Biography

Introduction

Rooney is a five-piece rock band from Los Angeles signed to Geffen Records. The band is composed of: Robert Schwartzman, Louie Stephens, Taylor Locke, Ned Brower, and Matthew Winter. The band is named after principal Ed Rooney, from the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Their music is reminiscent of British Invasion rock and 1980s pop, and has been compared to The Beatles, The Cars, Jellyfish and Blur. They have toured the nation with acts such as Jonas Brothers, Weezer, The Strokes, and Kelly Clarkson. Rooney's official website states that the band "manages to capture elements from the past four decades and make them sound modern today."

History

Early history

Rooney first formed as Ed Rooney back in 1999. The original line up consisted of Teddy Briggs on drums and Matt Star on guitar. Ned Brower replaced Briggs as drummer, Matt Star left, and Louie Stephens was added as keyboardist. They released a series of independent EPs called Deli Meats (2000), Plug It In (2001), and Mastedonia (2002). Somehow, they accomplished all of this without ever signing to an Independent Label. The band played multiple shows a month around LA and Anaheim and built up a strong following. Schwartzman moved to NYC to attend the Eugene Lang College at the New School. Instead of writing papers, he spent his dorm room nights writing new Rooney songs. Schwartzman sent his latest material to his band mates in LA and flew home every month to perform. They recorded another demo cd with producers Keith Forsey and Brian Reeves. It consisted of the songs Popstars, If It Were Up To Me, and Losing All Control. The demo cd made its way around LA and created some buzz for the band at the major labels and management companies. Schwartzman decided to leave school and pursue the band full time. Rooney played a show at the Roxy in early 2002 packed with Rooney fans and A & R guys. Immediately after the show, the president of Geffen records approached the band. After meeting all interested parties, the band went to Interscope to meet with Jimmy Iovine. Jimmy loved the demo cd and said he would produce a couple of tracks himself if we signed with them. Based on their roster, Rooney signed the deal with Geffen/Interscope in 2002.

Debut album

The band was interested in having Ric Ocasek produce the album. Ric got his hands on the demo cd and immediately contacted Schwartzman. They spent a lot of time talking about the songs and Ric wanted to use the demo songs on the album, he felt they were finished. Rooney flew out to NYC for a show with Phantom Planet at CBGB's. Schwartzman loved Ric's pink Jazzmaster, the one he used in the The Cars. Ric said he could use it for the show, but Schwartzman took it back to LA and held onto to it for quite a while (it was returned eventually). The label liked the idea of Ric producing the album, but since Ric loved the demos so much, everyone thought that Keith Forsey and Brian Reeves (who recorded the demos) should be given the opportunity.

Once the band and producers decided on the material (there was a lot of material) and Taylor and Louie graduated for high school (Louie almost didn't), they started recording at NRG studios in North Hollywood CA. Most of basic tracking was done at NRG. They moved to The Jungle Room in Burbank to finish the album.

The label wasn't happy with the way "I'm Shakin'" was sounding. The band tried it different ways, but it just wasn't right. So the band asked Jimmy, who had agreed to produce 2 tracks, to produce the song. Jimmy hired engineer Adam Kasper to run the session. They recorded at Village Studios in West Los Angles. Jimmy felt the song came out great and approved Andy Wallace to mix the album.

The band hit the road with Weezer shortly after they finished recording. Then their friends The Strokes asked Rooney to open for them on their fall headline tour in 2002. At the end of the year, still no album out, they sold out a show at the Palace Theater (now the Avalon) in Hollywood. The band was frustrated that the album wasn't released, but the label assured them it would be out the summer of 2003. The band toured with The Donnas and Ok Go, followed by a tour with Pete Yorn and Grandaddy. Finally the album was released May 20th 2003. The band hit the road on Lalapallooza 2003, its first year back as a national tour. The acts included Audio Slave, Queens Of The Stone Age, Jurassic Five, Incubus, The Donnas, and Jane's Addiction, and Rooney (on the main stage).

Blueside was the lead off single, which gained lots of radio play at Alternative radio. The band was over the moon when they heard their song on their home town radio station KROQ. The song was also featured in the Tiger Wood's Golf video game, which attracted a lot of video game golfers to their concerts (Tiger Woods has not made an appearance at a concert, but they hope he will).

Album sales were slow until in 2004 when they had a cameo appearance in an episode of The O.C., "The Third Wheel" where they sang the songs "Sorry Sorry", "I'm Shakin'" and "I'm a Terrible Person", and their song "Popstars" was also played. Their song "Blueside" was featured on the Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004 soundtrack and their song "I'm Shakin'" was featured on an episode of the daytime soap opera All My Children.

On November 16, 2004 the band issued their first DVD, Spit & Sweat. The hour long documentary features interviews with the band and live performances from Los Angeles. The DVD also includes the video for "Blueside."

Calling the World

Following their summer tour, the band began their third sessions for a second album. Only three songs from the previous sessions ("Don't Come Around Again," "Paralyzed," and "Tell Me Soon"), were kept for their new album, Calling the World. On March 6, 2007, the single "When Did Your Heart Go Missing?" was released on their official MySpace. The single also was used in commercials of the tv show Beauty and the Geek, It was also used in an episode of "Newport Harbor: The Real OC" and in "Gossip Girl" season 1 "Wild brunch" episode. also the song "I'm a Terrible Person" was used in the commercial of Carolina Herrera's new fragrance. The album was released to stores July 17, 2007 and debuted #42 on The Billboard Top 100 Albums chart.

Rooney was the opening act for the Jonas Brothers on the Look Me In The Eyes Tour from January 31, 2008 to March 22, 2008 for a total of 39 shows.

Rooney headed out on a headlining tour dubbed "The Calling the World Tour" in May 2008 in the United States, which was scheduled to run through August. The band said during live shows that they planned to record a new album upon after the tour ended.

Rooney have worked on the theme for the new Nicktoon show, Iron Man: Armored Adventures. It premiered on March 29. And the show launched on April, 24.

The Future

On their website, Rooney have posted they are finishing recording their third album, stating "We have recorded about 13 or 14 songs, and we plan to keep going for at least 2 more weeks, before choosing the songs that will go on the album."

Discography

Albums

Rooney (2003)
Calling the World (2007)

DVDs

Spit & Sweat (2004)

Compilation appearances

"You Got It", from the album Roy Orbison Celebration (2009)
"Metal Guru", from the album Herbie: Fully Loaded Soundtrack (2005)
"Death on Two Legs", from the album Killer Queen: A Tribute to Queen (2005)
"Here Today, Gone Tomorrow", from the album We're A Happy Family Ramones tribute (2003)
"Merry X-Mas Everybody", from the album The Year They Recalled Santa Claus and The O.C. Mix 3: Have a Very Merry Chrismukkah
"Sleep Song" featured in The Chumscrubber