Ocha La Rocha

By Michelle Gilzenrat
Photo by Dave Koenig

As front man Johnny Kerry (a.k.a. Johnny La Rocha) lounges with a glass of red wine in his newly relocated studio space, you can almost see the rolling California hills reflected in his dark sunglasses. For in about as much time as it took Kerry to grow out his full beard, Ocha La Rocha has existed, transformed, and thrived as a bi-coastal success story.

"I think there is a sort of semi-impermanence to Ocha La Rocha," reflects Kerry. "I don't think any of us really want to live anywhere. We want to live everywhere."

As it stands, the band spends about as much time in Atlanta as they do in Los Angeles, and that isn't changing any time soon. Kerry unveils a daunting stack of papers bound by five jumbo clips - all that's missing is his signature at the bottom, and the band will have a sweet publishing deal with Los Angeles-based Urband & Lazar. So if you've already bought Ocha Lives, then prepare to buy it again. There are big plans in the works for a new and improved re-issue later this year.

Utilizing their extensive network of connections within the industry, Urband & Lazar have invited Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Lou Reed, KISS) to work/re-work a couple of tracks with Ocha La Rocha in L.A. Other likely guest appearances include John Medeski, Bill Talbot, members of The Band and many more to be determined.

In the meantime, Ocha La Rocha is scoping out a crash pad in L.A. to serve as a home base for their first publishing company-backed tour this summer. Let's just say the band will be hard to miss. Urband & Lazar have financial backing from an innovative energy company that will be debuting its first line of biodiesel this year, and that fuel is going to be powering Ocha La Rocha's 40-foot, Google-sponsored-and-wrapped tour bus. No need to search for refueling stations along the way, either, as a massive tanker carrying biodiesel will be trailing behind.

"These guys want it to be a spectacle," Kerry explains. "Basically, the goal of the tour is to convince people that every major city should have at least one biodiesel pump."
Kerry goes on to speak eloquently and enthusiastically about biodiesel at length. It's obvious that he is just as excited about the tour's potential to promote alternative fuel as its potential to build exposure for the band.

That sense of environmental awareness and activism is certainly more closely associated with California dreamin' than country-fried rock, but Kerry is quick to point out where the crossover exists.

"The South is all about taking power away from the government and keeping it on a local, community level and being tight knit," he observes. "And if there is anything that is tight knit, it's being able to grow your own fuel."

The summer tour is just one example of how Ocha La Rocha exists both literally and figuratively between Southern honky tonk and Los Angeles psychedelia. Musically, that has been the intention all along.

About two years ago, Kerry dreamed up the idea of an album that blended the two-step country rhythms of Gram Parsons with the sun-drenched sounds of Spaceman 3. His initial search for band members came up empty, so he headed into the studio alone to work with like-minded producer and chief engineer Kris Sampson at Nickel and Dime Studios.

With each recording session starting around midnight, the duo had a new song complete by about four in the morning. The result was a four-song EP that featured the first Ocha La Rocha tunes.

Encouraged by the positive response to the EP, Kerry set out to assemble a band. The name came later and was inspired by friend Meshakai Wolf's dog, Ocha. Right around the time the band was coming together, Ocha, affectionately nicknamed Ocha La Rocha, was hit by a car. Thus, the band was named in memoriam.

While Ocha La Rocha's line-up has been just as impermanent as their hometown, the one member that has been there since the beginning is Ronney "Danger" Powell. Powell had previously gone on tour doing lights for Los Angeles band The Warlocks, so he already had a number of connections out in L.A. Powell's enthusiasm for West coast living greatly inspired Kerry, who was drawn to the communal nature of the scene.

"The music scene in L.A. is incestuous as hell and I love it," says Kerry. "Everyone supports each other. There are no ego trips, really, believe it or not. At least not in the circles we run...Everyone knows each other and everyone parties at each other's barbecues. It's like a humongous musical family, and that is something you don't get here."

Kerry had long grown tired of the "cliquey" nature of Atlanta's artistic community. Before heading west, he had actually started his own initiative to bring together artists across all mediums and genres. Using a bit of inheritance and money from his web design work, Kerry and Ocha-owner Wolf formed New Street Records. The multi-functional space serves as a thriving party venue, art gallery, recording studio, and the current label home for Ocha La Rocha's debut release, Ocha Lives.

Certainly any band would love to have its very own creative space and label support, but the realization of this project serves as an apt representation of Kerry's steadfast ambition and dedication. "We sort of willed it to happen," explains Kerry.

The same can be said for their fist big trip to Los Angeles. Over the summer of 2006, the band took off for the West Coast with pioneer-like determination. They arrived with no gigs booked, but by the end of the summer had secured impressive slots at venues like Spaceland and Safari Sam's.

The band also managed to make an impression on Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, perhaps the most popular band from that scene. So much so in fact, that B.R.M.C named Ocha La Rocha as one of their top ten favorite artists for 2006 in Filter magazine.

Despite the success of the trip, not everyone was willing to commit to a bi-coastal career, and by the time they returned to Atlanta they were ready for a major line-up overhaul.

Enter The Silver City Rustlers. After serendipitously crossing paths with Silver City singer Chad Larrimore ("the one with the ginormous beard," Kerry clarifies) in Atlanta, the duo began working on music together. With nearly identical voices, the two were able to blend heavy, full harmonics. It sounded like a match made in heaven, and it wasn't long before the other Silver City boys, Jonny Sanders (a.k.a. The Colonel) and Damon Moon, were recruited as well.

Variac front man J.T. Hall has been filling in on drums temporarily, but Kerry anticipates finding a permanent replacement in L.A. this summer. The goal is to nail down a permanent line-up that is ready for international touring. It's likely that by the end of the year Ocha La Rocha will be comprised of half Georgia boys and half L.A. musicians, further cementing their place as a trans-continental ensemble. We can only hope their success will be as equally widespread.

www.myspace.com/ochalarocha