Reinvention rarely arrives on schedule. For Los Angeles band Rocket, it emerged from an unexpected collision of circumstance and necessity – a dancer’s career-ending injury, a global pandemic, and a vintage mixing console discovered at a church garage sale.
Now, with the reissue of their debut EP’ Versions of You’ through Transgressive Records/Canvasback, Rocket stand at an intriguing intersection. Their music carries the weight of 90s alternative rock while remaining defiantly current, powered by a DIY ethos born not from aesthetic choice but pure pragmatism.
The band’s origin story begins with vocalist and bassist Alithea Tuttle, whose path to music came through an abrupt detour when a promising career in dance and rhythmic gymnastics ended at age 16 due to a severe spinal injury. The pandemic provided an unexpected window for reinvention as she began exploring music with her boyfriend and future bandmate, guitarist Desi Scaglione.
What emerged was a close-knit collective of longtime friends making music on their own terms. Alongside Tuttle and Scaglione, Baron Rinzler (guitar) and Cooper Ladomade (drums) completed a lineup bound by shared history and musical vision. For Ladomade, the journey to Rocket came through an unconventional route. “I started playing tuba in middle school as a requirement and then joined a jazz band on drums,” he recalls. “At the time, music honestly wasn’t a big part of my life. I continued playing drums in my high school jazz band but got kicked out because I couldn’t read music. I didn’t play again until we started Rocket four years later. Once I started drumming in Rocket, I knew I wanted to be a musician.”
The band’s sound evolved naturally from their collective musical obsessions, particularly during the enforced isolation of lockdown. “Our sound is pretty much all of our music tastes combined, which is pretty similar, to begin with,” Ladomade explains. “This band formed during the pandemic, so all we really had at that time was listening to music and sharing it with one another. We used to get together and just jam on some of our songs and ideas for as long as we could and just learn how to play together/off of each other. That really helped steer us in the direction of our sound.”
“I think we’re all inspired by what is around us,” Barron expands. “We listen to a lot of music and are constantly showing each other new music that we love. Inevitably, the music that we listen to trickles down into our songwriting process subconsciously. Every time we discover new music, it gives us permission to open a new door in that direction. It’s less about the music itself and more about the attitude behind it.
“In a way, it is a response to a previous generation of music in LA. There was this sentiment that being good as a band meant being bad at your instrument.”
“In a way, it is a response to a previous generation of music in LA”
This organic development process was matched by their approach to recording. Rather than waiting for industry support or traditional studio access, Rocket embraced necessity as innovation. They recorded their debut EP in a repurposed practice space using a 1970s Yamaha PM-1000 mixing console – a fortuitous find at a local church garage sale that came with its own history in 70s yacht rock.
Baron Rinzler frames their DIY approach as a matter of practical determination rather than aesthetic posturing: “The DIY approach was born out of necessity for us, not as an aesthetic choice. We wanted to make the best-sounding music we could with whatever resources we had at the time, and that meant doing it ourselves.”
This authenticity extends to their musical influences, which draw heavily from the alternative rock explosion of the 90s while refusing to be confined by mere nostalgia. Their sound reveals traces of My Bloody Valentine’s textural innovations, Fugazi’s raw energy, and The Smashing Pumpkins’ epic scope – all filtered through a contemporary lens. “We listen to a lot of 90s music, so it makes sense that it would rub off on us,” they consider.
“The DIY approach was born out of necessity for us, not as an aesthetic choice
The reissue of ‘Versions of You’ adds a significant new chapter to their story with the inclusion of ‘Take Your Aim’, a song that reaches back to the band’s earliest days while speaking directly to present tensions. As Tuttle explains: “‘Take Your Aim’ being our first piece of new music since our EP came out feels right. It was written at the same time as most of the songs on the EP and really reflects where we were as a band at the time. ‘Take Your Aim’ feels as pertinent as ever for us as a band. ‘Take Your Aim’ is the indignant response to feeling misunderstood or taken advantage of by someone but not being able to confront them about it. Feeling hurt by someone you used to feel so close to and knowing that they are okay with the situation having no resolve.”
The track’s evolution reveals Rocket’s meticulous attention to detail and broad range of influences. “[It] was one of the first songs we wrote and initially wanted to include it on the EP,” Cooper explains, “but didn’t have the right recording of it at the time. We re-recorded it three times and finally got to a place where we feel like we have the right version.”
Desi Scaglione details the writing process: “When we wrote ‘Take Your Aim’, we were setting out to write a song that was pretty short, sweet and to the point with a hooky counter melody on guitar. There’s a song by My Bloody Valentine called ‘Come In Alone’ that has a guitar tag played over a droney hypnotic chord change that I remember being very inspired by. The song ‘Shiny Happy People’ by REM also has an amazing guitar tag that is as good as any chorus melody you’ve ever heard, that song also had a general inspiration as well.”
“That being said, our song turned out to sound nothing like those references, but ended up more in an upbeat, heavy, guitar-driven way. We always liked the idea of having a song with very minimal chord changes with a climbing vocal melody in the verses, which we do a lot. I think we nailed that on this song.”
The recording process itself drew inspiration from unexpected sources, as Scaglione continues: “I remember when demoing this song out, I was very inspired by the recording process and techniques of My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Loveless’ album and reading about how they sampled real drums and reprogrammed them. After hearing about that, we recorded real samples of drums to use for demoing when we weren’t together, and we used that on this song.”
Their live performances have already earned them supporting slots with influential acts like Sunny Day Real Estate, Ride, Frank Black, and Silversun Pickups. These experiences have proven transformative, as the band notes that “touring with so many incredible bands [and] seeing them play every night was very inspiring.”
Looking ahead, Rocket emphasise that the reissue isn’t about drawing lines between past and future but about expanding their creative scope. As they put it: “There’s no line to be drawn; the EP is just a representation of everything we were listening to and feeling at the time, and the album does the same, but is more expansive. It veers into territory that we’ve always wanted to go but weren’t able to on the EP. It’s definitely different and takes on more inspirations, but still very much feels like Rocket.
As Rocket prepare to launch their next chapter (“We’re currently working on a new record which is coming out later this year”), they maintain that delicate balance between ambition and authenticity that marked their beginnings. The reissue of ‘Versions of You’, complete with ‘Take Your Aim’, serves as both document and declaration – a snapshot of where they’ve been and a hint at where they’re headed.
Rocket’s EP ‘Versions of You’ will be reissued on 18th April.
Leave a Reply