Cock Rock Disco can be many things, although at this point right now, it's basically a general webpage for my music made under the moniker Donna Summer.
For years, I was a visual artist but always had a very specific interest in experimental music, most recently in the electronic kind. I started making music about four years ago and, on the whole, it was pretty crappy; but that was Ok because my main interest was in my visual art. I was very invested in the contemporary art word, and my career began to take off, I became an art critic for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, landed a good gallery (Sandler Hudson) and curated a few shows of note in the Southeast of the USA. This all culminated with a solo show at the gallery above. Then I moved to New York City.
There are certainly a large amount of obstacles to everyday living in NYC, not the least of which would be the high rents and small living spaces. I found myself working smaller and more digitally for my artwork; eventually this turned more into sound-art, then just into outright music.
That's when I started Cock Rock Disco. I bought the domain name, then released 2 CDR's which sold almost completely in Japan. But I wanted CRD to be more than just a small label; I wanted it to be the receptacle for all my interests. That's why on CRD you'll find all sorts of things, a complete catalogue of essays by top notch writers (like Dennis Cooper!) which goes with an art show I organized called Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. My fledgling and radically under-worked-on zine "Superficial Dragon" (for which I'm always taking submissions!) as well as the music which is forming the future of the "label".
So if I were to look into a crystal ball, I would say that CRD will start to release 12"s this coming year from a bevy of insanely good people: Duran Duran Duran, /Dev/Null, End, Xanopticon, Ove Naxx, and Mehmet Irdel. I also hope for CRD to be more of a collective organization that's not just another label, but we'll see how that works outŠ
So here's the current site:
Here's a 55 minute streaming mix of all the CRD artists:
http://www.d-i-r-t-y.com/medias/mix_cock_rock_disco.ram
Here's and interview and Live set I did on my home station, WFMU:
http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/5635
And by all means- please do drop me a line, respond to the CRD guestbook at the original site, and get in touch if you are interested in working with us!
