GET TO KNOW: ANDERSON ROCIO
Anderson is a patchwork of nationalities, half Spanish and half American, she calls herself a Kiwi, born in Italy, but spent most of her childhood in England. She was classically trained on the piano from six years old and at eleven, her family left what they knew behind to sail halfway around the world on a 44ft catamaran. The five of them and a Yamaha p60 piano.
Those three years of sailing lead them to New Zealand, where Queenstown became their home. She left high school a year early to be a diver at the Dubai Aquarium, whilst her father, king Marine Biologist, held the keys to the biggest tank in the world. She then deferred University to become a pro-kiteboarder. Ultimately though, following a number of titles and injuries, my love for words and music brought me a Bachelor Degree in Music, classical piano performance at Otago University, NZ.
A few months after graduation, she booked a one way ticket to Los Angeles, February 2017, to write and record her first EP, ‘Darkerside’. The mix of pop-acoustic tracks, was influenced by Matchbox 20, Jewel, Counting Crows, Avril Lavigne, Macy Gray and Vanessa Carlton. The CDs that accompanied her formative years at sea.
More on Anderson below!
Where are you from? Where are you based now?
I’m from a little bit of everywhere. Half American/Half Spanish and grew up in Europe before sailing to New Zealand where I call home, but I’ve been based out of Los Angeles since 2017.
How does the music scene in LA compare to scenes in the different places you’ve lived around the world?
Music is definitely focused here! There is an energy to excel and a hustle that I haven’t seen matched anywhere else.
Tell us about your upcoming single ‘Power In Us.’ What’s the purpose of this project?
Power In Us is a tribute to the Earth. A song inspired by the current state of the planet and our responsibility as the human race to take action to protect it. I’ve often felt at a loss for the part I play in this and how I can direct my craft to be able to help. As soon as I wrote it, I knew it could have a bigger purpose than just another song.
I’ve decided to open the song up license-free, in advance of its release this summer, to any organization advocating for the protection of the environment. The mission is to combine the power of music and social media to unite all those working towards the same goal and collectively amplify our voices.
You’ve spent much of your life traveling the world, how has that moved you to write this song?
I was lucky enough to travel the world as a kid, I lived on a boat with my family and got to see the earth from a whole different perspective and the dramatic importance of its Conservation. But I think if we all just stopped to listen to the Earth, then we would all feel that same connection and understand the gravity of what it means to lose it.
What did your songwriting process look like for this song in particular? Where did you draw inspiration from? Did it differ from your usual songwriting process?
Power In Us was a hard one to write, with such an important topic to approach, I felt a lot of pressure to write something that would matter. Writing has always come easy for me and as long as I feel it, I can write it. So I immersed myself in footage of expeditions from around the world bringing attention to global warming and the devastation it is causing to the Earth and its wildlife. Documentaries like Frozen Planet. It wasn’t until I watched the behind the scenes, of film crews spending weeks, months, and years, dedicating their lives to show us what is taking place, that I began to understand the angle I was supposed to write from. It’s not a song that should reflect an overwhelming sadness or guilt for being human and the loss and damage that we have caused, but one about the power that we have to change it. The power in ‘us’. If we can unite, then we can make a profound difference, and change the direction our Earth is headed.
Tell us about your link to the conservation world! Why does this project mean so much to you?
My brothers and I were educated by my parents on the ocean and my Dad is Juan Antonio Romero. He has been an ocean advocate for over 35 years, he’s an ex-cousteau diver, a marine biologist, and filmmaker and the managing director of Azul Marino Foundation in Valencia Spain (www.azulmarino.org), a young NGO based in the Mediterranean. I have been surrounded by conservation efforts for as long as I can remember. This is my chance to bring my two worlds together!
Tell us about a memorable moment you had in nature on your travels?
I’ll always remember a moment I had when I was around 12 years old. We were sailing the Pacific crossing, between the Galapagos Islands and the French Marquesas Islands. It was our longest crossing at twenty two days without land. We were about ten days out and as far as I knew, we were in the middle of nowhere in the Pacific Ocean. I was sitting on the bow of the boat when I looked up to find dolphins as far as my eye could see. There must have been hundreds of them. They had such purpose and direction, they knew exactly where they were and where to go, they swam with us for a while before continuing on their journey. That’s when I realized how small we were and how beautiful and important they must be.
We’re all about giving credit where credit is due! Who did you work with on the production/engineering side of this project?
I am so pleased you asked this! Power In Us was produced by Joseph Corban- Banks, one of my closest friends. My University roommate actually! I sent him the piano/vocal demo to see if he could do a quick “tidy up” and we spent weeks re-creating and tweaking the original to create the final version. I’ve been doing this to him for years 😂, he made my little idea come to life.
The Mixing Engineer for the project is Joshua Woods. I’d almost given up looking for the right one. when I received a message from him on Instagram, asking if I had any current projects he could potentially mix. We had mutual collaborations in the past and as soon as I heard his work I knew he was perfect for it! Also one of the loveliest humans ever.
Power In Us is Mastered by the only last name I’d have Master my songs these days…Tess Greenham! I am so grateful that this song could be hers to finish.
What was one fun piece of gear or instrument you used on the record?
A queen size mattress that we recently replaced was hanging out in our living room. We folded it in half and really wedged it into my tiny studio so I could record cleaner vocals. It worked like a treat but I had to wait an hour to leave my studio as we’d managed to secure it in such a way that I couldn’t exit on my own. Great trick though.
When is ‘Power In Us’ coming out? What’s next in the world of Anderson Rocio?
This summer! Keep an eye out for collaborations with Power In Us, beginning this Earth day April 22nd leading up to Oceans day June 8th. Expect big things! There will be some incredible projects coming out of this one and I’m so excited to watch it grow.
I honestly couldn’t tell you what’s next, but my world of music is about to get a lot more outdoorsy.