I’m back after a short break at PopMatters

My first interview for them ran this week. It was with Rocky Votolato, the Seattle-area punk rocker turned singer-songwriter and his latest album True Devotion. I’m sort of pleased with the way it came out and am cautiously optimistic about doing a few more of these things for PM.

Here’s a bit:

“Lucky Clover Coin,” the song that opens Rocky Votolato’s sixth solo full-length, is a man’s conversation with his young son: an apology, an explanation, a bittersweet request for understanding from someone who
almost left for good, as a suicide. It’s lush and lovely with strings,
courtesy of Votolato’s friend Casey Foubert, yet also charged with effort and heavy with personal stakes. A story, certainly, but also a slice of Votolato’s life in the last few years, as he battled severe depression after his last solo album The Brag & Cuss and finally won through.

“I’ve been dealing with depression my whole life and not really knowing
it,” said Votolato in a recent phone interview. “I didn’t really know how sick I was.”

The rest

“Red River”