By Brittani Wert
Reporting from Casper
Classic punk riffs and striking vocals filled The Gaslight Social in Casper the night of July . A small mosh pit broke out on the floor as the stage lights quickly changed from blue to red and back again. The Wyoming punks in Teenage Bottlerocket were kicking off their Casper set with a bang, playing “You Don’t Get The Joke” as the crowd screamed along to every lyric.
The band is known for not shying away from their Wyoming roots in the punk scene. But rather than embracing the long Laramie winters in their formation nearly two decades ago, it gave them “motivation to go on tour and leave bad weather and cold hearts,” singer and guitarist Ray Carlisle says.
With eight full-length albums under their belt and plenty of other releases, Teenage Bottlerocket has earned their place as a staple of the punk scene over the years.
Their latest album, Stay Rad, still combines their signature youthful energy and memorable hooks while also portraying a more mature side of the band. Recently, Carlisle has shaken up his songwriting style; rather than working on chords and lyrics first, he starts with the song titles.
Last night’s show gave the audience a night full of Wyoming punk including music from The Shivers, long-time friends Redbush, and Casper locals The-Front.
Though Teenage Bottlerocket doesn’t play in Casper often, “it feels good to have support from punk rockers around the state,” Carlisle says.
A version of this story was originally published on June 26, 2019, by our sister publication Oil City News. It has been republished here for purposes of public interest. The Cap City version of this post was published on December 6, 2019; however the timestamp of the story has been changed to reflect the approximate date of original publication.
