BOTTLE ROCKETS
''BOTTLE ROCKETS''
SEPTEMBER 18 1993
35:06
1/Early in the Morning
Brian Henneman/1:41
2/Gas Girl
Brian Henneman/1:53
3/Trailer Mama
Brian Henneman/2:38
4/Wave That Flag
Brian Henneman/2:24
5/Kerosene
Brian Henneman/3:12
6/Every Kinda Everything
Brian Henneman/2:31
7/Got What I Wanted
Brian Henneman/3:12
8/Manhattan Countryside
Brian Henneman/2:15
9/Rural Route/3:07
10/Bud Nanney Theme
Brian Henneman / Mark Ortmann / Tom Parr/2:32
11/The Very Last Time
Brian Henneman/4:40
12/Hey Moon
Brian Henneman/2:06
13/Lonely Cowboy
Mark Ortmann / Tom Parr/2:55
Jay Farrar /Vocals (Background)
Brian Henneman /Banjo, Guitar, Vocals
John Keane /Pedal Steel, Vocals (Background)
Mark Ortmann /Drums
Tom Parr /Guitar
Tom Ray /Bass
Jeff Tweedy /Vocals (Background)
REVIEW
by Jack Leaver
If Neil Young had played guitar and written songs with Lynyrd Skynyrd, it might've come out something like the eponymous debut by Festus, MO's own Bottle Rockets. Raw and spirited, with a guitar attack that burns furiously, this record was recorded and mixed in a couple of days. And although it contains some strong material, overall it lacks the focus of the band's follow-up, The Brooklyn Side. That's not to say that this one should be passed over; there's a satisfying mix of rockers and country-tinged numbers. Frontman and principle songwriter Brian Henneman's keen observations on everyday rural life and characters are explored with insightful detail in songs about convenience store clerks and trailer inhabitants. In the Southern rock-sounding "Wave That Flag," he takes an angry shot at rebel flag-wavers, and the escape of a dead-end life in the ragged and breakneck-speed country-rocker "Rural Route." Before the Bottle Rockets, Henneman served a tenure as guitar technician and sometime instrumentalist for Uncle Tupelo, and both Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar make backup vocal appearances, with Farrar giving a particularly strong performance on the highlight ballad, "Kerosene."
BIOGRAPHY
by Jason Ankeny
Festus, Missouri's Bottle Rockets ranked as one of the leading lights of the 1990s roots rock revival, thanks to a sound that bypassed the punk heritage proudly upheld by most of the band's contemporaries in favor of a redneck fusion of Southern boogie, country-folk, and crunching rock & roll. The group was fronted by singer/guitarist Brian Henneman, a Missouri native who formed his first band, Waylon Van Halen & the Ernest Tubbadours, in 1977 with friends Tom and Bob Parr. After a succession of names and a steady rise in musical competence, the threesome began landing club dates both locally and in Illinois, where they became friends with the young Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy, who would later start Uncle Tupelo.
In 1985, the trio was playing straight-ahead honky tonk under the guise Chicken Truck (so named in honor of the John Anderson song) with a new drummer, Mark Ortmann. Instead of giving in to local crowds who wanted to hear covers rather than originals, the bandmembers focused solely on performing their own material, which they began roughing up with a Crazy Horse-like edge. Shortly after frequent tour mates Uncle Tupelo signed a 1990 record deal, however, internal problems led Chicken Truck to disband; while the Parrs returned to civilian jobs, Ortmann moved to Nashville to become a session player, and Henneman became a roadie with Uncle Tupelo, even playing on their March 16-20, 1992 album.
During his roadie days, Henneman recorded a demo tape of new material, which Tupelo manager Tony Margherita began discreetly shopping around. After cutting a solo single backed by Farrar and Tweedy, he re-formed his old band with Ortmann on drums, Tom Ray on guitar, and Robert Kearns on bass, renaming the outfit the Bottle Rockets. After a 1993 self-titled effort, a year later the band issued its second independent LP, The Brooklyn Side, named after a bowling term. A portrait of life in rural blue-collar America, The Brooklyn Side was the subject of lavish critical praise, and the positive notices led to the band signing with a major label, Atlantic, which promptly reissued the album.
Shakeups at the label led to delays in the release of their next album, 1997's 24 Hours a Day, and when the album sold poorly, the Bottle Rockets were dropped. In 1998 they signed with the small Doolittle label and released an odds-and-ends EP, Leftovers; by the time they completed their next album, 1999's Brand New Year, the label had gained major-label distribution, but that deal proved to be short-lived, and in 2000 the Bottle Rockets were once again without a label. In 2001 they signed a deal with alt-country trailblazers Bloodshot Records; their first album for the label, a tribute to Doug Sahm, was released early the following year. Tom Ray left the Bottle Rockets in 2002, and the band moved ahead as a three-piece, signing yet another new record deal -- this time with Sanctuary -- in 2003, and releasing a new album, Blue Sky, in the fall of that year. Zoysia arrived on Bloodshot Records in 2006, followed by Lean Forward in 2009. In 2011 the band released Not So Loud: An Acoustic Evening, which was recorded in an old schoolhouse and featured material drawn from all eras of the band's history.
''BOTTLE ROCKETS''
SEPTEMBER 18 1993
35:06
1/Early in the Morning
Brian Henneman/1:41
2/Gas Girl
Brian Henneman/1:53
3/Trailer Mama
Brian Henneman/2:38
4/Wave That Flag
Brian Henneman/2:24
5/Kerosene
Brian Henneman/3:12
6/Every Kinda Everything
Brian Henneman/2:31
7/Got What I Wanted
Brian Henneman/3:12
8/Manhattan Countryside
Brian Henneman/2:15
9/Rural Route/3:07
10/Bud Nanney Theme
Brian Henneman / Mark Ortmann / Tom Parr/2:32
11/The Very Last Time
Brian Henneman/4:40
12/Hey Moon
Brian Henneman/2:06
13/Lonely Cowboy
Mark Ortmann / Tom Parr/2:55
Jay Farrar /Vocals (Background)
Brian Henneman /Banjo, Guitar, Vocals
John Keane /Pedal Steel, Vocals (Background)
Mark Ortmann /Drums
Tom Parr /Guitar
Tom Ray /Bass
Jeff Tweedy /Vocals (Background)
REVIEW
by Jack Leaver
If Neil Young had played guitar and written songs with Lynyrd Skynyrd, it might've come out something like the eponymous debut by Festus, MO's own Bottle Rockets. Raw and spirited, with a guitar attack that burns furiously, this record was recorded and mixed in a couple of days. And although it contains some strong material, overall it lacks the focus of the band's follow-up, The Brooklyn Side. That's not to say that this one should be passed over; there's a satisfying mix of rockers and country-tinged numbers. Frontman and principle songwriter Brian Henneman's keen observations on everyday rural life and characters are explored with insightful detail in songs about convenience store clerks and trailer inhabitants. In the Southern rock-sounding "Wave That Flag," he takes an angry shot at rebel flag-wavers, and the escape of a dead-end life in the ragged and breakneck-speed country-rocker "Rural Route." Before the Bottle Rockets, Henneman served a tenure as guitar technician and sometime instrumentalist for Uncle Tupelo, and both Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar make backup vocal appearances, with Farrar giving a particularly strong performance on the highlight ballad, "Kerosene."
BIOGRAPHY
by Jason Ankeny
Festus, Missouri's Bottle Rockets ranked as one of the leading lights of the 1990s roots rock revival, thanks to a sound that bypassed the punk heritage proudly upheld by most of the band's contemporaries in favor of a redneck fusion of Southern boogie, country-folk, and crunching rock & roll. The group was fronted by singer/guitarist Brian Henneman, a Missouri native who formed his first band, Waylon Van Halen & the Ernest Tubbadours, in 1977 with friends Tom and Bob Parr. After a succession of names and a steady rise in musical competence, the threesome began landing club dates both locally and in Illinois, where they became friends with the young Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy, who would later start Uncle Tupelo.
In 1985, the trio was playing straight-ahead honky tonk under the guise Chicken Truck (so named in honor of the John Anderson song) with a new drummer, Mark Ortmann. Instead of giving in to local crowds who wanted to hear covers rather than originals, the bandmembers focused solely on performing their own material, which they began roughing up with a Crazy Horse-like edge. Shortly after frequent tour mates Uncle Tupelo signed a 1990 record deal, however, internal problems led Chicken Truck to disband; while the Parrs returned to civilian jobs, Ortmann moved to Nashville to become a session player, and Henneman became a roadie with Uncle Tupelo, even playing on their March 16-20, 1992 album.
During his roadie days, Henneman recorded a demo tape of new material, which Tupelo manager Tony Margherita began discreetly shopping around. After cutting a solo single backed by Farrar and Tweedy, he re-formed his old band with Ortmann on drums, Tom Ray on guitar, and Robert Kearns on bass, renaming the outfit the Bottle Rockets. After a 1993 self-titled effort, a year later the band issued its second independent LP, The Brooklyn Side, named after a bowling term. A portrait of life in rural blue-collar America, The Brooklyn Side was the subject of lavish critical praise, and the positive notices led to the band signing with a major label, Atlantic, which promptly reissued the album.
Shakeups at the label led to delays in the release of their next album, 1997's 24 Hours a Day, and when the album sold poorly, the Bottle Rockets were dropped. In 1998 they signed with the small Doolittle label and released an odds-and-ends EP, Leftovers; by the time they completed their next album, 1999's Brand New Year, the label had gained major-label distribution, but that deal proved to be short-lived, and in 2000 the Bottle Rockets were once again without a label. In 2001 they signed a deal with alt-country trailblazers Bloodshot Records; their first album for the label, a tribute to Doug Sahm, was released early the following year. Tom Ray left the Bottle Rockets in 2002, and the band moved ahead as a three-piece, signing yet another new record deal -- this time with Sanctuary -- in 2003, and releasing a new album, Blue Sky, in the fall of that year. Zoysia arrived on Bloodshot Records in 2006, followed by Lean Forward in 2009. In 2011 the band released Not So Loud: An Acoustic Evening, which was recorded in an old schoolhouse and featured material drawn from all eras of the band's history.
