*Retrieved from KidzWorld site on October 1, 2007*

Rooney is back with their much-awaited sophomore album, Calling the World. Kidzworld is getting the low-down on the new disc from Rooney's own keyboardist, Louie Stephens. Check it out!

Sindy: Can you tell us a little bit about the new album, Calling the World?
Louie Stephens: We spent three years making it and put our heart and souls into it. We actually made two other versions of a second album - went through a lot of songs, and even more producers, and finally stuck with a producer named John Fields who did a great job. We were able to aim a little a higher than we were on the first album, I think.

Sindy: Do you have any favorite songs on the album?
Louie Stephens: I'd have to say Are You Afraid.

Sindy: Why is that?
Louie Stephens: Well, first of all it features a lot of keyboard, and I'm a keyboardist. Plus it was really fun to record.

Sindy: The cover is almost a re-creation of the classic Doors album. What's that all about?
Louie Stephens: We didn't really think of it as a recreation of The Doors album. We shot a ton of pictures - all sorts of different looks. After seeing the cover, I went "Oh, wow that is similar". I think we'd just intended to do something old-school looking with a font sort of like The Stones would have used. And then that's how it turned out.

Sindy: You owe a lot of your initial success to your appearance on The O.C. a few years ago. Were you sad when the show went off the air earlier this year?
Louie Stephens: No. To be honest, I didn't really watch the show other than the one episode we were one. It was a blast to do, though. Oh, I should mention that Mischa Barton showed up when we were doing a residency at The Roxy. That was pretty cool.

Sindy: Kelly Clarkson famously pulled a lot of pranks on you while you toured together in 2006. Did you get her back for it?
Louie Stephens: We tried so many times in so many ways, but no, we never managed it. The one day we really tried they had all of this extra security. We were going to ride a golf cart on the stage but they had all these beefy security guards around. They were too strong for us, and we failed.

Sindy: Did you always know you wanted to be a performer?
Louie Stephens: I knew right towards the end of elementary school that I wanted to make music - but the performing... not so much. I like recording and have always been most interested in that side of things. I went to a kind of progressive school, and I had an older sibling that went there, so I went to a winter concert that really just inspired me to want to learn how to play an instrument.

Sindy: What sort of music did you listen to growing up?
Louie Stephens: I had a Sgt. Pepper cassette that I listened to when my dad drove me to soccer, which I really liked and listened to again and again. My parents had a big record collection - The Stones, Led Zeplin - that sort of thing. And some random stuff like the soundtrack to Cats. All sorts of stuff got burned into my brain. Then I had this Swedish babysitter who listened to a lot of R&B. Boyz II Men were pretty huge back then.

Sindy: What are you listening to these days?
Louie Stephens: I listen to a lot of older music mainly. I also really like the new Scissor Sisters album. I like the Electric Light Orchestra - ELO - a lot. Um, and bands like The Zombies and - obviously - The Beach Boys and The Beatles. I guess, as a band, we have a lot of shared musical tastes, but we all have a lot of things we're into individually. I even like bands like ABBA and super pop-y stuff like that but also like film scores...I could just keep on going.

Sindy: You have a real Brit Pop sound but you're from LA. Would you consider yourselves anglophiles?
Louie Stephens: I don't know about anglophiles, no. We definitely have a lot of wide-ranging influences. The old album may have had more of that sound but I would say the new one is a lot more just pop-pop rather than a Brit-Pop sound.

Sindy: What advice would you give to young people aspiring to make it in the music industry?
Louie Stephens: Just be prepared to spend a lot of time aspiring... ha, no that's terrible. I don't want to be discouraging. It's just that we got lucky, so I don't know if I'm the right person to ask. How about this: it's a real gamble, so be sure that you like gambling.

Sindy: Thanks very much for chatting with us. Good luck with the new album!
Louie Stephens: Thank you!

-Sindy