| CD REVIEW Room 13 |
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Band : Room 13 Belgium's Room13 (it's not the only band going by that name) was founded in 2007 by singer/ songwriter Mario Poncin to play solo acoustic shows entitled Room13 A Singer Songwriter's Journey. It's during one of those shows that Mario met Jan Van Gruderbeek, a drummer with a Punk Rock background whom had performed all over Belgium and Holland with his band Old Fashion Heroes, finding out one of the things they had in common was a strong love for Guns 'N Roses or, in other words, down and dirty Guitar Rock! In order to pursue that passion, the two started auditioning additional musicians (needing a bass player and second guitarist to complete the band), but originally met with a lot of disappointments. Then Mario's longtime friend and jam buddy Wim Roelants (who's played with musicians from such music industry important bands as Whitesnake, The Cult, and David Lee Roth) happened to be back in town (that's Aarschot), and the spark was spontaneous and from both sides. Finally, in mid 2009, the band was completed by bassist Gerry Verstreken. Also of Cryï, Angel, Imperia, and Beyond The Labyrinth, he's actually played with G'NR guitarist Dizzy Reed, and the perfect complement for the new band. Together, these 4 seasoned musicians started composing their songs of love, songs of anger, songs of life, moulting them into a nice mixture of Songwriter and Hard Rock with catchy guitar work and groovy rhythm section. Songs which have already proven to appeal to a broad range of music lovers, as already proven by the band's early shows. Along the way the boys got in contact with our editor-in-chief (whom after all happens to run a promotion agency, you know), and together they decided to start working with producer Olivier Adams (you know him from Lords Of Acid and Praga Kahn, amongst others, because over the years Olivier has also played bass and synth in a couple of Rock geared bands). As a first result you can now find this debut single, which is a moody semi-ballad, and you can find the high definition video for the song at either the band's own website (www.) room13.be (additional audio material and live footage is also available there), or on this very website! A second single titled “I'm Alive – Unplugged For X-Mas” will be released during an official press release show in Leuven (at Café Belge), on December 3. Expect a video for thàt song posted pretty soon! So, how does it all sound? Well, according to the band itself, “You take some Velvet Revolver and Guns & Roses. Add a little Cult or Lenny Kravitz. Blend it and mix it up with some Led Zep or Creed. Rock on tap!”. And although that might sound like some kind of copy-cat procedure for ensured maximum end effect, I personally feel the band has something very personal thanks to the singer's somewhat different voice. You see, I don't think you should expect any high-pitched antics alà Axl Rose here, because Mario's somewhat hoarse voice simply won't lend itself to that kind of singing. But that's a good thing really, because it gives the band a face of its own...something which is lacking so dearly in today's over-populated Rock market. The music may not be too original after all, but then that's usually not what the “big masses” are looking for out there, and with a such experienced person as our editor-in-chief to back 'em, Room13 at least stands a chance to make it relatively big in the Benelux! For now, I reserve some enthousiasm in my rating. 85/100 Tony. |