ROCCO GUARINO on Honesty in Music, Working with Velvet Revolver, Elton John, and Honoring His Mother Through Starlite Label

Rocco Guarino is an American music producer and songwriter, with song placements in various shows, and the founder of his own label, Starlite Records, created with the mission of giving a voice to talented musicians who were worthy but never heard. His music has been featured in shows such as Woke on Hulu, The Kroll Show on Comedy Central, and many others.

The label was founded as a tribute to his mother, a talented singer who, despite her dedication and hard work, never received the recognition she deserved. Over the course of his career, Rocco has collaborated with many monumental musicians, including Elton John.

Beyond the music industry, Rocco is also deeply connected to the world of videography and photography. He once served as the official videographer for Velvet Revolver and directed their music video “The Last Light”, which ultimately reached #9 on VN1.

Music, photography, and videography share two perspectives: those in front of the stage or camera, and those who capture history as it truly was. In his work, Rocco has always done the latter.

Also, Rocco is not only a renowned music producer and the founder of Starlite Records, but also an active force for good in the community, volunteering with Adopt the Arts to help keep music in public schools. As a voting member of the Recording Academy and an official endorser of Aston Microphones, Behringer, Cerwin-Vega, KRK, Rode, and Sandhill Microphones, he continues to combine art with purpose, making meaningful contributions to the development of music beyond the studio.

He spoke with Drive Music Media about honesty in his craft, working with Velvet Revolver, founding Starlite Records, challenges in the music industry, the calm of photography, and his upcoming projects.

Interviewer: After so many years of working with artists, what would you say makes a song truly unforgettable? How do you personally recognize that special quality in a track?

Rocco: Unforgettable means catchy, so if the melody gets stuck in my head, it’s a winner. It’s the prosody of the singer’s melody that catches my ear. Having a unique rhythmic aspect or chord structure is great. Having interesting production or lyrics is great too. But if you’re asking about unforgettability, it’s the melody that gets stuck in your head.

Interviewer: Tell us about your approach to making music. How important is it, in your opinion, to go beyond “by-the-book” techniques and trust your own intuition in the creative process? Can you recall a moment when that made a difference?

Rocco: There really is no book when it comes to making records. Everybody’s process is different, and each project is different, depending on what the artist needs.

If it’s just a singer with no band, then I have to put together the band and work with the artist to create their sound. If it’s a pre-existing band then my job is to capture the sound that they already have and help them with their vision.

Interviewer: Which collaboration with an artist — whether in video production or recording — left the strongest impression on you, and why?

Rocco: The most impressed I’ve ever been with an artist was Elton John. He came in, interpreted the unique arrangement of the song, then recorded both piano and vocal, and was out the door in 45 minutes.

Interviewer: Your journey in music began in your teenage years. Could you take us back to that time? What inspired you to pick up a guitar and create your first melody?

Rocco: My mom was the one that inspired me to create music. She was a singer and a songwriter and always encouraged me. She bought me my first keyboard and my first guitar. I wrote my first song when I was 12 years old, and I still have the cassette tape of it. I was of the latchkey generation, so my parents weren’t around much. Music was always my go-to fun time activity when I was a kid.

Interviewer: You’ve worked with legends like Slash and Elton John, and you were also the videographer for Velvet Revolver. Could you share more about the projects you worked on with them? What did those experiences mean to you personally?

Rocco: Working with legends is a great honor obviously. It was fairly early on in my career when I worked with some of my idols, so I felt very lucky.

I never really stopped to think about all of it while I was in the middle of everything, I was too busy focusing on the work. It’s not until months or years later when the gravity of the situation came to mind.

With Elton John, I was on tour with Velvet Revolver when Sharon Osbourne put together a benefit for the victims of a tsunami. We did it at the Whitfield Studio in London, and then performed the song at the Grammys. The project was literally a Who’s Who of music. It’s very surreal being in a room with 15-20 of the most legendary artists in the history of music.

Interviewer: What changes in the music industry — especially in recording and video — do you find inspiring, and which ones feel more like a step back, from your long-term perspective in this field?

Rocco: The best thing about the current state of technology is that it has lowered the barrier to entry into recording music. It has democratized the process to the point where many more people are able to create music.

The music creation process is always evolving, and some of the greatest bands throughout history pushed technology to its very limits to create unique sounds. The Beatles with Sergeant Pepper comes to mind. The idea that we should not be using technology is just silly. Sure it’s fun to record to tape sometimes, or shoot on film, but it’s mostly a novelty.

Interviewer: In 2021, you founded Starlite Records to support talented musicians who don’t always get the attention they deserve. Could you tell us more about the concept behind the label? How hard is it today for a truly gifted artist in the U.S. to break through and gain recognition? What are the most common challenges? Was there a particular musician who inspired you to create the label, or was it more the result of everything you’d experienced up to that point?

Rocco: The label is in many ways a tribute to my mom. The aesthetic of the branding and the name is kind of a throwback to the 60s, when she was in her prime. She never gained the success or recognition she deserved, and she was very talented and worked very hard. I started the label because I did a handful of projects over the course of five years or so that were never released, they were killer bands with really great albums that I produced that were never released for one reason or another just sitting on my hard drive.

The most difficult thing for artists is getting your music out to the masses, and that is still very much controlled by those in power, who mostly care about money and not music. Obviously the Internet allows one to distribute their music globally, but at the end of the day if no one knows you exist that doesn’t really matter.

Interviewer: Out of all the creative fields you’ve worked in, which one resonates with you the most, and why?

Rocco: I’ve vacillate between video production and music production, but music has always been my heart and soul, and will always be my passion. There’s something special about being able to close your eyes while you enjoy music, which is not something you can do with any other art form.

Interviewer: What projects are you currently working on, and what kinds of projects would you love to be part of in the future?

Rocco: I’m currently taking time to work on my own music. I have three albums of songs to record and release as a songwriter and artist.

My favorite projects are those that involve guitars and real drums. Not too heavy and not too soft, Tom Petty is a good middleground to describe what I like.

Interviewer: Is there a type of music, photo shoot, or video you would never produce or direct? Where do you personally draw the line, and why?

Rocco: I would never do a project that was overtly negative, violent, or marginalized any group of people. Also, I wouldn’t do a project that I felt was contrived or done for the wrong reasons. If it seems like the artist is a poser, or dishonest in their motivations. I’ll pass on it.

Interviewer: Tell us about your very first album — why was it never released, and what was it about?

Rocco: I recorded my first album in 1998 when I was 27. I wrote all the songs, played bass, percussion, acoustic guitar, and sang them. I was hesitant to release it because I’ve never been happy with my singing voice, but ultimately I didn’t have the money to get the album mixed or CDs manufactured.

Then in 2001 I formed my band Harvest and we also recorded an album. That one never got released because the band broke up and I moved to LA.

I’ve since released both of those albums despite not liking my voice. I’ve put them on the streaming services not to find success or be a relevant artist, but more as a time capsule just so in my heart I know that they’re in the world.

Interviewer: Your first music video for Velvet Revolver reached #9 on VH1. What do you remember most about the process of creating it? Did you have a sense it was going to be that successful?

Rocco: The song that I directed the video for was called The Last Fight. It was the second single off the second album. Based on the popularity of the band you can kind of guess how it will do but you never really know.

At first they just asked me to write the treatment and I assumed they would get some big name director to do it. Then they asked me if I wanted to direct it, which was a shock. I had never directed a music video before that. It was nerve-racking and exciting. They gave me $250K for a one day, one location shoot. We shot it on 16mm film at an abandoned theater in downtown Los Angeles. My mom flew out from Florida and was with me on set. That might have been the proudest moment of my life.

Interviewer: Let’s talk about photography — your other passion. What do you focus on most in that field, and what does it give you creatively?

Rocco: There’s something very special about photography, where you can trap a moment in time and freeze it forever. You can make it abstract or realistic, but it will always be a solitary moment and it will never change.

I enjoy photography the most when I’m searching for something that already exists in the world, and trying to capture it in a unique way, which is the opposite of when you have control over the lighting and the people and what they do.

To me music and video are collaborative processes, and I love working with groups of creative people, but there’s something uniquely rewarding about working by myself with photography. The solitude of it, and the idea that I don’t need anyone else. I don’t need to work to articulate my vision to other people, or spend time communicating. It’s more of a stream of consciousness type of creativity that I don’t get from any other art form.

Interviewer: You’ve been part of several artistic worlds — music, photography, film. What kind of mission do you carry through all of them? How would you want people to associate your name — what feeling or idea?

Rocco: If there’s a common denominator throughout all my creative endeavors, my hope is that it would be honesty. It can be realistic or surreal, dynamic or static, shocking or comforting, but ultimately for me it all needs to be honest. That’s always my number one priority. Telling a story is satisfying, and making a statement is equally satisfying, but at the end of the day it needs to be honest.

Interviewer: What word would you say best describes your creative work? Why that one?

Rocco: Honest. When things are too contrived it’s a real turn off. If something is not done from the heart or is done for the wrong reasons, I can spot it a mile away and I have no interest in it.

Questions and writing the interview — Asya Radko

Pictures were provided by Rocco Guarino. Picture of Velvet Revolver were taken by Rocco Guarino