Authenticity can’t be faked. Especially when you are from New York. That’s what you’ll find in one of the most electrifying new artists in rock, New York’s own Des Rocs.
Born on Long Island, Danny Rocco became Des Rocs in the clubs of NYC. He honed his craft, getting discovered to open for the Rolling Stones, carrying the torch for uncompromising originality like those that came from the region before him. Among them, The New York Dolls, Kiss, The Ramones, Beastie Boys, The Strokes, and now Des Rocs.
I became aware of Des in 2018 but really became a fan in 2019. That was when I saw an unknown guy handpicked by the Stones camp open for the mighty Rolling Stones in Philadelphia. He performed to a massive crowd and had confidence and swagger.
Des was signed to Sumerian Records in 2023. I did some radio promotion with him and his charisma was evident.
A brand new artist who broke down his most powerful songs to acoustic performances, Des had a crowd of contest winners enthralled with his storytelling and magnetic talent. He scored opening slots for The Cult, Muse, Badflower and had a top 10 rock track with “I Am The Lightning”.
Recently, Des ‘Rockified’ the Johnny Cash classic “Ring Of Fire for the “Nobody 2” Soundtrack.
I recently sat down with Des Rocs for my Carr Stereo Podcast to talk about his new song “This Land”. The track appears on the beloved game franchise – Borderlands 4. We discussed crafting his sound, tone, and overall approach to music in 2025.
A Conversation With Des Rocs
TC: Was there one person you emulated as Guitar Tone Master?
Des: You know. I was never good at emulating tones. It took a lot of technical knowledge of which I have almost none. For me it’s more like experimenting, trial and error. I have tons of weird pedals in drawers that people have given me over the years, and I twist knobs and find something that sounds really cool. For me it’s all gut. I go by what feels good in the moment and hate a lengthy tone trial process. That’s when someone is like “we are going to test all these pedals today and find the best tone and then we are going to record that”. I hate that. I’d prefer to just grab something, crank it, and it either feels good or it doesn’t and move on”.
TC: You are such a “Feel” artist. What’s your process when you record?
Des: I would say my process is deeply inconsistent and deeply personal. I get in the mindset where I have to get in the studio and do something, every single day and I might do that for a month. I might get nothing. But then I’ll get three better ideas in the shower that will end up being on the album and are better than anything I did that whole month.
TC- How did you get involved in Borderlands 4? The song is great, as is the production. Did you produce “This Land”?
Des: I did along with Dave Chicarelli who produced Morrisey, The White Stripes and The Strokes and my longtime friend Gerry Lange. Borderlands called when I was working on my album. It happened to be the perfect time and the perfect concept.
They told me exactly what they wanted, each element of the game they wanted to capture and I thought, ‘Are you kidding me’? This is exactly what I’m doing now. I sent them the origin of “This Land” and it was a match made in heaven.
TC: What’s the difference between Des Rocs as an artist now vs. your 2021 label debut?
Des: I’m just more confident now in what I am and who I am at what I want to say artistically. At first on “A Real Good Person” there was a lot of free flowing, stream of consciousness, Jack Kerouac musical energy going on, just saying whatever comes to my mind. That was really fresh and inspiring to me at the time. Now I feel more grown up musically and I know what I want to say. And I care a lot less about what other people think, what will go to radio, what will be a single, and the pressure of it. I’m way more stoic about it now. I might do a whole album that doesn’t have a single thing for radio or I might do a dozen radio songs. I just want to make music that will resonate with people’s lives.
Des Rocs promises a new album in early 2026. It’s complete, sequenced and ready to go. This one is going to blow us away.
Full video and audio of my interview with Des Rocs launches tomorrow. Just search ‘The Carr Stereo Podcast’ on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, iHeart or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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