Des Rocs Talks Fuzz, New Album, And More

It's been a while since I've seen Des Rocs. The last time was when he played RIFF Fest a couple of years ago. He told me that he and another member of his band discovered the hill at Pine Knob and decided to climb it. When they reached the top, they realized they only had 35 minutes until they had to take the stage and blasted down, out of breath.

That's just one story from the guitarist/singer/songwriter from Queens, New York, who you can see live at The Blind Pig in Ann Arbor on April 18th.

Des was no stranger to big city shows and clubs growing up in the Big Apple. "I most certainly did. I grew up in the shadow of the city, and that was just like my playground. All the little venues that dot Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, everywhere. That's where I lived."

As for where he got his musical drive from, it was from himself. "You know, I discovered music just by going to CD stores and browsing and looking at what was cool. And whatever I brought home, I brought home, and that just sunk into my DNA. I was also very largely influenced by a very strong DIY scene that was in New York City and Long Island at the time. And musically, I was really all over the place. I was like a sponge. I was taking it all in. The one thing I know is that the music I always made was never the music that was trendy or that everybody else was doing. Very much to my detriment. You know, I wish I could have made music that people really went out to hear."

Just one listen to any song he's put out, and you know this guy is a true guitar guy. He loves the fuzz! "I think balancing walls of distortion in a way that's palatable. That's a hard thing to do. You know, a lot of people can overdo it, but it's a fine line to walk, to use, to paint with that color, but also have it come out and be like a very cohesive and beautiful song." As for bands that have done it right, he included a Detroit band in that category. "Oh, I mean, the White Stripes and Jack White do that beautifully well. Queens of the Stone Age does that beautifully well. And then early days going as far back to like the who who had like immensely fuzzy tones or the kinks, you know, and they put it all in the context of really beautiful songs."

His latest single is called This Land, and it's on the Borderline 4 soundtrack. He also has a Johnny Cash Cover of Ring of Fire that appeared in the movie Nobody 2, a movie he hasn't watched yet. "I know. It's ridiculous. I got to go see it. But they came to me, and they said, Why don't you recover for the finale of this movie? And they gave me two songs. And they said they're going to pick one. One was like a Frank Sinatra song. And the other was Johnny Cash. And with both, I had serious reservations because the Frank Sinatra song was like, How the hell can I Des Rockify this? This is going to be an uphill battle. And then the second one was a song that's already been widely covered by rock fans like Social Distortion. So it's been done before. And it was very tough to figure out, like, how do I make it sound as if it was a Des Rock song written by Johnny Cash? You know, I mean, it was really the goal. And once I kind of figured out what that was, then the seas just opened up, and the whole thing poured out."

His new album is done and on its way. When? "Soonish. When the weather gets a little less snowy and cold, a new album will be on its way", he told me.

He loves this album! "Oh, the record is one of the greatest things I've ever worked on. I can't wait for everybody to hear it. It is just brimming with so much passion and pathos, and bringing it to life almost killed me in many different ways. But I'm proud to say it's finally done, mastered, mixed everything off to the plant. And now it's on its way out."

The record was recorded live at The Power Station in Manhattan. "We recorded it live as a band, like really legit live, no copy and pasting, nothing like that. So the takes you here are the band playing it from beginning to end, for better or for worse. So when you do something like that, and I always preface this by saying I'm not a musician."

Once again, Des plays the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor on April 18th.