December 2014 “Band of the Month” – HEYROCCO

Band of the Month

Our “Band of the Month” feature began in January 2012, featuring Savannah-based trio CUSSES in a short interview that gave readers a glimpse of what to expect from one of Georgia’s hardest working bands. We then landed an interview with Of Monsters and Men right before they broke and would then go on to include acts like Ponderosa, Cheap Girls, Swear and Shake, Jonny Fritz, Torres, The Districts, and more over the next two years. 

So as we move forward into 2015, our entire staff would like to extend thanks to the artists who have taken the time to speak with us and the readers who have been so dedicated to supporting the site.

photo courtesy of Heyrocco

photo courtesy of Heyrocco

 

Heyrocco is: Nathan, Taco, and Chris Cool

Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Website | Bandcamp | Youtube

There is a world not too far from our own that’s made of stone and sand. This is not where Heyrocco is from, but it sounds familiar. Imagine a place where the artists run wild and none of the traffic lights work the way they should; that’s more like it. Isn’t it odd the way people make love and war with one another? It’s not often that these moments can be held and high but over the last few moons, Heyrocco has found a way to make this possible. Thank us, thank them, even thank the universe, but we all know that love is responsible. Heyrocco will be touring for all of 2015.  – a mad-lib biography of Heyrocco by Rocco himself

What’s in a name? Everything.. nothing.. ? Regardless, what led three friends from Charleston, SC to start playing music as Heyrocco?

Nathan (all answers): I think band names don’t really matter but the name Heyrocco at this point has just become our thing I guess. There have been times when I was 100% sure that Heyrocco was no longer right and I felt committed to a few other names but when it came time to pull the trigger we just felt like Heyrocco was the most natural. It came from our last band, it was a joke that we could be a three piece and were gonna play latin-fusion music.

photo courtesy of Sarah Cresswel

photo courtesy of Sarah Cresswel

I bet you get this all the time and I’m sure you all are aware of the one important rule about nicknames, so I’m curious about the stories behind Taco and Cool…

Chris Cool has been Cool since birth. I first heard the name from my brother when we were all kids. Never expected to grow up close friends. Our first show we opened for his parents’ band The Cool. They just got a cruise ship house band gig (the two of them as 2 Cool) for the next six months. Really badass, we still write in their garage almost everyday we’re home. The legend of Chris Cool lives on.

Taco is like J Lo.

Heyrocco got started in Charleston, but the three of you relocated to Nashville earlier this year, correct? What prompted the move and how has life changed since?

Yes, we started in Charleston and we are currently here now. We always feel at home here. The whole Nashville move was based on a few reasons: one being we all lived at home with our folks and had been on the road so much after high school that we never really got to have on our place and be entirely on our own (not homeless for once). We also spent a few weeks there recording an album and fell in love with a lot of things about the city. We basically went there and wrote a lot of new songs that we could either record with Paul, our producer just down the street, or make some good eggs in the morning and demo them ourselves. Our neighbors were loud as hell too, the whole neighborhood was, so we could play pretty loud all the time.

What’s the story behind the recent success you all have had in the UK? Did you originally just decide as a band, “Let’s tour the UK” and you figured it out or did you put together the team that you have working for you now and things were a result of that?

The UK tour came from our recent signing with Vital Music Group a label based out of London. it’ s basically a group of guys that like our tunes and emailed us for over a year, finally came to see us in Nashville and the mojo started there. It feels like a family, we had an awesome place to stay while we were there. They put together the team and kept us very busy. We had a blast and will be heading back over sometime in 2015.

The band is wrapping up 2014 with a string of shows in Nashville and Athens, but is there anything set in stone for 2015 yet as far as touring or recording?

So much set in stone for 2015! We are doing a house party tour with our bros Concord America and Chief Scout, as well as basically taking our very modest advance and driving to California. Playing as many shows and shit on the way. Hopefully going up to Seattle while we are there before SXSW. I don’t know man, and we will finally be putting this record out. I think it’s going to be a good year for us and at the very least we will get to travel and play guitars every night….the dream, brother.

photo courtesy of Heyrocco

photo courtesy of Heyrocco

With Christmas right around the corner, has the holiday spirit taken over Casa de Rocco and what’s on everyone’s wish lists? Also, is that actually what you call the house you live in?

The only house we ever had we called Jeff Gordon and it was falling apart. We took a lot of pictures inside ( lots of wooden walls) but yes the holiday spirit has taken over our new set up at GB studios in Mt. Pleasant, SC and we have a special holiday recording we’re gonna share shortly. We’ve got some mixing to do.

Going back to an earlier question, now that you’re gone from Charleston, what do you notice when you return for shows that you may have not paid attention to when you all lived there? What would you like to see change about your hometown?

I have noticed that the parking police and the police police are off the got-dang chain and I’d love to see that shit relax but as far as the scene, it’s only getting better and better since we first started to going to shows but …..

I’ve been loving Elvis Depressedly and Susto, but who are some other home state acts we should be listening to?

I’m going to answer these together… South Carolina, and really Charleston specifically, has had some really good albums created inside of her. Most of our earliest influences like Slow Runner, The Working Title….those bands rock and most people don’t know about them. So yes, I dig Elvis D and Susto has kept their record in our van for months now. It’s a definite go to.. So is Astro Cowboy, from Wilmington, NC. Check them out too.

photo courtesy of Heyrocco

(minus Nathan) photo courtesy of Heyrocco

What have been the biggest challenges you all have faced as a band over the last year and what would you place as your biggest victory?

I think one of the biggest challenges we face almost every day is what to do with our downtime. For bands life is a fucking blast while you are touring. Every day is a party, you see friends, you get to play a show. And then we come home and we’ve spent so much time in the van and garage that we don’t have that much of a social life. It is hard to replace that high you get from being on stage and meeting fans. Which ties into the victory, which is by far having fans and people that connect to your music. I think our biggest victory was being in Scotland and seeing people in the crowd singing along to these songs we wrote. It’s such a cool feeling. I hope to never take it for granted and I hope even in years to come people still put on our music. We listen to dead bands more than anything really

What’s your advice to the people of the world on how to make 2015 the greatest year of their lives?

Dont’ expect to have the greatest year of your life. It’s like.. if you dread a family trip sometimes you surprisingly have a great time.

Heyrocco – “Mom Jeans”

[youtube id=0Uzc6fIHsW4]