Q&A: CHRIS LAROCCA CAPTURES THE CHAOS AND CALM OF GETTING OLDER
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY JOANNA GIANO ☆
Photo By Ted Belton
REFLECTIVE AND FULL OF YEARNING, CHRIS LAROCCA’S NEW EP—dog years is out now. Luna has featured his work before, and this time, we’re excited to welcome him back to talk about the inspiration behind his latest release.
dog years explores the passing years now that Chris LaRocca is 30 years old—he’s reflecting on what really matters. The EP looks into internal struggles like self deprecation and an honest reflection of what it’s like to actually be with him. There’s a certain vulnerability that runs through the songs, touching on human experiences like being someone’s last resort or learning to sit with your own thoughts. It’s tied together by life’s most bittersweet moments.
LaRocca explains that he finds inspiration everywhere. Outside of his own life, things like cars, rain, and city noise became part of his creative process. In dog years, even the sound of his dog’s collar found its way into a vocal track, not as an accident, but as part of the world he’s building through sound. These small, real moments layer together on his 2014 MacBook, shaping a project that feels alive and imperfect in the best way.
The EP ties together emotional reflection with songs that are still upbeat and danceable. It’s that mix of melancholy and movement; a feeling everything but still wanting to move through it that makes dog days so relatable.
We caught up with Chris LaRocca to talk about the making of the EP, the creative choices behind it and what this chapter means for him as an artist.
LUNA: “preaching to the choir” has this funky sound layered over lyrics that feel yearning and emotional. What is this song about for you, and how did you decide to pair those emotional lyrics with such a fun vibe?
LAROCCA: This song is more of a feeling—it’s a look inside of an anxious mind. I wrote it about what it must be like to be close to someone like myself, whether romantically or platonically, since I am always overthinking every interaction I have. The lyrics are like a stream of consciousness: all the questions and doubts that I have on a daily basis with the people around me. I didn’t really think about how the music would pair with this song to be entirely honest. I made the music first, and it inspired the rest of the songwriting. I think it’s kind of a funny relationship of what’s being said and what’s being heard, but I didn’t think too much about how the music and lyrics would interact on this specific song.
LUNA: In “normal guy,” you sing “she is a high class lady, I’m just a normal guy.” What story are you telling in this track and how personal does it feel to you?
LAROCCA: This song is about my self-deprecating nature. I often put people on the pedestal at the expense of how I see myself. For that reason, it’s very personal to me. It’s not about a specific person, but definitely about a specific feeling I am very familiar with.
LUNA: The song is poppy but slower and more chilled compared to “preaching to the choir.” How does that more relaxed production shape the way people hear the lyrics?
LAROCCA: I think since this song is way more literal than preaching to the choir, and I wanted the music around it to compliment that. It’s simple, but it does have its quirks. The song is at an extreme decimal point of a BPM, it’s a very unique tempo. All the music and vocals were shifted up in pitch as well, which made a kind of classic sound sound a bit more unique, and makes the lyrics come across a little more ironically, which works for the sentiment of this song.
LUNA: “last pair of boots in town” closes the EP with lines like “I see you when the party’s over / find me when the summer ends.” What’s this song about for you and why did you want to end the project on that note?
LAROCCA: This song is about being treated like a last resort by the person you love. I think I’ve been on both sides of this coin, so it really holds weight for me. With all the other songs on this record celebrating love for the most part, I felt like ending with heartbreak would leave the project open ended, almost like a “to be continued” feeling.
LUNA: The title track, “dog years,” flips the familiar phrase “dog days” into something new. What does “dog years” mean in your writing, and what about this track made it feel like the centerpiece of the whole EP?
LAROCCA: The days move slow and the years move fast—that's really what the sentiment of “dog years” means to me. I think in my 30s I have a very different relationship with time than I did when I was younger. It really feels like I’m aging and growing at a quicker pace nowadays, and that’s what inspired the whole project. I’m a big fan of having a title track for a project, something that sums up every song and in one. I think this song really did that for this record. There’s a piece of every song within it in a way, but it feels like it’s its own thing at the same time.
LUNA: Speaking of production, how did you approach the overall production of this EP? Was there a concept you were following, or did it evolve track by track?
LAROCCA: The production was really a bedroom project. All of these songs were either started or finished in my bedroom studio in Toronto. I think that’s where the magic came from. I never really close my windows—-there's lots of car horns, street noise, rain, wind, etc. in the vocal takes. I think in “last pair of boots in town” my dog shaking his collar made it into a vocal track as well. It’s those imperfections that give this music character. I’m really no engineer. I just record things in ways that feel right to me. iPhone, shitty microphones, all going into a 2014 MacBook Pro. By the end, I found myself taking voice notes on my phone of the room and street noise just to add back into the production after. Some of these songs were started in big studios, but even in those environments we’d record every instrument at once, like a band would, and catch some really special mistakes and sounds that I think most people would not include or clean up.
LUNA: What was the creative vision that guided you as the record took shape?
LAROCCA: I was really inspired by a wide variety of projects that have built their own worlds as well. I think The Band was my earliest inspiration for this project. When you listen to one of their records, you’re in the room with them. That’s special to me. I think lyrically, MJ Lenderman builds a world that is entirely his own, and that was inspiring to me as well. I just wanted people to feel like they’ve stepped into my room when they hear this music.
LUNA: What kind of emotions were you trying to evoke through these songs?
LAROCCA: I just wanted people to feel like they really stepped into my world. Whatever I was feeling, I wanted to have it felt by the listener. And that’s a lot of things all at once.
LUNA: What’s your favorite lyric in the whole EP, and why does it stand out to you?
LAROCCA: “I think you left a light on in my eyes, yeah / I don’t light up for anything these days, I’ve learned to hate my grinning smile.” Anyone who knows me knows how real this is for who I am. I think “laundry day” as a whole might be some of my favorite lyrics I’ve ever written.
LUNA: When you picture performing these songs live, which track do you think the crowd will connect to most, and why?
LAROCCA: I can’t wait to play “slow dance in the diner” live. I can’t really say what will connect most, but I do have a strong feeling about that one.
