Ray Carlisle (far left) and Teenage Bottlerocket
Interview by Jason Schreurs
Ray Carlisle, guitarist/vocalist of Wyoming pop-punkers Teenage Bottlerocket, is a huge Metallica fan, there’s no doubt about that, and he has a few ratty Metallica t-shirts to prove it (see photo above). While the band’s upcoming album, Tales from Wyoming, has one song that references the shit out of the 1988 metal opus …And Justice for All, it also mentions Metallica’s debut thrash attack, Kill ‘Em All. So we had to ask Carlisle the golden question, once and for all…
We know you’re a huge fan, but what is your favourite Metallica album?
Kill ‘Em All.
Wow! No hesitation.
Okay, fine, I change my answer: …And Justice for All. …And Justice for All is my favourite Metallica record. I know Kill ‘Em All is the cooler answer, but I want to be honest. …And Justice for All was the first album I bought by Metallica. I actually got the cassette single with “Eye of the Beholder” on it, and “Harvester of Sorrow” and “Breadfan.” That was the first Metallica thing I ever got. And I would pretend to go to sleep on Saturday nights, but I’d actually get up and watch Headbanger’s Ball on MTV, which I wasn’t supposed to do. I knew Metallica already, but I saw the world premiere of the “One” video on Headbanger’s Ball, and that’s my era of Metallica, really. That’s when I had their poster on my wall and shit. But I also had Kill ‘Em All on vinyl, that I got a couple weeks later, and I have footage of my brother Brandon [Teenage Bottlerocket drummer] skateboarding on a half pipe when we were 11 years old to “Trapped Under Ice,” so obviously I had Ride the Lightning as well. Loved it all. Loved it all. I even had a Metallica comic book that was really cool. It explained all about Cliff Burton dying in the bus accident.
On “Nothing Else Matters (When I’m with You),” off your upcoming album, you reference …And Justice for All repeatedly, as well as then-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted. What’s that all about?
The Jason Newsted line is about someone at the bar who was bashing on Jason Newsted and was all like, “Cliff Burton or die!” and I somewhat agree with that, because I’m definitely not a big fan of a lot of the newer Metallica stuff, and I lost interest after …And Justice for All, but something happened where this guy was trying to be punk as fuck by saying he only listened to the Metallica albums with Cliff Burton playing bass. And fine, go ahead, that’s fine, but just to piss him off we were like, “Jason Newsted is waaaay better than Cliff Burton” and, uh, he was not happy. Our label, Rise Records, reached out to Jason Newsted about possibly being in the video for “Nothing Else Matters (When I’m with You).” Newsted wrote back the day we released the song, and complimented the tune. We were so stoked! It was kind of a bummer that he couldn’t be in the video, but we were thrilled that he wrote back at all.
This question has nothing to do with your band’s drummer, but what’s your stance on a really, really great band having a really awful drummer? And you know who I’m talking about…
No, I don’t…
Metallica! Lars Ulrich!
[Laughs] Oh… yeah. You know, if Lars Ulrich is going to let that snare tone fly on St. Anger it kind of says a lot about what he thinks is good. But he’s been drumming for, what, 50 fucking years now? It’s gotta be kinda good, right? But listening to him talk is painful. Actually, on Some Kind of Monster, that Metallica documentary, after watching that I thought James Hetfield was the bitch of the band. Like get over yourself, you cry baby. And Lars Ulrich was the one who was like, “Let’s fucking rock! When are we going to back on tour? I wanna fucking play!”
What did you think of the interview James did recently where he warned Metallica fans that they wouldn’t like him very much if they knew the horrible things he’s done in his past?
Yeah, I just glanced over it. But I wanted some detail! Like, what has he done? Did you touch a kid? Did you rape some girl? What happened, you crazy? But maybe he just had some guilt about normal stuff, like, “I can’t believe I jerked off to that porno once, man. I’m a bad person!” [Laughs]
Teenage Bottlerocket‘s Tales from Wyoming is out March 31 on Rise Records.
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