Simon Baillie [La Rocca]

Irish band, La Rocca has been taking America by storm! Their beautiful melodies stand against intense, real, life changing lyrics that you can’t help being swept up in.

Their music has also provided a backdrop to some of the most memorable scenes from the television show “One Tree Hill”, which introduced this band to a whole new fan base. Now, we’re going to introduce you to them! Check out our interview with La Rocca bassist, Simon Baillie!

Simon: “Hi Courtney!”
FV: “Hi, Simon! How are you?”
Simon: “Not too bad, and yourself?”
FV: “I’m doing pretty good.”
Simon: “Good stuff.”

Can you tell me a little bit about La Rocca came together? You know, like the history of the band?
Sure. Well, we originally formed when it was the four of us. The three other guys… my brother Bijorn, Nick, and Allen were in college together in Cardiff, Wales and I was down in Bristol, which is a University down below, quite near them. Yeah, so we formed kind of as a college band in 2000 and then we started taking it pretty seriously, pretty quickly and we moved to Ireland where we played, and there was a small record label there where we released an EP. From there we were looking to get a producer to do our album, we wanted to see if Tony Hoffer would do it and through him we got in touch with Dangerbird Records, who we’re actually signed to, and who we’ve released these two albums with. They’re American-based, so we all wanted to come to America to play so we ended up moving over here to Los Angeles, which is where we are now.

Why the name La Rocca?
Yeah, lots of different versions, but probably most accurate one is that there’s a club in Bristol called “La Rocca” which we use to frequent which is a good ‘ol student bar. Basically no license and very cheap drinks and the had the most amazing neon sign I think I’ve ever seen outside the front door, so we thought “ah, well it’s as good as any other name.”

Let’s talk about your album, Ok Okay. But, first I want to focus on two songs in particular – “Roadway Hymn” and “Half Speed”. Can you tell us the story, the inspiration behind those tracks?
Sure. Well, my brother wrote them, so he probably knows exactly the interpretation, but I’ll tell it from my side of it anyways. “Roadway Hymn” is a song we’ve had for a little bit longer, Bjorn said a little bit longer. I think he wrote it just after The Truth, our first album. It’s kind of… we play it very similar to the way he wrote it and it’s a special song to me on the album because I think it’s the one that…when we recorded it, well we record most of the songs live and then put vocals on it afterwards. It seems it’s the opposite of what most people do, but this song we kind of just did late at night recording. The version you hear is actually what we did in one take and it caught a bit of magic in a late night session which is great. It’s nice we caught that on the record, so we’re really pleased with the way that one has come out. The inspiration behind it? I’m not really too sure. My brother would probably be the best one behind that one.

“Half Speed” is a song that was written last year, and Bjorn wrote it as well. It’s about relation…, I know a little bit more about this one, it’s about relationships when you meet someone and it just slows you down. You know? You kind of stop looking at everything else and you just focus on the relationship that you have, so instead of running around all over the place being a busy bee, you’re just focusing on the person that you’re into so everything else takes its time and time slows a little bit. With that one we just wanted a kind of nice groove and sort of an uplifting feel to it while telling the story of someone falling in love basically and it came out pretty nice. It has a nice little groove to it.

I love them both, but “Roadway Hymn” is so beautiful.
Thank you very much. Yeah, it’s just one of my favorites as well, ever since I heard it when Bjorn played it on acoustic. It just has a really nice vibe to it and I’m really glad we recorded it.

Those are two of the seven songs that have appeared on the television show “One Tree Hill”. They even named an episode after your song “Some You Give Away”! How has the response from “One Tree Hill” fans over the past two years been for you guys?
Unreal actually! Really, to be honest with you it’s been amazing. I mean, “One Tree Hill”, as everyone knows, has a habit of searching for new music and bringing new music to their listeners, they’re viewers. I think Mark [Schwahn] and Lindsay [Wolfington] finding our music was, first of all, it’s amazing exposure for a band starting out and I think the fans of “One Tree Hill” have really responded to our songs. “Non-Believer” has really gotten an amazing reaction, all of the songs actually. We’ve been very lucky that they’ve featured seven songs now, and every time we see the reaction. It’s nice because we toured there just recently in America and you know, you can see the reaction from fans of the show that have noticed the songs and bought the record. It’s infallible for a band really… the exposure, and for “One Tree Hill” fans to know their music as well. They know their music… they have good taste.

I loved Non-Believer! That was the perfect fit for that episode and for the soundtrack. Can you talk about that one; do you know the story behind it?
Sure. “Non-Believer” is more, I think it’s sort of a discovery of someone who… hm, Bijorn told me what it was about and now I sort of can’t remember. For me, it’s someone having a few doubts and trying to resolve them with himself or herself and eventually coming through it and realizing that “this is who I am”, you know, “just take me as I am” really. It was a song for the first album and we always felt good about that song. As the album goes, it kind of doesn’t really fit the album, it’s a very grand feeling, and I think it needed that. It was the only way it was going to be done actually. I think it fit it so well in that piece, like you said, in that scene… I think it was really good of the “One Tree Hill” guys to manage to fit the scene with music, which is intricate very well all the time actually, but that was especially for us because it was our song. It was good.

Every note fit the scene perfectly. I think it’s one of the most stand-out songs that have been featured on “One Tree Hill” to date.
Ah well thank you, that’s good. We certainly had a massive reaction to that song and it’s sort of, in a way, been our “calling card”… the way most people seemed to have gotten into the band. It was through “Non-Believer,” which is great.

The show has had many bands perform in episodes over the past six seasons, would you be open to appearing in an episode? Has that idea ever been approached to you?
It hasn’t been approached to us, but I mean we’ve got a very good relationship with the “One Tree Hill” people so we’d totally be up for it.

I hope to see you guys on there, that’d be awesome.
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Oh it’d been fun alright.

What musical artists, if any, would you say has a big influence on the sound of La Rocca?
For the sound of La Rocca, I would say people like Bruce Springsteen and U2. Being an Irish band you can’t get away from U2 in your own country which has been great for Irish music in general. I think they’ve definitely influenced. American bands like The Band, a 70’s band which we were really into and that kind of thing. We really believe in… there seems to be a lost art in lyrics and what the importance of lyrics are in songwriting. I’m glad it seems to be coming back now with artists who seem to be giving a little bit more promise to their lyrics. That’s something we’ve always believed in, songwriting is a craft that should be done well and I think that’s something we really strive for… important lyrics matched with good melodies and so that’s what we’re trying to achieve. For people who are trying to achieve that as well, or have achieved it, its people we respect and look up to. You know?

I’m so glad you said that, because I couldn’t agree with you more. I think songs have lost something in the lyrics in the past few years and it is coming back now, and I can see that in La Rocca.
Yeah, I mean that’s kind of what we’ve been about from the very start and we just have our own way of doing it. It’s nice when you get recognition for it and it’s nice that it’s been on the show and people are getting into it. I think songs mean more to people when they actually say something and have a story to them, and can relate in some way to other people with those experiences. I think that’s what songs are, they are for me. You take a song and it can fit your scenario, it means something to you, and I just love the idea that one of our songs is someone’s first date, kiss, or going out song. Just anything and it sort of gives them a bit of a smile or a pick-me-up or something like that, you know? I think that’s what’s important about music and uh, that’s what music is for me. It’s nice and I hope we’re doing the same thing for other people.

Back to Ok Okay… what’s behind the title, and why was it chosen for this record?
It was the only one we agreed on and it was probably the easiest. We had quite a few and with the last album we had a few names to decide but with this one, we only had two or three and since the other two were rude titles we decided that “Ok Okay” was the best one. I think it fits. We actually have a song called “Ok Okay”, which didn’t make the grade for the record unfortunately but we all sort of went, “what about ‘Ok Okay’ for the title”, and amazingly enough we all agreed right away.

How do you think your lyrics, or your sound has changed from your last album, “The Truth”?
With “The Truth”, being your first album, it’s very true when you say you’ve spent your whole life trying to make your first album and then you’ve got two years to write the second one. The first one was kind of a compilation of our music career up to that point, and so it was a little bit varied into the style which is what we always wanted. But with this one, because it had been a two year gap, we had to concentrate there with who we’ve become as musicians and finding our sound as we go along. We just sound more cohesive with this album in the style and the message we’re trying to get through. So, in that way it’s kind of moved on… we’re finding our sound and we’re trying to develop it. But, are we there yet? I don’t know if we’ll ever get there, but it’s certainly a much more cohesive album. I think the lyrics are as strong as ever from Bjorn and the melodies, and I think we’re just getting better as musicians. Hopefully that comes across, you know?

What’s in the future for La Rocca? A tour, maybe?
Yup, yup! We’ve just come off the back end of an acoustic tour that we did with Amy MacDonald, which was interesting just to play as the two of us and just to see how these new songs come out in the translation of acoustic and songs like “Non Believer.” Well, that was good but we’re dying to get out with a full band. Hopefully we’ll get out in November in the US and then with the new year, to play all over the place. You know, to be in every town we can possibly play in.

Hopefully there will be a stop in New York.
Oh yeah! Definitely! You can’t miss New York.

FOR MORE ON LA ROCCA CHECK OUT:
· Official Site
· MySpace

“OK OKAY”