Posts Tagged ‘rooney fansite’

Rooney Drummer Pays Tribute to Fallen Mentor Carter Albrecht

By Darryl Smyers

Published on December 16, 2009 at 1:12pm

Ten years ago, Ned Brower was attending SMU when he formed a band called The Cosmetics with one Carter Albrecht. Now the drummer for the Los Angeles power pop band Rooney, Brower has recently paid tribute to his sadly deceased, Dallas-based mentor.

“The title track of our new EP is about Carter,” says Brower from a Rooney tour stop in Minneapolis. “He was both my musical mentor and a great friend of mine.”

The EP Brower speaks about is called Wild One, the third release from Rooney, a spunky quintet that has existed on the periphery of success for several years.

Often compared to bands such as The Cars, Jellyfish and Blur, Rooney (named after the principal in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) parlays its craft at the shiny end of the power pop spectrum. Sweet little songs like “I’m Shakin’,” “I’m a Terrible Person” and “When Did Your Heart Go Missing” have found their way onto commercials and various nighttime dramas.

Yet even a high profile slot opening for the Jonas Brothers in 2008 hasn’t made Rooney a household name.

Brower is hoping this new EP can help the band reach a different level of popularity while at the same time let people know how much Albrecht meant to him.

“I truly feel that Carter was one of the greatest artists,” says Brower. “I wish more people would get to hear his music. If our record sends people his direction, that would be a great thing.”

Interestingly, the song “Wild One” is the only cut on the new EP written and sung by Brower. Seems the drummer (who handles backing vocal duties for Rooney) has been mulling over paying tribute to his mentor ever since he found out about Albrecht’s death while on tour in Europe a few days after the tragedy.

“We were in England and it was just devastating,” admits Brower. “Carter wrote me a really nice note about our record just a few days before he died, and he floored me with how kind he could be.”

The song “Wild One” is Brower’s reaction to Albrecht’s death, but there is nothing morose about the cut. Over a playful beat, Brower muses thoughtfully about the irony of seeing Albrecht’s name in the news as a result of his death instead of his talent. “You were the toast of the town, but you were already in the ground,” sings Brower, before asking, “Why’d you have to be the wild one?”

Brower says he still thinks about Albrecht every day and wishes his friend and mentor was around to hear what his college buddy has accomplished.

“Carter was a true genius,” says Brower. “Writing the song for him was one way that I could fight the sad reality that I wasn’t going to hear anymore of his music.”

CREDIT : Dallas Observer

By ANDREW DANSBY Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle

Dec. 16, 2009, 2:15PM

Rooney grew up quickly. The Los Angeles band came together when its members were teens. A debut album followed a few years later, and then another recording. And now, with 10 years and two albums behind it, Rooney is striking out on its own.

“We’re still a young band,” drummer Ned Brower says, “but we started out really young. But we’re in a weird, cool place right now. I feel we’re only starting to approach our peak zone, and we already have all this experience.”

Not bad for a band who started with a frivolous name. Initially Robert Schwartzman and two now-departed members picked Ed Rooney as a handle, the name of the principal in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Those band members left, and Schwartzman began to assemble a new band of high school students.

“Early on we knew we needed to drop the Ed,” Brower says. “It started as a joke, but quickly we became not-a-joke band. There was a time we thought about changing it completely.”

Brower says KISS’ Gene Simmons had a lot of ideas.

“He told us Rooney wasn’t something you could touch or hold onto. He said, ‘Your band name should be a thing.’ He suggested Stuff. He said, ‘You can have that one for free on me.’ ”

Rooney did not become Stuff, and the band — Schwartzman, Brower, guitarist Taylor Locke, bassist Matthew Winter and keyboardist Louie Stephens — put out a self-titled debut full of punchy power pop in 2003.

A second album,Calling the World, came out two years ago. The band has been writing and recording much since then, which resulted in an EP called Wild One that Rooney is selling on tour. It’s part of an extended set of recordings that will also include a new album in the spring.

After just two records Rooney severed ties with its label, so the band can shop around the new recording.

“When we started the band we handled things on our own,” Brower says. “And even with the label we’ve always done a lot of the work. We just have a little more control over the content now. We’re excited to take back the responsibility for what we do. We wanted to be back in the trenches.”

The band benefits from having established a brand in its 10 years. A group that built a grass-roots following in Los Angeles now has a six-figure following across the country. They’ve been savvy about seizing opportunities like appearing on The O.C. years ago and taking an opening slot for the Jonas Brothers on a 2008 tour.

“We’ve played just about everywhere from little clubs to sold-out arenas,” Brower says. “We’ve had a pretty diverse touring thing going, which might be because we don’t fit in anywhere.”

Though rock and pop are often diced into subgenres, Rooney doesn’t lend itself to such. “Anyone who’s seen us live knows it’s just five guys with guitars and mics and (expletive) playing rock music,” Brower says. “We’ve always known what kind of music we want to make, hip pop stuff rooted in classic rock and pop.”

Which is what they’ll be doing at the Meridian on Friday. Some new material will find its way into the set as a bit of a teaser for a 2010 that will find the band touring tirelessly.

“This tour is about going out and playing for the core audience,” Brower says. “Next year is the big yearlong anniversary campaign.”

CREDIT : Houston Chronicle

THE INSIDER: ROBERT SCHWARTZMAN

Is the Rooney front man the next Robert Palmer?

Like Clark Kent (or Hannah Montana, for that matter), the musician Robert Schwartzman leads a bit of a double life. 

For some, the California native is a singer and composer for Rooney, an indie rock band that surfs between the Beach Boys’ lithium chords and the Strokes’ fuck-it-all lyrics.  For others, he’s a teen heartthrob who kissed Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries, to the jealous groans of a million tenth grade girls.

Now the musician throws a wrench in his own identity crisis with a new mission called Solo Bob.  The project is a series of synth-rock songs and hallucinogenic videos, all circling a character that Robert says, “I used to pretend to be in my bedroom late at night.”

For fans of Mr. Schwartzman’s musical skills, that sounds like a welcome dive into experimental rock ‘n roll.  For the screaming, crying girls we witnessed at Rooney’s Webster Hall concert on Friday night, the simple phrase “in my bedroom” should be enough to hook them, too.

Robert / Bob / OMG-that-cute-guy phoned us from his tour bus in Cleveland Ohio to explain himself.

Good morning!  How’s your tour going?  We’ve all just woken up on our tour bus in Cleveland Ohio. It’s the Rooney tour.  It is gray outside, like, really gray, and um, I think we’re between some buildings.  Usually the bus parks in some random part of town, so we get a really good view of the backs of buildings, air vents, air conditioning.  It’s a new kind of tourism.

What’s different about this tour?  We’re playing our new EP songs! And we got out of our label, so there’s a new sense of freedom.  Being independent has given us a new sense of excitement, and why we’re doing this, and why we’re going to keep doing it.

On the NYLON tour, the Plastiscines’ food of choice was french fries.  What’s yours?  Cereal and rolled up turkey slices! Those can go a long way.  But this is our 8th year on the road, so we get fed by fans, too.  They’re always really good about bringing us cookies.

Do your fans know about Solo Bob?  Um, mostly my friends who call me Bob.  But I don’t refer to myself as Bob unless I’m blogging about Solo Bob, because I think supporting The Bob, it’s a separate thing.

The Bob?  Is that like your version of Sasha Fierce?  Maybe? To me, Bob is character, and it’s also a very specific energy… In high school, I made demos all the time and I’d say into the mic, “This recording was brought to you by Solo Bob!” Those songs always became Rooney songs, because I hadn’t found myself yet, and the music I wanted to make wasn’t just music, it was a character.  Then in 2007 I started to write songs that felt different than what should be in my band.

How will we meet Solo Bob?  In videos.  It’s my goal to have a video for every Solo Bob song.  I’m pulling in all these young directors and exciting people to work with me.  For example, my cousin Roman Coppola is a movie director, a video director, and a commercial director, and he’s always really liked the sound of this project, so we’ve started to collaborate.

Um, details?  Well, I love Robert Palmer, the way he carries himself in his videos, and the way the girls carry themselves, and the airbrushed record covers.  So I showed his videos to Roman, and then we used a green screen with a different outfit for every shot… It’s a visual project as much as it’s a musical project.

When can we buy a Solo Bob record?  Not sure yet, most likely after the Rooney album cycle is over – our new album comes out in Spring 2010! 

Your birthday is coming up – on Christmas Eve.  Does that suck?  Yeah it’s kinda hard – I mean, it’s not hard when you compare it to real things in this world, but I mean, nobody’s ever around for my birthday, and I like togetherness.  I like family time and friend time and I don’t get that on my birthday because it’s this big holiday and… yeah, wow, okay, I’m a little bitter.  But I bought a fake Christmas-slash-birthday tree!  I will go on the record right now, I have the greatest fake tree ever. Nice shape, nice build, comes apart easily.  It’s awesome.
–FARAN KRENTCIL

Watch Solo Bob’s first video and download the MP3 “Victim” for free at SoloBob.com

CREDIT : NYLONMAG.COM

I know, I know… I’ve been horrible at updating and I’m kinda out of excuses… But it is the busiest month at work and I’ve had a lot going on.

First of all…. No more soundcheck at the Rooney shows.
The band has run into some venue restrictions, and has been forced to cancel the open soundchecks.
They are however, still doing the meet & greet if you buy a Wild One EP

There’s a few new video diaries in case you’ve missed them :

The winner is in Before I get to the announcement, I’d like to let you know how the winner has been found.

A group of 7 Rooney fans has been part of this decision, everyone chose their #1-3 and those got points (#3 = 1 point, #2 = 2 points and #1 = 3 points). Alle these got added together and that’s how we found the top 3

I’d also like to take a minute to thank you all for joining, all entries are very good and all judges pretty much liked different designs

I’ll announce winners starting with number 3 and finish with number 1

#3

is actually tied Both designs by Diana

#2

By Rebecca

#1 – Winner

By Renatta

Congratulations to you all – not only to the top 3, everyone did a really great job

I’ll be in touch by e-mail.

Wild One EP contest

See all entries for the contest here

Even if you don’t enter, please help out Rooney by posting any of these graphics / videos wherever you can

This is a last minute contest, which is why it’s only open for such a short time.
Design some kind of Wild One Tour promo, be it a header, button or some other graphic, heck maybe even a video… as long as it promotes Rooney and the Wild One Tour it’s game…. Submit it to the contest + post it everywhere you can think of (e.g Myspace, Facebook, twitter etc)

Feel free to add the meet & greet + soundcheck info on the graphics (don’t have to be the excact wording) :

Show up before 4pm with your ticket for the concert for a free EP – you’ll also get in to see the soundcheck.
Buy the EP and get a meet & greet with Rooney

It’s also a good idea to add websites like Rooney-band.com, twitter etc.

Rules :
- Must promote Rooney and Wild One Tour
- Once the graphic is submitted to the contest, you’re agreeing to it being used to promote Rooney
- Prices cannot be exchanged for money
- Graphics must be submitted no later than midnight Sunday (no matter what time zone you’re in)
- Open for all countries
- E-mail your entry to rooneyjuice@yahoo.com
- You can submit as many graphics as you’d like

Prices : 1 x signed Wild One EP
Rooney stickers
Rooney pins

There might be other prices, if I find something good

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