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Okay, here’s a secret: So maybe some of us here at Greer’s OC used to be big Rooney fans that followed them all over the place at live shows. But that’s just a maybe.
Years later, even we can admit that we’re not embarrassed at all. Sure the five-piece indie pop rock band from Los Angeles was featured repeatedly in an episode of The O.C. And sure Rooney’s fan base mostly consists of screaming teenage girls in Converse sneakers. Okay, and Rooney has also opened for the Jonas Brothers. But the band’s music is a fantastic, poppy mix of everyone from the Beatles and the Cars to Weezer.
Named after the nefarious principal Ed Rooney from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” Rooney followed up their 2003 self-titled debut with Calling the World. Both records are catchy, fun, bouncy—one of the few bands around not afraid to have fun with pop music. Let’s try to remember some of the most classic bands of all time dabbled mostly in pop rock themselves—think the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Weezer and more.
Favorite Rooney tracks to give a listen to include the Pet Sonds/surf rock vibes of “Blue Sides,” the heavily-featured-in-The-O.C. “I’m Shakin’,” and the ultra catchy “If It Were Up to Me.”
Bonus fact: Robert Schwartzman, lead singer of Rooney, is little brother to actor Jason Schwartzman and son of Talia Shire, who played Connie Corleone in The Godfather and Adrian in Rocky—which means yes, Carmine is indeed a Coppola. Fancy.
Rooney: Sat., Nov. 28, 7 p.m., $16. Glass House, 200 W. Second St., Pomona, 909.865.3802. All ages.
