Make room in your life for ‘Lost Youth’ – Room 94’s phenomenal new album!
Over the years, Room 94 have experimented with various different sounds and they’ve certainly gained a dedicated following. Now, they’re back with explosive guitars and an even heavier sound.
To promote their new record, the four-piece band recently hit the road and they’re currently touring the country for a string of live shows. We caught up with lead singer Kieran Lemon and bassist Kit Tanton backstage before their headline show in Manchester last week.
The talented pair exclusively revealed that they plan to film a music video for every single song from ‘Lost Youth’ and they also shared a previously unheard fan story. Vibrant hair colours and career highlights were also discussed. Check out Kieran and Kit’s answers to our questions below!
You’ve just released your third album ‘Lost Youth’ – how would you describe the record for people who haven’t yet heard it?
Kieran: “The sound is sort of just good pop/rock music, isn’t it?”
Kit: “Yeah, it’s heavy guitars. Easy-listening. Quite similar to Taking Back Sunday, old You Me At Six and All Time Low.”
Kieran: “Yeah, it’s got a throwback feel to it.”
Kit: “If you like rock music, you’ll love us.”
Have you each got a favourite track from the album?
Kieran: “They’re like our babies, it’s too hard to pick. You have a song for a different mood so maybe if you’re in the gym kicking off and you want to let off some steam, you’ll be blasting ‘Suffocating.’ If you want to just to chill or you’re feeling a bit down and want to feel sorry for yourself or just need that sad song to listen to, you’ve got ‘Raincoat’ and ‘Flower.’ Then if you just want a good party song to jump around to at a gig, ‘2am’ is the one and ‘Anxiety.’
Kit: “Everything for a different mood.”
Kieran: “You can never pick a favourite from the album. (laughs) It’s always too hard.”
The intro to the album and parts of the ‘Do You Feel Alive’ video are quite haunting – was it always the intention to go for a slightly darker concept?
Kieran: “I think it’s just us sort of growing up. We’ve done a lot of things more in the pop side of things as well. We’ve done things where there’s hundreds of people involved and our ideas kind of get lost in it. We did a video before where we were underwater – we never wanted to do it but we did it. We did another video where there’s like a pole dancer in the video and it sounded cool but it just came out as a bit… I dunno. But this time, we just said ‘we want it like this.’”
Kit: “We’ve wrote the storyboards for like all of our videos and everything. When we got the first edit back, it felt right to have that little intro at the start with the weird noises. It went with like all of the glitches and stuff. It’s just a more adult vibe with us growing up really.”
Kieran: “We love the creepy stuff – we’re big horror movie fans so we wanted to bring that in.”
Would you say you have more creative control now then?
Kieran: “We’ve always had creative control. I dunno, maybe we’ve been a bit too nervous or held ourselves back and been a bit insecure about it. We’re getting a bit older now and a bit more confident. I’m 23 years old and it’s kind of like we don’t care what anyone thinks now.”
Kit: “We kind of went with the flow. If someone had a great idea then we’d be like yeah, go on then.”
Kieran: “Now, it’s like screw it. We want to have a creepy video, we want to do this, we want to do that, we don’t care if we’ve done tours that are poppy before, we listen to rock music more than anything so we want to do what we want to do. It’s kind of just that. It’s having the confidence to go ‘you know what, we don’t want to do that, we want to do it this way’ so that’s it.”
If you could go back and release a music video for another song from one of your previous albums, which track would you pick? We loved ‘Poison’ from your second album.
Kieran: “Poison? Nice one. Yeah, that kind of another aggressive song where we were getting screwed over by people at the time and then we went in the studio. I cut them vocals straight away and it just sort of worked with the lyrics and everything. It was like ‘yeah, this feels good.’ It was one of those ones with a deeper meaning too – it wasn’t about partying or girls, it had a deeper meaning. If we could go back and do a video, it’d be for ‘Too Young.’
Kit: “Yeah, ‘Too Young’ definitely.”
Kieran: “That was the one that fans took to. We’re going to play it tonight and they’ll go nuts for it. It was one as well that we really loved and thought it could have done well as a video.”
Do you have any idea what a ‘Too Young’ video would have looked like?
Kieran: “Probably what we’re doing now really. We’ve got that darker look – we love it, like what we’ve done in ‘2am’ and ‘Do You Feel Alive.’ It’s got that gritty look. We worked with our good friend Tim Spatz who we’ve known for six or seven years now so it was just kind of easy.”
Kit: “We could bounce ideas around.”
Kieran: “That’s what we’d do for ‘Too Young’, we wouldn’t do…”
Kit: “Nothing spectacular.”
Kieran: “Yeah, nothing spectacular – just that kind of cool vibe. What we’re doing on this album, we haven’t told anyone this actually, but we’re making a video for every single song. We’re trying to do every single month but we’re now on tour so April?”
Kit: “We’re gonna miss a month.”
CelebMix: “You could maybe do tour video? ‘Keep My Hands Off Your Chick’ was one of those?”
Kieran: “We don’t really want to do a tour video because it feels kind of like a cheat.”
Kit: “It’s like the easy way out.”
Kieran: “We want a good concept video for each one and that’s what we’re gonna do this time.”
We love your new single ‘2am’ – how did you find shooting the music video?
Kieran: “Yeah, it was good fun man. It was kind of like crazy.”
Kit: “It was weird. We got the idea and we had to kind of find a space to film it in – it was in some kind of dodgy area in Hackney in London. Again, we turned up and the room was a lot smaller than we thought it was.”
Kieran: “Yeah, it was a B&B.”
Kit: “We had to kind of play around with our idea a bit but it came out really well; like the argument scene. So yeah, it was good.”
Kieran: “It was really weird. It was meant to be even darker than normal, sort of ‘Groundhog Day’ but ‘Sixth Sense.’”
Kit: “At the end of the video, you were meant to find out that Kieran was dead.”
Kieran: “It sounds weird like that but it was done in a really weird way so it’d look like you’d had an argument and I’d be ignoring the girl. We’d be ignoring each other and at the end, it’d be like ‘oh, he was a ghost.’ I’m a ghost.”
Kit: “Like he wasn’t there, it was a ghost messing with her mind.”
Kieran: “The room wasn’t big enough so we just sort of went with a different vibe but yeah, we love it. We love that video.”
And when you’re touring, what are you usually up to at ‘2am’? Are you normally sleeping at that time or carrying on the party?
Kit: “Getting pissed probably.” (laughs)
Kieran: “Getting pissed or losing money in the casino.”
Kit: “Or eating a kebab.”
Kieran: “That’s what we’ll be doing tonight.”
From the flag-bearing silhouettes to the cool glitchy effects, the visuals for this album are very striking. Is that something you’ve particularly focused on?
Kieran: “We’ve always wanted that. Always.”
Kit: “When Kieran came up with the album title and I did the artwork for it, it was kind of like we wanted to create a cult – like a big group of people. We wanted like an actual proper logo because we’ve never had one – it’s always been text or something. So we wanted a simple logo that people could catch onto and that was the first idea I came up with really.”
Kieran: “That’s what it is. We, and the fans that listen to us, are a big group. It’s not just a band of people with fans – it’s like a connection. Everyone says ‘there’s no-one with VIPs like they have’ – it’s nuts, it’s great. They’re friendly as well, it’s not some sort of crazy unattainable like Justin Bieber meet and greet – it’s clearly like a big thing where everyone knows each other.”
CelebMix: “Like one big family?”
Kieran: “Yeah, and that’s what we wanted to do with this. It’s like we’re all in this together, we are the ‘Lost Youth’ and the fans were even involved with the album on the intro track. Kit did all of the designs so we’ve been getting it tattooed and all those sorts of things.”
Kit: “We’re a nice cult.”
To promote ‘Lost Youth’, you had a special launch party in London and you spent most of the week signing CDs for fans across the country. How did you find those?
Kieran: “Amazing, it’s a weird one because we haven’t done anything in a year. You’ve got to be doing something every month; especially now with the Internet. If you disappear for longer than like three months, there’s a new band and a new someone so some people won’t care.”
Kit: “They kind of move on.”
Kieran: “That’s just it. That’s just supporters and listeners but even on the inside of the industry, they just get bored and they’re like ‘naa, you’re done, you’re done’ so we had to really work. We had to get the right signings. It was hard because we wanted to do one in Manchester. It was mad, everything’s been mad, but it’s all worth it when you actually get going.”
Kit: “You get to meet people that have bought the album so it’s nice to say thank you and spend some time with them really.”
Kieran: “No-one loves the album more than us but it’s nice to hear feedback. People are saying like ‘I really enjoy this, it helps me go through a tough time’ and stuff. There’s a song on the album actually that we wrote with that in mind. There was a girl in tears today saying that she’s got social anxiety and that she’s struggling with it. We’ve got a song called ‘Anxiety’ and everyone’s just taken to it straight away – we sort of wrote that for the fans. It’s great to do these signings and meet these fans, they love every lyric and can relate to them. We can see them in person and it’s a good moment.”
How excited are you to kick off the headline tour in Manchester?
Kieran: “It’s weird because Manchester has a curfew. (laughs) We can’t play noise until 5pm so everything has been pushed back today. It’s been stressful; especially for our tour manager Joe who’s been running about.”
Kit: “I’m looking forward to it, it’s gonna be a show.”
Kieran: “Manchester is normally one of our favourites.”
Kit: “It’s always great to kick off in a lively place.”
What’s your favourite thing about touring?
Kit: “It’s a different city every day. You’re never doing the same thing. It’s always different so it’s a new experience every day… and partying, getting pissed. It feels like you can get away with it on tour. It’s like you’re on holiday so it’s acceptable to have a drink at 10am if you want.”
Kieran: “Yeah, exactly. It’s good fun as well. You’re out with your mates, you’re playing music, you’re hanging out, you’re meeting new people, you’re always doing something and you’re never sitting around bored. You’re always laughing.”
Kit: “And just seeing all the fans as well.”
Kieran: “Last night, we got in at 4am in Manchester. Me, Dean and Kit shared a room and we were all dying of laughter for no reason. We couldn’t stop. The tour hadn’t begun and it’s so much fun.”
Can you tell us any funny stories from life on the road?
Kit: “There’s loads.”
Kieran: “I’ve got a good story – it’s not really us on the road but I’ve remembered it. Everyone always asks: ‘have you got any crazy fan stories?’ I always tell a few but there’s one I’ve never told. It’s not that I’ve held back, I just forgot about it. There was girl from the Phillipines or Singapore.”
CelebMix: “So she travelled quite far then?”
Kieran: “No, this was online. She started writing loads of hate on everything that I was doing on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I was like ‘who is this?’ I blocked her. It was proper mad stuff like ‘I’m going to kill you’ and ‘I wish you were dead.’ She was threatening me. I clicked her profile and her page was like a normal girl but every now and again, she’d have a crazy status about how she wants to kill me in like broken English. I was like ‘this is mad, who is this?’ So I tried to find if it was a sort of Catfish but it wasn’t; it was a real person. I messaged her like ‘what’s wrong with you?’ I wasn’t mean with her or anything but again, she was saying that I’m the devil. Then, I had a crazy email from this girl’s mum saying that she’d been put in a mental institute because she thought I was possessing her and controlling her dreams. I always forget that story.”
CelebMix: “I don’t think we could ever forget a story like that.”
Kieran: “This was like three years ago before we did everything; we only had like a handful of fans. We weren’t really able to do headline tours ourselves or maybe we’d just started. When people ask if we’ve got any crazy stories, we’re usually like ‘yeah, someone snuck on the bus or someone snuck in backstage.’ Literally, a girl thought I was controlling her. Her mum was like ‘I’m so sorry, it hurts my heart.’ It was all like broken English but I translated it and it was well bad. It’s an exclusive because I haven’t told anyone; I always forget about that.”
You’ve recently re-dyed your hair blue Kieran and Sean used to have red hair – have you ever thought about dying your hair Kit?
Kit: “No, I don’t think I’d suit it.”
CelebMix: “What colour do you reckon you’d go for if you did?”
Kit: “I dunno, I think like a dark purple maybe? If I had to, maybe that. I don’t think I’d suit bright red or anything, I’d look weird. It’d be the same if I shaved my head.”
Kieran: “No you wouldn’t, you’d look great. You’d look like a boiled egg.”
Kit: “I’d look awful. (laughs) I’d look so bad.”
CelebMix: “Next album maybe?”
Kit: “We’ll all just shave our heads.”
CelebMix: “Have you thought about changing colour again recently Kieran?”
Kieran: “I didn’t really want to dye my hair again. At first, I sort of wanted to do it but when it came down to it, I was like ‘do I want to do it?’ Then I sort of just dived in and loved it when it got done. I just felt a bit boring and sometimes people would get confused. People would assume that we’re a boyband so I was like ‘no, I’ll do blue hair and then they’ll know we’re not a boyband.”
What are some of your career highlights to date?
Kieran: “This new album probably; going and recording it. We used a recording studio called Red Triangle and we loved it; we used to do music sort of similar to this on a little EP called ‘Loud Noises’ which is similar to what we’re doing now. Then we did these sort of tours with these pop acts and we kind of catered our sound a bit to just sort of…”
Kit: “What we doing at the time.”
Kieran: “Yeah, we still love the songs and that but they weren’t as guitar-driven as we would like to be. The last album we did, it wasn’t recorded well at all.”
Kit: “The songs were there but it was just the quality of the recording.”
Kieran: “It was like an album or demos so we couldn’t compete with anyone; we couldn’t do what we wanted to do. So this album is really kind of the big highlight of everything we’ve done. Everything we do, we just kind of love. It’s been our job now for years and we haven’t had any other jobs. This is how we live. This is how we earn money and stuff. It’s great for us; it’s the dream job so everything is kind of like a highlight. There isn’t really a stand-out moment yet – maybe there’s one coming.”
Kit: “To like headline Glastonbury or something.” (laughs)
Kieran: “A moment that was amazing that’ll probably never happen ever again was when we went to Poland, we got greeted by hundreds of fans. It kind of just felt like we were The Beatles so we were kind of living the dream for a minute. We had empty bank accounts at the time but…”
Kit: “We were walking off a plane thinking ‘I’m knackered’ and then you walk off and there’s like 500 or 600 plus people waiting there. You’re like ‘Oh my god, what the hell?’”
Kieran: “You feel like a rockstar.”
Kit: “We’d been annoying somebody on the flight as well. There was this app and it kept whistling. It was like an old game with noises on them so we kept on pressing them and this woman lent in front like ‘can you please shut up?’ She proper flipped out.”
Kieran: “Another man then started shouting too.”
Kit: “Then we walked off the flight to girls screaming. They looked back at us like ‘oh, ok.’ (laughs)”
What does the rest of 2016 have in store for Room 94?
Kieran: “We just want to change people’s perceptions. We want to move on with this new music, the new album and it’s just kind of like a whole new rebrand. We feel good, we had a bit of time off and it’s been a year since we toured so now we’re ready to tour again. We’ve got the new album and all our fans that we’re meeting and stuff are like ‘I first saw you when I was 15 years old, I’m now 19’ so they’ve sort of grown up as well and they’re having drinks. The music’s grown up with them – they’re coming out, this is their night out and they love it. It’s great so what we want to do now is use our new album and use our new music to hopefully get on some festivals and tours again.”
Kit: “Hopefully some support tours and stuff to get the new music out there really.”
As you said before, you’re planning to release a video for every song from ‘Lost Youth’ – do you know which one you’ll be doing next?
Kit: “We’re tied between a couple at the moment.”
Kieran: “Yeah, we’re tied between ‘Anxiety’ and ‘Hurricane’. It was originally ‘Suffocating’ but everyone keeps going on about ‘Anxiety’ and ‘Hurricane’ so we might have to do one of those.”
And if you could leave a message for your fans, what would you say?
Kieran: “Thank you for sticking with us.”
Kit: “And thanks for buying our album.”
Room 94’s latest album ‘Lost Youth’ is currently available here on iTunes and you can also purchase physical copies here on the band’s official website. Impressively, the album entered the charts at number 33 in the United Kingdom. That’s an incredible achievement for an unsigned band.
You can see where Kieran, Kit, Sean and Dean will be performing here on their Facebook page. Make sure you grab tickets while you still can – we enjoyed every second of their show in Manchester.
With tons of ambition and a fantastic new album behind them, it’s no surprise that Room 94 are going from strength to strength. The ‘Lost Youth’ era is an exciting new chapter for the guys and we can’t wait to see what the future has in store for them; bring on more gigs and music videos.
Which is your favourite song from Room 94’s new album? Let us know over on Twitter @CelebMix or leave a message in the comments section below!
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