Roommate is a band from Chicago, IL.

History

Roommate began as a solo music project of Kent Lambert in 2000. He had just moved from

Iowa City Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and started recording music in his apartment. In 2001, he relocated to

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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 recorded steadily through the completion of its second full-length album. ''We Were Enchanted'' was released in April 2008 on Plug Research and Shrug Records and supported with shows in the Netherlands and the American Midwest. For several years members of the live band changed based on availability, playing instruments such as

musical saw A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is a hand saw used as a musical instrument. Capable of continuous glissando (portamento), the sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin. The musical saw is classified as a plaque f ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

Buchla Buchla Electronic Musical Instruments (BEMI) was a manufacturer of synthesizers and unique MIDI controllers. The origins of the company could be found in Buchla & Associates, created in 1963 by synthesizer pioneer Don Buchla of Berkeley, Californi ...

Music Box, and

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

, as well as hand percussion and traditional rock instruments. In recent years the band has stabilized into a quartet of Lambert, Gillian Lisée ( Fruit Bats,

Califone Califone is an experimental rock band from Chicago. The band is named after Califone International, an audio equipment manufacturer. Their work has been critically acclaimed. Roots & Crowns review AllMusic Califone has released an album and fea ...

), Seth Vanek (Tiny Cover Band, THIN HYMNS), and Sam Wagster (Cairo Gang, The Father Costume, Fruit Bats). Roommate's third album Guilty Rainbow was released on the Chicago's Antephonic label in the spring of 2011. Tours through the Eastern and West Coast United States followed shortly after. Guilty Rainbow won praise from music writers such as Collin Anderson of

Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, a ...

, who called it "one of those rare albums that starts out great and gets better." The band's fourth album MAKE LIKE was released by Chicago's Strange Weather Records on June 23, 2015.

Members

The current lineup includes: *Kent Lambert (

Keytar The keytar is a lightweight synthesizer that is supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, similar to the way a guitar is supported by a strap. Keytars allow players a greater range of movement onstage, compared to conventional keyboard ...

, vocals, electronics) *Gillian Lisée (

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

), vocals *Luther Rochester (

Music Easel, bells, vibes, Moog, melodica) *Seth Vanek (

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

) *Sam Wagster (Guitar) Occasional and past participants include Gerard Barreto (bass/sound engineering), Nick Broste (trombone, sound engineering), Amy Cimini (viola), Reid Coker (guitar), Tim Daisy (drums), Devin Davis (drums, theremin), Erica Dicker (violin), Jim Duffy (drums), Tom Comerford (guitar), Anton Hatwich (bass), Cody Hennesy (guitar, programming), Mercedes Landazuri (banjo), Justin Petertil (guitar), Daniel Schneider (guitar), Dewayne Slightweight aka Lee Relvas (bells, vocals), Evelyn Weston (musical saw), and Katherine Young (bassoon). During a short tour in The Netherlands in May 2008, Lambert performed as Roommate with a Netherlands-based backing band of Bart de Kroon (guitar, banjo, Moog), Melvin Wevers (bass) and Sebastiaan Janssen (drums) from Dutch singer Pien Feith's band.

Discography

*''Celebs'' EP, CD, self-released (December 2001, re-released with modified artwork by Fresh Produce in February 2006) *"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) *''Guilty Rainbow'' digital/vinyl, Antephonic Records (March 2011)

References

External links

*
Roommate Bandcamp page
{{Authority control Rock music groups from Illinois Musical groups from Chicago Musical groups established in 2000 Plug Research artists