In the midst of the five hours set aside for the LDOC concert, Cali-steeped surf-pop outfit Rooney should make the stage shine a little brighter. Sonia Havele talks to Rooney frontman Robert Schwartzman about the freedom of label independence and the might of The O.C. in opening up a band to new audiences. And with a little math, Schwartzman demonstrates that most of Duke is around the same age now that the band was when they got their start.
So, have you guys been pretty busy now that your album is coming soon?
Yeah, it’s been really busy, but it’s been exciting—not like a downer busy. We shot a video a few weeks ago, our single’s going to come out the first week of May and the record’s going to be out very soon—June 8.
What can your fans expect from this record, and how do you think it compares to your past music?
I have a hard time answering that question because I feel like it’s so hard to analyze your own music sometimes. But I feel like I’m really proud of it. We made it in my studio in L.A., and we produced it and engineered it ourselves. We didn’t know what to expect and we went into it just trying to do our best and it turned out really great. I think we’ve matured. We started in high school, and now we’re adults. I think you can hear it in the music. I also feel like, to me, the songs have more going on in them. It’s not like everything is trying to be a hit single or something.
As a band, what is your songwriting process like? Do you collaborate? Do you write individually?
You know, the other two records I wrote by myself. I do co-write for other projects, but for Rooney it’s kind of my own process and I feel kind of territorial about the way I work. But for this album... Louie wrote a really great song called “Into the Blue,” and then Taylor and Ned wrote a song called “The Hunch.” But usually I’ll write songs, I’ll demo them and then I’ll play all the demos to the band. Then we’ll all kind of pick and choose which ones we like. So you have to be kind of willing to part with a song if people don’t like it. I feel like the records we make are kind of shaped by everyone’s tastes. [We] find our sound by picking the right songs.
Looking back on the timeline of your albums, you guys seem like a relatively slow-producing band. You’ve put out a full-length album about every three or four years. Why would you say that you guys are a relatively slow-producing band, and are there any specific elements of your production process that contribute to this?
Well the truth is yeah, this is our third record. [But] there was a four year delay between the [second and third] because we had a big label problem. In that four years, we made three albums and only released one of them. We got held up by certain people in our creative lives who were kind of standing in our way. I feel like we’re just the opposite of a slow-producing band, because we turn things around relatively quickly. We wanted to leave Interscope because we wanted to get into a new system where we put music out more frequently.
Do you ever plan on releasing any of the tracks on your unreleased albums?
It’s kind of tricky because I don’t think anyone loves the way they sound, but I think there are some really good songs on there. I think we’re going to try and re-record a bunch of those songs and release them [in] a b-side compilation—I hope.
How has this past year been since your split from Interscope?
It was very liberating creatively for me as a writer because I didn’t feel like I had anyone breathing down my neck. I felt like all the expectations were my own. [Before] people’s expectations were just getting into my zone. I think everyone in the band thought it was a really amazing time to redefine ourselves [and] our whole formula for how we want to work.
Looking at the bands you have toured with, it seems like you’ve had a wide range of collaborations. How has it been opening for huge mainstream pop icons like the Jonas Brothers, as opposed to lesser-known indie bands like Tally Hall and Crash Kings, who you toured with this past winter?
You know, it’s definitely weird... when you look at our touring history. We’ve been all over the map, but I like it. It’s something that I’m pretty proud of. I feel like our music works well in all different ways and contexts. I think our sound is really diverse [and] our touring reflects our sound. I like that we can play a Kiss F.M. pop show and then we can go play an indie radio show. I think it’s pretty unique for a band to be able to do that. I [also] think that at times its frustrating to make music that’s not exactly what everyone listens to today. With a lot of different genres there’s a built-in audience—get a tattoo, get a piercing and then all of a sudden you belong to something. I don’t know what Rooney’s fans want to belong to other than loving the band, to loving music, to appreciating it. I don’t worry much about who we play with. I just want to keep building what we do and be able to turn people on to our sound.
How has being on T.V. shows like The O.C. affected you as a band?
I feel like the obvious answer is that it has opened us up to a new audience. It’s such a hard time to get [mainstream] exposure for bands today unless you have some big hit song or something. I think The O.C. opened us up to a wider audience, and that was really positive for us. I feel like a lot of college kids that come to see Rooney definitely know us from The O.C. You know, I can’t complain—the more the merrier. Maybe some people don’t think it’s cool to be a on a TV show like The O.C., but enough cool bands have done it that I don’t think it’s anything to worry about anymore. Being able to play more college shows is great and if it’s because of things like The O.C., then I’m happy to do more of them.
So your website lists only three tour dates this April and all of them are on college campuses. Is there anything that specifically draws you to a college crowd as opposed to a more standard audience?
I actually love college shows. I think we’ve made a lot of fans in the college-age demographic. We play our most well-known songs like “Shake It” and “When Did Your Heart Go Missing,” and people in the crowd get really really excited. It’s so cool to be able to have that response. I’m really happy we’re able to get back out there and play shows like this. When we first started back in 2003, college kids then were like 18 and now are like 25. College kids now were 12 years old [then]. It’s like a new generation, a new demographic.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.