Des Rocs

This week on The Hardcore Humanism Podcast we talked with singer, songwriter and musician Des Rocs. Des was originally in a band Secret Weapons, which was signed to Epic Records. Secret Weapons put out an album in 2016 and toured with bands such as Panic at the Disco, Fall Out Boy and Weezer. Des has now gone out on his own as a solo artist and has already toured with bands such as The Struts and Muse. And Des has a new EP out called This Is Our Life released on the 300 Entertainment record label. One of the most prominent themes of the conversation with Des was the transformative power of music in people’s lives. Des talked about how important music has been to him both on a personal level throughout his life, and more recently on a professional level in his chosen career path. And it’s not just any music; Des unabashedly embraces the power of big stadium rock music to inspire and motivate people. So Is Des right? Can big stadium rock change our lives for the better? Well for starters, Des describes how big rock star dreams have inspired him personally and professionally. For example, Des described how even when he was a new artist playing small venues, he approached the shows “thinking that I'm Bruce Springsteen playing to 80,000 people.” And that big stadium mentality seems to have paid off; none other than The Rolling Stones tapped Des to open for them at one of their shows on their stadium tour in 2019. To be sure, the power of music seems to be that it can be appreciated across many genres and in different ways. You can connect with music by listening to it, playing it, dancing to it, even talking or writing about it. So, what value does big stadium music have to offer? One possible line of research that may help elucidate the answer to that question is research on “awe.” Awe has been defined as a feeling of reverence and respect, mixed with a feeling of wonder. Research is investigating whether awe suggests that it might improve one’s sense of well-being. As stadiums are often described as “awe-inspiring,” we can begin to wonder whether the sense of awe that comes from large shows mimics the feeling that people have with experiences of nature and spirituality. Sign up for the Hardcore Humanism Newsletter: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/GBmf0iU/HardcoreHumanismSignUp Follow Hardcore Humanism: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hardcorehumanism/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HardcoreHumanism/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/hardcorhumanism LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hardcore-humanism/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices