Although certainly not one of the bigger names involved in this year's SXSW festivities, Rocko Dorsey (playing tonight at Andy's Basement Bar & Grill in Denton) is still an enjoyable national act stopping in our area on the way to Austin.
Hailing from Upstate NY, the band is called Rocko Dorsey and features one Rocko Dorsey on guitar and lead vocals. The band's most recent release is 2008's Nightmares, and that record is such a nice slab of well-mannered punk that further investigation is warranted.
Although the band trots out the standard punk references of Green Day and The Clash, Rocko Dorsey actually remind me of the Godfathers with a little Midnight Oil thrown in the mix. Songs like "I'll Wait for Summer" and "Across the Sea" showcase a melodic flair along with Dorsey's rough and ready vocals, which have an uncanny resemblance to those of Oil's bald and brooding Peter Garnett.
But whatever the comparisons, Rocko Dorsey is a well dressed trio of New Yorkers who have been plying their craft for the better part of a decade, keeping the their punk dreams alive by performing in front of any collection of leather-clad losers who will have them.
