PAUL ROCHA IS ...
(rō-shə) a self-produced recording artist who lives and works in Warren, RI. His style can run from acoustic-confessional to chamber pop, or from flower-power psychedelia to borderline surrealism. And apparently, now he does country. He is a disciple of 60s and early 70s sensibilities and echoes of that can be heard throughout his work. He is a slave to beauty and a sucker for sad.
He cites as his biggest influences The Beatles, John Phillips, Pete Townshend, The Moody Blues, The Brothers Gibb, Burt Bacharach, Simon & Garfunkel, Carole King, Neil Young, Randy California, Duane Allman, Steve Howe, Nicky Hopkins, Andy Partridge, West Side Story, Firesign Theater, and George Carlin.
Over the years, he has spent time in such esteemed outfits as Lebharrocha, The Amy Fairchild Band, Sugar Giant, Paulzilla, The Wedgies, Mr. Sherwood, Right Angles, Dear Sir, The Nyce Boiz, Pryvate Tunings, and Wind Dance, as well as some you've probably never heard of. :-)
While a fixture in the Northampton, MA music scene for some 25+ years, he played piano on The Scud Mountain Boys’ LP, Pine Box, while producing Pioneer Valley pop guru Ray Mason's 5 Song Acoustic Sampler (1992), as well as Michael Carrig's exquisite Salome's Dance (1996), pre-Treefort sage Paul Hansbury's eponymous solo debut (1998) and Paulzilla's Little Town (2022).
He played bass for a few gigs with L.A. psychedelic lounge legend Arthur Lee of Love in the mid-90s and has shared a stage with Joan Osborne, Jill Sobule, Pete Droge, The Fools, and NRBQ.
Other interests are history, politics, cinema, reading, crosswords, and jigsaw puzzles. He is an absolute Beatle nut and all around ’60s popular music junkie. He’s hopelessly devoted to his Boston sports teams. Consequently, over the years he has died a thousand deaths at the hand of his beloved Red Sox.
Formerly a bagel baker, engraver/machinist, as well as a part-owner of a very successful skincare company, he now dedicates himself solely to music full-time at his secret garden, Elmwood East Recording Studio, in Warren, RI.
He is, first and foremost, an acoustic guitarist. Besides writing, arranging, and recording his own songs, he arranges and records many acoustic guitar covers from the 60s and 70s, as well as some standards. He will also occasionally do a full-production covers of songs, usually from that same magical 64-73 era. Some of those examples can be heard here:/instrumentals
and here:/covers
His most recent release, High Crimes and Misty Mornings (2024) on Paisley Palm Records™ is a collection of country-tinged pop and some acoustic ballad pieces that have been gathering dust over the years. High Crimes is a natural progression from his previous offerings: The introspective Apophenia (2021), as opposed to the poppy Stingy Alley (2018), and the quasi-neo-psychedelic Crayons (2012).
Rocha describes himself as “A slave to beauty and a sucker for sad.”
He calls his music Five Chord Power Pop and says,
“It’s all about the circle. It’s all about going home.”
