As Room Two recorded their debut single, Sam Millne caught up with the band’s frontman Michael Duffey.
When did you start playing music and singing?
I first started playing guitar in 2016 while in my last year of high school.
I wish I would’ve started earlier but I remember it not being seen as cool to be a musician while I was in school.
As for singing I was pretty much forced into it! I hadn’t sung a note in my life until we started Room Two last year.
I was happy with just playing the guitar but, I remember us going for a pint after a jam, and the lads told me I’m gonna have to be frontman, and here we are.
Who do you think are you biggest musical influences when writing?
Photos: Hannah Johns – @johnsysshots
When writing as a band, I wouldn’t like to say our music is definitely influenced by a specific set of bands or artists, because our sound is still evolving as we grow as musicians.
But, there are bands that we all love and hope that we give the same vibe off as, such as: The Beatles obviously, Oasis, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Black Keys, Kings of Leon, The Who etc.
Personally, I get a lot of influence from my ‘arl fella’s record collection. He gave me a head start in music by bringing me up on the likes of Neil Young, Peter Greens Fleetwood Mac, The Doors, Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix, to name a few.
How did Room Two get started?
Room Two started when me and Thom (the drummer) went for a jam with absolutely no intention of ever starting a band.
I think once we had made it through our first full Beatles cover, we had already exceeded either of our expectations.
Not long after this, I started working away for a while and whilst I was away, Thom was having an affair and had started jamming with Luke (the guitarist)!
Thom told me Luke was sound and that we should all get together for a jam, so once I’d finished my time working away, that’s exactly what we did.
I remember walking into the praccy room for the first time to meet Luke and I could hear him playing ‘Mollys Chambers’ by Kings of Leon, and I knew there and then we were going to be mates.
After a few weeks jamming as a three-piece, Thom mentioned he had a cousin, Ben (the bassist), who use to be in a band as the lead guitarist, and he asked him if we would come down for a jam.
Thom sent him a more-than-likely underwhelming video of us playing a 12 bar blues tune we had and by some divine miracle, Ben agreed to come down and play bass for us.
Thom had mentioned Ben was cool and a great musician, so I think we were all a little bit nervous to show him our tunes but, from the first time he played along to one of our songs, we all knew we could really have a go at being a proper band.
And what’s behind the name Room Two?
I wish I could say the name ‘Room Two’ has some kind of deep meaningful story behind it however, it’s just the practice room we always ended up in!
It became a bit of an inside joke where when we would book a practice room at E Rooms, we would always end up getting room two which isn’t nearly as good as room one.
When we were approached to do our first gig, we were asked for a name to go on the poster and, after a few absolutely awful suggestions from us all, we just settled for Room Two.
I think it looks cool written down and we’re stuck with it now so we’ve learnt to love it.
What’s your songwriting process like?
I don’t really have a songwriting process if I’m totally honest.
I’m usually always sat with a guitar and a brew whilst I’m at home.
Before I know it, I’ll be playing some kind of riff or chord progression, and a melody will just come naturally.
It’s not that hard in my opinion. Some songs won’t be great but you’ve got to write a few bad ones to get a good one, and more than likely, a part from one of those bad ones will come in useful later on down the line.
As for the words, I typically just say whatever I’m thinking or feeling at that moment to the get the ball rolling, and then I’ll work from there.
Usually, I’ll turn up to practice with the bones of a tune and then when we all work on it, that’s when the song really comes to life.
One thing we really stress as a band is that everybody has full creative control over their part however, we will all give our honest opinions on what each of us are playing.
What’s next?
We’ve just recorded our debut single with Ben Harper at the Motor Museum and getting that tune out there for everyone to hear is what’s next for us.
We are really proud of what we recorded and know that Ben got the absolute best out of that tune on the day.
It’s also one of the first tunes we wrote together as a band so it’s a song that’s special to all of us.
We are just waiting to get the final mix back off Ben and then we will start promoting to tune for its release!
Along with that, we’ve got plenty more gigs booked in across the North West, so we’re set up for a busy summer.
Hopefully, I’ll catch some of you at our next gig!
You can follow Room Two here.
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