“This Life”
from the album The Truth
2006
iTunes
Download an MP3 of “This Life” from Dangerbird Records
[right-click/save-as]
Dublin-based band La Rocca were fantasizing back home about producers to work with. At the top of their list was Tony Hoffer (Beck, Supergrass, the Thrills). When the band visited Los Angeles looking for a record deal they met with Hoffer’s manager, co-owner of Dangerbird Records.
“We’d had label interest because of our EP and our success in Australia [where the band’s song “Sing Song Sung” had landed in heavy rotation],” singer/guitarist Bjorn Baillie explains. “I think Dangerbird is amazingly cool and they have great bands, an organic feel, and an honest approach. And we still have a lot of control over what we do, which I think is so crucial for a band.”
The deal also meant that La Rocca, after relocating to Glendale, would work with Hoffer and the result is their full-length debut, The Truth, which you’d swear sounds like a long-lost rock gem from the ’70s because of its smart songwriting.
Not following any particular trend was crucial to La Rocca, as keyboardist Haworth notes, “If you’re trying to copy a style that’s big at the moment, you’ve already missed the boat. By the time you develop a year down the line, that’s gone and you’re being compared to acts that are two or three years old.”
For La Rocca it all comes down to the strength of their songs. That’s what got them noticed since they didn’t get signed on the strength of their live show, because they weren’t playing in L.A. clubs. So it’s not surprising when Baillie admits he wants to be the greatest songwriter of his generation and for La Rocca to become the best band in America. “We’re not there yet, but that’s only because a lot of people don’t know we’re the best band in America. We’re trying to do it region by region.”