Feature: The Living Roomers

by JARED GOO

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Many young artists may find the allure of being a rock star in the lifestyle or attention that comes with it - dreaming of making a hit song, touring across the world, and living the life few people get to live. Drugs, sex, & parties. It's what we all want…right?

LA's Mid-City based rock band, The Living Roomers, think there might be a little bit more to it, and with their soon to be released double EP The Dream Before Afterburn they hope you may be able to see why. With influences ranging anywhere from Kate Bush to Nirvana to Joy Division, you will hear a very diverse and dynamic sound. Grungy. Groovy. Powerful. All can be used to describe their fresh take on alternative rock, and it's this sound that may first grab your attention, but what lies underneath is just as important. "I think music and really really good bands capture a moment in time and that's what we listen to. Music brings people together in a beautiful way. It's about connecting and love." The message you may find yourself unveiling is what they hope will keep not only you listening, but the many generations to come. The many generations who will be too young to have experienced this time \ period, and get a chance to live it through the music - So I sat down with singer/songwriter/guitarist, Truman Flyer, guitarist, Lily Dale & bassist, Jacko Rico, to talk about what's been going on this past year and what we can expect to come from them. 

The Dream Before Afterburn

Lily: We're real close to releasing our first song.

Truman: It'll be the first time showing our softer side... it’s been interesting to see who we’ve been getting paired to play with. We don't wanna be put in a box.

We’ve been producing “Afterburn” with Alex Noneman. He's a really rad local dude we’ve been working with for a while now. Alex Newport produced 'Dream Before' which is the first side of the double EP. It shows our dreamier, more melodic side, of our sound and 'Afterburn' will be the heavier songs people are used to hearing us play live. Our friend AMP (Alex Polhill) recorded “Afterburn” in my garage a while back which was a really fun experiment. Garage rock to the damn max haha. 

Up to this point I've written all the lyrical content of the songs we play but Jack has been writing a lot lately too and I can’t wait to incorporate his songs. 

Shows

Truman: People don't dance enough these days! Maybe that’s our fault, maybe it’s because of the insane social pressure that exists in LA to look cool, whatever. 

Lily: I feel like people are never scared to dance at our shows though. The only shows I feel like people haven't really gotten into and danced are the more industry ones we've played. The more DIY shows everyone is going so hard. It sucks cause we get really excited for the legit venues and they end up just being way more chill. Cause it's like, who's here, and who's watching me. It's like oh I'm not gonna dance, maybe someones looking at me. Oh are they bopping their head, okay I'm gonna bop my head. I think what's fun about our shows is that we don't have a lot of those industry people watching us yet, not that it's bad to have that, but it makes the crowds that we get so much more real feeling. It's like all of our friends and our friends' friends and random people that hear about it.

Jack: We also just gotta tap into more of a community where we gotta play the shows where people who like to get rowdy tell their friends, “Wow! We went to this show and it was fucking epic.” You-know, and attract those people cause we want people to move. Everyone wants people to move at their shows. That's how you get energy as an artist.

Truman: We don't have a community yet. We got Roomers, but the community of TLR is just starting to grow. I think that's partially cause we've been playing so many shows with whoever, bands that aren't necessarily in the same genre as ours so it doesn't give us the best opportunity to form and cultivate this community we dream of. It’s also been hard to find the balance in playing our dark and light music. I think with the release of this EP, it will open up a lot of doors for us to play what we want with other bands we believe in and have similar ideals, morals, etc. 

Jack: But also just working on the performance aspect of it to be like, “Aright now we're gonna hit you with some soft stuff, get your brains ready.”

Truman: It's also fun to play what we've already released cause people recognize that and get excited about it and when we play our dreamy songs that people don't know yet, they can't relate. Punk rock music is way more accessible at live shows cause audiences can just dance to the music. When we play a song with deep lyrical content, it’s easier for people to turn their heads or get uncomfortable, who would want to linger in a moment of uncertainty or catch a glimpse of pain. 

The State of Today's Music

Jack: I don't know much of anything that has come out in music recently that feels timeless. There are things that are popular and change the culture up,but they change it up for a fleeting second.

Truman: It's like a direct reflection of our generation. The instant gratification of all this social media and the perception of happiness where really, everything is a fleeting moment. I'm excited to see what happens when we go on tour or have the opportunity to make an album in a small town somewhere where we get to experience nature and a more simple life. Music reflects where you are. Kate Bush is one of my inspirations and she said when she was living in bigger cities, her music was darker, heavier…Then when she moved to the country, it was just so much more free and mystical, so it'll be cool to get to experience something like that. LA is a city where so many people come to follow their dreams but deep within, it’s actually a corrupt, capitalist society with many systems and chains that cause harm and aren’t right. We’re just four people but we believe that we can change some of these issues with our music. We care about authenticity and making something that's real. Not just like, oh this band looks cool and they have this really one catchy song, we love them, let's make them super famous.. ya you remember them for having that song or whatever, but that's not exactly what we're in this for you-know? We wanna make a stamp, a ripple. I think music and really really good bands capture a moment in time and that's what we listen to.. and it takes us there and we get to relive it through the music and that's what I hope we can do and shed a positive light on it in some ways. And I know in “Afterburn”, there is a reflection of the dark side of what we're living in right now, but I feel like its gonna unveil some truth behind some fucked up habits of people in LA and 21st century bullshit.

Jack: And I think that will come in delayed reaction. It's how it feels first then the feeling becomes deeper as you listen to it more and more. And that's what makes something last is when you can listen to it and hear something different the more you listen. I think what we need now more than ever is just a way to feel, a way to communicate that feeling, and a positive way to understand that feeling. It's like we can talk about the 60's and free love, but a lot of the music used to describe that, although it was amazing, is pretty fucking dark and is not the way I want to love necessarily. It's not like I want to love the way Led Zeppelin loved.. cause at the end of the day it's kinda gross. The songs are fucking good but the more you get to know about them and the people, it's like, is that lust? Ya. Is that kinda dark and satanistic in a way? Yeah, kind of…Is there a more pure, positive version, of that in rock-n-roll in a modern sense where we can add to that? - That sense where people listen to it at first and they fall in love? We gotta build off of that.

Truman: Music is a way to access your feelings and guide you to some sort of resolution. When you need to feel something and you're lucky enough to have access and everyone in this room is so privileged to have these devices where we can just look up anything and have the calm wave run through us of like, oh I’m not alone in this. You hear the music and that's your friend and that's something that's gotten me through life. And I have like, fuckin two guitars and an amp and I still complain and mope around and I'm like, fuck, you-know? I'm outta touch but I'm holding on…I got this music thing and this band that helps me stay a bit grounded.

Jack: It's hard too cause I think we all want to be better people and we want everything to be true as well. We can't make something that's not a reflection of who we are. But we aren't who we want to be a hundred percent…but that's a constant life battle. We're never gonna be perfect so we gotta embrace the humanity of that too.. Lets mark the time and make something beautiful. 

Truman: Music brings people together in a beautiful way. It's about connecting and love.

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