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The classic sound of hard rock resonates in Songs From A Room’s new release. The self-titled Indie release from Dine Alone Records screams with a raw sound that is characteristic of good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll.

This Indie band’s six-track release represents what the band describes as the essentials of music, “writing a solid rhythm and melody.” Each track resonates with heavy guitar and drumming sounds, perfect for when you want to rock out.

From the raspy and sound of “Revival” to the air guitar-qualities of “The Black That We Clad,” each track delivers a raw yet satisfying rock edge with a sound that spans across many styles of music. As for the band’s influences, Songs From A Room credit “anything written, recorded, destroyed, lost and then found again,” for the inspiration behind what they are. That hard-to-peg approach is what is largely behind the group’s great sound.

Review by Lisa Simundson

They may share a name with Leonard Cohen’s second album, but the band Songs from a Room claim that though they’re fans of the great artistic Canadian, the name actually came from a friend’s suggestion and is not an homage. Before Songs from a Room took the stage at the Horseshoe Tavern, iheartthemusic got to chat with brothers Brayden and Dustin who help form the rocking hard pop, punkish quintet with David, Nicholas and Craig.

iheartthemusic: How did Songs from a Room form?

Brayden: Me and him [pointing beside him to his brother Dustin] have been playing together for forever. We played in lots of bands in Windsor and toured a lot in the States. After 9/11 hit we slowed right down on going over because of all the security reasons and things so we decided to move to Toronto; that was about two years ago. We met up with these guys [pointing across to the bench where the rest of the band was sitting], funnily enough, a lot of them were from Windsor originally. We never really hung out with them there but kind of fell into them along the way and the rest is history.

iheartthemusic: There was momentum building for you guys, and then tragedy struck…

Brayden: The weekend of Virgin Festival [where they were to be the first act on the Oh Henry! Stage] I decided to have myself offered up to the gods or something and was hit by a Sea-Doo which took me off my feet. It’s been six months now, so I’m glad to be back and playing and not in a wheelchair the rest of my life. I try to stay positive that way. It can be a little tricky with your mind when you go through something like that; to stay positive and keep your main goals in mind. When you become crippled and can’t work anymore all you think about is how to survive, so music sometimes was put on the back burner when you know you have to pay a bill. But luckily enough my wife makes enough money to keep me going.

iheartthemusic: You have a sugar mama!

Brayden: [Chuckles] Yah, I do. The tables have turned. It’s good that way, I’m lucky.

iheartthemusic: You have a second EP out now, did you record that before the accident?

Dustin: Yah, that was before the accident. It was actually supposed to just be demos but we ended up releasing it.

iheartthemusic: Can you tell us a little about the album?

Dustin: We did it all ourselves in our rehearsal space and recorded it ourselves. As far as sound goes it’s a collaboration of ideas, there was no real theme or vibe, we were just going with it.

iheartthemusic: I liked the quote on your MySpace, “it’s always been about writing a solid rhythm and melody.” Is that still the case?

Dustin: Exactly. We weren’t trying to nail a certain genre or a certain sound. Whatever worked we went with.

iheartthemusic: Do you have a favourite place in Toronto to play?

Brayden: You’re sitting in it right now. The sound is always great, it’s a good vibe and there’s parking out back, which is huge for a band with a massive van.

iheartthemusic: Hopefully it won’t get towed like The Waking Eyes‘ a few weeks back.

Brayden: Yah, I heard about that, that was a bummer.

iheartthemusic: Have you had any interesting stories or mishaps while touring?

Brayden: Probably our biggest one wasn’t even while touring. We’ve always had a studio, always recorded ourselves; we enjoy that whole experience of writing the music and having nobody over our head looking at their watch and charging by the hour. So anyways, we get back to the studio space and the doors are totally beat down. We had no insurance at the time so took a huge loss and bye-bye studio. It was one of the last major things for us before we left for Toronto. You tend to lose your spirit quite a bit. The last thing you want to do is steal from a starving band, you know? It’s like taking money from a homeless guy on the street, you just don’t do it!

iheartthemusic: Oh dear, you guys have certainly had your run of bad luck, but hopefully everything’s on the up and up.

Songs from a Room have two CMW shows so try to check them out either when they hit Tattoo Rock Parlour on March 11 with Inward Eye, Isle of Thieves and Bury the Bully or at the Bovine on March 14 with Ubelievers, Sinkin’ Ships, Hell Yeah Fuck Yeah, Farewell to Freeway and The Artist Life.

Photography by James Blake

While most other Torontonians were perched in front of their television sets waiting with bated breath to see whether or not Heath Ledger would win his posthumous Oscar (and I’m pleased to report that he did indeed win, notch), the iheartthemusic crew headed to the Horseshoe Tavern. We went with the intention of just covering Songs from a Room but ended up being won over by (almost) every other band on the roster.

First up were You Call Yourselves Soldiers who left us very pleasantly surprised and optimistic for what the rest of the night might hold. The lead singer (Charlie) sometimes danced spastically with possessed-like moves that would have made Martha Graham jealous. At one point he mentioned that the lack of people on the dance floor made the black and white checkered tiles more apparent and were subsequently giving him vertigo. However, the lack of audience could be choked up to a number of reasons, they were the first band (who is ever on time these days), it was a Sunday (and not just any Sunday, but Academy Award Sunday) and the band had only had about half a dozen performances prior to that evening. Probably best described as emo rock, elements of songs took a number of variations including some ’50s sounding riffs. Other highlights included an extended acoustic section where Charlie actually sat out to the side of the stage. He then had his turn to showoff his pipes with an a cappella intro. The band pushed hard right through to the last song of their set where some serious finger tapping took place.

Second to the stage were Songs from a Room (we chatted with two brothers from this group before the show, so be sure to stay tuned for that). This group was harder to report on because they were just awesome. They came out with great energy, played great songs and the audience seemed to have a great time. The songs possessed rock anthem-esque qualities that had staying power all over them.

Molten Lava (pictured to the left), a progressive punk duo from Saskatchewan, hit the stage next. This is where the “almost” mentioned in the opening comes into play. Though both band members clearly possessed musical talent, there just seemed to be something lacking. There was a lot of noise, yelling and an interesting rap entitled “Breakfast.” While some members of the crowd clearly seemed to be enjoying themselves, iheartthemusic unfortunately wasn’t feeling it.

Closing the night, and more than making up for the slight disappoint from the previous act, was Passenger Action (pictured on the left). This band picked the energy in the room up a few notches with songs that packed a punch. A full robust sound emanated from the stage and into the crowd that grew four-fold just for this band. Dirty in the good hard way yet clean in the technical way. They blew iheartthemusic away so much that we ended up doing an interview on the spot after they got off stage (stay tuned for that too).

Photography by James Blake