Rocco Guarino

Rocco Guarino is a Los Angeles-based record producer and film director. He has been entrusted by some of the biggest names in entertainment to create media that represents their image and brand.

Rocco has worked with artists such as Elton John, Juliette Lewis, Jane Lynch, members of Weezer, Pearl Jam, and Guns ‘n Roses, in addition to producing two American Idol top-12 finalists. Rocco’s photographs have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Billboard Magazine, Kerrang, Penthouse, and Bass Player, as well as outdoor billboard campaigns in New York and Los Angeles.

He has directed video projects for Stone Temple Pilots, Velvet Revolver, Cherie Currie of The Runaways, designer John Varvatos, songwriter Diane Warren, and photographer Jim Marshall, among others. His corporate clients have included Deutsche Bank, SmartCar, PBS, HDNet, and Home Shopping Network, as well as record companies such as Universal, RCA, Atlantic, SonyRED, and Interscope.

What brought Rocco to his current path began in Hudson Valley, New York, with his first guitar at the age of thirteen. By sixteen, he was producing and mixing the band he played bass and keyboards in. After moving to Florida in 1989, he immersed himself into the local music scene, opening a recording studio where he established himself as a record producer.

This sonic exploration evolved into a passion for imagery and film, and ultimately led him to Los Angeles in 2001, where he began working with rock supergroup Velvet Revolver. For the life of the band (2002-2008), Rocco served as their official documentarian, capturing the innermost workings of one of the world’s biggest bands at the time, through three world tours, two studio albums, and band member’s side projects. Rocco cut his footage into a 30-minute documentary, after which critical acclaim of the film led him to direct the music video for “The Last Fight,” which reached #9 on VH1′s Top-Ten Countdown.

Rocco’s unique creative approach has earned him a reputation for tapping into the emotional essence of a story, and his aesthetic leans towards gritty and compelling visuals, rock and roll record production, and pop-inspired songwriting.

Rocco’s passionate belief in keeping the arts accessible to everyone has recently led him to direct projects for Adopt The Arts, a non-profit organization designed to keep arts in public schools, headed by drummer Matt Sorum and actor Jane Lynch.

Whether it be light, color, or sound, fiction or non-fiction, Rocco has an insatiable appetite for telling stories. He continues to find new mediums for expression, which has lead him to feature films. He has two projects in development, including the film Hangdog, which he co-wrote, and Mongoose, which he wrote and plans to direct.

Rocco is a voting member of NARAS (The Grammys, The Recording Academy), a Writer/Publisher member of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), and is on the Advisory Board of the Ocean County Vocational Technical School in NJ.