INTRODUCING HERTFORDSHIRE BASED ROCK GODS, ROOM 94....
Room 94 are a four piece pop rock band from Hertfordshire, made up of Kieran Lemon on Vocals, Dean Lemon on Drums & Vocals, Sean Lemon on Guitars & Vocals and Kit Tanton on Bass.
We caught up with Sean at a motorway service station just off the M5 where we grabbed an overpriced frothy coffee in a styrofoam container (with our names spelt incorrectly by the rather splendid looking but clearly foreign assistant). We found a booth, got comfy and had a good chat about the making of their new album, how they have amassed 330,000 Facebook followers and receiving valentines cards from Megan Fox, here's how we got on....
You released your debut album ‘No Strings Attached’ in 2014 which charted in the top 30, for an unsigned band this is mightily impressive, have you approached the promotion of your new album any differently this time around?
When our first album came out in no way were we expecting to get a top 30 album, it was completely crazy because during the week of our album signings our manager would come up to us everyday and tell us what position we were in, and for the most part of the week we were top 20! But this time with the release we’re a bit more clued up and ready for the release, last year everything was a bit rushed and as an unsigned act we didn’t really know how to release an album, this time we’re still un-signed but now we know a bit more about it! So I guess we’re just more ready and prepared for the album release week!
You’re big fans of You Me At Six, The Offspring and Bring Me The Horizon, what is it about their output that you like so much?
Yeah, we’re massive fans of all 3 acts! They’ve had a big influence on the new album, and the live aspect of the band. We’ve been fans since we started ROOM 94, so as we’ve been touring and developing as a band we’ve been constantly influenced by them, especially YMA6 because we’ve seen them play in small venues to headlining Wembley! I think we just admire the work ethic all 3 bands have and the effect they’ve had on bands like us!
You wrote all the tracks on your new album, did you receive many offers from others wanting to get involved in the song-writing process?
We had people wanting to co-write with us and stuff but we really just wanted to have this album all us, and show people that THIS album is ROOM 94. This is us.
What, in your opinion is the ‘perfect’ album?
I think the perfect album is probably the album that the artist feels happy with, I think as a musician you’re always thinking “will the fans like this? will the management like this, will the label like this” blah blah. I think you yourself as the artist have to be happy with it, if you’re happy with it that’s all you can ask for.
Jamie Sellars produced your new album, aside from liking the same sort of music, how else did you gel as a team?
Jamie was really cool to work with because he really understood the project, and he understood what we wanted to do and it always helps to get on well with someone who you feel comfortable working with, because if someone does a bad vocal take or something you can just say “dude, I think you can do better” and it isn’t a problem, you just go re-do it!
I read that you are well engaged with your fanbase and often spend loads of time chatting, taking selfies and generally giving back to them what they give to you, other bands are not so accommodating, have you considered how this would affect you when you go on to become world famous rock n’ roll megastars?
Haha! Rock N’ Roll megastars! we wish! Nah, I think you’ve always gotta remember you’re only in the position you’re in because of the people who support you, the moment you forget that you’re screwed! Fans are the most important thing to a band/artist, they’re the ones who are listening to you! We always spend hours outside no matter how cold, no matter if it’s raining or anything just to make sure we meet people. The thing is, we’ve been in the position they’re in, waiting outside tour buses, backstage of venues etc to meet bands we like so we completely understand them doing it and it seriously means the world to meet the band or artist that you love and listen to every day. We’ll never stop putting the effort in to meet our fans, they mean the world to us.
If you were having a dinner party and could invite 3 guests (living/dead/fictional), who’s going to be there?
I love these questions, ermmmmmm…. Michael Jackson, Elvis & JFK!
The band is named after the rehearsal room at your old school in St Albans, was this where the band formed and all the early rehearsals took place? Tell me a funny story about ‘Room 94’….
Yeah, this was back in 2007 there was this practice room in school that was Room 94, but now I think it’s actually Room 93 and 94 doesn’t exist but yeah, we used to practice there very early on before we moved into a living room at my house for practice haha.
Your new album is due on 15th Feb (though it does say 16th Feb on the press release), did you plan this so you can get Valentines Day out of the way beforehand, get all those cards out of the way so you can leave the house?
Haha, we planned it so we could plan seeing our fans, because we’re doing a signing tour and it’s during half term! We wanted to be able to be out on the road hanging out with everyone who’s bought the album so we could say thanks! (Plus you never know we might get given some more valentines cards haha)
Staying with Valentines Day, who normally receives the most cards? Will it be any different for 2015?
I think we usually get like band ones mainly, because I think if people were to pick then one of us would get in a little mood haha
Have you ever sent yourself a Valentines Card pretending it was from a ‘secret admirer’?
Kit has! He does it every year and says it’s from someone famous like Megan Fox
If an electric train is travelling from East to West, which way is the smoke going?
Ermmmmmmmmmm
Which guitar solo still gives you a ‘funny feeling’ whenever you hear it?
Any John Mayer solo he does live!
I mentioned earlier about you being an unsigned band, have you had any offers from labels or are you happy where you are at the moment?
I think after the trouble we had with a “label” in 2014 we’re quite happy how we are! But we would definitely talk to some major labels if they were interested.
I see that 3 of you share the same surname, are you related or is this a marketing ploy like The Ramones did years back, I was also asked if your dad is Keith Lemon?
We always get asked this question, if it’s a stage name and stuff but nope! Literally, 3 of us are brothers! (no mention of Keith Lemon being their father....maybe he is!)
What is your favourite TV show?
The Office!
You currently have upwards of 330,000 followers on Facebook, how do you ensure that you keep these fans happy?
By posting stupid photos of Kit (Tanton - Bass player) haha
What was the last book you read, what was it about?
Harry Potter, it was about a bunch of mates pissing about in some weird boarding school
Have you played any gigs abroad? If so, which countries did you find reacted best to your music?
We’ve played in France, Germany, Belgium, Holland & Poland! Poland is probably our favourite because we’ve toured there a lot and the Polish fans really seem to love us!
Any plans for festivals during 2015?
We would love to play Reading & Leeds, but who knows!
Sean was getting hungry so once the coffee had been drunk, we queued up to get some cakes, I only had £30 in cash on me so we had to share a caramel slice, I had the first bite, Sean went second, whilst he was in 'mid chew', I unleashed a load of quickfire questions on him....
Coffee or tea?
Coffee
Blondes, Brunettes or Redheads?
Brunettes
Skiing or beach?
Beach
Festival or regular gig?
Festival
Camping or Camper Van?
Camping
Blink 182 or New Found Glory?
Blink
Chicks with piercings or Chicks with tattoos?
Tattoos!
Beanie Hats or Trucker Caps?
Beanie Hats
Beard or No Beard?
No beard
CD or Vinyl?
CD
MP3 or Cassette Tape?
MP3
iPhone or Android?
iPhone
God or Google?
God
The guys are on tour from the end of February to mid March, check out the dates and venues below.
ROOM 94 – 2015 TOUR DATES
28 February Oxford, O2 Academy 2
1 March Bristol, Thekla
3 March Bournemouth, The Old Fire Station
4 March Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
5 March Glasgow, O2 ABC 2
6 March Newcastle, O2 Academy 2
7 March Sheffield, O2 Academy 2
9 March Liverpool, O2 Academy 2
10 March Manchester, Academy 3
12 March Birmingham, O2 Academy 2
13 March London, O2 Academy Islington
14 March Dublin, Academy 2
15 March Belfast, Oh Yeah Music Centre
Tickets at www.livenation.co.uk
We'd like to thank Sean for taking the time out of his hectic schedule to sip overpriced frothy coffee and chew on cakes costing more than a vintage bottle of Cristal, we wish them every success for 2015 and look forward to catching them live in the very near future.
If you have a few minutes, why not check out their social media sites, I am sure they'd love to have you on board and it would be great to get the Facebook follower count upto half a million by the end of the year....
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