MASTEDONIA

Chart Attack

*From Chart Attack - February 13th, 2003*

Rooney Drive The Gals Crazy

If you happened to pass by Lee's Palace at some point in the early evening this past Saturday, you probably noticed the throng of punk, emo and indie girls milling about the sidewalk in front of the club, all of them wearing starry-eyed, dazed looks on their faces. Waiting outside in the cold certainly didn't seem to matter, but the question begged to be asked? Who were they waiting for? Was Dashboard Confessional holed up somewhere deep inside Lee's? Nope and hunky Sam Roberts isn't there until later this month. Nope there too.

It's a safe bet a whole lot of people would be scratching their heads if they were told what band belonged to the tour bus parked right outside Lee's on that night. Ever hear of Rooney? Chances are you may have heard their name mentioned somewhere, but for the most part, this Los Angeles-based four-piece is relatively unknown. Well, at least somewhat unknown. Remember that crowd of girls hanging around the club? This, for a band who has yet to release an album, let alone a single on the radio. So what gives?

"It's all the internet," says vocalist-guitarist, Robert Carmine. "Everyone has access to MP3s of demos we've done. No one has access to the record but they have access to songs that will be on the record. This is the first time in Toronto and people know the lyrics to our songs. It's insane. We've been headlining this tour on the East Coast and it's been really great because we play in L.A. all the time. What's cool is that the same people - the same types of people that come out to our shows in L.A. - are over here on the East Coast. Y'know what I mean? Similar people who will wait outside a club all day and know lyrics to song. It's just insane that no one has the record, yet have so much dedication and will wait in the cold to get an autograph or something."

A quick visit to Rooney's website illustrates the zaniness even more. The site is full of pictures of the band with their obsessed fans, most of them showing off homemade Rooney T-shirts, bags and even pillows. Things could really get interesting once the band finally releases their major label debut on May 6.

"I just hope when the record comes out and is exposed to the mainstream, these first fans don't get turned off," says guitarist-vocalist, Taylor Locke. "That's the main thing with indie rock. It's like YOUR band, so a lot of these people feel like they've discovered something and only they know about it and it's exciting to them to the point where they're going to make their own T-shirts and pillows and stuff. Which is amazing, so hopefully that doesn't go away and just gets bigger and better."

More likely than not, people will stick with Rooney. With catchy, indie power pop songs similar to those of Weezer and Sloan (the band are huge fans of our Canadian rock combo), ridiculously good looks and shaggy mop tops, the band almost seems too good to be true. After having already toured in support of The Strokes and Weezer, Rooney will continue to collect more college indie fans on a tour with The Donnas that started this week. By the time their album hits stores, things could get pretty crazy, so be on the look out.

For any keeners that want to suck up to the band and spread some Sloan love at the same time, listen up. Prior to doing their interview with Chart, Rooney were being interviewed by MuchMusic and thusly asked to request some of their favourite videos. They chose "She Says What She Means" (among others that included Queen, Cars, Superdrag and Supergrass) because they have never seen it (in addition to several other key videos from the Sloan archive). Next time they roll into town, you can score major brownie points if you pass along a copy of Sloan's First Hand Views when asking for an autograph. Thank me later.

-Brian Pascual