ARTIST: La Rocca
TITLE: The Truth
LABEL: Dangerbird Records
GENRE: Indie
BITRATE: 226kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 46min total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-08-08
RIP DATE: 2006-07-30
Track List
----------
01. Sketches (20 Something Life) 3:38
02. If You Need The Morning 3:50
03. This Life 3:32
04. The Truth 4:32
05. Goodnight 4:48
06. Some You Give Away 4:55
07. Sing Song Sung 2:06
08. Eyes While Open 4:10
09. Cats 4:20
10. Non Believer 5:04
11. Capital Pill 5:49
Release Notes:
Bjorn Baillie, lead singer of La Rocca, says ôI want to be the best songwriter
of my generation.ö Judging by La RoccaÆs debut album, The Truth, due August 8,
2006, on Dangerbird Records, heÆs off to an excellent start. Further evidence:
the EP Sing Song Sung, released Feb. 14 on Dangerbird.
Bjorn, keyboardist/guitarist/singer Nick Haworth û okay, heÆs actually English
û bassist/singer Simon Baillie and drummer Alan Redmond duly progressed from
the stages of Cardiff to Dublin and then to London. Bjorn recalls: ôWe were
driving down to London and playing at these famous clubs. But we had this
tatty gear and weÆd be wearing God knows what. WeÆd look at the other bands,
who had all these cases and looked incredible, and think, æNow THAT is a proper
band.Æö
ôWeÆve never been part of any scene,ö he continues. ôWeÆve never had a style you
can describe with a catch phrase or a clearly defined look, just good songs that
we work hard to play well. But there are people who still remember the lyrics to
the songs we were playing back in Cardiff.ö One of those, ôThis Life,ö made it
onto The Truth, and it IS one catchy motherfucker. Daniel Lanois, who shares a
music publisher with La Rocca, remarked upon hearing it: ôThatÆs it! That song
is a gift. HereÆs whatÆs gonna happen: YouÆll release that song and spend three
years playing it around the globe. End of story.ö
Writing a single perfect pop song is more than most bands achieve in a lifetime.
But The Truth is bigger than that, larger-than-life. Note the headlong tumble of
ôSketches,ö the Supergrass-y gallop of ôSing Song Sung,ö the sweeping melodies
of ôCapital Pillö and ôGoodnightö and ôSome You Give Away,ö the Exile on Main
Street swagger of ôThe Truth.ö The power of these songs is in the writing, in La
RoccaÆs unerring ability to hit the pleasure center again and again.
It wasnÆt always so. Bjorn remembers the bandÆs inauspicious beginnings: ôNick
told me to come by if I had some songs because he had a band. Complete lie! They
were just some lads who got drunk and loved a sing-song. No shape or order at
all. So one night they played me a couple of songs, and they were fucking
dreadful. IÆd been writing since I was 15, first on piano and then on guitar, so
I played them a couple of mine, and Alan kept saying, æPlay us another.Æ So I
played six or seven songs and finally said, æLook, if weÆre doing this, letÆs do
it right.Æ So my brother Simon moved up from Bristol under very false pretenses
to play bass.ö
Bjorn has played in bands with Simon since they were teenagers. The two grew up
in Delgany, about 20 miles south of Dublin and a stoneÆs throw from the Irish
Sea. ôMy old man had CosmoÆs Factory [1970], by Credence Clearwater Revival,ö
Bjorn says of one of their earliest influences. ôWeÆd never heard anything like
it. We got all our friends into it. IÆm still in awe of that song æLong as I Can
See the Light.Æö
Once Simon joined La Rocca û named after ôa dank, downstairs bar in Bristol with
this massive hole you crawl through to get to the dance floorö û the band began
rehearsing regularly. Nick, from the Lancashire town of Burnley, was already an
adept pianist. Alan, from Rathcoole, west of Dublin, had been playing drums
since he was 15 and had what Bjorn calls ôa managerÆs head.ö ôHeÆs very savvy
about what needs to be done,ö Bjorn reiterates. ôHeÆs a genius hustler.ö
Though Bjorn concedes that La RoccaÆs reach occasionally exceeded their grasp û
ôthe songs were sometimes better than we wereö û their persistent gigging
throughout the U.K. earned them a significant following. In 2003 the
Limerick-based label Wet Clay released a four-song EP that garnered glowing
reviews and La Rocca their first airplay.
When it was time to record their full-length debut, the band made a list of their
dream producers, which included Tony Hoffer. Around this time, La Rocca was flown
out to meet with A&R executives in L.A.
ôWeÆd had label interest because of the EP and our success in Australiaö [where
the song ôSing Song Sungö had landed in heavy rotation], Bjorn relates. ôWe
talked to all these people, including TonyÆs manager, who also happens to co-own
a label called Dangerbird. Of all the labels, Dangerbird instantly felt right.
WeÆre big on instinct, and they spoke to us in a language we all understood û it
was about the music. We decided to sign with them in the end because the label
believes in our songwriting and understands our ambition completely. You canÆt
buy that kind of commitment.ö
So La Rocca said a tearful farewell to friends, family and the familiar and
headed off for the brave new world of Los Angeles, which, though fraught with
peril for these fish out of water, offered some perks. ôDublinÆs very real and
authentic and gritty, no bullshit about it at all,ö says Bjorn. ôItÆs quite nice
to come someplace thatÆs just a lot of bullshit û I quite like it.ö
The Truth was recorded in two months at HollywoodÆs Sound Factory. Bjorn says
that recording it was truly a defining moment for the band. ôYou never get a
second chance to make a first record, and I think the process of going from
there to here has made us feel like a proper band in a way we never had before.
This record captures us. In many ways, itÆs who we are.ö
So thatÆs why itÆs called The Truth, right? Not exactly. The title is more about
the song ôThe Truthö û that would be ôtruthö with a little ôtö û than any
grandiose notion of THE TRUTH, either BjornÆs own or that slippery thing mankind
has been wrestling since we crawled out of the primordial soup. ôThe truth?ö he
muses. ôI dunno what it is.ö To be sure, heÆs not one to spell out the deeper
meanings of La RoccaÆs songs, but he does reveal that ôThe Truthö is about a
journalist from a bygone era who ôlied through his teeth.ö Bjorn was a
journalism student at Cardiff University and says heÆs long been fascinated by
the history of the press, particularly its seamier side.
And though he may be disinclined to discuss the content of the songs, he talks
about writing them with great abandon. ôSongs can come to me as lighting
strikes, but I think you have to be prepared for the lightning to strike, and
you have to be dedicated to getting the inspiration onto the page,ö he insists.
ôIÆll be working on a song for hours, trying to find what Nick Cave calls æthe
split second where the right word in the right place can break someoneÆs
heart.Æ Sometimes itÆs 3:00 in the morning before I finally nail it, and the
thrill and relief at having done it and knowing itÆs good û thereÆs no feeling
like it.ö
Except, perhaps, the feeling of being onstage with his mates, rolling out that
united wave of attack. No need for Bjorn to comment further on that; itÆs all
right there in ôSketchesö: ÆCourse I wanted credit where itÆs due/ Feel so very
blessed to play with you/ We get over everything it seems/ Wide awake while all
around is dream.ö