15.

Rocco Deluca and The Burden
I Trust You to Kill Me

I got into Rocco and Co. through a documentary about how they were the first band signed to Kiefer Sutherland’s private label. Of course, any band endorsed by Jack Bauer must be amazing. Anyway, Rocco Deluca offers, I suppose, something in the Jeff Buckley mould (though obviously not quite that good): a straight (as in uncomplicated, not heterosexual) impassioned singer/songwriter. He is a superb guitar player and has a great voice. The songs are strong, simple, and based on a classic template of verse chorus verse. Rocco will not change your world (this has all been done before, by many others) but he does do it all so damn well. His particular penchant is slide bar work, at which he is an utter master (surpassing even Michael McCarrick). My biggest criticism is that, as with Be Your Own Pet, the band’s best track by some distance doesn’t appear on the album. This fact is even more anomalous here, though, as it is the album’s title track ‘I Trust You to Kill Me’ that is notably absent – so far as I can tell, this can only be found on ITunes. Download either version (acoustic or live electric) for a great taster. Why did they leave it off? Utter madness. As for the album, the rockier tracks sit nicely with the slower acoustic numbers, and the wholly thing swaggers with style, confidence and skill. Rocco’s bassist (whoever he is!) was a super choice too, but Rocco is rightly seen as the star. His solo show, which I saw a couple of days ago, was astounding, and demonstrated nicely his pure natural talent.