Today we’d like to introduce you to Ric Roccapriore
Hi Ric, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was born in New England and grew up in Connecticut and Massachusetts, then moved to California and soon Nashville, Tennessee. I started playing at a very young age because of my family. My brother Roy had a band that rehearsed in our basement but most of my jamming was with my brother Dave. He only knew a few songs on piano and we drove my mom crazy playing them on repeat for hours!!! I would play everyday to the radio, records and cassette tapes. My parents did not need to ask me to practice because I loved it. I took some private lessons but I had a learning disability so reading music was very difficult for me but I learned very quickly by watching. Too bad Youtube didn’t exist back then.
I was lucky that when I went to high school, there were several talented music students that created a great environment to grow and expand. We had a great young teacher, Dom Talotta who recently retired. He built a great program with small and large jazz bands, a marching band and a concert band. I then continued my education at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut because I did not get into Berklee College of Music. Apparently they had reached their “quota” for drummers. Had I known better I would have just changed my primary instrument for a semester. But I believe everything happens for a reason. I met some great players and friends and it gave me time to learn at a slower pace. I lived right outside of New York City and felt the need for more growth and so I attended to the Drummers Collective in the Village for a few semesters and it totally opened up my mind. There is no other place I have been that is quite like New York. Those players and teachers blew my mind. I studied with Mike Clarke, Kim Plainfield and so many more. Guys like Marvin “Smitty” Smith did master classes and it was just an amazing program. I actually played in NY a few months ago and went back to my old stomping ground. Unfortunately the original building was torn down and the school no longer exists. I did eventually end up going to Berklee a few years later and received a degree in Education. I learned to play many instruments and it has helped me tremendously as a drummer and now artist.
I joined several local Boston bands and was quickly learning the scene. I was in rock bands, reggae bands, jazz bands and even my own calypso/soca steel drum band, “The Castaways” in which I played steel drums, keys and vocals. I started teaching part time to help support myself since playing music wasn’t enough for me and at times still isn’t. It’s pretty sad to think that what I was getting paid to play at local clubs back then is pretty much the same 30 years later! The only difference is that my national touring acts and private shows make up for a lot of that now. After many years in the Boston scene it was time for a change and so my girlfriend at the time Jeanne, now my wife, said let’s move to Los Angeles and so we did. I lined up a job with the retail store Crate & Barrel where I worked in college and learned a lot about business skills. Back then Berklee didn’t have a music business degree like they do now and no real classes were offered to learn about it. The money wasn’t great in retail but at least I had some steady income to get going and I soon landed a job teaching for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
So here I am now living in the City of Angels and back to the grind of playing clubs, going to jam sessions and trying to meet people. One day I saw an ad in the Music Connection Magazine and landed a job with a pop punk band call Even Rude. Their song “Vilified” was just placed on the 1st Tony Hawk Pro Skater Video game that sold millions of copies and we were being offered great shows at X-Games, Gravity Games and any Extreme Sporting Events with bands like Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Alien Ant Farm, Adema, etc. We were even offered a record deal that we turned down but that’s a whole other story. Soon I met a drummer, Jimmy Paxon and he recommended me for national touring artists Edgar Winter and Sophie B. Hawkins and I was off and running.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I don’t know of many people in the music industry who have had a smooth road. It takes a lot of work and determination and I have seen some very talented people give up and some not as talented push on through and make something for themselves. I think the struggles are what make for more creative and real music. There is always a lesson that comes from a tough situation. For example, my learning disability has made me a better teacher and a more understanding person.
As far as struggles go for me, I always seem to have a hard time whenever I come off the road. We call it the post tour blues. I know part of it is probably my dumb ego but a lot of it is just because I love meeting people and learning about different areas and culture. When I get home to “my real life”, it can be a bit depressing even though I love my family and home life. When work is slow, it can throw you into a funk, especially when you see your peers working but that’s just part of the job. My wife actually has to constantly remind me to look back at my year and when I do, I realize how much I accomplished and how ridiculous I was being. I actually made a slide show on my phone of 2024 and it was such an eye opener.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Currently I am a member of the 80’s band Berlin. If you have seen the 1986 movie Top Gun then you know the biggest hit, “Take My Breath Away” which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1986. I love the band and we did an amazing tour in 2023 through the US with Culture Club and Howard Jones and then Australia with just Culture Club.
In 2023 I also released my first album “Resume” under the band name Catfish Critters. It’s a tribute to New Orleans music and the artists I’ve worked with. I took their hit songs and arranged them with a New Orleans style. It was a great learning experience and it helped me learn an entirely different side of the industry. I unfortunately ran out of steam on the promoting and publicity side of things. I wish I had some backing to help me get it on some more playlists that would reach more people who love this style of music. There are some amazing musicians on this album and I really want them to be heard. It was tough enough to record, engineer and produce this album by myself, but I also had to get licenses for the cover songs, set up an online distribution site, get physical copies like CD’s, Vinyl’s and T-shirts made along with artwork, set up an online store to sell merchandise, set up a shipping department… do you want me to keep on going? lol
Anyway, It was all worth it and now I just started my second album and this one should go a lot smoother and less stressful.
It’s a tribute to Reggae music which had a big impact on me but I am doing all originals. I’m hoping that I may be able to license a song or two in a movie or commercial to help fund my projects.
If you are reading this and would like to help in anyway, please contact me through my website ricrocc.com or catfishcritters.com.
Most musicians work with several artists to keep their schedules full and I am no different. This year I started working with Mark Mackay out of Nashville which has allowed me to back up other Nashville artists such as
Morgan Myles from the 2022 season of the “The Voice”, Tyler Rich who’s debut album “Two Thousand Miles” amassed nearly half a billion global streams to date and notched three No. 1 hits on SiriusXM’s The Highway. I also backed CJ Solar, who wrote songs for artists such as Jason Aldean, Jerrod Niemann and Justin Moore, while also writing number one singles for Jameson Rodgers “Some Girls” and Morgan Wallen’s breakout hit “Up Down” featuring Florida Georgia Line.
I think what sets me apart from others is my will to survive. I always seem to figure out a way. If I have to teach more lessons, take some corporate gigs, I will and I think it keeps me humble. Like I said earlier, “everything happens for a reason” and right after buying our second home in Nashville, I received a call that Berlin was taking a break in 2024. This devastated me for many reasons but within weeks I started working with Mark Mackay and meeting all these artists from Nashville and opening for artists like Joe Nicholes, Dustin Lynch, Uncle Kracker and Eric Paslay. Call me crazy but I think I have some weird mojo out there and some help from the man above!
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Work hard, keep an open mind and remember that things change. I try to be a good person and working on being a better listener and not offer my opinion unless asked. I am at the point in my career where I want to start living for myself and family. I have missed so many events with my family and friends because of my career and I know that’s the path I chose and I don’t regret it. But I am now at a place in my life that I’ve done what I set out to do and everything now is a bonus.
Of course I want to keep on playing and touring until I know longer physically can because I love it but I also know now that I don’t need to take every gig that comes along especially the unhealthy ones. My wife and I are not spenders and have been saving most of our money for retirement and I do look forward to spending that money on some killer vacations.
My good friend and great bass player Adam Cohen taught me many lessons on the road with Engelbert Humperdinck but one thing I will never forget is.. “You have to be good to yourself and cut yourself some slack once in a while. We work hard at what we do”.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ricrocc.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ricrocca/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ric.rocc
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ric-roccapriore-777389a/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@ricrocc
- Other: https://catfishcritters.com/
Image Credits
Travis Surber, Daryl Bryant, KTLA and Ric Roccapriore
