The Dollyrots were founded by Kelly Ogden and Luis Cabezas, who had known each other since the 8th grade. Originally the group was created for fun while the two were attending New College of Florida. The onus to go professional was made due to the results of the 2000 US Presidential Election.^[1] As Ogden recalls:

“We were watching the 2000 presidential election results, and at four o’clock in the morning, when we found out that George W. Bush had won, Luis and I were like, “The world’s probably gonna end anyway, and I don’t want to go to med school,” so we thought, “Let’s just do the band,” says Ogden. “So that’s when it happened. We had no future anyways, so let’s just be in a rock band!”^[1]

The pair soon embarked on a road trip to find a new home to accommodate their musical aspirations. In January 2002 after visiting various cities they finally settled in Los Angeles. Ogden described Los Angeles as having “everything we needed — record labels, venues, other bands.It seemed like the right place”.^[2] In 2003 the band self recorded and released an EP Feed Me, Pet Me.^[3] In 2004 they signed a deal with Panic Button Records/Lookout! Records^[3] and released their first studio album Eat My Heart Out.

Go Betty Go is an all-female pop punk band from Los Angeles that, along with bands such as Union 13, Los Abandoned, The Dollyrots, and Left Alone, have been prominent in the Southern California Chicano Punk scene that started in the mid-2000s and continues today.