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Posts Tagged ‘Robert Schwartzman’

A collection of pop bands came to Slim’s on Sunday night to rock out in front of a small but extremely enthusiastic crowd, comprising mostly young women excited to see one of their favorite bands. Personally, I was drawn to the show by the appearance of Tally Hall, but was looking forward to a full Rooney set, having only seen them as an opener before. I didn’t know an important thing about them, though, which explains a lot.The Crash Kings started the show, and I didn’t know what to write about them. They played some bluesy rock numbers that I liked, but I was getting reviewer’s writers block, so I asked for help from my fellow Spinning Platters writers who were accompanying me.

Vanessa said: “they’re like the VH-1 version of rock.”

Joel said: “they sounded, at different times, like The Police, White Stripes, Maroon 5 and Journey. They were an unoriginal band with a good sound. Their long-term future is in being a cover band.”

Tally Hall was on next, and as they were setting themselves up, I noticed that their trademark ties had disappeared, having been replaced by vests and fake mustaches. Turns out this was just a lark, as the ties returned for their main set. What didn’t return, however, was their trademark anything-goes energy. Stuck with the prospect of a 35-minute set, the band jammed as many songs as they possibly could into the set, leaving behind most of their banter. The band has all this new material to show off, and I think a 45-50 minute set would be more appropriate for them. I felt like they were reined in a bit.

Also, they were beset with some sound issues. Some monstrously loud distorted noises were heard during their setup, scaring the crowd, and it returned as the keyboard player (green tie) turned on the vocal processor for his part in “Spring and a Storm.” Also, the microphone of Rob Cantor (yellow tie) seemed to be turned down to low so when he sang he was overpowered by the harmony vocals. And then the bass was simply just turned up too loud. Being an opening band is always a bit of a crapshoot soundwise, and it’s a shame that the sound guy sevened out on this one.

You may ask, of course, how was the new material? At first listen, it feels a lot more rock oriented than the stuff on their debut album, Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum. I think “Turn the Lights Off” has the most potential to be a fan favorite. I’m looking forward to the full length album and the inevitable headlining tour, so that I’ll be able to sit on the floor with Tally Hall again. The support band slot doesn’t seem to suit them well.

Next up was Rooney, and while there were definitely a few people that left after Tally Hall finished, the enthusiastic screaming-girl response for Rooney, particularly front man Robert Schwartzman, was deafening. What I didn’t know before signing up to cover this show was that the lead singer of the band had been “the boy she dances with” in The Princess Diaries. Not that this would have changed anything about their sugary pop sound, but maybe I would have brought heartier ear plugs.

Their 18-song set was a tight 80 minutes, including encore, and they just plowed through songs from their two full length albums as well as the entirety of their new EP, A Wild One. There was a fair amount of singing along, a few crazy jumping guys, and more of that screaming. There wasn’t a boring moment in the whole set.

I don’t know exactly what to make of Rooney. On the one hand, they clearly wish that they could have been a brit pop band, but I also hear a lot of Weezer in their sound. I can’t see any reason why they’re not the most popular band in the world, but I also understand why they’re not with a major label right now. There’s nothing gimmicky about them, and unfortunately it seems that rock bands with clear hooks aren’t all the rage right now.

They do know how to cultivate the love of their fans, though, as with a $5 purchase of their new EP, you were invited to stay after the show for a meet and greet. The post-label life for Rooney is a promising one, as they’re incredibly likeable and built to last. Pop songs may not be trendy, but they’ll never truly go out of style, and Rooney is an absolutely solid pop band.

Rooney set list:

Blueside
Stay Away
Don’t Come Around Again
Terrible Person
Are You Afraid?
Wild One
If It Were Up to Me
Daisy Duke
I Don’t Understand
Paralyzed
Rockin’ in the Free World
What For
Suckceed
Sorry Sorry
ISHBAY “I Should Have Been After You”
—Encore—
Days Keep Going By
Heart
I’m Shakin’

Credit : Spinning Platters

Tyler took (once again) some amazing pictures of Rooney at their show @ El Rey in LA

Here’s a few, but he has a lot up on his facebook page

Videos from the El Rey show on November 27, 2009 in L.A.

Blueside

Stay Away

 I’m A Terrible Person & Are You Afraid

Suckceed

Popstars

 I Don’t Understand

 The Days Keep Going By

 Wild One

First off, HAPPY THANKSGIVING. I’ll be celebrating my first ever Thanksgiving today

Sorry for the lack of updates… I’ve been on vacation in LA for a while now, unfortunately I have to go home Saturday… But what better way to end your vacation than going to see Rooney?

I usually don’t do this, but I got the chance to see 100 Monkeys (among a bunch of other bands ), and seriously if you get a chance to go to one of their shows, GO! They’re amazing live.

Another great band is Crash Kings who’ll be on the Wild One tour with Rooney. Their album “Crash Kings” is really good, so check them out before you catch a show on this tour. You can get the track “It’s Only Wednesday” for free, if you just post a tweet about it via this website.

Robert announces Rooney’s Wild One tour 2009
 

All the tourdates for the Wild One Tour should be up in the Tour dates section now, including ticket info. If Rooney plays a show near you, head out and support them

There’s a couple of contests where you can win tickets to the show @ El Rey on Friday.
URB MAG : the contest is open until midnight tonight (Thursday)
Radio Free Silverlake : the contest is open until noon Friday

WILD ONE STREAMING. There’s clips of all the songs from the Wild One EP up on Rooney-band.com, go listen to them now. I gotta say, I think it sounds amazing

Robert now has his own private twitter – rcschwartzman

Rooney did the Pablove Benefit on Nov 21. This is an amazing benefit, and you should read about it on Pablove.org

Here’s some pictures from the benefit

credit : Losanjealous

credit : LA Weekly

Rooney To Release Self-Produced, Limited Edition EP

 L.A. five-piece Rooney is gearing up to release a new, limited-pressing EP, Wild One and will embark on a national headlining tour beginning November 27th at Los Angeles’ El Rey Theatre, in support. Fans can get a first listen to Wild One as the EP will be available exclusively at these upcoming shows before becoming available at iTunes in early 2010. Only 5,000 EPs will be pressed.

Wild One was produced and engineered by the band, and features four brand-new tracks. The EP was mixed by Dave Trumfio (Wilco, Built to Spill and My Morning Jacket) and mastered by Dave McNair (Willie Nelson, Patti Smith.)

After signing with a major record label and working with some of the music industry’s most esteemed producers since their inception, the band is proud to showcase this collection of songs they crafted entirely themselves. Rooney’s latest offering features some of their best, most inventive and original material to date.

Rooney was signed to Geffen Records in 2002 after independently releasing a series of EPs and demos. They released their self-titled debut in 2003; shortly thereafter they saw significant success with single “I’m Shakin” and a cameo appearance on hit teen drama The O.C. The band has toured with a variety of superstar acts including Kings of Leon, Weezer and The Strokes.

Rooney is Robert Schwartzman (vocals/guitar,) Taylor Locke (guitar / vocals) Ned Brower (drums / vocals) Louie Stephens (keyboard / vocals) and Matthew Winter (bass).

Wild One track listing:

1. Suckceed
2. I Don’t Understand
3. Wild One
4. The Days Keep Going By

Credit : Fanbolt.com

New Solobob youtube channel up – http://www.youtube.com/solobobmusic - which includes the music video for ‘The Victim’

Hey Friends,

Hope your Halloween was fun. I’m writing to let you know we’re going on tour next month and we’ll need you’re help promoting the shows. It’s always hard to get the word out that we’re on tour. I’ve heard people complain about not knowing about a show in his/her town. It’s always effective to think of the various ways you’ve heard about a tour coming to your town. Coffee shop windows, indie record stores, college campus, etc. There’s always a good spot for a tour poster. Also, there are lots of ways to make noise online. I’m not hip to all the ways, but things are growing and changing so rapidly, the “DIY” approach is more effective than ever. We’re one of the few bands in this world that has a dedicated fan base who take things to a new level, the street team. Most fans don’t want to go above and beyond and help a band he/she loves. Thank you for helping and being apart of our bands future. We do recognize the work you do for us and appreciate the time you invest. Hopefully, our band will continue to grow and appeal to newer fans and recruit new street team members. Please come and say hello at the shows; it’s nice to connect with you face to face.

Rooney

If you are not already a member of the Rooney Street Team, please join to stay updated.

Sorry for not updating sooner. I’ve been really busy and then I got sick… I did try to tweet everything

There’s a new SayNow update… Most interesting news (if you ask me ;P) is that there’ll be 4 songs on the Wild One EP.

Speaking about the EP… In case you haven’t heard, the EP will only be available at the shows on the Wild One Tour (though I’m sure they’ll put them up in their merch store if they have any left afterwards).
Opening on the Wild One Tour will be Tally Hall and Crash King.

There’s been created events on facebook for the Rooney concerts – remember to RSVP if you’re on facebook and going to a concert – http://bit.ly/8ZTfp

There’s 2 tour posters… One with the dates (that we know so far) http://bit.ly/iLNfp and one ‘Wild One Tour’ http://bit.ly/iLhuX - Print them out, post them in your city or on your myspace, facebook and everywhere you can think off

Studio 21 has a video interview with Rooney from when they were at Trinity University earlier this year.
Watch it here.