On February 2018, Room25 released their new debut EP – Vacancy. The EP consist of 4 songs, 2 make a return from their old EP – Prelim. I was able to sit down with the band when it came and asked them about their music and the band itself.
The band first performed in 2015 in a high school talent show but they covered songs that they’d enjoy, mostly the ones with a lot of ‘na na na‘. But by 2016, they performed their first single – Passive Aggressive to an audience of 3000 people and performed 3 more songs during their live performance in 2017 in their school talent showcase.
The band takes inspiration from artist such as Blink 182, Strokes, Smiths and Arctic Monkeys and have some mentoring by King Farook’s Antonio Chiappetta, who was their music teacher back in high school.
All 3 members are going to university but they do plan to do more gigs and write more music.
Review
The EP consist of 4 songs:
- Don’t Believe Me
- Run Away
- Sunny Day
- Passive Agressive
Don’t Believe Me and Run Away are their newer tracks while Sunny Day and Passive Aggressive make a comeback as it has some sentimental value for both the band and their fans. Comparing the past versions of the last two songs to the ones on the EP, it is clear that the sound quality has improved. There hasn’t been any changes in the lyrics or instrumentation.
It has become of an inside joke between the band and I that ‘if you don’t have all versions of Passive Aggressive, you’re not a true Room25 fan‘. According to PJ, both Sunny Day and Passive Aggressive had terrible sound treatment back then and that he wouldn’t want to make a music video with a ‘garbage-sounding’ song.
I feel like Sunny Day and Passive have the most potential out of all of them. The issue is that it sounded like ABSOLUTE GARBAGE! And I’m not gonna make a music video for a garbage-sounding piece of crap! – PJ
The EP has this summer/chill vibe into it… until you reach Passive Aggressive as it gets… well… aggressive. The songs feel simple yet it’s a good introduction to who the band is as the songs are able to show off their musical capabilities.
According to the band, Vacancy is about emptiness and its about following the thoughts of the narrator as he goes through life, which could explain the ‘chill’ vibes I sense in most of the songs. Some of the songs, mostly with Passive Aggressive had some influence with real life event the members had.
(Passive Aggressive) does have different meanings to different people. One time, I was listening to it during the abysmal HSC. And I just discovered that it could be just about the HSC. Over and over and over again. – PJ
Comparing both Prelim with Vacancy, you can see a sense of change when it comes to their image based on the music alone. An example, Prelim had this Intro which sounded really ‘immature’ (in a sense) in a sense but it showed off their youthful side. Actually, the vibe Prelim presented was the fact that these boys enjoy being a band and making music together, whilst Vacancy felt more mature in a sense due to the improvement of music style based on how the songs are presented.
Passive Aggressive is about things in life not going your own way. It’s about being discontented with kinds of circumstances, whether its your girlfriends, or family, or friends. But it’s not just about things like that, its more of a multidimensional, faceted song – Briant
In short, Vacancy showed a huge change on the band’s image (I can see why they’ve pull off Prelim out of Spotify and iTunes sadly).
Overall Thoughts
It’s seen through their music, comparing both the old with the new, that there is a chance for them to make it through the industry. I think Room25 deserves a chance and that their music should be heard.
I give them a 3.5/5. The music in Vacancy is a good start but there is a lot more to improve. But nevertheless, their music should be given a chance.
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PS: My connections with the band has no influence with the review. This is all based on my own judgement and critique.
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