Review Fix Exclusive: Interview With Adalene Lead Guitarist Corey Rozzoni

If there’s a shelf life to being a Rock n Roll guitarist, nobody told Corey Rozzoni.

After a brief hiatus from the music scene in 2008, a chance meeting at a friend’s birthday show helped breath new life into Rozzoni’s career. There he met Josh Mitchell, Brett Moyer and Jonathan Stoye. A jam session later, they formed Adalene. The group released their first record in 2010 and in April they dropped the EP “Atlantic Heart.”

With his black Mohawk, eyeliner and tattoos (that include a red and black star on his wrist), Rozzoni looks every bit of a rock star. Over the course of his career, he’s played in five different bands and passed through much of the heart of the U.S.

By the time he was nine, Rozzoni knew that brushing guitar strings with a pick was the only thing he wanted to do in life. His parents were well versed in rock n roll and if a show played within 100 miles of their residence on Rockton Illinois, that’s where you could find the Rozzoni family. It was at a KISS concert in 1979 where Rozzoni’s life would change forever.

“My parents took me to see KISS play in Milwaukee and it ruined me,” Rozzoni said with a laugh. “It changed my life forever; I was obsessed and still am.”

Soon after, he began to take guitar lessons and play in talent competitions. He idolized Jimmy Hendrix and Van Halen, but eventually realized that he’d never be able to play like them, so he moved on to song writers like Led Zeppelin and The Beatles.

While in his 20s, Rozzoni relocated to Dallas, Texas, where he played with the band LeSonic and than later Clumsy and the Burden Brothers. By 2003, he realized he went as far as he could in Texas and began to consider a move to L.A., New York and Chicago before being lured to Nashville by friends.

“I couldn’t afford to live in L.A.,” Rozzoni stated. “Even though I’m not a country music fan, it [Nashville] was probably the best choice.”

Rozzoni and the rest of Adalene can attest to the difficulties of being a rock band in country dominated Nashville. They even joke that Nashville eats its own, because it praises rockers from other states who relocate to Tennessee, but doesn’t give air play to bands from the area.

“For example you have the rock band Paramore who are from here and I never hear them played on the radio here,” Rozzoni said. “Yet Jack White moves here from Detroit and The Black Keys from Ohio and they’re immediately Nashville darlings.”

Although the success of country music in recent years has caused many rock musicians to try their luck in the genre, Rozzoni has resisted those temptations.

“The only way I’d play country is if Johnny Cash came back from the dead and asked me to play,” Rozzoni said with laughter. “It’s not my thing; I’m rock n roll through and through.”

Adalene is a multifaceted band that can make a track like “Atlantic Heart” sound pop in the studio and play it heavy live. As a group they’ve grown from 2010s “Night on Fire” to the new EP “Atlantic Heart.” On this album there’s a song for everyone from pop, to rock and even a ballad in “The Unknown.” The writing process has also evolved. On the first EP lead singer Brett Moyer and Josh Mitchell wrote the whole album, in “Atlantic Heart” the entire band contributed.

“This EP we all sprinkled stuff on it, so it’s more of a representation of the band,” Rozzoni said.

Although Adalene isn’t yet exactly where they want to be, there’s a small change in the bands travel arrangements that shows Rozzoni’s progression. A year ago the band used a kick starter campaign to raise money to buy the RV they travel to shows in. This is a step up from the way Rozzoni traveled with his old bands.

“The RV has bunks, a living area and a kitchen but it still gets a bit crowded,” Rozzoni states. “Yet I’ve done tours before where we traveled in a van and everyone slept on a bench.”

Recently they’ve hit the road to play at festivals in Michigan and Indiana, before going out and playing more shows at the end of June. And although the band has contemplated releasing a full length album, the immediate plan is to get another EP out there as soon as possible.

“We’d like to play through the summer and into the fall, and we are hoping to have the next EP out by October, Rozzoni said. “We’ve talked about doing a full length, which now and days doesn’t make sense. We’d rather keep the music coming to keep people interested.”

As the case with any young band, Adalene knows they’re going to spend plenty of time on the road. Recently opening up for “Bush,” the band hopes to one day be able to live comfortably enough to not have to worry about getting the bills paid.

“The music industry is a scary place right now,” Rozzoni states. “People aren’t buying records, so you just have to play as much as possible and that’s really tough because we don’t get huge guarantees.”

Though Rozzoni doesn’t know what the future holds for Adalene, he’d like to tour and make music with the band for years to come. With the hope of one day being discovered, then maybe the traveling guitarist who’s paid his dues can finally cash in.

“We’ll keep plugging away and hopefully somebody will notice us,” Rozzoni said. “We’re at the point where we’re looking for someone to find us and believe in us.”