- Rocky Votolato
Infobox musical artist
Name = Rocky Votolato
Img_capt = Rocky Votolato at Hell's Kitchen, Tacoma, WA 2007
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Background = solo_singer
Birth_name =
Alias =
Born = 1978Texas ,USA
Died =
Origin =Seattle ,Washington ,USA
Instrument = Guitar, Vocals
Genre =Folk ,Alt-country ,Indie rock
Occupation = Singer, Songwriter
Years_active = 1995 - Present
Label = Barsuk
Second Nature
Status
Associated_acts = WaxwingLying on Loot
URL = [http://www.rockyvotolato.com Official Site]
Notable_instruments =Rocky Votolato is an Italian-American musician. He was born in a rural hospital near Carrolton, Texas in 1978, though was raised in the Pacific Northwest. When his former band
Lying on Loot disbanded in 1996, Rocky Votolato, along with friendsRudy Gajadhar (drums) andAndrew Hartley (bass), started playing under the name Waxwing. Rocky's younger brother Cody (The Blood Brothers) soon joined the band on second guitar, and the band recorded their debut 7" for Henry's Finest Recordings. In 1999,Second Nature Recordings released their first full-length, entitled 'For Madmen Only'. Blending straight-up rock with elements of post-hardcore, and Cody's metal reminiscent guitaring, Waxwing soon established a strong local following. It was a feat built upon with their two succeeding albums 'One For the Ride' (2000) and 'Nobody Can Take What Everybody Owns' (2002).In 1999, Rocky Votolato branched out from his work with Waxwing, having written a handful of songs which did not really fit in with their more aggressive, fast tempo syle. Along the way he has toured with the likes of
Damien Jurado ,Small Brown Bike ,The Get Up Kids ,The New Amsterdams , Owen andThe Casket Lottery , members of the latter having provided assistance as backing musicians on occasion. His studio albums have also been littered with appearances from some of Seattle's finest musicians (including players in the bandsRed Stars Theory ,Sharks Keep Moving , The Blood Brothers,Death Cab for Cutie ,Pedro the Lion andSub Pop solo artistRosie Thomas ). On the production side, Votolato has worked withMatt Bayles (Pearl Jam ,Botch ,Murder City Devils , Hayden), along withChris Walla (of Death Cab for Cutie). It is a creative input which has helped see Rocky progress stylistically with every release, from his low key self-titled album released in 1999 - all pretty much recorded live, right through to his recent, alt-country, folk-esque offering, 'Makers'. A video was shot for the first track of Makers, "White Daisy Passing", a song which also appears on the soundtrack of the forthcoming Seattle indie feature film "Cthulu".Rocky also starred in the film 'The Edge of Quarrel', which he worked on with
Dave Larson fromExcursion Records . It also includes members of theMurder City Devils and Botch, and is about a gang war between straightedgers and punk rockers.He is married with two children, and lives in Seattle.
Discography
olo
*"Rocky Votolato" (
1999 ) (Status Recordings )
*"Rocky V/Seth Warren 7" " (1999 ) (Redwood Records )
*"A Brief History" (2000 ) (Your Best Guess )
*"Burning My Travels Clean " (LP) (2002 ) (Second Nature Recordings )
*"The Light and the Sound " (EP) (2003 ) (Second Nature Recordings )
*"Suicide Medicine " (2003 ) (Second Nature Recordings )
*"Makers " (2006 ) (Second Nature Recordings ) (Barsuk )
*"The Brag and Cuss " (2007 ) (Barsuk )Waxwing
*"
Waxwing 7" " (1999 ) (Henry's Finest Recordings )
*"For Madmen Only" (1999 ) (Second Nature Recordings )
*"One for the Ride " (2000 ) (Second Nature Recordings )
*"" (2001 ) (Second Nature Recordings )
*"Nobody Can Take What Everybody Owns " (2002 ) (Second Nature Recordings )Lying On Loot
*"
Split 7" with State Route 522 " (1996 ) (Henry's Finest Recordings )Trivia
The song 'Prison is Private Property' is roughly based on
David Fincher 's movie Fight Club, starringEdward Norton &Brad Pitt .The song 'Automatic Rifle' is said to be about the murder-suicide of
Rachel Levy andAyat al-Akhras .Reviews
* [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/9474901/rocky_votolato_makes_his_mark?rnd=1142287247703&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1212 Rolling Stone Review of Makers]
* [http://www.scenepointblank.com/reviews/750 Scene Point Blank review of Makers]
* [http://www.absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=112455 AbsolutePunk.net review of Makers]
* [http://www.musicgeek.org/?action=reviews&id=26 musicGeek.org review of Makers]
* [http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/23050/Rocky_Votolato_Makers Pitchfork review of Makers]
* [http://www.groundcontrolmag.com/detail/1/343/ Ground Control review of The Brag and Cuss]
* [http://www.thewheelsstillinspin.com/2007/06/rocky-votolato-.html The Wheel's Still In Spin short story review of The Brag & Cuss]External links
* [http://www.rockyvotolato.com Official website]
* [http://www.likesilver.com Like Silver - Fan site (videos, photos, exclusive songs etc.)]
* [http://www.suicide-medicine.com Suicide Medicine website]
* [http://www.blogsandiego.com/rocky_votolato.html Makers Review and Youtube video]ources
* http://www.nowontour.com/news/interviews/00023.php
* http://www.skratchmagazine.com/interviews/INTrockyvotolato.php?vo=11
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