Dylan Rockoff, DMSB'18, is a singer/songwriter with a big dream, playing at Madison Square Garden in front of 20,000 people. He's well on his way there, with his first album These Old Streets cracking the top 10 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart in its debut and his first single Feeling Fine peaking at No. 51 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter charts the day it was released for pre-order.
Rockoff grew up listening to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Bon Jovi, eventually leading to his interest in playing the guitar. His lessons at the Uptown Music Collective in his hometown of Williamsport, PA helped strengthen his skills and build his confidence, especially when performing in front of live audiences.
“The music scene in Williamsport is really rich and I think that played a huge part in how I learned music,” he said. “Not only did I take guitar lessons there, but they also have workshops in jazz, and blues, and R&B, and I'd say that's where my taste in music really developed. At the time I was listening to a lot of punk, but it really showed me that there's a lot more music than what I've been listening to.”
During his time at the Collective, Rockoff made connections with other musicians, playing on rotation with different bands. He eventually connected with a friend of a friend, William Tenney, DMSB'15, an amateur music producer, and released his first single Feeling Fine, which has now been streamed almost 700,000 times on Spotify.
“I didn't expect it to go nearly as well as it did,” he said. “It's cool because people are super excited about it and the hype is definitely out there, but I'm the type of person who's always looking to improve, to make it better.
His last show touring with the band Tipling Rock is tonight at Red Room at Cafe 939.