Rocky Votolato

2,614,440 plays (101,990 listeners)

singer-songwriter, indie, folk, acoustic, indie rock… see all

Rocky Votolato is an American musician. He was born in rural Texas in 1978, though was raised in the Pacific Northwest. When his former band Lying on Loot disbanded in 1996, Rocky Votolato, along with friends Rudy Gajadhar (drums) and Andrew Hartley (bass), started playing under the name Waxwing. Rocky’s younger brother Cody (The Blood Brothers) soon joined the band on second guitar, and the band recorded their debut 7” for Henry’s Finest Recordings. In 1999, Second Nature Recordings released their first full-length, entitled ‘For Madmen Only’. Blending straight-up rock with elements of post-hardcore, and Cody’s metal reminiscent guitaring, Waxwing soon established a strong local following. It was a feat built upon with their two succeeding albums ‘One For the Ride’ (2000) and ‘Nobody Can Take What Everybody Owns’ (2002).

In 1999, Rocky Votolato branched out from his work with Waxwing, having written a handful of songs which did not really fit in with their more aggressive, fast tempo syle. Along the way he has toured with the likes of Damien Jurado, Small Brown Bike, The Get Up Kids, The New Amsterdams, Owen and The Casket Lottery, members of the latter having provided assistance as backing musicians on occasion. His studio albums have also been littered with appearances from some of Seattle’s finest musicians (including players in the bands Red Stars Theory, Sharks Keep Moving, The Blood Brothers, Death Cab for Cutie, Pedro the Lion and Sub Pop solo artist Rosie Thomas). On the production side, Votolato has worked with Matt Bayles (Pearl Jam, Botch, Murder City Devils, Hayden), along with Chris Walla (of Death Cab for Cutie).

Suicide Medicine
Rocky Votolato
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Makers
Rocky Votolato
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Burning My Travels Clean
Rocky Votolato
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A Brief History
Rocky Votolato
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Top Tracks

1	Suicide Medicine full track	943
2	White Daisy Passing	873
3	I'll Catch You full track	518
4	The Light and the Sound full track	495
5	Makers full track	472
6	Alabaster full track	463
7	Tinfoil Hats full track	449
8	Portland Is Leaving	437
9	Tennessee Train Tracks full track	431
10	Montana full track	393
11	Every Red Cent full track	388
12	The City Is Calling full track	377
13	Automatic Rifle full track	362
14	She Was Only in It for the Rain	343
15	Secrets of a Salesman full track	336

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redredrobin wrote:
yesterday evening

oh lover, please dont let me feel that heartache.

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JoleneSummer wrote:
Thursday afternoon

I think I just discovered what Love sounds like.

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feeltheword wrote:
Wednesday evening

I love you.

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toni_soprano wrote:
last month

today! kreuzberg!

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enzymenoid wrote:
last month

dis guy blows

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Mayence-Bonce wrote:
last month

I don't understand why I like him that much more than most of the other singer-songwriters but I do.

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LeDork wrote:
last month

amazing! so looking forward to the dresden show!

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vivapersistence wrote:
last month

!!!

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bretunarmed wrote:
last month

Rocky is one of my favourite songwriters of all time so you should all listen up when I say, "Check out Ray LaMontagne right now! He has a brand new album coming out called 'Gossip In The Grain' " so do it!

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stefaniewithanf wrote:
last month

:)

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heyjohnnyfive wrote:
last month

Way late to the game, I know, but I finally bought Suicide Medicine this weekend. Excellence!

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itsaiddestroy wrote:
August 2008

i'm convinced suicide medicine is by far his best work.

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mllado wrote:
August 2008

Listen to Espaldamaceta, Roky's opening artist in Barcelona: www.last.fm/music/espaldamaceta

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katieisachump wrote:
August 2008

ahh, i'm in love. <3

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Waqcku wrote:
August 2008

a bit of a cunt.

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evertoneverton wrote:
August 2008

automatic rifle...

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jlueddeke wrote:
July 2008

i saw rocky last night (July 25 at the Troubadour) for the first time and it was incredible. he played one song (i think he may have said he wrote it while he was in waxwing) and i can't find it online anywhere. the lyrics to one part went something like this: "everything is right, everything is wrong...holding on to something we already know is gone" anyone know? thanks.

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submarine4 wrote:
July 2008

tonight was great.

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KyleLM wrote:
July 2008

Wow. This last tour was probably his best. Seriously. Last night was just too good. http://www.myspace.com/tracinglifelines

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arsonaddict wrote:
July 2008

Nice one. Burning.. is still my favourite.

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Recent Activity

gonesser, ilylt3 and amort42 added Rocky Votolato to their libraries. yesterday evening
njtro tagged Rocky Votolato with ‘folk rock’ and ‘singer-songwriter’. Friday evening
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keepdancing tagged Rocky Votolato with ‘singer/songwriter’. Friday evening
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xyliavxs tagged Rocky Votolato with ‘indie’. Thursday morning
danams1 and Phloprox added Rocky Votolato to their libraries. Thursday morning
what_went_wrong tagged Rocky Votolato with ‘indie folk’, ‘acoustic’ and ‘singer-songwriter’. Wednesday evening