ArroyoPhotos.com

ROK Celebrates 15 Years!

Take yourself back to 2006, specifically, October of 2006. George W. Bush was president. The radio waves were dominated by songs by Ludacris, The Killers, Beyonce, and The Fray. NBC’s 30 Rock had just premiered. Justin Timberlake was still bringing SexyBack.

For karaoke fans in San Diego, it was also the month that Pickford’s Party decided to create our fair city’s first live band karaoke group. With support from the fine folks at R.T.’s Longboard Grill (RIP Longboards), we launched our first live show on October 25, 2006. Our original lineup consisted of Roberto Renovales (bass), Colin Farnell (lead guitar), Nick Vincent-Maloney (drums), and John (Skipper) Ruzicka (rhythm guitar).

The turnout on the first night was, let’s just say, modest. But word quickly spread of our Wednesday night residency at Longboards, and we continued to grow our karaoke fan base as well as our song list. We continued that Wednesday residency through the winter and into 2007. The “regulars” who started to show up week after week meant that we were really onto something with this idea. We gained a lot of momentum in those early months and even played a few private parties and corporate events. Most of all, we had a ton of fun playing gigs every week.

Over the next year or so, life events and career choices meant we would need to replace drummer Nick who moved to Portland. We auditioned a few drummers, but none were a great fit for the group for a variety of reasons. Luckily, we had crossed paths with Eric Ganci previously, who was ready to join immediately.

As Eric puts it, I first saw ROK as an audience member. I’m blown away by the concept…like, I’m giggly with excitement because the concept is so fun. I sing Margaritaville and right after the gig I tell the band “if this drummer chair ever opens, I want the audition.”

Our momentum carried us into 2008, where our weekly Longboard gigs were packed every Wednesday (we put friends of the band on “the list” to get in free and skip the line). We also caught the attention of several other area venues, where we started monthly residencies at House of Blues, played as the “house band” at a battle of the bands event at Viejas, and started growing our list of wedding and corporate clients in San Diego and beyond.

Details and dates are fuzzy, but over the next few years we added more band members to round out our group and create redundancy in each position so that we could commit to more work. Guitarist Rob Wells joined after we convinced him to leave his own cover band (though we think he may have been cheating on us a bit in those early days). Bass Dave Swendsen and guitarist Mike Stoltz had both played in a band called Meld with Eric, so they were a natural fit. Drummer Matt Souza was also a key member for many years before moving to LA.

By the early 2010’s guitarist Paulo da Rosa, drummer Shawn Ballard, and bassist Andy Hinson had signed on to help keep the rocket ship flying high. By that time, we had also established a new weekly residency on Thursday nights at 710 Beach Club in Pacific Beach. That weekly residency lasted for more than four years and after shifting to monthly appearances in 2015, our current data says we’ve played 300 gigs at the venue. 300!

With so many years behind us, it’s hard to pinpoint all the great moments on stage and off. But who can forget the time we had a marriage proposal happen on stage? Who remembers the time we partied with Jack (of Jack in the Box fame)? How many times did we run the PB Idol live band karaoke competition? We could write for days on the 9 years we hosted the “sing” portion of the now-legendary Sing Dance Crawl bar crawl.

If you’re still reading this far down, thanks for taking this walk down memory lane with us. We’re hopeful we can continue to rock San Diego events and bars for the next 15 years and beyond as we bounce back from the pause brought on by COVID last year. Thanks to all those who have supported us over the years, joined us on stage, hired us for your company events, or just followed along from the sidelines. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Mad love 🤘

Rock Out Karaoke

We would be remiss if we didn’t pay special tribute to long-time host and forever supporter of the band, Carlos. We lost Los earlier this year, but he’ll always be part of our story.

Sing Dance Crawl 2016

If you’ve been with us for any time in years past, you’ve no doubt heard us talk about the best pub crawl in town: Sing Dance Crawl. Hosted each year by our friends at The Local over Memorial Day weekend, what started as a modest gathering of a couple hundred people has ballooned in recent years and just keeps getting bigger and better.

This year’s crowd of 1,500+ flooded the House of Blues San Diego with energy, enthusiasm, sex appeal, and a few surprises (cue the marching band)! Rock Out Karaoke is proud to have supported this event again in 2016 (our sixth in a row!). Proceeds from the crawl benefit the Wingman Foundation – a veteran-run, all-volunteer nonprofit that helps support the families of fallen military aviators.

Check out scenes from SDC 2016, and stay tuned for announcements about this event in 2017!

Sing Dance Crawl ’15

Update: if you were there, here’s what you experienced. If you missed it, well – here’s what you missed.

IMG_2430

More photos here.

Imagine taking the main stage at the legendary House of Blues San Diego to sing live band karaoke in front of 1,200 of your newest friends. That’s the situation this Memorial Day weekend, when Rock Out Karaoke takes over HOB as part of the annual Sing Dance Crawl hosted by The Local.

Get your tickets here (they’re going fast)!

Here’s a look at the schedule:
12:00pm HOUSE OF BLUES (Rock Out Karaoke)
2:15pm FLUXX
4:15pm BASSMNT
6:30pm passed out! 😉

Check out last year’s fun:

Please note that Rock Out Karaoke doesn’t have any say in who gets to join us on stage. This is a charity event and organizers put together the list of singers. Check the SDC Facebook event page for more info on how to get on stage with us. We hope to see you there!

Rock Out Karaoke is San Diego’s most dynamic live music performance group, combining the raw power of a live rock band with the fun of audience participation, where individual singers take center stage with the live band! Contact us today if you’re looking for the best interactive entertainment you can get for your next event! Join our mailing list to find out when and where we’ll play next.

Partying with Jack

ACESxp-15266-L

We all know Jack is a funny guy. But did you also know that he’s a killer guitar player? ROK learned that at our most recent San Diego corporate karaoke event as Jack joined us on stage for a perfect performance of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long.”

Flanked by choreographed dancers, Jack belted out his best for more than 300 guests at Fluxx in downtown San Diego. Our client, Jack In the Box, hired Rock Out Karaoke to bring an interactive element to the entertainment for the night where a standard cover band just wouldn’t do.

Besides several rock star Jack In the Box employees, we were joined that night by Gene Simmons of KISS and Madonna (we think it was the real Gene; really we do!).

Check out the photo gallery for the proof! And please don’t settle for the same old boring band the next time you’re planning an event.

Rock Out Karaoke is San Diego’s most dynamic live music performance group, combining the raw power of a live rock band with the fun of audience participation, where individual singers take center stage with the live band! Complete with lyrics displayed on a monitor in real-time with the music, nothing is missing from this unique karaoke show!

2014: A Karaoke Year in Review

2014 has been a banner year here for us at Rock Out Karaoke, and we couldn’t have done it without you, San Diego! Whether it was a Gaslamp or Pacific Beach bar — or a private karaoke event — we loved having you on stage with us. So, we got to thinking (dangerous, we know): what if we added up all the numbers? Here’s how 2014 panned out:

  • 107 shows (charity events, holiday parties, bar gigs, weddings, & campfires*)
  • This also means we likely played “Don’t Stop Believin” at least 106 times
  • 4,000 songs performed
  • 15,458 high fives (some people forget to high five the band on the way out, you know)
  • 2 Bass Dave beard sightings

While there were so many to choose from, here are just a few of our favorite live band karaoke moments in 2014:

ROK Turns 8
We quietly celebrated our 8th birthday this October. Hard to believe we’ve been rocking for the better part of a decade! Judging by the numbers above, we’re only getting started.

4k tv winnerAJ’s Kids Crane
We loved supporting such a great cause with AJ’s Kids Crane this year. One lucky ROK fan even took home a brand new Sony 4K TV!

San Diego County Fair
We enjoyed our 5th year performing at the San Diego County Fair. Editors note: we’re already in talks with them about some surprises for 2015.

The Local Pub Crawl (follow the link for tons of great photos)
We look forward to this rockin’ party that just keeps getting bigger and better every year. Taking the stage at the legendary House of Blues with 1,200 of our closest friends in attendance is always quite a rush.

YOU Joining us on Stage
Yes, YOU! We couldn’t have done any of this without our incredible fans, so thanks from all of us at ROK for supporting San Diego’s best live band karaoke. Special thanks to 710 Beach Club for hosting us every Thursday night of the year – and Tin Roof Bar for bringing us in every Wednesday. Don’t forget to tip your bartenders!

We hope to see you in 2015!

*ROK has yet to land a paying campfire gig (it’s one of our top goals for 2015 in Southern California).

Rock Out Karaoke is San Diego’s number one event band. There’s nothing quite like joining a live band on stage to unleash your inner rock star! Call us today to see how we can spice up your next event.