The Roman Games at the Knitting Factory this Saturday!

Give it to Leane to get me to play one of the places heroes like Dan Treacy, Robyn Hitchcock or Mark E. Smith performed at... and on a Saturday night! Ok, so the KF is in Brooklyn now, but if you're spooked about that, you don't belong here anyway. I'll be sharing the bill with the amazing Alana Amram, who has been a guest on this blog since it's inception. Also, Kerry Kennedy and the Ghostwise band will play something like a pre-comeback show that promises to feature not just new material but also a quite happy, sassy KK...ask Dave about that, and his favorite books, too.
Under the old The Roman Games moniker I get to play with truly excellent musicians - Kristin Mueller on drums, Christian Bongers on bass, Burnt Finger on guitar and Dave Spinley on Sax.
More info and tickets here.

ROOM live Tomorrow Thursday May 13th

I know we've played out quite a bit lately, but come see the last ROOM show before we redecorate! This Thrusday, May 13th, will be our last show till fall, since some of us go to Europe for the summer and many new songs need to be rehearsed.

Fat Baby is at 112 Rivington Street on the Lower East Side. We play in the basement. There will be giveaways and singalongs, quizzes and riddles. Music and stories, too. And yes, Quentin is back, newly inspired by the UK. We play at 11PM, $5, our favorite hour of the day.

Thursday at Zebulon: Room and One Year After

We've had so much fun playing the Small Beast acoustic, so we readily accepted the invitation from Karen Geyer and her One Year After project, to open for them this Thursday at the famous and friendly french place Zebulon in Williamsburg. We start at 9pm, One Year after will take the stage at 10pm. The show is free, so come on down to the river. We will be missing Quentin for this show, but Bernd and Dave promised to cover for him... Hope to see you there!

Free ROOM at the Small Beast This Monday!

Room, the band, is honored to play Paul Wallfisch's eclectic music night "The Small Beast" at the Delancey Lounge, 168 Delancey Street. The setting at the Small Beast calls for rather quiet music, so we rearranged and toned down some of our songs for your listening pleasure. There's NO COVER and special 2 for 1 drinks... so come on out and bring your friends! It starts at 8.30, we are on at 10.30pm, but come early and check out these other great artists:

MONDAY 4/19
8:30 ELISA FLYNN
Elisa Flynn's songs, full of wit and off-kilter, hypnotic rhythms, on topics including love gone wrong in the 1800's, dead birds that are reborn, and the Donner Party, and are delivered in a low-fi, old school punk manner using just her big voice and a hopped-up guitar attached to a pile of effects pedals. Her first solo EP, Dimestore Mary, was called “an addicting collection of music, both raw and rigid in its execution” by womenfolk.net. Elisa played previously with The Happy Ending, Jargon Society, Freak Baby, and the Bunny Brains (well, hasn't everyone been in the Bunny Brains at one time or another?) Her first full length album called "Songs about Birds and Ghosts" was recorded at Emandee Studio by Mark Ospovat, and is now out on her own Cat in a Dress Records.

9:15 ERIN & HER 'CELLO
...pulls from her favorite influences– Peggy Lee, Cole Porter, and Serge Gainsbourg to name a few. In any performance, Erin and Her Cello will light up your night and leave you laughing out loud. (That’s right—laughing out loud.)
“…the standout of the night is clearly Erin and her Cello – an NYC babe with a spunky personality and crystal clear voice who can rock a cello like it’s a Stratocaster guitar.
“Hall is using her experiences and distinctive sense of humor to create a type of performance art that almost defies description.”- Anna Bengel, Backstage.com
Here's her first video: http://www.vimeo.com/7927019

9:45 DAVID NAGLER (+ surprise guests...)
...is a low-fi pop maestro who moonlights as a purveyor of beats with Nova Social and has played with Chris Mills, John Wesley Harding & The English UK, Jon Langford's Skull Orchard, DC Watts, Chris Lee, The Inner Banks, The Ne'er Do Evers, Camphor, Peacock's Arcade, Mascott, Longshoremen and others...

10:30 THE ROOM
A rare New York appearance from the Swiss-American pop craftsman and bon-vivant Roman Game and his international soul gang, Room, rounds out a most eclectic night of music at the Small Beast! "Very, very good. Nice mix of styles, no testosterone metal crap. I hope they go far!"
Captain Sensible, The Damned
http://romangame.blogspot.com

11:30 PAUL WALLFISCH
"...Paul Wallfisch ist und bleibt einer der brillantesten Songschreiber unsere Tage..."~Eclipsed Magazine 3/'1

The City of Oblivion: Anton Sword in the light

Rocking out in the light: Anton Sword

The Anton Sword Trio will take on the Small Beast again on Monday night, so it’s high time to tell you about the City of Oblivion, the new CD and easily his best work so far, aided by the creative craftsmanship of his band, the We Ours. Let’s take it track by track, and then you come out Monday and enjoy the songs live.

Jar of Gin: A mellow opener, setting the mood: Get out of the basement and step into the light. Sword did himself the favor and moved from the basement to one of the nicest roofs in Williamsburg, his album does the same for his music. It tenderly sparkles and shines and reflects all the love Anton puts into it.

City of Oblivion: I like the voice on this, reminds me of Marc Bolan with just a little bit more melancholy. Great dark noises towards the end. A fitting title track that somehow represents the mood for the whole album: The lonely fighter has found his inner strength to face the demons. Great backing vocals, and look who it is: the unique Kerry Kennedy making a guest appearance.

Like Your Mind: Powerful tune, a melody that sticks in your head and should be picked up for a TV spot for computers, smart phones, or broadcasters, anything. Again, very T-Rexy, easily the radio hit, too, so you should probably make this into a video.

The Lawn: Great intro and an interesting composition. Don’t like the sexy imagery – swan and lawn and magic wand…huh? Would like this more as an instrumental with just the late beach boys-y chorus “the lawn…”

Contaminated: Interesting production, somehow the synth brings out the contamination…the infection. The singing is great on this, the build up towards the end fascinatingly crazy.

Listening: Nice ballad, great atmosphere, story and music go well together.

Sandwich: Love the powerful wall of guitars and droning echoes and sounds, sonically very impressive, with nicely understated singing in the verses.

Anybody (The Glove): Another one for the radio, waiting for the big break through, which is beautifully accomplished by the great guitar duel halfway through the song.

Nowhere: Funky outdoor soft porn music from the 70’s or the 80’s. I can see them shagging in the cornfield, until our singer enters through the back room and spoils it by lamenting loneliness and the tragic loss of dreams…again.

Gone: A great song, which sounds amazing even through the speakers of my computer. I don’t get the lyrics, though, no idea what will be gone, but I like the melody and structure.

The Astronomer’s Lullaby: Beautiful harmonies, bowiesque, romantic, psychedelic glam – all of Anton’s best ingredients. Best vocal performance, in my opinion. The voice is placed very close to the ears, like it should be in a true lullaby.

Room: La Salle ou La Piece?

Thanks to a very international crowd, the evening with Room and the Epicures at Fat Baby became a nicely diverse mix of music, philosophy, stories and friendships. Even the soundman was amazed at how good it sounded - especially considering Burnt is using that little silvery lunch box you see on the floor in the photos as his only amp. Pic by Tobias Klutke - thanx!

Room at Fat Baby: The Winning Flyer

"No contest, flyer one wins," wrote Anton Sword, one of the over 30 people who took part in our flyer contest. He was right in the end, but for a long time, flyer 3, the one with the fire was leading. The ladies made the difference: Only two voted for 3, all the others agreed on 1.

So Anton and all the nice people who voted for flyer 1 will get a free drink, if they come to the show... The band, by the way, was split: 3 for 1, 3 for 3. But you know, in the end it's all for one, one for...

And as the flyer dictates, we'll do our best to play some colorful light music with orange overtones. Thank you all for voting, we are looking forward to seeing a lot of you on Thursday! And stay for the Epicures, listen to some of their smart compositions here.

What other people you might know said about ROOM:

"Very, very good. Nice mix of styles, no testosterone metal crap. I hope they go far!"
Captain Sensible, The Damned

"Fantastic songs...I really enjoy listening to their music!"
Karl Wallinger, World Party

"Room? I love their atmoshperes, the eeriness, the arpeggiated motions... I'm glad I'm Room's friend!"
Ed Ball, Television Personalities

We'll start on time at 10PM. Fat Baby is at 112 Rivington, close to the corner of Essex Street. Oh, and we played our first show for kids last Saturday, so now we know how to behave...

ROOM Flyer Contest!

We have this show coming up at 10PM on April 1st at Fat Baby, no joke what with April's Fools Day and all. But we can't decide on which flyer we should use. Help us make up our minds and tell us which one you like best. It will also tell us what kind of musical mood you want us to be in. please Comment below...

A free drink for those who pick the right flyer and come to the show Thursday in a week... We'll start on time at 10PM. Fat Baby is at 112 Rivington, close to the corner of Essex Street.

The Epicures are friends of Martial's and are quite an experience. We like the Clash and the Beatles. They like the Smashing Pumpkins and David Bowie. So Stay a little longer if you can. Remember Your Room loves you.

a) roomfatbabyposter

b) ruinroom

c) fireroom

Bear Fighting With Bare Hands

Fought the Bear with their bare hands: Lucinda Black Bear
I know... C. Gibbs again, but sorry, the man is just rising to incredible musical heights with his band Lucinda Black Bear as witnessed Friday night at the Knitting Factory, now in Williamsburg, two blocks from Union Pool (take a walk with street view here. And anyway, there's more. The songs mix the legacy of the Byrds with the Beatles and then come back to haunt you with a powerful orchestral punk - with cello, violin, acoustic guitar and bass. And not only C. Gibbs is a great showman, drummer Kristin Müller is such an entertaining performer, her antics alone are worth the money. Plus: Have you ever seen a cello player standing, holding his instrument like a guitar god over his head before launching into the finish? - That's Chad Hammer for you. Mike, thanx!

And all the girls went wow: Botanica

Fired up by the set of their forerunner, Botanica played their last stateside show before heading to Europe, where a quite extensive tour with Nikko Weidemann follows (Switzerland: Go see them in Winterthur, Basel, Berne, St. Gall and Lucerne!). Most impressive was not Dresden Dolls drummer Brian Viglione who even took of his shirt off to top Kristin Mueller's show, but despite trying hard, did not succeed. No, it was the songs with Dana Schechter of Bee And Flower fame who, for once without the bass, belted out to songs with a contagious energy. And a supreme Paul Wallfisch with absolutely no sound problems. Do we need to mention that, of course, John Andrews' guitar playing was impeccable?

There's Room in the New Decade - Live!

Life is Grand and then it's cruel, minds change and then they are set, feelings fly and then they die, but there is always the music, that dome of warmth, that cathedral of sound, that welcoming ROOM. So we hope you come down to Fat Baby at 112 Rivington Street btw. Essex and Ludlow on the Lower East Side and revel with us in tunes and harmonies. The more, the merrier - bring your friends, wealth managers, agents, parachute testers and fish cutters. Don't worry, the music will not be as heady as these words, it's only Rock'n'Roll...

Early Spring With Kerry Kennedy - Rise, Ghostwise!

It's here. In my arms. Kerry Kennedy's album. There's no graphic artwork yet, but the work of art is revealed when I put the CD in the stereo: A stunning, sophisticated, mature, yet fresh long player, an aural pleasure from start to finish, with each song embedded into a unique sound, fitting Kerry's distinct voice that at times seems to almost caress you. The songs are yearning, soulful tunes, mixing folk with pop, think Portishead crossed with Morricone or PJ Harvey sleeping with the Carter Family.
Live at Small Beast, Kennedy was in the best of moods, obviously proud of the record and her great band, that now features Paul Wallfisch on keys and Heather Wagner on drums. The Ghostwise band with Nathan Halpern and Jason Binnick on guitar and bass, sounded warm and full of energy. The set included most of the album, with "More from the Mountain", "Son of Sons" and "As You Are" standing out, but don't let me be the judge, you gotta get that record as soon as its out!


Mr. Paul Wallfisch in good spirits, celebrating one year of free weekly "Small Beast" events at the Delancey. More about his new amazing record with Botanica on this blog soon!

Welcome 2010 With Enormous Painhead

There's a small town at the Eastern end of Switzerland with a big name - Rorschach. And it's testing, let me tell you. Each year the little town's very own cult band Painhead invites friends' bands to play a show with them - two nights in a row. All you gotta do to get in is bring a can of beer for the band, and that alone guarantees a full house. Check out the series of cool classic punk groups that are putting the sound to the eastern swiss valleys: Enjoy Violet & The Pony's raw energy on "Shall I" or the gothic anthem "Spinning Room" by Herr Bitteror watch the fun punk rock party of Sullen Crook. Made me feel proud of my hometown, but also old... Anyway, The Roman Games played on Saturday. I had the honor to make music with rhine valley drum legend Carlo Lorenzi and the bass wonder Sandro Heule who both learned the whole set in one afternoon's session. And the guy who made the most mistakes on stage, of course, turned out to be me. Still, it was a lot of fun and one can't say it often enough: Painhead is Rorschach's first true supergroup.

Punk Sunday at Glasslands: Pretendo, The Walking Hellos

Seems they are making this a habit: Sunday night intelligent indie punk at Glasslands with Pretendo and the Walking Hellos. Itäs not much for when you are a sucker for PAs, but a lot of fun if you like to see how a band makes the best of it and just goes for the soul of the rock, the mesmerizing moments of rhythm and harmony, as exemplified again by New York's most unpretentious trio, Pretendo.


A wake up call for this reporter from the Walking Hellos who in fine moods and energetic playing made a lot of bands of boys look like sissies. The ladies harmonize great togehter, and oh those bass lines remind us very much of Mr. Macho himself, JJ Burnel of the Stranglers. And watch out, Kristin Müller, Heather Wagner is a strong contender for best female drummer this year!

The Unfinished History of The Stranglers

Finally, there's a relatively fair look back on the Stranglers and their achievements on the newly improved YouTube. It's produced by BBC and though the quality is pretty low, there is some stuff you probably never new of the most underrated of the successful punk bands. The documentary ends before the publication of the Strangler's latest and best in decades album, Suite XVI (see review in the sidebar below).

The Merry Macabre Danse

Here's a peak at the first collaboration between Mike "Morricone" Lawson (Git and Production) and Roman Game (Song, Vid). A raunchier version of "Macabre Danse" can sometimes be heard live, played by the band Room. Though we are never sure if the fourth chord is an F# or an F#m. You tell us.