RoomFour

Sometimes losing your direction is the best way to find it. So goes the moral of rock band RoomFour’s latest tale. In 2008 after previous members departed the band to focus on solo projects, singer and guitarist Michael Gomez was left with the choice of walking away or making something new of a musical idea that had taken form four years earlier. The band’s debut album, “Home”, was a simple yet promising pairing of honest lyrics with an unnerving mix of rock, soul and pop.
But it was actually time away from music and time devoted to “listening” to what was going on around him that served as inspiration. The conversations at home, in the news and with peoples of all backgrounds served Gomez with a renewed perspective.

“Music doesn’t change the world; it facilitates communication between people. It is a language and, like any language, its power is measured. To place the burden of change on the art is to break its back. That burden should fall on us as people. But when we use the universal language that is music to speak across the lines of culture, gender and age, our task can become a more inspired one.”

Enter drummer, Ben Olsson. He answered Michael’s ad for a drummer and the reconstruction job began with a setup that, though unfamiliar, felt right. Now a duo, RoomFour retooled their sound from a traditional rock setup to a sound based solely on vocals, guitar and drums. Olsson, a trumpeter-turned-drummer, brought jazz sensibilities to the rhythm of RoomFour’s established rock.

“I thought I was going to be a jazz man for a while,” said Olsson. “Trumpet was 95% of my music activities growing up. At the base of my musical soul is still jazz.”

The pair worked together to strip down the new material and rebuild RoomFour by raking it over the coals of the road and festivals. At the same time, the two continuously returned to the studio to capture the songs of the moment.

If Gomez and Olsson were both at the wheel of this new journey, producer & musician Jonathan Camacho was brought in to be the map. Camacho added arrangements and electronic landscapes that both retained the basic elements of the band’s rock foundation and expanded their sound. In August of 2011 RoomFour released their second project, “Let’s Get Lost Tonight”. Says Gomez:

“We didn’t plan on the exact sound of the record at the outset. We just basically set out to find a new way of discovering ourselves musically and to a greater extent that’s what ’Let’s Get Lost’ is about; not being afraid of losing what you think your identity is, be it musical, social, political, religious or cultural. Because sometimes when you get lost you find yourself.”

RoomFour’s “Lost” had a direction, but for all of it’s drive and ambition the sound still lacked a certain richness to match the depth of the lyrical content running through their songs. In the same way they had looked beyond their comforts to create a sound, RoomFour began to work yet again on finding ways to build on it.

In December of 2011, less than four months after the release of “Let’s Get Lost Tonight”, the band began a dialogue with British-born and L.A.-based producer/engineer Warren Huart, whose resume included work with the likes of Howie Day, James Blunt, The Fray and Aersomith. If ever there was someone who could bring sonic depth to the table it was Huart.

After months of conversation, scheduling and rescheduling, the band camped out at L.A.’s Sunset Sound and Harmony Sound in July of 2012. Joined by their “unofficial” third member and road musician, Jonathan Camacho, RoomFour sought to bring some hook & polish to their game. The result is “L.A. Sessions”. Three brand new tracks that manage to span genres and yet have a uniform sound. From pop to alternative to rock, RoomFour goes wherever it wants to go – enjoying every moment. And so the journey continues.