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Ex-West Pasco Man Deep in LA Music World

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Rocco Guarino, who once lived in West Pasco, has directed music videos for hard rock band Velvet Revolver and accompanied the band on international tours. He also has his own music production company in Los Angeles.

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By Cheryl  Bentley | The Suncoast News

Published: January 23, 2008

Rocco Guarino has traveled far since he got his first paying gig.

That was in the 36-year-old's younger days, when he played piano chamber music consisting of his original compositions at the opening ceremonies of the Pasco Arts Council in Holiday.

Today, Guarino is a Los Angeles director of documentaries and music videos with his own music production company. He also is a recording artist.

He hooked up with the Grammy Award-winning hard rock band Velvet Revolver when it was being formed and ended up touring with the group in South America, Europe, New Zealand, Australia and the United States as producer, editor and director of three documentaries for the band.

He most recently directed Velvet's music video for television, "The Last Fight," that aired on cable channels MTV, VH1 and Fuse TV.

The video reached No. 9 on VH1's "VSPOT Top 20 Countdown."

Guarino moved to New Port Richey as a teenager and lived there until he was 29. His parents are Bobbi Janson and Vince Guarino. Janson lives in Port Richey and Guarino in New Port Richey.

In high school, he attended a school in Clearwater for young people with addiction problems. "I got clean and sober there." he says. "I'm still clean and sober, and it's been over 20 years."

After high school, he had a pretty good thing going, he thought at the time, with a day job, a live-in girl friend, four dogs, and his own band and recording studio.

Guarino plays piano, guitar, bass and the drums.

But he decided that life wasn't what he really wanted. "I knew there was something better for me," he said.

In 2002, he took off for Los Angeles in "Able Mabel," his 1993 Saturn, and ended up spending five months in a cross-country odyssey.

"I learned what was missing and what was there," Guarino said.

What was there was his musical talent.

What was missing?

"I wasn't doing what I was put here to do, which is to write music."

He's doing that now, in his own pop rock album, "2 Bit Floozy," on which he is now working.

But he has also discovered he loves directing documentaries.

"When filming documentaries, you don't know what's going to happen. You have to be on your toes all the time. It's capturing a real moment of time."

Guarino has not forgotten New Port Richey. He visits his parents here once a year.

Does he still have Able Mabel?

"No," Guarino laughs. "These days, I drive a Lexus."

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