Rocky Votolato: The Making of An American Classic
By Veronica Young
Photos by Bryan Sheffield

The story of Rocky Votolato starts off like an American classic, long ago and far away, in a small town in Texas whose name is as forgetful as a summer breeze. It continues to play out like a graphic novel, following his journey to the Pacific Northwest and the slow metamorphosis of his raw punk/rock sound into a softer, more refined version. Now it’s coming into the fairy tale chapter, where the blood, sweat and tears turn into reward and somehow everything falls into place.

“Getting into music happened organically for me. I didn’t force or push too hard for things. I didn’t want my ambitions to get the best of me or to be led astray,” says Votolato. He’s in the midst of what others would call touring hell, on the road non-stop for over a month, but Votolato keeps an upbeat attitude about things. “This path has been long and rough, but I’m really happy for things, and am grateful for my success,” he says. “It’s tough to balance my life, to be away from my wife and my kids, but I look at it as this is what I wanted for my life, and I can’t complain.”

At 28, Votolato has put out five full-length albums and two EPs. He has figured out a way to successfully manage two extreme lifestyles — being a bona fide rock star and a father of two — and has even been able to remain humble and humorous about his success. Then there’s the simple fact that he’s a wickedly talented songwriter and performer. Votolato has the ability to reach into the darkest depths of humanity and write about those desires, ironies of life, and secrets of the heart that most people can’t put into words without blushing. Combine those emotive lyrics with a magnetic voice, soaked both in honey and whiskey, and his choice of acoustic instrumentation, and you have America’s next classic singer/songwriter on the brink of making it big — really big — while remaining true to himself and his independent spirit.

Talent aside, Votolato is instilled with the tireless work ethic that is absolutely necessary to make movement in the music industry. His 2006 Barsuk Records debut, Makers, was highly lauded by the musical community, earning Votolato much deserved acclaim while enhancing his fan base exponentially. The momentum this sort of reception generated has afforded Votolato the opportunity to quit his day job and focus solely on music — a monumental turning point that most musicians only dream of. Without ever stopping for air, he enthusiastically toured in support of Makers and finished recording its follow-up, The Brag & Cuss, out this month on Barsuk.
Though he may not be a household name yet, Votolato is well positioned to become an artist mentioned in the same breath as Elliott Smith, Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley and Ryan Adams — especially with his latest effort. “[The Brag & Cuss] has a full band sound, so it’s different from Makers. Hopefully the fans will stick with it. In the end, it’s still my songwriting,” says Votolato.

Votolato started writing The Brag & Cuss as soon as he was done writing Makers. “I have a busy lifestyle, so the writing process is constant, always happening,” he says. “It took about a year and a half to write about twenty-five songs, and I began recording [The Brag & Cuss] in December 2006. Some songs were unfinished, so I finished them in the studio — it was the first time I’d ever done that. I usually have everything done ahead of time, but I’ve been working at a breakneck pace.”

All this activity and motion stems from passion. Music has been Votolato’s lifeblood from an early age. Hailing from a small, rural town about 70 miles outside of Dallas, Votolato was exposed to country music and other southern-inspired works that continue to influence him musically. He cut his teeth listening to musicians such as Steve Earle, Johnny Cash, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bob Dylan. Music from the ‘60s and ‘70s also made a mark on him — he cites Cat Stevens and Simon & Garfunkel as early favorites, and many of the harmonies on Makers are a direct nod to these sounds.
Votolato’s first memory of being truly intrigued by music was when his uncle gave his older brother, Sonny, a guitar. His uncle was a truck driver who would play old country songs and classics by The Beatles. Votolato and his brothers were inspired by their uncle and the music he shared with them. Once he was in high school, Votolato managed to talk his mom into getting him a guitar. He bought it from a small pawnshop in nearby Houston, shelling out $200 — a small fortune for a kid his age. “I still have that guitar today,” Votolato says with a laugh.

During his high school years, Votolato made a major move from Texas to Seattle. The move was unnerving, and Votolato felt out of place with his thick, telltale Texas accent. He turned this feeling of isolation into creative fuel, playing guitar alone in his room, sometimes for eight hours a day. A self-taught musician, Votolato took advantage of this solitude to hone in on his craft and to further develop his songwriting skills. He continued to look up to Sonny and learned to play the guitar by watching him, all the while keeping his ears tuned to the artists that had shaped his youth.
After spending some time in Seattle, Votolato broke out of the introverted, safe haven of his bedroom and became drawn to the local punk scene. “Jawbreaker, an amazing punk band that was around the time that Green Day was just getting started, came to Seattle a lot,” says Votolato. “At one of their first shows, a light switch turned on in me — I realized this is what I had to do.” This exposure to the scene led him to form various punk bands, with Waxwing being the mainstay.

Votolato formed Waxwing with his younger brother, Cody, and the band enjoyed a ten-year stint, performing and releasing three full-length records on a small label. While basking in the thrill of performing with Waxwing, Votolato continued to focus on creating material that remained more true to his country roots. “I’ve always had these two paths musically that I was following — one being more aggressive, loud and punk rock, the other being more mellow and acoustic, more similar to the material on Makers,” Votolato explains. Constantly writing lyrics and songs, he compiled a collection of material that was more appropriate for a folk or acoustic country performance than a punk arena. After ten years, Waxwing dissolved peacefully, providing Votolato with an opportunity to further pursue solo endeavors. “It’s not as if I was a punk rocker and then decided to do something totally different; I had been writing this material all along, so when Waxwing fell to the wayside, it was a natural time for me to switch into more of the songwriter mode,” he says.

Votolato’s connections with Second Nature Recordings opened doors for him to embark on a career as a solo artist. “I had a demo tape that I had recorded, and Dan Askew of Second Nature Recordings got a copy of it,” says Votolato. “He called me out of the blue and approached me about putting out an album.” Suicide Medicine was released in 2003, and has paved the groundwork for where Votolato is now. “I was lucky and got a booking agent,” he says. “Getting on tours is really difficult, and I had to take some shit-eating tours and basement shows just to get my name out there. Between 2003 and 2004, I played over 250 shows in the U.K. and U.S. to support Suicide Medicine. I opened for bands to an empty room and played small shows for nobody. It was hard work, but most bands go through this — a long history of hard work, sacrifice and non-stop touring. But it’s essential — it helps you find your own voice and style; it allows you to be original knowing that there isn’t any instant gratification, and that you’re building something with integrity.”

Barsuk Records entered the mix for Votolato’s next solo album, Makers. “I’m really excited to be working with one of the truly independent labels left in the United States,” says Votolato. “I’ve always wanted to be an independent musician because I take creative control very seriously. Barsuk is a great partner. They don’t tell me what to do or force anything on me. They support me and advise me. It’s an amazing relationship.”

Such creative control is immediately apparent in the content of Votolato’s songs. “I aim to create something that wakes you up to life again, that knocks everything else away — I want to write songs like that that have meaning to people,” Votolato says. He culls his themes from experience — life, love and loss, his childhood, books that he has read. “I want it to be real, without cliché, and communicate what I am trying to express, but at the same time make sure that it’s not a diary — that there’s a fiction element to what I’m doing,” says Votolato.

“I’ll take ten or fifteen scraps of paper with lyrics on them, lay them all over my bed, and start playing music to fit a melody over the words,” he says about his songwriting process. “There isn’t a real method to songwriting, and anytime you get locked into one way, you’re kind of doomed. The appeal and mystery of songwriting is that you don’t really know where it comes from and there is no way to lock it down, or have one method to do it. It comes from a magical place. I don’t pretend to understand it. My songs write themselves.”

With the release of The Brag & Cuss, Votolato will be sure to have several new favorites to play at his sold-out shows. “I want to continue doing things for the right reasons, and to keep it about the music,” he says. “I constantly remember why I am doing this, and try not get caught up in ego and fame and bullshit. There is a lot of bullshit that you put up with and you can get wrapped up in it, so it’s important not to get pushed into an area where you are making bad music.”

To support the work he has done on The Brag & Cuss, Votolato will be back on the road again, finding new inspiration for material in everyday life. “My goal is to continue to release records that I love, and that are interesting to me musically, to do right by my friends and family, and to do what makes sense for my career. I’m just gonna let things fall into place, follow my own voice with originality, and do it the way I want to do it.”

www.rockyvotolato.com