The story so far…

“I believe that music is art, that art is creativity, and creativity is about doing anything you want, just because. There are no rules in art”

Chocolate Rocket is the musical project name for multi-instrumental composer Adam Manterys, based in New Zealand. After a decade of playing in local bands he moved to London and formed the Chocolate Rocket band with an awesome bunch of English dudes. After a friend generously loaned him the cash to buy a portable 16 track digital recording studio, he became more productive by being able to record and release albums independently. 

First up he transferred over all his 4 track recordings and this became the first Chocolate Rocket album YesNo. The next album was recorded with the Chocolate Rocket band and became Satan. After moving back to New Zealand he recorded Robotron and his latest album FAR OUT. He plays most of the instruments, using mostly session drummers and singers.

So what does Chocolate Rocket sound like? The main instruments are generally guitar, bass and drums but there is no one sound. It’s instrumentals, non-sequitur lyrics, wordplay, strong melodies, riffs, epics, ditties, iconoclasm, surprises… Just whatever comes to mind.

“Musical diversity isn’t about genre hopping – it’s doing whatever the heck you want, whenever you want, just because! I love bands and musicians like Ween, Frank Zappa and David Bowie. Not because I want or even try to sound like them (thankfully I am musically unable to do this) but because I can relate to their compositional approach. They follow their musical imaginations wherever it takes them, so they don’t have a singular sound but just a huge diversity of songs and compositions. An album of theirs is like a collection of different bands. This is what I most like to hear and so this is how I like to write.”