In their short bio on Facebook, Rockford the band writes: ‘Rockford is not young. They are old and beat down by life. Rockford is not good looking or nice on the nose. They are ragged and smell funny. Rockford is not star material. They tell stupid jokes and don’t dance. The one thing Rockford can do is rock. These five ungainly friends have played in bands together since they were teenagers. Now as they each move past the half century mark the only thing that’s improved is the way they make their music.’
How I can relate to this feeling! Getting older while not looking after fame and money but quietly pursuing a goal by releasing music, it seems to be the right attitude to me. Iman asked me to review Rockford’s last song ‘Gathering Down’ which, as its title may suggest, is a heavy-hearted song.
Pounding and spacey drums with deep male voices in harmony start the song, until loud rock guitars kick in and more layers are progressively added to the soundscape. Soon there is a lot going on, the drums stay thunderous but female back up vocals are added deep in the mix, a wild keyboard is venturing into some Thelonious Monk-esque territories and a saxophone is even bringing back a piece of the 80’s at the same time. After a slow build up, the song bursts and expands like a huge pounding powerful headache, and I am not saying this in a bad way, it just grows like a monster occupying all the space in your head, making you high in the sound for a few minutes, before slowly fading away… if I mentioned an headache it’s because the song is not about a light subject as its not-so-upbeat tone may suggest… It is a song about depression according to Rockford’s drummer and writer Edward Huerta.
‘Depression is very real and a very real medical illness’, he wrote on Facebook. ‘Unfortunately, the early stage of this song was being recorded on the day that one of the most talented guys in the universe, Robin Williams, left this planet. I think it helped drive the point home that this was a song we had to finish, for everyone that suffers. Depression is far reaching and doesn’t care if you are rich, poor, black, white, male, female, married, single, young, old…’
Serendipitously, Robin Williams took his life when they were in the process of recording the first version of this song, and understandably they shelved it for awhile. But they nevertheless went back to studio and lighten up some of the lyrics before recording it.
Rockford is Jeff Beals and Jon Melkerson on guitar, John Kelly on bass, Ed Huerta on drums, Scott Dibble on keyboard and Tony Atherton on sax for this song. It is a complex composition, a layered sonic mosaic slowly expanding, however ‘these all came out very naturally and almost muse-like from everyone involved,’added Edward Huerta, ‘I was also listening to Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown” just before I wrote the song’. Listen to ‘Gathering Down’ below: