ROAM Interview

ROAM have had one busy year touring with the likes of Neck Deep, State Champs and A Loss For Words concluding with their own headline run in the middle of summer with As It Is and Light You Up. Therefore, it came as no surprise to learn that they had been added as support to Me Vs Hero's UK tour this September. We caught up with vocalist and guitarist Alex Adam before their show at the Red Rooms to ask about touring, their new EP and the disappearance of Set Your Goals...    

PPUK: HOW'S THE TOUR BEEN GOING?
Alex: Yeah, really good actually. I guess we're on our fifth day now and yeah it's been really good actually. Manchester and Leeds were probably highlights for us so far. In terms of crowd reaction it's been really good. 

PPUK: DID ONE OF YOU GET YOUR STUFF STOLEN STUFF STOLEN IN BRISTOL?
Alex: Well to an extent. We went to a petrol station and the box where all of our money's kept for fuel and stuff was in the back, and Sam's bag was on top of it and he picked it up and went to put it on the floor but there was a puddle outside so he put it on the little step where the petrol pumps are, and then he got the money out and paid for it and then when he went back he closed the door but because it wasn't behind the van he didn't see it. We drove off, we realised at about half four in the morning that it was missing. We went back and it was gone. The next day we went back to the petrol station and some scatty woman showed us the CCTV and she showed us this guy who had turned up like an hour after us and just picked up this bag and put it in his van and drove off with it. So yeah, we're not going to get it back. We got the registration number and everything but they police were like 'there's nothing we can do' because I guess technically he didn't actually steal it, he just found it and put it in his van. People have been giving Sam clothes though. So Sam's got like three or four T-shirts now and a pair of jeans out of it.

PPUK: YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN TOURING A LOT THIS YEAR. YOU WENT TO EUROPE WITH STATE CHAMPS AND A LOSS FOR WORDS HOW WAS THAT?
Alex: It was really good. It was our first time in Europe so to get a reaction, to have people come to shows over there for us, was really good. Like the first show we played over there was in Eindhoven with Real Friends and The Wonder Years and State Champs and we were the first band on. The promoter put us on within the last few days before the festival and the room was full and everyone was singing along and it was just really great for the first time over there. And the promoters are really different over there, they'll spend the whole day with you and take you around the whole town and cook you breakfast, lunch and dinner and let you stay in their house and then cook you breakfast again the next day. So, it's really different over there but yeah it's really good.

PPUK: IF YOU COULD PLAY ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD WHERE WOULD IT BE?
Alex: As in one venue or a country?
PPUK: Either.
Alex: I don't know. See, because like a massive show like Wembley would be sick in terms of if it was full for another band and we were supporting, that would be cool but I think I'd really like to go to America and Australia I think that would be cool, if we can get across to do that at some point. 

PPUK: OVER THE SUMMER YOU HAD YOUR HEADLINE TOUR WITH AS IT IS AND LIGHT YOU UP HOW DID THAT GO? 
Alex: It was really good. It was weird because our manager had been saying to us 'okay you need to do a headline tour now, this is getting booked in' and we were kind of a bit apprehensive and we weren't sure that anyone was actually gonna come, because up until then we'd only done support tours. We thought that maybe they [As It Is & Light You Up] would bring in the crowd and a few people knew us kind of thing, but we sold out like two venues and we came close to selling out most of them. I mean As It Is and Light You Up did help a lot. There was a lot of pull from them as well but it was crazy. It was just insane to do ten days in the UK and not have a bad show. It was really kind of humbling I guess because  we didn't really expect that many to come out ans support us. 

PPUK: YOU GUYS HAD A BODY BOARD AT THE SHOWS ON YOUR LAST RUN OF THE UK, IS THAT MAKING AN APPEARANCE THIS TIME? 
Alex: Well no because the first one was Alex's that he had from when he was a kid and actually the day before we played here we played the same venue on that tour and it got broke in half, that was on the London show. So then we put out a tweet saying 'oh it's broken, if anyone has one bring it' kind of thing and a girl brought hers here and that got broken as well so we don't have any, and we kind of thought save it for a headline run. Save all the props and things for another headline run and kind of just plan it and maybe bring a few next time. But no there's not any tonight unfortunately.

PPUK: WHAT'S THE WEIRDEST THING A FAN HAS EVER ASKED YOU TO DO?
Alex: A kid asked me to sign his back. I had to do like a video message for someone's friend which was quite weird. Someone asked when we were here last time to draw dicks on their CD. Like they bought our CD and asked us to draw dicks on them which we did quite happily. We signed the body board that the girl brought. Some people ask us to draw pictures and stuff. There's not really anything really weird
PPUK: That means you've only got it to come.. 
Alex: Yeah well, hopefully. It's interesting when people are weird and not just like 'can you sign this'. 

PPUK: HAVE YOU GOT ANY WEIRD/FUNNY/ EMBARRASSING TOUR STORIES THAT YOU'RE WILLING TO SHARE WITH US?  
Alex: I've got so many, it's just what's appropriate. See, because I could tell you loads but they're not going to be about me and whoever I tell you about is gonna get pissed off. Okay, I'll do one and hope no one gets offended by it. We did a tour with Neck Deep in January and when we played, actually I'm not going to mention what date we played, one of the dates we stayed at a guys house who our manager knew. Our manager has a habit of putting us with people who he doesn't actually know but he says he knows them and they've just kind of gone 'Yeah, I'll put them up' and it tends to be quite interesting people. We turned up at this guy's house at like two in the morning and he was just like the nicest guy in the world he had the best intentions but he was so weird and he was like 'yeah you can sleep in my bed if you want' and we were like 'it's okay thanks' and he was like 'yeah there's enough beds for everyone but someone should stay in my bed' and we were like 'no, that's fine there's enough beds for everyone, we won't stay in your bed'. Then we went into our rooms and there was a box of chocolates on everyone's pillow and he was like 'yeah I've got you all chocolates but you can stay in my bed if you want' and we were like 'no that's cool, we don't want to stay in your bed'. We went to bed and the next day we woke up and he was like 'yeah I've got enough bacon for everyone' and in his fridge he literally had like ten packs of bacon. I don't know, he was the nicest guy but it was just a very funny night and very weird but that's probably the most appropriate story I can tell you. 

PPUK: SPEAKING OF NECK DEEP, ME VS HERO TOOK THEM ON A TOUR BEFORE THEY BLEW UP, DO YOU THINK HISTORY COULD REPEAT ITSELF FOR YOU GUYS? 
Alex: I think that Neck Deep were always going to blow up regardless of who they went on tour with. I think Me vs Hero have always been, at the time they had been, the biggest pop punk band in the UK and this tour has shown that they've got a lot of fans still there and the new album's going to do a lot of things for them. Yeah, hopefully we'll get to that level that Neck Deep are at eventually, but it's going to take a while because they have blown up.

PPUK: YOU GUYS HAVE RECENTLY BEEN POSTING PICTURES OF YOU ALL IN THE STUDIO, CAN YOU TELL US ANYTHING ABOUT THAT?   
 Alex: Yeah, we went into Steel City Studios which is just in Sheffield and we went there today just to finish off a few bits. We went in with Drew Lawson who does sound for While She Sleeps, Bring Me The Horizon. He's done The Blackout. So he's done some big bands, he's really talented and I think we went there for a week and we recorded all the instruments there and then me and Alex went to Wrexham to go with Seth Barlow, who's Ben from Neck Deep's brother, and he recorded all the vocals and then we've sent that back to Drew and now he's mixing it and hopefully it's going to be a four track EP which should be out  late this year or early next year. Hopefully there should be a single out soon and we're shooting a video for it next Saturday and we'll play a new song tonight as well.

PPUK: EVEN THOUGH THE MAN OVERBOARD TOUR GOT CANCELLED ARE YOU STILL EXCITED?    
Alex: I think it would have been a great end to the year but it couldn't be helped and I hope Nik gets better soon and everything. It would have made a very nice end to the year for us in terms of our first year of touring. But yeah it's been rescheduled to April and May so Italy's gonna be really hot that time of year so we're all fine with it to be honest. As long as we can get something to fill that time, so we're trying to find some tours and stuff at the moment.

PPUK: EVEN THOUGH YOU'VE PLAYED WITH SOME QUITE BIG BANDS LIKE STATE CHAMPS, A LOSS FOR WORDS AND NECK DEEP IS IT QUITE COOL TO KNOW THAT YOU'RE GOING TO BE TOURING WITH MAN OVERBOARD?                           
Alex: Yeah definitely, I mean like even Me Vs Hero, when I was growing up and first kind of getting into this genre, they were such massive bands that influenced me and influenced all of us. So it's just kind of crazy to be able to tour with them. Especially Man Overboard because they're just a band who, when we started this band, were very unattainable and unreachable to us. They were like these massive celebrities and we'd never get to that stage so to be able to support them on a  European tour is just crazy, really grateful to be able to do that. 

PPUK: I KNOW YOU'RE A SET YOUR GOALS FAN, WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THEM WHEN DO YOU THINK THEY'LL COME BACK?    
Alex: I don't know, I'd love it if they came back but I don't know if they will. I follow Matt, one of the singers, the small one on instagram and he's touring with Snoop Dog. I don't know what he's doing but he's doing something, tour managing or something with Snoop Dog. I don't know, I think they'll maybe release a few more songs because they did have a load of demos and a few new songs apparently but I don't know. I would love them to come back. If they did come back we're going to shoot our manager if he doesn't get us on that tour.

PPUK: IS THAT YOUR GOAL? TO PLAY WITH SET YOUR GOALS? 
Alex: Yeah that's one of them, it's up there. Sum 41 after that. If we ever get to play with Sum 41 I will die happy. It's very far away but maybe one day.

ROAM's Facebook | Twitter | Youtube | Bandcamp