L.A.'s own Rocket celebrates their debut album, "R is for Rocket" (out 10/3 on Transgressive Records/Canvasback), with a live in-store performance and signing at Amoeba Hollywood Tuesday, October 7th at 5pm!
Show is free/all-ages. Album purchase at Amoeba Hollywood required to attend the post-show signing.
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Rocket have had a busy few years. The Los Angeles crew with friendships stretching back to their childhood formed in 2021, convening in an unmarked shed to put their debut EP to tape. Despite it being the first time Alithea Tuttle (vocals, bass), Baron Rinzler (Guitar), Cooper Ladomade (Drums) and Desi Scaglione (Guitar) had ever seriously approached the idea of a ‘band,’ they seemed to arrive fully formed with combustible, airtight songs.
R is for Rocket, the quartet’s remarkable debut album, is a joyride through sonic terrain that is gloriously loud, anthemic, bombastic and beautiful, with instantly captivating songs that achieve the rare feat of evoking nostalgia while sounding completely new. Tracks such as “One Million,” “Wide Awake,” “Crossing Fingers” and “The Choice” display Rocket’s dreamy intensity, with their thick blast of guitars and driving rhythms balanced by Tuttle’s sweetly hypnotic vocals and dynamic shifts that leave you weak in the knees. The band’s jagged, fuzzed-out sound has antecedents in ‘90s guitar bands like Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine, but Rocket are doing something uniquely their own with those touchstones. It’s no wonder they are widely considered one of the most promising guitar-forward bands of their generation.
“All of the touring led to the songs changing for the better,” says Tuttle, “because we got to play them for so many different kinds of audiences and hear what worked and what didn’t.” Whenever they got home from a tour, they were infused with new ideas for how to finish the in-progress tunes, and many were upgraded in major ways thanks to the time Rocket took to hone them. “Recording the second half of the album eight months after the first half gave us a lot of time to think about what we were doing,” says Scaglione. “We ended up re-recording three songs because we felt like we could just do better.”
With guitarist Desi Scaglione again at the helm as their producer, Rocket logged time at two Los Angeles studios that provided the perfect balance between those extremes. They tracked the more introspective elements at 64 Sound in Highland Park, which offered an array of tasty vintage gear that was ideal for the quieter, more intimate tunes. The heavier moments were captured during sessions at the Foo Fighters’ Studio 606 in Northridge, where they could get the massive drum sound they wanted for tracks like “Crossing Fingers” and “Wide Awake.”
At the same time, they wanted to be sure the recordings would still have the visceral impact of their live shows, and Scaglione worked diligently to make sure they authentically captured that kind of sonic intensity by recording everything live. “The most satisfying part of making this album to me was completing it from start to finish on our own,” he says. “To make decisions that get you to the end goal by yourself is very rewarding, and in some ways therapeutic.”
Ultimately, it is their relationships with each other - the profound friendships that have shifted and grown over the years – that are the most vital force behind their music, nourishing everything they do. “We all have a very deep understanding of each other as people first, and then also musically,” says Scaglione. “With being best friends comes an insane amount of trust in normal life but also in our creative decisions, and I think that allows us to work quickly. We all entertain each others’ musical ideas and try to see all of them through even if we don’t understand the end goal or final vision right away. The fact that we get to make music and share all of these experiences together is a truly special thing.”
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See them next/on tour at The Roxy, November 22nd.
You may also like the following events from Amoeba Hollywood:
- This Wednesday, 1st October, 05:00 pm, Fred Armisen at Amoeba Hollywood in Hollywood
- This Friday, 3rd October, 05:00 pm, HALLOWEEN: John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter & Daniel Davies Signing at Amoeba Hollywood in Hollywood
- Next Thursday, 9th October, 05:00 pm, Bret McKenzie at Amoeba Hollywood in Hollywood
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