“We wouldn’t be the band we are today without LA,” Rocket vocalist Alithea Tuttle told us earlier this year, in the days leading up to a wildfire benefit show. All of the members met while growing up in the city and made The Smell another home, attending countless all-ages shows. Music, however, wasn’t always the end goal. Prior to joining the band, Tuttle was moving toward a career as a professional dancer until a spinal injury in 2016, half a decade before their formation, obliterated those dreams. Her passion was restored when her boyfriend, Desi Scaglione, showed her some demos during the pandemic, recruiting Cooper Ladomade and Baron Rinzler to make the band official. Since then, they’ve toured internationally, signed to Transgressive (who reissued their 2023 Versions of You EP), and opened for their heroes the Smashing Pumpkins, all before releasing their debut album, R Is For Rocket, out tomorrow.
Though Rocket are rooted in the Siamese Dream sound, their influences stretch beyond that 1993 touchstone, evolving over the years to achieve a balance of shoegaze fuzz, grunge-y swirl, and power-pop melodies. Back in the summer, the rising four-piece opened up about the LPs that influenced R Is For Rocket while they split time recording at 64 Sound and Foo Fighters’ Studio 606. That includes XTC’s Skylarking, Juliana Hatfield’s Only Everything, and Supergrass’ In It for the Money. “It’s a very drum-heavy record,” Ladomade says of the latter. “It really inspired me when I was in the studio to try new fills and stuff I wasn’t comfortable with. ‘Richard III’ is one of the best songs of all time.”
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More than any sound or nostalgia, though, the band explain that R Is For Rocket is about “relationships, the most important part of life; relationships with your friends, your parents, your girlfriend or boyfriend, and most importantly your relationship with yourself.”
Later this month, Rocket will begin their headlining tour, which continues until late November and culminates with a hometown show at The Roxy in LA. In February, they pick up the run overseas, playing gigs throughout Europe. See the full tour routing here and their recent video for “Another Second Chance” below, where they dress up as Devo, KISS, the Beatles, and Blue Man Group.