Interview: Taylor Locke from Rooney

It’s your first East Coast tour…

Yup, first tour at all.

Has there been a different crowd reaction from California?

Tonight’s the first night on this actual tour. We played New York City at a club and that’s it. This is our first tonight so we’ll see.

Touring with Weezer, what’s that been like?

I think it’s gonna be great actually. As I said, it’s our first night. It’s very peaceful.

So you signed to Interscope?

Yeah.

Did you have a lot of labels interested?

Yeah, we had a few options.

Why did you choose Interscope?

We chose Interscope because we really, really liked the people and we’d be connected to Weezer and they’re our favorite band and we’re getting to tour with them and they’re really confident and they’ve had the most success lately breaking bands -- all the biggest hits. I mean, if you pay attention to what label people are on, whether you like the music or not, Interscope are really successful.

Where’d the name Mastedonia [Rooney’s 3-song demo] come from?

It came from the artwork. We asked a friend named Yarrow Earth Hock to do the art for the demo and he drew this prehistoric elephant. We’re like "what the hell is that?" "It’s a mastodon." So Ned was, like, "why don’t we call it Mastedonia?"

You’re working on an album? Full-length?

Yeah, we just finished recording it.

Does it have a certain sound?

Yeah, it has a fun rockin’ sound.

Is it all new material or are there any old songs?

Like what? Old like...?

Like “Popstars” or “Gone”.

"Popstars," "Losing All Control," "If It Were Up To Me" are all on it. "Gone – No, Wait But Listen" isn’t on it.

Where did you record it?

We recorded it at 2 studios in Los Angeles a place called NRG in North Hollywood and a place called The Jungle in Glendale.

All right, what are your favorite albums?

My favorite albums? Abbey Road by the Beatles – all the fucking Beatles albums, especially Abbey Road but all of them. Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd, Beach Boys – Pet Sounds, a lot of Queen albums, a lot of ELO albums. I like Blur, I like Nirvana – Nevermind and In Utero, I love both. All the Weezer albums, especially Pinkerton.

Who do you think is an underrated band?

Superdrag, Supergrass. A band called Sloan, from Canada. That’s about it.

What are you listening to right now?

Sloan, Supergrass, a Bob Dylan album. That’s pretty much my bus rotation for the last few days.

What would you consider your influences?

As a band or me personally?

You personally.

My favorite guitar players are George Harrison and Keith Richards, Joey Santiago from the band The Pixies – great guitar player. Can’t leave out Kurt Cobain even though he kind of sucks at guitar -- great songwriter but kind of a different guitar style. Neil Young – great guitar player.

Last question, where do you see the band in 5 years?

Hopefully recording album number 4, 3 or 4 or 5, on a great tour, happy and peaceful and balanced.