Roommate (band)

Roommate is a band from Chicago, IL.

History

Roommate began as the solo music project of Kent Lambert in 2000. He had just moved from Iowa City to Brooklyn and started recording music in his apartment. In 2001, he relocated to Chicago and self-released the "Celebs" EP. In 2004, Roommate re-emerged as a live band. Work on the full-length "Songs the Animals Taught Us" began soon thereafter, and the album was self-released in the summer of 2005. A wide release on the Plug Research label followed in the spring of 2006 and was supported with a European tour and a few shows around the United States. Production on the "New Steam" EP began in late 2006 and the band continued recording steadily through the completion of its 2nd full-length, "We Were Enchanted". Members of the live band change based on availability, playing instruments such as musical saw, banjo, violin, theremin, Buchla Music Box, and bassoon, as well as hand percussion and traditional rock instruments. Lambert is the primary songwriter, but all current members contribute to the songs and recordings.

Members

The current typical lineup generally includes mostly:
*Kent Lambert (Keytar, vocals, electronics)
*Luther Rochester (Buchla Music Easel, bells, melodica)
*Mercedes Landazuri (banjo, heartstrings)
*Seth Vanek (drums, percussion)
*Justin Petertil (guitar, bass)
*Erica Dicker (violin)
*Gillian Lisée (bass)

Occasional guests/part-time members include Anton Hatwich, Evelyn Weston, Katie Young, Devin Davis, Amy Cimini, Tim Daisy, Tom Comerford, Cody Hennesy, and Dewayne Slightweight.During a short tour in Holland in may 2008, Lambert played with members of Dutch Pien Feith's band Bart de Kroon, Melvin Wevers and Sebastiaan Janssen.

Discography

*"Celebs" EP, CD, self-released (December 2001, re-released with modified artwork by Fresh Produce in February 2005)

*"Duyster", various artists compilation, 2 x CD, Play it Again Sam (March 2005, released for the fifth anniversary of the Belgian radio program Duyster; Roommate's "RP (Forget the metaphors)" was selected for disc one, "Duyster.Classics")

*"Songs the Animals Taught Us", CD, self-released (July 2005, re-released with modified artwork by Plug Research in April 2006)

*"New Steam" EP, Plug Research - download only (February 2007)
*"New Steam" EP, 10" vinyl on Shrug Records (June 2007)
*"We Were Enchanted" CD, Plug Research (April 2008)
*"We Were Enchanted" vinyl LP, Shrug Records (April 2008)

External links

* [http://kentlambert.org/ Kent Lambert - Roommate official website]
* [http://myspace.com/roommate Roommate Myspace page]
* [http://plugresearch.com/ Plug Research record label]
* [http://shrugrecords.com/ Shrug Records]
* [http://www.fprecords.com/ Fresh Produce Records]