This story appears in FLOOD 13: The Tenth Anniversary Issue. You can purchase this special 252-page print edition featuring Gorillaz, Magdalena Bay, Mac DeMarco, Lord Huron, Bootsy Collins, Wolf Alice, and much more here.
BACKSTORY: Alithea Tuttle, Desi Scaglione, Baron Rinzler, and Cooper Ladomade joined forces in 2021 and almost instantly became alt-rock fan favorites
FROM: Los Angeles, California
YOU MIGHT KNOW THEM FROM: Tours with Sunny Day Real Estate and Smashing Pumpkins, or their 2023 debut EP Versions of You
NOW: The band signed with Transgressive Records to release their debut LP, R Is for Rocket, in early October
Rocket very quickly went from being four young adults with dreams of making music together into one of the most exciting bands in alternative rock. They don’t really know how it happened, but over the past four years they leveled up from touring with friends and self-releasing 2023’s Versions of You EP to opening for Smashing Pumpkins and teaming up with Transgressive Records for their debut full-length, R Is for Rocket. The group formed in 2021, but within their first few years of existence have shown an inimitable ability to take the music of their youth and flip it into something fresh and urgent.
Though Versions of You was well received, leading to some significant touring spots and an eventual record deal with a premier indie label, the process of bringing R Is for Rocket into the world marked a whole new ballgame for the San Fernando Valley–based crew. “The fact that our music is getting into anybody’s hands is crazy,” says Alithea Tuttle, the band’s singer, keyboard player, and bassist. “It’s awesome that people will take the time to listen to it. When we put out our EP, we just uploaded it to Spotify. This is a very different process, which is really cool.”
Much of R Is for Rocket—which was tracked in eight days over the course of a year—bounces with the energy of the band’s live concert experience. There’s the pulsing, syncopated drum groove that opens “The Choice”; the searing guitar solo and massive drum fills that begin “One Million” before giving way to Tuttle’s enchanting voice; and the slow-burning melodies and organ swells of “Number One Fan,” which are backed by guitar textures that sound firmly in conversation with TV on the Radio, Radiohead, and even U2.
Capturing a certain raw energy was paramount for the band and guitarist Desi Scaglione, who also handled production, engineering, and mixing for the LP. The ideal formula was worked out in a live setting and then perfected in the studio. “We found ourselves having very little time to actually record and write because we were on the road so often,” explains guitarist and keyboard player Baron Rinzler. “It’s a great experience to get to road-test music over and over again before we even go into potentially recording anything. Things change over time because of that.”
Adds drummer Cooper Ladomade: “We’ve had so many opportunities to play our songs multiple times before they’ve come out. That was important, because I look back at the EP sometimes and I’m like, ‘Shit, I wish I did this differently.’ But for this record, we had a lot of opportunities to try new things while we were playing live. That really benefited us when we went into the studio.”
With a wave of interest following the group on the heels of Versions of You, there was some pressure to quickly follow the EP up with another release—anything to keep the momentum going, to keep eyes and ears on them. The band was well aware of the opportunity they were given, and how potentially squandering it due to inactivity could be painful; still, they managed to ignore the hype machine and concentrate on making exactly the album they wanted.
“The four of us made every decision on the album, without any outside influence. We made something we all really love, and that’s all that really matters.” — Alithea Tuttle
“Initially, we were just going to record another EP,” Tuttle explains. “In January of last year, we went into a studio and we recorded eight songs and then went back out on tour. We figured we’d finish them when we got back and release them.” By the time they got back, however, the band had written some new songs and wanted to re-work some of the cuts they had already recorded. “The only reason we re-recorded some of the songs was because we were on the road playing with Sunny Day Real Estate, and it was so inspiring to watch them play every night,” Tuttle adds. “It influenced the way that we played the songs each night.”
Between the way the band feels about the album they’ve put out into the world and how they continue to ascend on their own terms, their decision to further refine the record now seems like an obvious one. “We took so much time to do it, and it was a painstaking process,” Tuttle says. “The four of us made every decision on the album, without any outside influence. We made something we all really love, and that’s all that really matters.”
As Rocket reaches wider audiences and reckons with navigating an industry that can often be ruthless, they’ve continued to rely upon the core values on which the project was founded. “Getting to make music freely and not having an expectation of what it needs to sound like has always been the most important thing,” says Scaglione.
Indeed, the idea that the music comes first still propels the band. “Getting our music into people’s ears and getting to play awesome, huge shows is all we ever wanted,” Tuttle says. “Getting to spend the rest of our lives making music and not having to seek out other jobs, that’s all we hope for.”
So far, so good. FL
