Rocket to the top? Guess we'll have to tune in

I have no idea whether the band will do well -- though knowing the sensibilities of the people who brought you "American Idol," I'd bet on them -- but the commercial that aired Thursday night promoting Fox's new talent show "The Next Great American Band" featured none other than Los Angeles quintet Rocket.

Haven't heard about "The Next Great American Band?" My colleague Robert Lloyd's story is here. And a detailed story from Associated Press is here.

Rocket apparently made it as far as Lake Las Vegas (see photo above), where the network invited 60 bands from the 6,000 entries it received to perform (in, as it turned out, temperatures exceeding 100 degrees). The show starts tonight with the sure-to-be-painful initial auditions.

Nobody in Rocket could be reached for an interview, but the act's back story can make your head spin. The "band" started in the Spaceland parking lot after a show when three blonde women -- all named Lauren -- struck up a conversation with Jim Freek, who runs a boutique label of mostly kitschy power-pop bands, Teenacide. Freek asked the young women what they did, and one replied, "We're in a band," although none was, or had been. Asked the name of the band, one of the Laurens quickly replied, "Rocket." And a band was born.

Rocket's first EP for Teenacide was largely covers and ghost-written (and -played), but the band changed some players, practiced like crazy, became a fivesome, started writing its own material and released a second EP that mixed covers with originals. The quintet's music mostly rehashes girl-group pop, but in a spunky and charming way; from its bubblegummy beginnings, Rocket has acquired a confident edge.

And its tireless touring has paid off. I remember attending their first show at Club Good Hurt in West L.A. and thinking Rocket would never last, but I sold them short. The band made the rounds on the Warped Tour, toured with the likes of Butch Walker and even did a residency at Spaceland.

They're kind of made for TV -- in fact, singer Lauren Rocket even appears on the new Junkie XL single "More" (off the Dutch musician's new album "Booming Back at You," due in February), and in the forthcoming video for the song.

||| Stream Rocket's music here.

Photos: Top, Rocket, from Fox Photo; above, Lauren Rocket on the set of the Junkie XL video shoot, by lastnightsparty.com.

Comments

[Eric]

I've always thought Rocket sounded like a band that started in a club parking lot.

Third-rate Go-Go's, Radio Disney-style.

[Merlyn Merlot]

Rocket is Godhead
they write record and tour all the time
Love the Laurens
and the lead singer is a star that will steal your heart

Hot Rocket Love
Cosmo