Passionately Interesting

​By Julia Corrie
 
Mike “Smoka Rocha” was an interesting character, he was like no other musician I have spoken with before. He spoke so passionately about his music, and it blew my mind when he said he has recorded at least one song every day for the past year.
 
He had worked with many bands before, and enjoyed the teamwork aspect of making music together. The problem with musicians, though, is that not all of them are as passionate as Mike is, and he would sometimes rather move forward on his own if that means he would be taking that chance of booking a gig or being picked up as an artist. 
 
Mike emphasized the importance of putting yourself out there, especially as a solo musician trying to get different gigs booked or gaining a larger following. Sending people your music, reaching out and keeping up with venues, there is a lot of work that goes into it. 
 
At the end of our interview, he played me a song he had recorded the night before, called “Black Sheep.” He said he was the black sheep of his family, so the title seemed more than fitting. His upcoming albums are sure to be successes, as he’s been working on them for so long and has put serious thought into each.
 
Titles like Arkham (11/25) and Ghost Town (12/30) are all about hearing the voices in your head and hearing from those that you’ve lost, and will have a variety of musical influences on each. Mike was also excited about Hold the Mike (1/1/22) and All Natural (2/14/222), which are both acoustic albums of previous music, and also holding some new tracks.