November 20, 2025 • 16 mins
Dripping rock and roll by way of Long Island, Des Rocs and his guitar are here to stay. If you missed my last conversation with Des we get into his history, this time we're digging into his sound and to what his musical idenity is.
He has a new song called "This Land" which is the theme to the new Borderlands 4 Video Game, and that is launching a whole new album due out sometime next year.
He has a new song called "This Land" which is the theme to the new Borderlands 4 Video Game, and that is launching a whole new album due out sometime next year.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
My attention please.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
And no it cutters rock cast.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm good.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Check out the damps in the background.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
We got the orange, we got the Marshall, We got
all of our distorted bases covered.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Here absolutely, Dez. I appreciate you taking the time man
to do this truly.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Of course, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Of course, Man, I swear to God, every time I've
seen you, you look more and more rock and roll
every single time.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Look at you.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
For anybody listening right now, you can't see him, but
I will explain if you go watch the video. You can't.
Dez is wearing this, Uh is that lambskin? Is that
a lambskin leather jacket? I have no idea, to be
all right.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
I just grabbed these things that have been dig thrift
stores and stuff and just pop the one.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, there you go. I love it. You're you are
definitely the epitome of rock and roll. Man. It feels like.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
I'm like a Pokemon. I'm like evolving, you know, I
think I'm just becoming more. I'm almost at like rock
and roll charizard, and then after that, I don't know
what happens.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
That's because you want to fire exactly that's right. I
love that rock and roll chars are. That's that might
be the best thing I heard all day. Thank we're
going on the weekend. I love that.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Yeah, that reminds me of like, you know that band,
Mic Sabbath, like the Black Sabbath McDonald's band. I feel
like they should be like a version of that. But
they're all the pore Pokemon characters. You got bulbous bulbousar
like Squirtle Charsar, and they're all doing what's that?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
You gotta pick a band from the cover.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
If I now, I'm gonna think about that too hard.
Don't don't do that, and we think about that too hard.
I'm just suggested, if this band happens, I want to
That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
You're in You're We'll dress up, but no one will
know it's us. I'll be like, we'll bridge against the
Machine covers, all.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Right, rage against the Machine covers, per we just do
all Tomarello cover between the two of us. We can
cover the Tomarello sound. We'll figure it out. Dude, What
is going on in the Dead Rocks world right now?
Speaking of nerdy stuff, you have a song out called
this Land, which is the theme song for Borderlands four, which,
(01:54):
if in the gaming world, is probably one of the
biggest releases of the year.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah, it's awesome, man, it's been super exciting to have
that kind of platform to kick off a new album.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I'm really so stoked about.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
It, absolutely, So that song is a kickoff for a
new album.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Yeah, it's the very first song from a new record,
and there's a lot more coming out sooner. You know.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
It's all leading to a twenty twenty six album release.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Oh that's awesome, which sounds like a long time, but
then we realize we're at the end of twenty twenty
five and it's not And that's okay.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
It's crazy. It's like in me here in three months.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, I know, I know. It's wild. Your look might
be evolving. Your sound is though, too, but it's still
kind of holding true to that sort of ivy, snarly
rock and roll thing that has sort of become the
Des Rocks brand. Where do you take that after sort
of launching on the scene with this sort of fu
(02:45):
attitude in a sense, where do you take that now?
You know, with a new record coming Well.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
It's interesting, Like, you know, my sound I always kind
of describe it as like bedroom arena rock, you know
what I mean, Because I make the records in like
a very diy fashion, but the intent behind the music
is very grand in a.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Like an unshameful way.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
You know. I love big sounds, but I also love
making them in small places. And after that, or I
take it like I just think there are no rules,
you know what I mean, Like I rather swing and
miss big then play it safe or give people what
I think they might want, you know what I mean.
But I'm making the music, especially records after this it's
(03:28):
really just like a free flowing expression and what comes
out comes out, and the only rules is that it
has to be from me, and that's it.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
That's that's a good rule to have because I guess right,
if that's the rule, then it's always, no matter what,
unapologetically yourself. And really isn't that the essence of rock
and roll.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
One hundred percent?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Man? I mean, there's so many bands today that they
all use the same exact writers and co writers and producers,
and you can hear it. You can hear that loss
of self and identity, and it's really upsetting to me.
So I'm just always trying to like fight the good fight.
And you know, I self produced a lot of these
records are bringing some trust to collaborators, but not that
guy who's on every record you hear.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
You know, It's it's.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Way more like an oddball choice. I'm getting somebody with
a least expect for the collabs.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
You know, like you give me an example if you
don't mind.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Man, Well, my first record, dream Machine, I worked with
Matt Wallace, who engineered all the Faith No More records,
and he had this incredible sound to it, and he
also worked on like Maroon five and uh it was
a complete one eighty from the Faith No More stuff.
(04:39):
And then on this latest record, I worked with Joe Chiccarelli,
who does a lot of the Morrissey records, you know,
and the Strokes records. And it's really not what you
would expect sonically out of either of us. But I
love that because we each kind of come to the
table with a unique set of skills and then we're
forced to think outside the box and apply those skills
to something different. Instead, I'm just saying I'm gonna pull
(05:01):
up the same guitar sound that's an orange jamp, that's
a Marshall stack, this, this preset, this preset, you.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
And it's like, I like having a certain sense of
not knowing what you're doing and not knowing what you're
gonna get in the creative process.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
For the record, I love my orange head and my
Marshall stack. So just you know, you.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Throwing shay, that's the great I use that all over
this land. So it's no, no, you're thrown.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
You're like the third person in a row who's brought
that up. And I didn't put it there to be like, hey,
look at my look at my half stack. You know.
I put it there because that's where it fits my
little ass corner of the basement that I do this
in so I can go over here and grab a
and grab a guitar and if you can see that
on camera, but and grab a guitar and go all right,
I can crank this up for a little bit. So thanks.
(05:47):
What kind of gear like obviously we'll joke around with
the orange and the Marshall, but like, what kind of
gear like how that you do have? Well, it's ever evolving.
You do sort of have a specific guitar tone. What
do you how do you do it. What do you getting?
Like what what? I don't know what little earworm got
you there?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yeah, So I use a lot of I use a
lot of di I fuzz and distortion, so like kind
of here's my I didn't mean for this to be
a studio tour, but here's like my, like one of
my little pedal racks here, and I have these all
over the place. They're just like different combinations and things.
And then I use a lot of big muff, like
big muff, big mug, big muff, straight in like that,
(06:27):
and I like it going right in, no amps, no nothing.
I go and bone dry and I'm clipping the entire time.
Like the audio looks like a big fat blob like this.
And I always say, if it ain't read, it ain't right,
you know what I mean, So like you can't you
can't even edit the audio because it's so it's so
gnarly and so messed up. Quick sign note. You know
(06:48):
how many times I've like walked over to one of
those Marshall amps and tried to open it up and
thought it was one of those Marshall refrigerators. Have you
seen those? Have you ever seen the little Marshall fridges?
And I see in the green, I go, oh, wow,
that's a fridge. I go to.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I go, no, it's an app and I can play there.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Yeah, I know. You know they're the same because this
is the two twelve, so it's the same size, same size,
you know how bad I want to get one just
to mess with my wife and just feel like that's
where I keep my uh you know, I don't drink
a lot these days, but that's where i'll keep my
break glass in case of emergency beverage. You know.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Yeah. I love that you can hide, so you could
just replace them one day and you can just get
hide and everyone.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Never know never, I'll just keep it up my drummer's house,
so it'll be fine. No, thank you for the studio
tour though, because it's interesting to me. And I don't
know how you know how many people listening to this
particular show nerd out about guitar stuff like I will,
But to hear how different players get their sounds is
always interesting to me. And if it ain't read and
(07:47):
ain't you're going in so you're taking people. I think
they're used to that, right. You see the Marshall stacks
on stage, but in this day and age. We don't
necessarily need to do that. Even that orange app has
a di out of it, so you're going right into
a system where you're going this is the sound I like.
I'm not distorting this with another amp at all. It's
(08:09):
just it's all right here and let's get that sound.
And that's what I'm cranking up.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
I like it because it's so forward and front, and
it's almost like it's going to reach out of the
speakers and grab you because there's so little oh echo,
sorry today, there's so little in between me and the sound,
so it almost ends up being hyperpersonal. But in a
studio setting, I love to lend it with real amps
(08:35):
and live amps and just kind of provide a little air,
a little bit more soul to it.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Okay, you did it in the studio, not live.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Oh live, I do both.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
I run a di out and it's blended with my
live amp as well, so it achieves the same effect
that I have in the studio.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Yeah, so there's one right out of my pedal board. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
The live band. The last time I saw you were
a three piece. Is that still the still what you're doing?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah? We're still three piece live?
Speaker 3 (09:01):
I mean I would love to expand it one day
and put together a kind of crazy new version of
the show.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
But yeah, the whole heart and soul of Des Rocks,
the three piece.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Which is which crazy. This is why this is crazy.
You're talking about how you're doing your sound. Now I
want you to hear what Des Rocks just said, and
now go listen to a des Rock song because there
is so much that's my cat Hello Azuel. Anyway, you're
there's such a huge sound happening, and that's why I asked,
(09:30):
is you know, because to recreate that live? So now
I know you're blending these two things because it sounds
like there's four guitar players on stage.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Yeah, we're like the most stripped down and technically advanced
band ever, Like we have so much going on on
stage all right, Like we have so much going on
on stage sonically where you know, like it is very
stripped down at moments, but my guitar is triggering so
many more things. Signal is split so many different ways
(10:02):
where live it sounds enormous.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
It really does.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
And I'll even have like a guitar that's just a
quarter like a millisecond delay ahead or behind something else.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
And it almost sounds like there's two guitar players.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
That's I don't that's pretty genius. Actually, thanks, No, you're welcome.
You're getting a red because I mean you've opened some
big shows man, with that sort of thing. I mean,
last time we talked to you just done the Rolling
Stone gig. It was like, you know, or maybe that
was two times, either way, whatever, It's like you've opened
some some gigantic and played on some huge stages. To
(10:38):
be able to pull that off and and make that
sound that way is really kind of mind boggling.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Thanks man.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Well, I mean that's really the intent of the music
is like big music and the escapism of rock and roll.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Like that's the lot that's.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Say at the beginning of this arena rock for bedroom
arena rock.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Bedroom Marina rock. I also call it.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I refer to myself as a working class rocks are
sometimes like it's just like I don't know, it's like
very much like on stage it's so big and so
larger than life, and then off stage it's like very
much we're like very much like every guy's you know,
like we're just like salt of the earth New Yorkers
and there's this kind of like duality in that and
(11:18):
the performance and the off stage thing, which also is
just very symbolic of the As Rocks as a whole.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So new record coming in twenty twenty six, This Land,
which is the song on the Borderlands for video game
and obviously being cranked up in other places now, is
going to be on that album. What else can we
sort of expect when it gets put out and I'm
going to just put it out in the universe and
say early twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Well, yeah, I mean, what else to expect? There's a
lot coming. There's going to be a whole lot of
touring and shows and nown soon. We recorded the whole
album live as a rock band, as a three piece,
which was really no tricks, no copy and pasting, no nothing,
you know, no editing, just raw and I really show.
So the album is going to be extraordinarily intense and
(12:04):
sonically really beautiful.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
That's that's amazing. Now do you if you're recording that
way or you Dave Grole obviously made it such a
thing about you know, using tape and all that, and
that's how people kind of became aware of how things
get recorded. What do you do is there a specific
thing you like doing. Do you like to go to
the digital you know, pro tools aspect or or or
go kind of that old school analog route, because the
(12:27):
way you make everything sound, it's like there's such a
I don't know, historic look to that.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Almost thanks, I mean it is digital. We're definitely not
recording a tape. You got to be pretty rich and
Dave groll well status.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
To record to tape these days.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
And it's so funny because like tape has becomes I
feel like, so classist when you have like older rock
stars preaching the benefits of tape, and it's like, okay,
sure you want to give me a budget. I'd love
to work on tape, you know, but like it's extremely
expensive to get somebody to engineer it, to buy the tape,
to do all those things, and to just walk out
a proper studio for a.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Significant amount of time. But I lost the original question.
Sorry what you say?
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Oh no, just you know you answered it. You answered
it because you're okay, you know you guys are kind
of are still you. And again the dichotomy of this
sort of old school mentality of loud. You know, if
it ain't read all that, but also in that new
school technology way.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Oh one hundred percent. You know, I'm all about like
trying to imagine the best of both worlds. Like I
love to stand on the shoulders of giants, I really do,
and take inspiration from the past, but to really make
it my own. Otherwise, like what's the point, Like I'm
not going to recreate like Zeppelin. I'm not going to
out a C D C AC DC. So you got
to just do you and like my influences are my influences,
Like that's baked in that, that's who I am, that's
(13:47):
my DNA, and then you got to just do your
own thing with it. Make something that's artistically significant to
you and the larger body of rock and roll as
a whole. And that's going to come from just like
taking big swings to the production and getting weird and
and trying to make something unique.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
I feel like it's been damn near a decade, not quite,
but damn near a decade since we first heard the
des Rocks name. It's been a minute. And you know,
you talked about earlier about being sort of the working
class rock star. Reflect on that for a second and
the fact that you're still out there grinding the way
that you're grinding and how you're doing it. Yet there
(14:25):
seems to be something to show for it, which is
obviously great music and big tours.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Hiks.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
I mean, one of my very very first shows ever
played to nobody in a bar and right when we
finished the show, it's a long way to the top
if you want to rock and roll. That lyric came
through on ac DC and that's stuck with me ever since,
because like what we do is not easy. It is
always a struggle. If you say I'm just a fucking
(14:51):
I'm sorry. I don't know if I can curse him this.
I'm just a guy from Long Island and I want
to just play arenas. And I don't know a single
person the music industry or anything. I'm just with a
bunch of guys who live in the shadow of New
York City. We don't know nothing, We don't know anyone,
and it is a long way to the top if
you want a rock and roll you know, like nobody
(15:12):
in Metallica is my dad, you know what I mean.
And it's a struggle, but like you know that that's
what makes it so worthwhile, knowing that it's effervescent. It
could be gone at any moment. That's why every second
on stage we play it like it's our last show ever,
every single show. You know, it's so precious to us
(15:33):
because we know what it's like to lose it. We
know we can lose it at any second, and we're
just so grateful to be there. We really are, like,
we are just so happy that we're like free bosos
from New York who actually get to do this. And
then we've just it all pours out on stage, like
a lifetime of playing to nobody, a lifetime of driving
(15:53):
all night in a van and not sleeping for three days,
you know what I mean, A lifetime of that. It
pours out and I wear it as as a badge
of honor.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I really do, and I always will.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
That's amazing. Dees Rocks. This land is out now. Go
check at the video too. It's badass. And yeah, new
album next year, no more touring. I wish we had
something specific we could say, but that's okay, not yet.
We will Stone absolutely des Rocks. Thank you so much
for this, man. I truly appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Thanks so man. I appreciate its rock cast. Don't forget
to tune in exactly
My attention please.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
And no it cutters rock cast.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm good.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Check out the damps in the background.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
We got the orange, we got the Marshall, We got
all of our distorted bases covered.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Here absolutely, Dez. I appreciate you taking the time man
to do this truly.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Of course, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Of course, Man, I swear to God, every time I've
seen you, you look more and more rock and roll
every single time.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Look at you.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
For anybody listening right now, you can't see him, but
I will explain if you go watch the video. You can't.
Dez is wearing this, Uh is that lambskin? Is that
a lambskin leather jacket? I have no idea, to be
all right.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
I just grabbed these things that have been dig thrift
stores and stuff and just pop the one.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, there you go. I love it. You're you are
definitely the epitome of rock and roll. Man. It feels like.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
I'm like a Pokemon. I'm like evolving, you know, I
think I'm just becoming more. I'm almost at like rock
and roll charizard, and then after that, I don't know
what happens.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
That's because you want to fire exactly that's right. I
love that rock and roll chars are. That's that might
be the best thing I heard all day. Thank we're
going on the weekend. I love that.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Yeah, that reminds me of like, you know that band,
Mic Sabbath, like the Black Sabbath McDonald's band. I feel
like they should be like a version of that. But
they're all the pore Pokemon characters. You got bulbous bulbousar
like Squirtle Charsar, and they're all doing what's that?
Speaker 1 (01:15):
You gotta pick a band from the cover.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
If I now, I'm gonna think about that too hard.
Don't don't do that, and we think about that too hard.
I'm just suggested, if this band happens, I want to
That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
You're in You're We'll dress up, but no one will
know it's us. I'll be like, we'll bridge against the
Machine covers, all.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Right, rage against the Machine covers, per we just do
all Tomarello cover between the two of us. We can
cover the Tomarello sound. We'll figure it out. Dude, What
is going on in the Dead Rocks world right now?
Speaking of nerdy stuff, you have a song out called
this Land, which is the theme song for Borderlands four, which,
(01:54):
if in the gaming world, is probably one of the
biggest releases of the year.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Yeah, it's awesome, man, it's been super exciting to have
that kind of platform to kick off a new album.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I'm really so stoked about.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
It, absolutely, So that song is a kickoff for a
new album.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Yeah, it's the very first song from a new record,
and there's a lot more coming out sooner. You know.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
It's all leading to a twenty twenty six album release.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Oh that's awesome, which sounds like a long time, but
then we realize we're at the end of twenty twenty
five and it's not And that's okay.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
It's crazy. It's like in me here in three months.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, I know, I know. It's wild. Your look might
be evolving. Your sound is though, too, but it's still
kind of holding true to that sort of ivy, snarly
rock and roll thing that has sort of become the
Des Rocks brand. Where do you take that after sort
of launching on the scene with this sort of fu
(02:45):
attitude in a sense, where do you take that now?
You know, with a new record coming Well.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
It's interesting, Like, you know, my sound I always kind
of describe it as like bedroom arena rock, you know
what I mean, Because I make the records in like
a very diy fashion, but the intent behind the music
is very grand in a.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Like an unshameful way.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
You know. I love big sounds, but I also love
making them in small places. And after that, or I
take it like I just think there are no rules,
you know what I mean, Like I rather swing and
miss big then play it safe or give people what
I think they might want, you know what I mean.
But I'm making the music, especially records after this it's
(03:28):
really just like a free flowing expression and what comes
out comes out, and the only rules is that it
has to be from me, and that's it.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
That's that's a good rule to have because I guess right,
if that's the rule, then it's always, no matter what,
unapologetically yourself. And really isn't that the essence of rock
and roll.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
One hundred percent?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Man? I mean, there's so many bands today that they
all use the same exact writers and co writers and producers,
and you can hear it. You can hear that loss
of self and identity, and it's really upsetting to me.
So I'm just always trying to like fight the good fight.
And you know, I self produced a lot of these
records are bringing some trust to collaborators, but not that
guy who's on every record you hear.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
You know, It's it's.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Way more like an oddball choice. I'm getting somebody with
a least expect for the collabs.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
You know, like you give me an example if you
don't mind.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Man, Well, my first record, dream Machine, I worked with
Matt Wallace, who engineered all the Faith No More records,
and he had this incredible sound to it, and he
also worked on like Maroon five and uh it was
a complete one eighty from the Faith No More stuff.
(04:39):
And then on this latest record, I worked with Joe Chiccarelli,
who does a lot of the Morrissey records, you know,
and the Strokes records. And it's really not what you
would expect sonically out of either of us. But I
love that because we each kind of come to the
table with a unique set of skills and then we're
forced to think outside the box and apply those skills
to something different. Instead, I'm just saying I'm gonna pull
(05:01):
up the same guitar sound that's an orange jamp, that's
a Marshall stack, this, this preset, this preset, you.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Know what I mean.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
And it's like, I like having a certain sense of
not knowing what you're doing and not knowing what you're
gonna get in the creative process.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
For the record, I love my orange head and my
Marshall stack. So just you know, you.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Throwing shay, that's the great I use that all over
this land. So it's no, no, you're thrown.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
You're like the third person in a row who's brought
that up. And I didn't put it there to be like, hey,
look at my look at my half stack. You know.
I put it there because that's where it fits my
little ass corner of the basement that I do this
in so I can go over here and grab a
and grab a guitar and if you can see that
on camera, but and grab a guitar and go all right,
I can crank this up for a little bit. So thanks.
(05:47):
What kind of gear like obviously we'll joke around with
the orange and the Marshall, but like, what kind of
gear like how that you do have? Well, it's ever evolving.
You do sort of have a specific guitar tone. What
do you how do you do it. What do you getting?
Like what what? I don't know what little earworm got
you there?
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Yeah, So I use a lot of I use a
lot of di I fuzz and distortion, so like kind
of here's my I didn't mean for this to be
a studio tour, but here's like my, like one of
my little pedal racks here, and I have these all
over the place. They're just like different combinations and things.
And then I use a lot of big muff, like
big muff, big mug, big muff, straight in like that,
(06:27):
and I like it going right in, no amps, no nothing.
I go and bone dry and I'm clipping the entire time.
Like the audio looks like a big fat blob like this.
And I always say, if it ain't read, it ain't right,
you know what I mean, So like you can't you
can't even edit the audio because it's so it's so
gnarly and so messed up. Quick sign note. You know
(06:48):
how many times I've like walked over to one of
those Marshall amps and tried to open it up and
thought it was one of those Marshall refrigerators. Have you
seen those? Have you ever seen the little Marshall fridges?
And I see in the green, I go, oh, wow,
that's a fridge. I go to.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
I go, no, it's an app and I can play there.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Yeah, I know. You know they're the same because this
is the two twelve, so it's the same size, same size,
you know how bad I want to get one just
to mess with my wife and just feel like that's
where I keep my uh you know, I don't drink
a lot these days, but that's where i'll keep my
break glass in case of emergency beverage. You know.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Yeah. I love that you can hide, so you could
just replace them one day and you can just get
hide and everyone.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Never know never, I'll just keep it up my drummer's house,
so it'll be fine. No, thank you for the studio
tour though, because it's interesting to me. And I don't
know how you know how many people listening to this
particular show nerd out about guitar stuff like I will,
But to hear how different players get their sounds is
always interesting to me. And if it ain't read and
(07:47):
ain't you're going in so you're taking people. I think
they're used to that, right. You see the Marshall stacks
on stage, but in this day and age. We don't
necessarily need to do that. Even that orange app has
a di out of it, so you're going right into
a system where you're going this is the sound I like.
I'm not distorting this with another amp at all. It's
(08:09):
just it's all right here and let's get that sound.
And that's what I'm cranking up.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
I like it because it's so forward and front, and
it's almost like it's going to reach out of the
speakers and grab you because there's so little oh echo,
sorry today, there's so little in between me and the sound,
so it almost ends up being hyperpersonal. But in a
studio setting, I love to lend it with real amps
(08:35):
and live amps and just kind of provide a little air,
a little bit more soul to it.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Okay, you did it in the studio, not live.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Oh live, I do both.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
I run a di out and it's blended with my
live amp as well, so it achieves the same effect
that I have in the studio.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Yeah, so there's one right out of my pedal board. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
The live band. The last time I saw you were
a three piece. Is that still the still what you're doing?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah? We're still three piece live?
Speaker 3 (09:01):
I mean I would love to expand it one day
and put together a kind of crazy new version of
the show.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
But yeah, the whole heart and soul of Des Rocks,
the three piece.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Which is which crazy. This is why this is crazy.
You're talking about how you're doing your sound. Now I
want you to hear what Des Rocks just said, and
now go listen to a des Rock song because there
is so much that's my cat Hello Azuel. Anyway, you're
there's such a huge sound happening, and that's why I asked,
(09:30):
is you know, because to recreate that live? So now
I know you're blending these two things because it sounds
like there's four guitar players on stage.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Yeah, we're like the most stripped down and technically advanced
band ever, Like we have so much going on on
stage all right, Like we have so much going on
on stage sonically where you know, like it is very
stripped down at moments, but my guitar is triggering so
many more things. Signal is split so many different ways
(10:02):
where live it sounds enormous.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
It really does.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
And I'll even have like a guitar that's just a
quarter like a millisecond delay ahead or behind something else.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
And it almost sounds like there's two guitar players.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
That's I don't that's pretty genius. Actually, thanks, No, you're welcome.
You're getting a red because I mean you've opened some
big shows man, with that sort of thing. I mean,
last time we talked to you just done the Rolling
Stone gig. It was like, you know, or maybe that
was two times, either way, whatever, It's like you've opened
some some gigantic and played on some huge stages. To
(10:38):
be able to pull that off and and make that
sound that way is really kind of mind boggling.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Thanks man.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Well, I mean that's really the intent of the music
is like big music and the escapism of rock and roll.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Like that's the lot that's.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Say at the beginning of this arena rock for bedroom
arena rock.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Bedroom Marina rock. I also call it.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
I refer to myself as a working class rocks are
sometimes like it's just like I don't know, it's like
very much like on stage it's so big and so
larger than life, and then off stage it's like very
much we're like very much like every guy's you know,
like we're just like salt of the earth New Yorkers
and there's this kind of like duality in that and
(11:18):
the performance and the off stage thing, which also is
just very symbolic of the As Rocks as a whole.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So new record coming in twenty twenty six, This Land,
which is the song on the Borderlands for video game
and obviously being cranked up in other places now, is
going to be on that album. What else can we
sort of expect when it gets put out and I'm
going to just put it out in the universe and
say early twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
Well, yeah, I mean, what else to expect? There's a
lot coming. There's going to be a whole lot of
touring and shows and nown soon. We recorded the whole
album live as a rock band, as a three piece,
which was really no tricks, no copy and pasting, no nothing,
you know, no editing, just raw and I really show.
So the album is going to be extraordinarily intense and
(12:04):
sonically really beautiful.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
That's that's amazing. Now do you if you're recording that
way or you Dave Grole obviously made it such a
thing about you know, using tape and all that, and
that's how people kind of became aware of how things
get recorded. What do you do is there a specific
thing you like doing. Do you like to go to
the digital you know, pro tools aspect or or or
go kind of that old school analog route, because the
(12:27):
way you make everything sound, it's like there's such a
I don't know, historic look to that.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Almost thanks, I mean it is digital. We're definitely not
recording a tape. You got to be pretty rich and
Dave groll well status.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
To record to tape these days.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
And it's so funny because like tape has becomes I
feel like, so classist when you have like older rock
stars preaching the benefits of tape, and it's like, okay,
sure you want to give me a budget. I'd love
to work on tape, you know, but like it's extremely
expensive to get somebody to engineer it, to buy the tape,
to do all those things, and to just walk out
a proper studio for a.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Significant amount of time. But I lost the original question.
Sorry what you say?
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Oh no, just you know you answered it. You answered
it because you're okay, you know you guys are kind
of are still you. And again the dichotomy of this
sort of old school mentality of loud. You know, if
it ain't read all that, but also in that new
school technology way.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Oh one hundred percent. You know, I'm all about like
trying to imagine the best of both worlds. Like I
love to stand on the shoulders of giants, I really do,
and take inspiration from the past, but to really make
it my own. Otherwise, like what's the point, Like I'm
not going to recreate like Zeppelin. I'm not going to
out a C D C AC DC. So you got
to just do you and like my influences are my influences,
Like that's baked in that, that's who I am, that's
(13:47):
my DNA, and then you got to just do your
own thing with it. Make something that's artistically significant to
you and the larger body of rock and roll as
a whole. And that's going to come from just like
taking big swings to the production and getting weird and
and trying to make something unique.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
I feel like it's been damn near a decade, not quite,
but damn near a decade since we first heard the
des Rocks name. It's been a minute. And you know,
you talked about earlier about being sort of the working
class rock star. Reflect on that for a second and
the fact that you're still out there grinding the way
that you're grinding and how you're doing it. Yet there
(14:25):
seems to be something to show for it, which is
obviously great music and big tours.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Hiks.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
I mean, one of my very very first shows ever
played to nobody in a bar and right when we
finished the show, it's a long way to the top
if you want to rock and roll. That lyric came
through on ac DC and that's stuck with me ever since,
because like what we do is not easy. It is
always a struggle. If you say I'm just a fucking
(14:51):
I'm sorry. I don't know if I can curse him this.
I'm just a guy from Long Island and I want
to just play arenas. And I don't know a single
person the music industry or anything. I'm just with a
bunch of guys who live in the shadow of New
York City. We don't know nothing, We don't know anyone,
and it is a long way to the top if
you want a rock and roll you know, like nobody
(15:12):
in Metallica is my dad, you know what I mean.
And it's a struggle, but like you know that that's
what makes it so worthwhile, knowing that it's effervescent. It
could be gone at any moment. That's why every second
on stage we play it like it's our last show ever,
every single show. You know, it's so precious to us
(15:33):
because we know what it's like to lose it. We
know we can lose it at any second, and we're
just so grateful to be there. We really are, like,
we are just so happy that we're like free bosos
from New York who actually get to do this. And
then we've just it all pours out on stage, like
a lifetime of playing to nobody, a lifetime of driving
(15:53):
all night in a van and not sleeping for three days,
you know what I mean, A lifetime of that. It
pours out and I wear it as as a badge
of honor.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
I really do, and I always will.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
That's amazing. Dees Rocks. This land is out now. Go
check at the video too. It's badass. And yeah, new
album next year, no more touring. I wish we had
something specific we could say, but that's okay, not yet.
We will Stone absolutely des Rocks. Thank you so much
for this, man. I truly appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Thanks so man. I appreciate its rock cast. Don't forget
to tune in exactly
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