Eastbourne's Roam, who formed in 2012, have already got one EP 'No Common Ground' under their Belts. Shortly, they will be releasing Head Down, a mini album of 5 tracks which you can read our review of here. Below you can find out the ideas behind Head Down and the boys' track by track guide.
“When we began writing for ‘Head
Down’ back in January, we had quite a clear vision on what we wanted it to
sound like; A more angsty, shouty, epic version of what we'd done before,
trying to aggregate all of the aspects that make this genre great.
We spent pretty much the
whole year, even up to the minutes before we were recording, writing, rewriting
and demoing the material, in both a live and recording sense. I think it's
really important to have new material for a long time before you set it in
stone and record it. We played Head Rush on a weekender we did in February and
it went down well, but it was nothing like it is now."
Track
1: You Never Said
This was the second song we'd
written for the EP after Head Rush. It came from the intro riff, which Sam had
been playing for a while and we'd all jammed our parts onto it, later
adding/rewriting and perfecting the rest of the song. The song kind of sums up
the stage we're all at in life right now in terms of growing up - we're not
quite adults yet but the pressures to be and act like one are there. It's
something that can be a bit overbearing sometimes so it's a very therapeutic
song for us in that sense; "I've had time to rest my head, it's
temporary". There's a lot of people willing to tell you things
you can't be at this stage and it's easy to let that get you down, but you just
can't.
Track
2: Stickerslap
Named after the mission from
Tony Hawks PS, this song is such a release for us as a band, it's fast, shouty
and over within a minute and a half. It's very much a positive song - it's kind
of the other side of growing up and just not caring and being
reckless in your decisions, instead of wasting time dwelling on mistakes.
Track
3: Nothing in Return
This song came into being
literally 2 weeks before recording, and quickly became everyone's favourite.
It's very much in theme with the rest of the songs in that it's about not
wanting to look back in the future and think you've made the wrong choices in life.
It's also about how easy it can be to put everything on the line for your
passion fully knowing there's a chance you'll get nothing back "I gave up
everything for this and got back nothing in return".
Track
4: Foresight
This started with a riff I'd been
playing around with for a while, and took many forms before it ended up as it
is now. I think it's the most musically interesting, with a lot of cool
sections and a gang shout on the middle 8. The chorus on this one is the
catchiest for me too.
Track
5: Head Rush
This was the first track
written for the new EP and for us was the first step into a more coherent
sound, it sounded a lot more how we wanted to sound. The song's about how
people can sometimes lose their sense of self-worth when they become infatuated,
putting their feelings and how they're treated aside in order to treasure
someone else. The final line of the song "This was for you" is a kind
of giving up motion in a positive way - moving on and saying it was for
you, but it's not anymore.
Make sure you pick up Head Down on November 18th
