Wm. Shane Ball (singer/guitarist), Joseph Campbell (guitar/vocals), Darin Ledford (drums) and Kevin Torbett (bass) are the Nashville band, The GoldRoom. The band started in 1999 with a self-titled ep. They disbanded in 2003 , and then formed again in 2008 with Shane and Darin carrying on as original members tracking the three songs that make up the El Paso (ep). I came across their music on the file sharing site Sound Cloud.
Being from Nashville, I had to ask Shane how that scene works in respect to hard rock bands like GoldRoom given the Americana influence that the area's music is known for. Shane says there are other acts that have a sound similar to The GoldRoom's sound and stand out when surrounded by the Americana style of music.
"Broken Or Missing" starts off with a guitar riff that punches in and out. This track has a little bit of the Southern element as it has a swing to it. The layered guitar builds a wall of sound that cedes temporarily as the chorus starts. A little later there is a bridge that has an acoustic guitar that comes to the front and the wall of guitar fades to the back. The vocals work well with the guitar and the small amount of vocal harmonies give the track depth.
On "El Paso" the lap steel guitar is a nice counterpoint to the crunching guitar riffs. This track is the one that reminds me of Paw. The wandering bass line and drums set the rhythm and give this track it's swing. 'I'm soaked to the bone with your agony, I found you in the crowd' the lyrics state. Again I like the break with the slide guitar effect and the 1/16 notes on the snare and also another break later that fades the sound down, then ramps it up to a loud crescendo. Here is where the progressive element is used to great effect. This song has many layers and that keeps the listener focused on trying to hear everything that is in there sonically.
The GoldRoom's sound is a hard rock one that reminds me of the harder elements of The Foo Fighters as well as some of the sound of Lawrence, Kansas rockers Paw, and a little bit of Urge Overkill as well. There is a hint of the South in their music with the slide guitar effect. The more progressive elements of their music stand out from the aforementioned bands and contrast really well with the melodies.
The guys are working on a full length release in April with Jason Dietz of Twin Oaks Productions (http://www.twinoakproductions.net/). They are are also scheduled to do a Lake Fever Session (http://www.lakefeversessions.com/) on March 7th. Check out the Lake Fever site, really cool stuff they are doing with bands there.
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