Editor’s Note: On Friday, June 26th, Los Angeles-based rockers Julez and the Rollerz will be releasing their debut album Dirty Little Rock ‘N’ Roller via Lolipop Records. It was produced, engineered, and mixed by GRAMMY-nominated producer Alex Newport at Tiny Creatures Studio in Yucca Valley, CA.
According to a press release, “thematically, Dirty Little Rock ‘N’ Roller as a whole explores the passage of time within relationships, within identity, and within life itself. It’s a record preoccupied with growth and reckoning, with asking what remains when the noise settles and who you become when the party finally winds down.”
While the band’s 2023 EP Is This Where The Party Is? leaned heavily into garage rock and blues improv, Dirty Little Rock ‘N’ Roller is described as feeling more “polished, more emotionally direct and decidedly more mature without sacrificing bite. It is also the most theatrical the band has ever sounded, pulling from power pop and glam rock traditions with big hooks, stacked vocals, and larger-than-life moments. The guitars are bold, the choruses are built to stick, and there is a dramatic flair running through the record that matches its sharp self-awareness. The sound is unapologetically rock-forward, trading irony for impact and leaning fully into amplified guitars and sharp-edged hooks.
If earlier releases captured the chaos of youth and late nights, this album captures what comes after, the clarity, the doubt, and the strange beauty of realizing you’re no longer the same person you were when you started. With Dirty Little Rock ‘N’ Roller, Julez and the Rollerz prove they’re not just playing dress-up in rock nostalgia. They’re evolving in real time and fully aware of the irony but committed to the music anyway.”
You can learn more about the band and album through the Singles Spotlight feature we did on them earlier this year. We’re big fans over here at SWT.
In our opinion, the band seems destined to explode in popularity with the new release. Singer and guitarist Jules Batterman penned an exclusive essay about fully cherishing the moment and realizing how far she’s come as a musician.
Only once in a while do I really stop and smell the roses and realize how far I’ve come doing what I’ve always dreamed of doing.
I’ve been a performer my whole life, practically since I was a baby. I was always singing around the house, whether it was show tunes, pop music, jazz standards, or straight-up rock & roll. I got my first guitar at 8 and wrote my first one-note song about a blue whale. My mom and aunt, who both played guitar, taught me my first real song: “25 or 6 to 4” by Chicago. I’m still not sure why that one specifically, but I guess the intro was an easy one-string riff.
Growing up, I was in countless musicals through performing arts camp, middle school, and eventually high school. I was always too short, too young-looking, and too unassuming to land leading roles in theater, aside from playing Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls in 8th grade. Still, I had my guitar, my voice, and my love for music.
By high school, I wanted to take guitar more seriously and started teaching myself practically every classic rock song out there. I became obsessed with Led Zeppelin and The Doors, constantly writing music inspired by the bands I looked up to. At that point, all I wanted was to start a band of my own.
I was a junior in high school and had already done the school musicals the previous two years, so of course I auditioned again. Aside from that one lead role in 8th grade, I had always been cast in an ensemble. That year, the school was doing The Wedding Singer, and I auditioned for Linda, the rocker ex-girlfriend. It felt perfect. The audition songs were “A Note From Linda” and “Let Me Come Home,” and I finally got to show off both my soft voice and my rock voice. I really thought I was going to get the part. I thought wrong.
The audition itself went incredibly well. We were scored on vocals, delivery, stage presence, and acting, and I got 5 out of 5 across the board. I even got a callback, which involved dancing and choreography, definitely not my strong suit. Needless to say, my dancing must have been terrible because once again I was cast in the ensemble. The role went to another incredibly talented girl from my school who’s now a successful singer-songwriter in her own right.
During our first official rehearsal, I made a completely impulsive decision and told the director I wanted to quit the musical. In that moment, I realized I wanted to put my energy into writing music and being in a band instead.
Later, I went to SUNY Purchase, where I wrote songs here and there but didn’t branch out into forming a band until later on. I started an all-girl band called Sleazside, which didn’t last very long, and eventually released a solo EP under the name Julez. After graduating, I spent about a year performing those songs around New York City and Brooklyn before deciding to move to Los Angeles to pursue music more seriously. I had been infatuated with the L.A. music scene throughout high school and college, and the city always felt like it was calling me.
On a whim, I moved to Los Angeles with my now husband and eventually formed my band Julez and the Rollerz as it exists today. I’m already 31, married, and still sometimes catch myself feeling “too old” to be doing any of this. Whenever those thoughts creep in, I think about a conversation I once had online with Mitski before she really blew up. We both went to SUNY Purchase around the same time and were in some exclusive Facebook group started by Purchase students called “Business Bitch” or something like that, where mostly other women and queer students would vent about life and find like-minded community. I remember making a post spiraling about how I felt too old to make it in music at that point. I was probably only 19 or 20.
Mitski, who’s a few years older than me, commented on my post and basically told me to stop thinking that way because it was complete bullshit. Hearing that from her honestly felt like the slap in the face I needed to get out of my own head. I still struggle with those thoughts sometimes, but whenever I really stop and smell the roses, I realize I already made my dreams into my reality. Even if it doesn’t exactly pay the bills just yet.
All I’ve ever wanted was to make music with people who felt like my best friends, to perform constantly, to tour, to write and record music, and to build a life around all of it. Those are the exact things I’m doing now with my band Julez and the Rollerz. Sometimes it’s just hard to stop long enough to recognize it.
I love music. I love playing music. Honestly, that’s enough for me.
You can connect with Julez and the Rollerz via the links in Jules’ author box below
Jules Batterman
Contributor
Raised around music, Jules Batterman began releasing original songs while studying visual arts at SUNY Purchase College. She later moved from the East Coast to Los Angeles, where she formed Julez and the Rollerz, an all women rock ‘n’ roll project that has spent the last several years steadily carving out its place in the modern DIY scene.
