flies out of the gate. I’m stoked on my playing on this one. I love playing “Stress” and “Ghost Story” live. It shows the band has three solid song writers at this point. Total banger.

 

4th Place

Ray: Freak Out!

The pink one! What a record! My kid Milo says this is his favorite. We still play tons of songs on this record. I mean, “HEADBANGER” rules! I remember not having any hang-ups in the studio with this album. We went in and cranked it out. Standout moments during the tracking include Kody singing the end of “Maverick,” and I started crying. I will always remember that moment. I always felt lucky to be in a band with Kody. Brandon would record his drum parts just by memory, no scratch guitar track, that’s crazy to think about. Every song on this record kicks ass. Every fucking one of em.

Miguel: Tales From Wyoming

This record will always be bittersweet. It was our love letter to our home state, our first record into uncharted territory on a new label, and it’s got Brandon’s last songs. Bill Stevenson had worked on little things here and there on our other records, but doing this one entirely with him was way awesome. He definitely pushed us to be the best we could. I can’t think about this record without thinking about Brandon.

Darren: Stealing the Covers

My first experience recording with the band. It’s up on this list because it was everything to me at the time.I was nervous, anxious, excited…it was everything I’d been doing to get to this. I remember putting hours and hours into learning after work. The drums sound so good on this record…thanks Andrew Berlin!

 

 

 

 

3rd Place

Ray: They Came From the Shadows

This record changed our lives. “Skate or Die” is our biggest song. It’s always awesome to play “Skate or Die” live. “Bigger than Kiss” is on our setlist every time we play; that song is hilarious. “Don’t Want To Go” might be the biggest Ray song, too. We play that song at every show. I think a lot of people would put “the green one” as their number one. I wish we had made the record green with a black logo; I always felt like we screwed that up.

Miguel: They Came From the Shadows

Our Fat Wreck debut — the moment everything really changed. I remember calling my dad crying when I got the news that we were going to do a record on Fat. Suddenly, we’re out with NOFX all the time, playing bigger shows, realizing this thing we were doing in Wyoming had gone global. Still one of the most important chapters in TBR history for sure. Anyone who even casually knows TBR knows songs from this record.

Darren: Freak Out!

A record that was out at that right moment at the right time. Kody and Ray wrote some epic shit on this one. I still listen to this record front to back. Everything rules on it… drums are rad, guitars are ruling, vocals…duh! These last three albums are impossible to rank.

 

2nd Place

Ray: Total

Total fucking rules. Every song. What a time this was to be in the band. Brandon was so excited to be a part of Red Scare. Toby at Red Scare made a lot of our dreams come true. We owe a lot to that dude. Stand out tracks: “Blood Bath at Burger King,” “Stupid Games” - I think we’ve played “Stupid Games” at every show we’ve ever played with Kody - “So Far Away.” Shit, you can’t fuck with this record, pop-punk radness.

Miguel: Freak Out!

This feels like our punkest record in a lot of ways. We were firing on all cylinders — fast, loud, no filler. I’ve always thought of Shadows and Freak Out! kind of like Dookie and Insomniac: the first record blew the doors open and gave us a lot of the big songs people know us for, but the follow-up came in a little darker, a little meaner, and honestly — at least to me — a little better.

Darren: They Came From the Shadows

I played this album so much in my car, I had to buy it twice. Kody writes two of the best pop punk songs in “Skate” and “Kiss.” “Fatso” is such a banger, and how the fuck do you even come up with putting that song together?!?! These are a blast to play.

 

1st Place

Ray: Ready To Roll

We are better songwriters now. Ready to Roll is fully awesome. I love it more than any other TBR record, especially “I Just Figured Out That I’m Stupid.” My son Milo and I wrote that song together, and it is a favorite for sure. “Post Mortem Depression” and “Giant Bug from Planet Q13” are bad ass!! Those are two rad ass Kody songs right there. I’m so stoked that Miguel sang lead vocals on this album. All three of the songs Miguel sings (“True to You,” “Taquero,” and “Afraid of the Dark”) are amazing.

Miguel: Ready To Roll

Every band says their new record is their best. The only ones who don’t are either a) putting out a shitty record or b) trying to play it cool so they don’t look like the kind of dildo who says their new record is their best. I’m not afraid to look like that kind of dildo: Ready to Roll is our best record. And it should be. We’ve been at this a long fucking time — it only makes sense that we’d keep getting better. These are my favorite songs we’ve ever written. Don’t take my word for it. Go spin the new record and see for yourself.

Darren: Total

Not only the best record in the Bottlerocket discography, but one of the greatest pop-punk records of our time!

 

Rank	Ray Carlisle	Miguel Chen	Darren Chewka
10	Another Way	Stealing the Covers	Another Way
9	Stealing the Covers	Stay Rad!	Stay Rad!
8	Stay Rad!	Total	Tales From Wyoming
7	Warning Device	Another Way	Ready to Roll
6	Sick Sesh!	Warning Device	Warning Device
5	Tales From Wyoming	Sick Sesh!	Sick Sesh!
4	Freak Out!	Tales From Wyoming	Stealing the Covers
3	They Came From the Shadows	They Came From the Shadows	Freak Out!
2	Total	Freak Out!	They Came From the Shadows
1	Ready To Roll	Ready To Roll	Total