Rocco Rodamaal
From Lyon’s underground clubs to stadiums in South Africa: Rocco Rodamaal, the trio behind “Insomnia” and a new “Break 4 Love” with Raze’s singer.
- French DJ and producer whose career began in Lyon’s underground clubs.
- Co-founded the trio Rodamaal in 2001; their single “Insomnia” came out on Ben Watt’s Buzzin’ Fly in 2005.
- Runs the label Memories, home of his new version of Raze’s “Break 4 Love”.
Rocco Rodamaal has spent more than thirty years behind the decks. Rodamaal, the trio he formed in 2001, gave him a deep house classic in “Insomnia”; his solo career took him to Defected, Freerange and a large following in South Africa.
From Lyon to Rodamaal
Rocco grew up with music through his older brother, a DJ in the 1980s, and listened to Dimitri From Paris’s weekend radio show at the end of that decade. He studied sound and light at school around 1992 and played his first sets in small, techno-influenced underground clubs in Lyon. Masters At Work and Laurent Garnier were early influences. He started producing in 1999.
In 2001 he formed Rodamaal with Alex Santos and Manoo. Ben Watt of Everything But The Girl, then starting his Buzzin’ Fly label, picked them up, and several EPs and singles followed there. “Insomnia”, released in June 2005 with vocals by Cláudia Franco and produced at Media 19 Studios in Marinha Grande, Portugal, became their best-known record — helped by an Âme remix that Buzzin’ Fly issued in 2006.
Solo records and South Africa
Alongside the group, Rocco released solo music on Freerange, Defected, MN2S and Real Tone, and the album sampler Deep Rooted on Foliage in 2018. His remixes include work for Kerri Chandler’s 25 Years of Madhouse (2018), Laurent Garnier (2023) and Louie Vega and Moodymann’s “Seven Mile” (2025). South Africa became a second home crowd: The Bridge came out on a South African label in 2013, and he has played stadium shows there in front of around 30,000 people.
Break 4 Love, reimagined
His best-known recent project began at a party on the Hudson in New York in summer 2017, where he met Keith Thompson, Raze’s former lead vocalist. For the 30th birthday of “Break 4 Love”, Rocco proposed a full reinterpretation rather than a remix, to be released on his own label, Memories. Thompson recorded new vocals and Rocco programmed the drums. In his Paris studio, producer Alex Finkin played chords, arpeggios, stabs and strings on a Roland Juno-106 and a JX-8P; the bass came from a Moog Sub Phatty. Kerri Chandler, Laurent Garnier, Black Coffee, Honey Dijon and Peggy Gou all played it.
In the mix
Rocco builds his records from the drums up. As he told MusicTech in 2019, “the drums are often the foundation of what caught us.”
FAQ
Who is Rocco Rodamaal?
A French DJ and producer who started in Lyon’s underground clubs and co-founded the deep house trio Rodamaal in 2001.
Who made Insomnia by Rodamaal?
Rodamaal — Rocco, Alex Santos and Manoo — with vocals by Cláudia Franco. Buzzin’ Fly released it in 2005 and Âme’s remix in 2006.
What is Rocco Rodamaal’s Break 4 Love?
A full reinterpretation of Raze’s house classic, with new vocals by Raze’s former lead singer Keith Thompson, released on Rocco’s label Memories.
