The Rootmen
Toronto, Canada | Established. Jan 01, 2012 | SELF
Music
Press
There’s something to be said about a band’s commitment to the organics of sound, grounded harmonics and lyrics with integrity.
It’s not surprising then when it came time to give themselves a name, that Sheldon Arnold, Adam Deschenes, Jimi Baldwin and Kyle Vaughn chose The Rootmen.
On Saturday, Nov. 29, the local group will celebrate the release of their sophomore album, Fire, with a CD release party at the Victoria Park Armoury.
The CD follows up their debut album, Survival of the Fittest, that cemented the quartet’s approach to music.
The Rootmen grew from Deschenes (vocals) and Arnold (drums) who had worked together and enjoyed a shared passion for music. As their sound began to evolve, the duo became increasingly serious about their direction. New members were welcomed to the fray until the perfect combination was created courtesy of Baldwin (bass) and Vaughn (lead guitar).
“It’s almost like personality management,” quipped Arnold, adding, when it comes to artistic collaboration, “you gotta get four people to stream in one direction in order for it to work. And it only happens when everyone is willing to make it work.”
Having spent the first few years learning how to work together and find their “niche”, the band turned its focus on utilizing the combined talents to define the right sound. The result has been one that speaks to their rock, blues and indie roots, is grounded in integrity and emotion, but also has mainstream appeal.
About two years ago, the band took the top five songs that had been written by Arnold and Deschenes and recorded the Survival of the Fittest EP at the Haggerty Sound Studio. They returned there earlier this year for Fire, although the CD was mastered at Silver Birch Studio in Toronto.
“I think Fire has just been the natural progression of where the music had to go,” said Arnold. “We really plotted out where we wanted to go...Every band has to have something distinct about them.”
The event is also a fundraiser for The Kawartha Lakes Karate Federation with part of the proceeds going to help ensure any child wishing to learn the martial art can, regardless of family finances.
“We think it’s important to give back to the community that supports us,” said Deschenes. - Kawartha Lakes This Week
Entertainment will run throughout the afternoon and evening with such talented acts as The Real, Stacey Renee, The House Call (aka Acoustica), The Rootmen and The Kents, wrapping up with East Coast rockers, The Trews at 10:30 p.m. Age of Majority is in effect from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. - Kawartha Lakes This Week
Discography
Fire - 2014
Survival of the Fittest - 2013
Photos
Bio
The Rootmen play music with feel. Stripped away the effects and created an organic rock sound in this digital age. The origin of The Rootmen has always placed importance on the people and things that ground them. Lead singer and writer Adam Deschenes grew up with an acoustic guitar in his hands with his strong taste for catchy rhythms and funky hooks. He is lyrically driven from his outlook that you should say hi to the stranger walking down the street, remove ourselves from things that are plugged in and go experience the world first hand. "Sometimes we don’t realize how deep our roots run until we try and find them" Adam Deschenes. Kyle has many different musical influences but mainly Angus Young and David Gilmour. He's always envisioned his sound as Angus playing through Davids guitar rig naturally being a fan of effects. With The Rootmen he simply adds just what's needed to give it that extra punch without pushing the music over the edge of the clean raw form we try to achieve. Jimi was influenced by an extremely musical family and bass became the obvious choice after he pulled 2 strings off an acoustic guitar his aunt gave him as a young boy. Growing up he was introduced to almost every type of music imaginable. Now with The Rootmen he's able to utilize this massive library of styles to create bass lines that are funky, smooth and engaging. Sheldon also comes from a generational history of musicians. Self taught with over 20 years of experience his environment caused for a very broad spectrum of musical influences. His goal for every Rootmen song is to write a piece that is right for the song. Nothing more, nothing less.
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