 He graduated from Palisades High School, before studying art at Carleton College and the University of California in Berkeley.He and his brother Stephen Roback, a bass guitarist, formed the band Unconscious alongside Susanna Hoffs, who would go on to become the lead singer and guitarist of The Bangles.Roback was active in the Paisley Underground indie music scene in Los Angeles in the early to mid-1980s as leader of the band Rain Parade, which was popular on the local club circuit.