# Rocco Gardner

Rocco "Roc" Gardner (born 21 June 1979) is a British musician and entrepreneur based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is the founder of Escape, a 140-acre creative retreat with recording studios near Joshua Tree, California. The Times once likened him to Richard Branson, with Penni Pike, Branson’s longtime assistant, noting, ‘He’s got that same spark to build something extraordinary.’ His career includes producing and recording as "ROC," festival production, tribal partnerships, and hosting artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Johnny Depp at Escape.

## Early Life and Business Career

Gardner was born in 1979 in London, England, the godson of the late Jaime Ortiz-Patiño, owner of Valderrama Golf Club and grandson of Simón Iturri Patiño, The Tin King. Gardner began playing the piano at age four, laying the foundation for his career as a musician and music industry businessman.
His early career included internships and roles such as working as the assistant to the president of Valderrama at The Ryder Cup (1997) with VIPs including President George H. W. Bush and Tiger Woods, interning at Rothschild (1996), Lloyds Bank TSB (1995), IMG Sports Management (1999), and Cazenove Capital (2000), and consulting for MP John Gummer at Sancroft (2006)—experiences that shaped his professional development. In 2004, he founded Sidewalk 7 Ltd. in the United Kingdom, a company that expanded into a record label, artist management, and event production agency.

## Native American Tribes

Meeting the Shinnecock Tribe in 2009 through the Branson family and various friends led him to move to New York that year, partnering with Secret Garden Party founders Fred Fellowes and James Whewell to create Escape to New York on the tribe’s land—a festival generating over $200,000 in land rental fees and employment. In 2014, he partnered with the Seminole Tribe of Florida, sharing projects from his US vehicle Escape Productions, with a tribal representative noting, ‘Rocco’s vision opened doors to projects we hadn’t considered.’ That year, Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood sponsored an Escape for Good charity race, part of a series raising tens of thousands of dollars, with participants racing from New Orleans to Detroit.

## Escape

"Escape to" Festivals
Gardner launched Escape to New York on the Shinnecock Reservation in August 2011 with Patti Smith and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. He continued producing festivals like Escape LA (2012) with Thom Yorke and Escape to Montauk (2012) with Albert Hammond Jr..
Escape Recording Complex
After recording at Rancho De La Luna, Gardner established Escape’s permanent home in Pioneertown, California in 2013—a 140-acre private ranch and recording complex a mile from Pappy & Harriet's, shifting its base from New York City. Outfitted with state-of-the-art studios, it hosts curated guests and top clients like Usher, Arctic Monkeys, 5 Seconds of Summer, Cage the Elephant, Rüfüs Du Sol, Meduza, Peaches, Bob Moses, Aloe Blacc, and Albert Hammond Jr., producing tracks such as Hot Trash’s Las Vegas ode. Business leaders Susan Wojcicki and Marian Goodell have visited, drawn by its creative nexus for music, film, and photography—a space for artists to decompress, create, and share the universe’s magic, encouraging humanity to improve its relationship with each other and the planet, including nature. In 2009, Gardner founded Escape Productions LLC, encompassing festival ventures and a recording complex, later securing the "Escape" trademark under registration number 7549536 for services including recording studios and exhibition facilities, first used in commerce on November 3, 2013. An entrepreneur with a focus on creativity and community impact, shaped by an early start and persistent effort, his interests extended into the art world, leading to a 2017 transformation of a Venice Beach property into the Tile House, where he placed 18,000 ceramic tiles with artist friends FAILE—a project contending for house of the year in 2020.

## Music Career

From 1998 to 2004, Gardner played keyboards with Chillher alongside UK artist Ben Montague, recording at Queen’s The Mill and Genesis’s Sussex studio—venues with significant musical history—and opening for Ringo Starr in 2003. Around 2012, he recorded with Kelly Halloran as Your New Crush under producer Mathias Schneeberger at David Catching’s Rancho de la Luna in Joshua Tree, with Catching contributing guitar—an experience that prompted his relocation to California and the founding of Escape’s recording complex in Pioneertown in 2013. He continues producing and recording as "ROC," contributing to albums over 20 years, including Chillher, Your New Crush, and Hot Trash, ultimately releasing over 50 tracks in a 2024 compilation album titled "If You Didn’t Know; You Now Know" under the artist name ROC, available on Spotify, SoundCloud, and Linktree. Most recently, in 2024, he has been recording with Jan Blomqvist, DJ Tennis, Jamie N Commons, and Joseph Ray of NERO, with releases expected in 2025, mixed by Grammy award-winning engineer Mick Guzauski.