Welcome to the Fan Club!

Howdy, stranger!  We are called Rocknoceros (kinda like rhinoceros, only there’s a rock).  That’s Boogie Bennie on the keyboard, and Williebob with the guitar. And who might you be?  It's sure great to meet ya!  And of course we'd like to thank you for being a fan of what we do.  Thanks, partner.

Now, let's talk about having some fun here, right?  We hope you enjoy our monthly newsletter, The Rockno Report. We also think you will agree: If there’s one thing a fan club newsletter ought to have, it’s communication with the fans.  Maybe you have questions about our music?  We love to talk about music!  Perhaps you'd like to share a story about a show you saw, a song you heard, a haircut you needed?  Let’s hear about it! Just about anything goes, really.  We don’t mind talking about ourselves, and we think that our fans are interesting people too.

How to contact us?  Send a letter by electronic mail! Our address:

fanclub@rocknoceros.com

We won’t share personal information with anything or anyone.

Ask questions, make requests for things you'd like to see or hear in a future edition of the Report, tell us what floats your boat, maybe give us a good joke that we can say on stage, etcetera!

And don’t forget to check next month’s edition of the Report.  Your name might be in it!  So let's get the ol’ feedback loop goin’, shall we?

In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the goodies in this month’s Report. Looking forward to hearing from you in the near future, and thanks again for being a member of the Fan Club!

Song of the Month, August 2022

Stories and trivia about our songs

"Summertime", 2017

"In August we'll head to the beach..."

Well, maybe next year, Rocknoceros - this August, we are booked solid!

The line quoted above is from our Song of the Month for August, "Summertime". The lyrics, written by Coach Cotton, attempt to describe as many activities and wistful memories of summers past as you can fit into two minutes and fifty-five seconds of musical joy.  When vacations are over and everybody goes back to work or school (Labor Day, yuck!), we hope that our song evokes a lingering feeling of blissful summer freedom.

The members of Rocknoceros actually were kids once, did you know that?  (It was a long time ago, but it's true, and someday we'll post photos as proof).  Those were the days of endless summers... ah, where were we?  Oh yes.  Sure, as grown-ups we can manage the occasional getaway trip with our loved ones, maybe recapture a little bit of the glory of carefree youth.  However, there is a bittersweet aspect to the Rocknoceros lifestyle:  Summer is when we are working the most!  This is probably not surprising to hear, and it seems to be the case for entertainers everywhere. Stage performers of all kinds are in high demand wherever people gather for fun. Demand, meet supply!  Now, that word ‘bittersweet’ means two opposite feelings which blend together into one strange new feeling.  The bitter part for us is that we often cannot coordinate trips with family or friends when they are typically getting together.  Bummer!  However, the sweet part is that we get to play for people who are enjoying their time together, and we have been told many times how our music helped make those summer days special.  That can be some of the sweetest stuff around.

But before you get all weepy about the bittersweetness of being in Rocknoceros, rest assured that entertainers also find ways to take vacations with their loved ones.  Only you've got to be creative.  For example, Puerto Rico in February is a fine substitute for Ocean City in August, if you can swing the finances.

Back to our song, and also a bit about finances.

"Summertime" was released as an Internet-only single in 2017, along with the first episode of our podcast (the episode also titled Summertime), however it was written long before we recorded it; the lyric and tune were both completed probably as early as 2014 (some facts get lost, even in the Digital Age!)

When creativity is really humming along, you can end up with material that doesn't fit into the current plan.  Trying to figure out what to do with this song nudged us away from making another full-length album (our last true LP being 2015's Plymouth Rockers, the one that's all U.S.A. "state songs"), and toward some other way of presenting our music to the public.  By 2016, the idea of an ‘album’ had arguably reached its nadir in popular terms - does anyone listen to more than one or two songs in a row by the same artist anymore?  So that led to a serious look at ‘podcasting’ (a funny word, that), which in 2022 seems to be more popular than ever (could it be that Rocknoceros was, for once, ahead of its time?  Hmm... )

The Rocknoceros Podnoceros was hatched with the idea of featuring a new song in every episode, along with scripted audio sketches pertaining to the song's subject.  We are very proud of the results, though we only made a handful of episodes - they were really hard work!

About those finances.  The bottom line influences artistic decisions for better, worse, or just different, up to and including how we record and release the music.  We used to release our music on CDs, but printing CDs is not too cheap and had to be considered carefully in a world where sales were shrinking everywhere.  We knew it had to be Internet-only distribution for the foreseeable future.  The recording of "Summertime" is also a rare example of Rocknoceros using virtual instruments (i.e. computer-based sounds).  We did initially try to record it with real instruments - in fact, it was the first time since "Boogie Woogie Bennie" (from our 2006 debut album) where we recorded Boogie playing on his piano-drum setup!  However, we were not convinced by the result, and so decided to try things in a more modern (and cost-saving) way.  The drums, horns, and keyboard sounds were programmed and/or played by Boogie Bennie and produced by Tom Bernath at his Upfront Audio studio in Fairfax, VA. The podcast material was being produced at the same time, so it made sense to get most of it done with computers. For those who are interested: We were all using Apple Logic Pro on Macintosh computers, making it not too difficult to join recordings from different home studios.

Tom has been wonderful to work with all these years, and we'll be sure to keep working with him in the future.  The Photo of the Month is from the main studio room at Tom's where we recorded all the podcast dialogue.

One final thought about "Summertime".  It might be the closest we have gotten (so far) to writing a Beatles song.   Perhaps a listen to their "Penny Lane" would be an interesting comparison.  Be sure to tell us what you think.  Or tell us a great story from your own summer vacation!  Until next time, stay cool and enjoy every break you get.

TRIVIA CHALLENGE:
”Banana seats” might be an obscure phrase to some, but who knows what a “Tastee Freez” is? Admittedly, this is not a fair challenge - we don’t have them around the D.C. area anymore! Still, it could be a delicious thing to look into. Email us at fanclub@rocknoceros.com with your idea of a great summer treat, or with anything else you want to ask or tell us!

LISTEN to Episode One of The Rocknoceros Podnoceros on Soundcloud:

Rocknoceros · Summertime

LISTEN to “Summertime” from a streaming service you can select by clicking here

Lil’ Vid, August 2022

One camera, one song, just for fans! 

Here Comes The Sun, from an evening show at Mount Olivet United Methodist Church on July 13, 2022. Even though the sun was setting when we played this classic song by The Beatles, the heat was strong! Boogie got the worse of it; as you can see, he’s still in sun, while Williebob is cooling off a little. He has since mentioned (at least a couple times) that this gig was a Top Three Hottest Rocknoceros Show Ever. And we don’t mean the band was burning - sure, we felt we played well, but the joke was still on us!

The summer heat was certainly not the fault of our gracious hosts at Mt. Olivet UMC. We’ve played this event several times over the years, and it was great to be back after a long pandemic-mandated break.

Had to make sure this edit included that cute little voice at the very beginning asking nicely, “Can you play ‘Mississippi River’ next?” For the record: We did!

If you have requests too, please pass ‘em along! Email fanclub@rocknoceros.com and tell us what you prefer!

From the Photo Archive, August 2022

Good times, explained

Recording at Upfront Audio, late 2017

Photographer: Tom Bernath

Another family album snapshot for you! It turns out that we do not have many photos from our many recording sessions at Upfront Audio in Fairfax, VA, and that’s a shame; plenty of goofy moments are bound to happen whenever we get together to work with Tom (which makes it feel less like work). To be frank, we were not in the habit of posting frequently on Facebook and the like - we were usually dressed for radio, so to speak. Tom took pictures when he could, being understandably quite busy during a session. He did this partly for his own amusement, but also as a way of saying, “You guys need to be more on top of this social media stuff!” Tom, you are correct as always, and hopefully we have leveled up our game since these sessions.

Regardless, this picture fairly represents the mood we dial into when we work on a Rocknoceros studio project. Call it, ‘happy, with some rocking out’. No exact date for this photo, but most likely it was taken during a voice over session for an episode of our short-lived podcast, The Rocknoceros Podnoceros. Sometimes we worked on music tracks as well.

Those podcasts took a lot of work! Well, the last couple episodes were decidedly simpler - more conversational - but the first five episodes involved a complex mix of things: New studio-recorded songs, scripted comedy bits related to the episode’s theme (often with cinematic-like soundscapes), incidental music, and documentary audio. They really are supposed to be movies for your ears. Boogie wore the most hats by far in terms of writing and producing material, while Tom spent serious hours editing and mixing (after recording us, of course). Coach and Williebob contributed some material too, in addition to delivering their performances. All hands on deck!

It is possible that we will make more episodes of ‘The Pod’ at some point in the future, but probably not in 2022. One thing for certain is that we’d want to make them with Tom, our old friend and a great recording engineer-producer. A man of many talents… including playing the bass guitar on our Plymouth Rockers album, which he did from the control room while supervising the recording! (We suspect he was running the mixing board with his feet). Thanks again, Tom Bernath, for all the good times and great work!

Song of the Month, July 2022

Stories and trivia about our songs

"Dear Abby", 2007

As all parents know, raising children is like living in some kind of time warp.  For today's Song of the Month we turn back the clock to January 2007, when Maya Williams was only 8 years old and recording with Rocknoceros.  Williebob is Maya's father, and he cannot quite believe that his sweet little daughter is now 24; didn't we just make that record together a few years ago, sugar?!

"Mayabob" (her official Rocknoceros handle, of course) was recruited to add some sparkle to our second album, Dark Side of the Moon Bounce.  And sparkle she did, naturally!  Of the several appearances that Maya has made on this album and others, Dear Abby is her most prominent performance, sweetly crooning a complete verse and chorus (well, see below for thoughts about these terms ‘verse’ and ‘chorus’...)

Though no photos exist of the Abby recording session, this month's Photo feature was taken around that time and describes the process we used for essentially “remote” work. (The photo was taken in Maryland; Willebob seems to recall recording Maya’s Abby vocal in Fairfax, VA - she recorded in a bunch of places with us!) Maya was always a natural behind the mic, singing very well in tune and even listening quite critically at such a tender age… In fact, to this day she is slightly annoyed by what she hears as a mistake:  When she sings the word, 'question', in one of her lines, there is a slight tongue-tied sound in there.  We feel certain that there is nobody else on this planet who would hear this as anything other than simply adorable.

People of a certain age would instantly understand the reference to "Dear Abby" the syndicated newspaper advice column - young people today probably read that sentence and think, "it's a what what advice column?", where the word 'column' obviously refers to words on a screen.  For this story, it's not important to know about newspapers or syndication; our song is a gentle parody where a young advice columnist named Abby responds to other children's questions.  We hear first from a young interlocutor named Arty (great name!)

Arty has a bunch of abstract questions, provoked by his wonderment of the natural world, to which Abby responds with a broad philosophical stroke.  Williebob admits feeling bittersweet hearing his young daughter sing, "Many mysteries grow deeper as time passes by" (that’s got to be a Coach Cotton line).

This is one of the most simple Rocknoceros arrangements to date, really like a 'demo' recording, but we all agreed that it sounded complete without a bunch of bells and whistles.  Oh, that's a twelve-string acoustic guitar playing the solo in there.

Mayabob has yet to join us on the concert stage, though for many years she ran the lyric slide show for our Holiday Sing-Along concerts at Jammin' Java in Vienna, VA - always an extra special day for Dad, at the venue where the band got its start.  For our typical live rendition of Dear Abby, we change the key so that Williebob can sing her part in his regular voice.

So, about those words, ‘verse’ and ‘chorus’: This is one of those songs that can make you wonder, which is which?  Honestly, we aren’t sure!  We'd love to hear your opinions on this, and on all the other mysteries of the universe.  Until next time, then, keep growing and singing the way you were made to.

TRIVIA CHALLENGE:
Mayabob’s voice appears on three tracks on the Dark Side of the Moon Bounce album. One you know already by now (i.e. see above!), another one is easy to spot, but can you find the third one? Hint: She sounds a little different. Email us at fanclub@rocknoceros.com with your answers, or with anything else you want to ask or tell us!

LISTEN to "Dear Abby" on Soundcloud:

Rocknoceros · Dear Abby

LISTEN to “Dear Abby” from a streaming service you can select by clicking here

Lil’ Vid, July 2022

One camera, one song, just for fans! 

Would You Like to Visit Kansas? performed at OneLoudoun plaza, June 20, 2022. There’s that Alamo sign again! We have video from other venues too, promise. However, these Monday morning shows are special to us. We often feel that we sound our best on that plaza stage. As for this month’s song choice, we offer one of our “State” songs and tip our hats to Independence Day. The song itself is about living with hard weather, or, more accurately, wondering what it’s like where the weather is harder.

If you have any Lil’ Vid requests, please pass ‘em along! Email fanclub@rocknoceros.com to give us the howzas and the whatfers!

From the Photo Archive, July 2022

Good times, explained

Recording with “Mayabob”, late 2006

Photographer: Leah Haworth

Williebob receives a fresh digital copy of this photo from Maya Williams’ mother, Leah, every Father’s Day, among other treasured pictures. This makes him happy every time, with the bonus of knowing that no picture on this planet has better backup.

This recording session took place in Gaithersburg, MD, during the making of the Dark Side of the Moon Bounce album, most likely capturing Maya’s spoken part in (I Wish We Used) The Metric System. The hi-hat was recorded too at some point, but we can’t recall what it was for!

We also recorded with Maya in this house during the making of the PINK! album, about two years after this photo was taken. Sometimes we set up instruments in other rooms, but the living room you see here was where Williebob recorded a bunch of Maya’s friends together, shouting, “It’s pink, pink, pink!” It was a giggly gig.

With just enough of the right equipment, a little know-how, and the ability to make the set quiet enough, home audio recording can yield professional quality results. Not the easiest list to achieve of course, but Rocknoceros managed a fair job of self-producing our first four albums. In 2014 we started working with Thomas Bernath. a producer, engineer and friend who runs a home studio that’s been converted for full time professional work, and the benefits were immediately apparent in every respect (you’ll see his name come up again in future Reports!) Still, our simple homemade triumphs made many fond memories, and we learned a lot for our efforts.

Song of the Month, June 2022

Stories and trivia about our songs

"Ain't Nothin' But a Fox", 2011

Rocknoceros · Ain't Nothin' But A Fox

Track number 17 from our 2011 album, Colonel Purple Turtle, this recording is a rare opportunity to hear a guest vocalist sing with us. The opportunity to broaden the vocal sound presented itself this time during writing, with the octave’d singing parts in a friendly key for both female and male singers. We invited Alexandra Blasgen, friend of the band, to add her talents. Alexandra, though not a professional singer, has great experience with choral performance and we knew she could sing. However, it was her first “pro” recording session (quotes used because it was in a little converted bedroom in a small house) and there was some nervousness in advance. There was no need to worry; she adapted to the recording process with great speed, and knocked it out of the park in approximately two takes. Actually, she was complaining of having a cold that day, but it was barely evident throughout the evening and perhaps she would even say that she had fun. We know for a fact that she is quite proud of the result, and of course we were thrilled with it!

The lyrics of ‘Fox’ form part of the story that loosely threads across the album. In our make-believe land called Soggy Bog, the animals are in a hurry to ready themselves for a strong storm heading their way. The foxes, though normally keeping to themselves, are moved by the feeling of a community in need and decide to allow other animals to take shelter with them in their burrow.

We had the great fortune to work with several outstanding D.C. area musicians during the recording of the album. Jamieson Tobey is a drummer you don’t forget. We said, “Rollin’,” and he poured a 100-ton groove foundation for ‘Fox’ like it was nothin’. Thanks again, J!!

This song might contain Williebob’s best overall recorded performances to date, on both the bass guitar and lead guitar. For certain, the song was designed to give him a good try.

TRIVIA CHALLENGE:
Somewhere in this recording, there is a sly reference - it goes by quickly - to a classic hit song from 1971. Grown ups might catch it... tell us if you found it! We would love to give you a shout out in our next Song of the Month!

LISTEN to "Ain't Nothin' But a Fox" on Soundcloud:

Rocknoceros · Ain't Nothin' But A Fox

LISTEN to “Ain’t Nothin’ But A Fox” from a streaming service you can select by clicking here

Lil’ Vid, June 2022

One camera, one song, just for fans! 

Sunshine State performed at One Loudoun in VIrginia on August 23, 2021

From the Photo Archive, June 2022

Good times, explained

Rocknoceros at The Kennedy Center, December 4, 2009

Photographer: Unknown

We do not recall who was on stage with us that evening taking photos, though almost certainly it was a staff member for Millennium Stage at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Coach Cotton was on stage with us too, of course, probably shoulder-to-shoulder with the photographer when this shot was taken.

This was our first appearance at the Millennium Stage, which is a serious treat for D.C. area residents and visitors alike. Always free, and almost every night of the year! The stage sits on the far end of the Grand Foyer, which is aptly named as it can fit well over a thousand people comfortably wandering about.

By the time of this show, December 4, 2009, we were frankly exhausted (you can see that Boogie needs a bit of a shave, and you can be sure that Williebob was grateful for having already grown a beard). The release of our third album, PINK!, was in April, and we promoted it like crazy for many months; we played over 200 shows that year. In fact, we played in Manassas, VA that same morning! Rocknoceros plays every show like it’s a big deal, but Millennium Stage was actually a Very Big Deal for us. A little tired or not, once you get on stage it’s easy to forget everything else and enjoy the special pleasure you can only get from playing music!

Learn more about The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts at https://www.kennedy-center.org/