Hailing from sunny Southern California, ska punk band CodeName: Rocky is seeing a resurgence in 2022. With lockdowns and the pandemic raging all around us in 2020, the band broke their hiatus from recording music. All locked up, with nothing to do, the Cali ska punks got back into the studio. The result? Blueprint, an EP that marks a new beginning for the band. With a new collection of music and a new record label, CodeName: Rocky is ready to also break out of their pandemic-induced exile. The band, which has been together in one shape or form since 1998 (minus a few years when they put the band on hold), is energized and reinvigorated. CodeName: Rocky is one of the more essential bands in the Southern California punk and ska scene, so it’s absolutely amazing to see them back out there firing on all cylinders.
In celebration of the release of their new EP, lead singer Justin Picon stopped by to answer some questions.
It’s been six years since we’ve heard new music from you. What happened to get you back in the studio?
New music has been a priority for us since we re-shaped the group after Dan left. The hard part was finding the time to dedicate to writing because we were playing so much. When everything shutdown in 2020 that gave us the rare opportunity to solely focus on writing, demoing & taking the time to fine-tune what we came up with. It’s was a ton of fun to be able to work together & really use everyone’s different talents to come up with these songs.
Wiretap is your new home. What was it about them that made it clear you should work with them?
Wiretap is so damn rad! I love that they aren’t a “ska” label or “punk” label – they’re truly a music label that works with bands they enjoy and believe in. We’ve all been fans of the label for a while so when the stars aligned, it was a no-brainer.
Did you feel rusty getting back into the swing of things, or was it like riding the bike?
This was so different than writing for the previous CNR albums. In the past, Dan would submit music and either him or Drew would write the lyrics. Then, the band would jam out the song and refine it. This time around, Matt Fitzgerald (bass) was cranking out the music to what felt like one to three songs a week while Matty Montoya (guitar) was submitting music to us as well. At that point, Drew and I would get together with Bill at our studio and write the lyrics. There’s a few that were written by Drew only or me only, but 90% of the lyrics were collaborative.
For folks who are brand new to your music, what can they expect?
I feel like our music has a good amount of intensity while remaining poppy and catchy. We always try to write music we would want to listen to and get excited about.
Looks like you’ve got some awesome shows coming up later this summer to celebrate the launch of the EP. Which shows are you most excited about?
Excited to do Bite Me Bambi’s Summer Sizzler show on August 13th at The Garden Amp in Garden Grove! We’ve been friends with a lot of those guys for a long time. The OG CodeName guys go back 20 plus years with some of their members. Anytime we can share a stage with friends is always more fun and makes for a better performance.
What’s a typical CodeName: Rocky show like?
We always try to bring energy to the stage during live performances. We mix in the fast punk with ska you can dance to. Come out to a show and be ready to dance and circle pit and have a great time!
As some of the elder statesmen of the ska punk scene, what is your take on the scene’s strength these days?
Damn, we’re the old guys ::laughs::
The scene is having a pretty rad revival right now with a lot of young talent taking the ska-punk sound in some new directions and I love to see it. It’s also cool to be able to go to an LA show one night, OC the next and IE show after that and get so many different variations of the same style of music.
Ska and punk is more than music and that’s what makes it unique. It’s cultural. It’s environmental. It’s community. It’s family.
Those are all things that get lost in most music, but I still see that in the scene today and that’s everything.
Which newer bands excite you the most these days?
In the past we would come across new bands playing live shows, but with shows being shut down for almost two years, we really had a lot less access to new bands. One younger band we always enjoy playing with is Rundown Kreeps. Great live show.
What’s the best way for folks to support you these days?
Listen to the new EP; come out to shows, and sing along! Streams are how things are measured these days, so that’s always important to us. As the frontman of the group, I live for crowd energy and participation. Not many people realize how much work goes into one song from point A to point B (conception to release). My all-time favorite thing is to see people enjoying the music in a live setting and singing the songs back to us.