Des Roar

California sonic bobby-socks rockers, Des Roar, have become an anchor throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, headlining with a host of tomorrow’s brightest since 2006. With their malt of surf rock and bubblegum dance hooks, narratives and noise, they manage to incorporate Brooklyn’s electro leanings into the vibrations of a West Coast garage band, keeping it raw and playing seamless.

Formed in early 2006 when fuzz toner Ryan Spoto made his way to New York and met drummer Lyla Vander, and electrified with the arrival of fellow-Cali droner, Ben Wolcott, Des Roar went quickly to work in the Lower East Side establishing early gigs and residencies to streamline their sound. With the crafting of a slightly-humorous, take-it-or-leave-it batch of songs, they went into the studio in early 2007 banging out the Fucked Up & Freaked Out EP, and took to the road later that summer with Lower East Side outfit Elevator Action to promote it. But sensing a layer was missing, Alan O’Keeffe joined as a second guitar, and by late season, Des Roar was finally officially a full-strength foursome, at full sound and picking up bigger shows.

By mid 2008, Des Roar had played a cavalcade of venues, eliciting the attention of national acts like the Detroit Cobras and Gringo Star for their trash-happy live sets, and secured invitations to perform runway shows at Fashion Week in both New York and L.A. for the industry’s most iconoclastic designers. Amidst their continuing ruckus in New York, the foursome went back into the studio in late ’08 with producer Graham Finn specifically to capture their live brio on the forthcoming full-length Mad Things expected out late this summer. No easy feat, but with a couple years behind them, a slew of shows in the can and plenty on the long-extending horizon, Des Roar will just keep it coming, keep it easy.