User:JamesRooneyBand/sandbox

Biography During early childhood, James received his first guitar for christmas, when all he wanted was a car wash and a spinner. Consequently growing up with a passion for music, James dabbled in guitar, bass and keyboard whilst being a naturally gifted vocalist. Since writing his first song in Year Three and performing it at a school assembly, James has continued to develop his song writing and performance persona, fronting several bands over the years. With successes of touring the UK and gaining national radio play with previous projects, James now embarks on a new musical journey.

Early Life

Primary School - High School It was during primary school that James started to really develop a passion in music, writing songs and performing them for the school as well as jamming with some friends and briefly forming cover bands to compete in talent competitions, often coming second to dancers. During high school, James started to focus more on the keyboard than the guitar, taking lessons for two years before becoming focused on the bass guitar and fronting the band that gave him his first real experience of performing to strangers, Streamline Soldiers. During this time, James also attended StageCoach, performing shows and taking singing, acting and dancing lessons, leading a interest in the performing arts, later performing in a amateur dramatics society in several musicals.

Musical Projects

Streamline Soldiers (2007-2008)

James was the singer and bassist of Warringtonian band “Streamline Soldiers”, performing at the Parr Hall and also performing in Manchester. Although the band did not last long, songs such as “Can’t fix it” and “Lights Aint Bright” were well received amongst the strong fan base the band developed.

'Virtue'

Joining a A Capella band was a big step for James, enabling him to learn how harmonies work within music and the start of a exploration of music that was not simply “Indie Rock”. Winning local talent competitions and performing for the cubs, Virtue mainly performed cover songs which gave insight into how popular songs are composed and what makes a song work.

Alium (2010)

In college, one of James’ friends informed him his Rock/Metal band needed a new frontman and after a few jamming sessions, James was a member. Recording their songs in Wrexham at a live in studio, Alium songs were ready for public consumption. Taking charge of booking shows, James quickly made a name for being a eccentric frontman, not uncommon to performing acrobatic stunts on stages. The band thrived on this, going far in Battle of the Bands competitions and creating a name for themselves locally. Although this part of James musical journey did not last long, the experience of being just fronting a band was key to understanding that in future projects, he wanted to be playing as well as singing.

Emergency Door Release (2011-2014)

Starting the band online in September 2011, Emergency Door Release, or EDR how they became to be known, was the most successful project he has worked on to date. Over the three years as a band, they performed nearly 100 shows, included three UK tours and singles played on BBC Newcastle as well as 6Music, with international airplay in the USA and Italy. Over the three years, several different members were involved, all leaving at different times for different reasons until disagreements on how to progress lead to the band breaking up in 2014. EDR provided many learning curves for James, learning how to manage, learning how to book tours and learning how to organise his own shows as well as vast recording experiences at high quality recording studios.

Current Work