MUSIC in REVIEW • 'Just Wanna Be With You’

With the release of this new joyous, shimmering, hard-rocking, and uniquely passionate homage  Just Wanna Be With You regional singer, songwriter, composer, and programmer extraordinaire Chris Rokita has created what can be easily be described as one of the most uplifting, powerful, and commanding Tribute songs to a loved one this reviewer has ever had the pleasure to experience.

Enlisting the aid of world-class drummer Kenny Aronoff, who has toured or recorded with artists such as John Fogerty, Linda Ronstadt, John Mellencamp, and Melissa Etheridge to name but a few, with this poignant seamlessly crafted homage that was inspired by the passing of his mother, Chris Rokita proves hands-down his talents as a one-man music factory by pulling together every aspect of professionalism in the music-making process as a singer, songwriter, producer, arranger, and recording engineer, which affords him the freedom to fully express his artistic vision without any constraints.

Mastered by Christian Wright at Abbey Road Studios in London, the uplifting power-pop guitar riffs Rokita uses to frame the song, coupled with the driven and expressive precision of Aronoff’s drumming, open up spaces for soaring and ebullient guitar solos that take the listener to a place one would never think from a song, which especially from a lyrical standpoint, one would expect to be written as a ballad as opposed to a pedal-to-the-floor rocker.

For those unfamiliar with Chris Rokita, this year at the 2024 REVIEW Music Awards, he managed to secure a total of 10 nominations, including Best New Artist, Best Solo Artist, Most Innovative Artist, Best Songwriter, and Best Recording Studio, in addition to the trophy he walked home with for Best Rock Vocalist.

Embracing an approach for creating fresh, original, and upbeat music informed by the style of Classic Rock, yet loaded with modern sensibilities and catchy lyrics, with his recording company CARokita Music Chris has released eight original songs that can be heard on both YouTube and RokitaMusic.com

“Everything I do is original but the style and feel I’m striving for is that upbeat euphoric sound of Classic Rock music,” he explains. “ I strive to make each song different and spend a lot of time on the lyrics, because I don’t want to throw some lyrical tripe out there, but am striving for deeper meaning behind the lyrics that goes well with the texture of the music.”

“I grew up back in the late ‘80s and would go to see these local bands like Backtalk and go to concerts by Poison, Ratt, Dio, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, who were all big influences,” he continues. “You could really feel these complex progressions in the music and real emotion in the lyrics that I think is lacking a bit these days.”

Set for an October 18^th release date, Just Wanna Be With You is a song that was months in the making, and the end result certainly shows the time, attention, and care that went into every aspect of the project.

“My Mother was awesome and she passed away ten years ago and had a lot of life left in her, only she  had a stroke and not maybe a couple months later half of her was paralyzed,” he reflects. “She was such an inspiration and so amazing that I was determined to honor her the best way that I could through this song, and committed myself to taking whatever time it took to do it right.”

“Initially when we started I had some different music ironed out for this song, and struggled getting the right feeling to go along with the lyrics,” continues Chris. “So what happened is that we tried a bunch of different instruments and sounds and still couldn’t get it down, so I decided to start from scratch down this path with musical background riffs. Once I got that down it became a perfect fit for the song.”

“Working with Kenny Aronoff was unbelievable,” notes Chris. “The guitars, vocals, and arrangements are done by me, but we needed a studio to get the drums done right and fine tune everything and that’s where Abbey Road Studios came in. To get the drums recorded right you need 15 different microphones and we wanted that to be perfect, so Kenny did two takes. He had a lot going on and kept emailing me saying that he was going to get to my song, but finally he wrote down the sequence and scripted out how to play it and then sent me a traditional take and a second take where he ad-libbed a lot more, so it’s the second take we went with for the recording.”

“Once the music was where it needed to be I was able to jump on it with the lyrics and vocals because I could feel what was going in the song to reinforce the vocal and lyrical delivery. It took months to get the sound we wanted and I’m really proud of it.”

Chris credits entertainment consultant Kelly Milionis for helping to hook him up with Aronoff.  “Kelly knew about him and told me to reach out and give him a try. He said if he liked my song he would be reasonable to work with and it one of the most iconic drummers out there, so it was a pleasure to work with him.”

Chris says once the song is released on October 18^th they will send blasts out to different radio stations and target colleges and different countries. With close to ten songs in his catalog thus far, Chris is hoping Just Wanna Be With You will really open things up for his career. “It’s a huge departure - a true rock song - and something that’s definitely different.”

With his previous single release, She Is, Chris has also clocked 800,000 views so far and is submitting it for consideration in this year’s Grammy Awards. “To be considered you need to send it out to voters, which is going on from October 4^th through the 15^th, so hopefully I’ll get enough votes to be nominated. I’, not expecting anything, but want to get my name out there and publicized so I can submit this new song for consideration next year and have a whole year to promote it.”

“I may end up doing an album next and remix some of the singles,” he concludes. “I already have another song I’m working on called Victory. Of course, none of this would be possible without the support of my wife, who is busy with our kids; and I don’t have lots of time to work on these projects but when I do I take the time to do it right.  Kelly has also been a huge help with shaping my musical career. He has a great ear and pushes me and lets me know if something isn’t right. Friends and family will always tell you they love your work, but his opinion is priceless. He keeps me on track.”

You can find Chris Rokita’s  artist channels on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, and all the streaming services, and learn more on his official website at www.rokitamusic.com