Rooney (UK band)

This article is about the British band. For the American band, see Rooney (band).
Rooney
Rooney at the Magnet, Liverpool, 1999

Rooney were a British DIY band that released three albums between 1998 and 2000, including the debut album Time on Their Hands which received much support from John Peel, who booked them for a session in 1999.[1][2] They reached number 44 in Peel's Festive Fifty of 1998.[3][4] The lo-fi music incorporated sometimes humorous — but often unsettling — spoken-sung lyrics describing everyday, mundane activities and observations, an approach which was consistent across all Rooney releases.[5]

History

Artist Paul Rooney self-released the first Rooney album Time on Their Hands on Common Culture Records in 1998.[6][7] The album was widely and favourably reviewed, including notices by Stewart Lee in The Sunday Times,[8] Tom Ridge of The Wire[9] and Gary Valentine of Mojo.[10] The continued support of John Peel earned a place for Went to Town at number 44 in John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1998,[11][12] and a Rooney Peel session was broadcast in 1999.[3]

By 1999 Rooney became a band with new members Colin Cromer and Ian Jackson.[13] The second Rooney album On Fading Out was released in 1999,[13][14] and the project ostensibly ended with the third and final album, On the Closed Circuit, in November 2000,[15][16][17] though gigs continued sporadically until late 2002.[18]

In 2006 comedian and writer Stewart Lee curated the Rooney track Into the Lens for the CD/book The Topography of Chance, which also included Mark E Smith, Derek Bailey and Simon Munnery.[19][20] The Rooney Peel session was repeated in 2016 on Gideon Coe's BBC 6 Music show,[21] and an EP of the session, entitled This Job's Forever - The Peel Session, was released on Owd Scrat Records in 2020.[22]

References

  1. ^ "Participants | CAA Workshop". miriad.mmu.ac.uk. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  2. ^ "Pool Of Sound - Rooney". thefootballvoice.com. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Paul Rooney – Lucy Over Lancashire (SueMi)". coffeetablenotes.blogspot.com. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  4. ^ "Paul Rooney: New Work" (Press release). University of Dundee. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  5. ^ Cowley, Julian (January 2010). "Cross Platform: Paul Rooney". The Wire. No. 311. p. 20.
  6. ^ Rooney - Time On Their Hands Album Reviews, Songs & More, AllMusic, retrieved 24 March 2023
  7. ^ "Common Culture". The Guardian. 16 March 1999. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  8. ^ Lee, Stewart. 'Rooney, Time on Their Hands'. The Sunday Times. Oct. 1998
  9. ^ Ridge, Tom. 'Rooney, Time on Their Hands'. The Wire. Nov. 1998
  10. ^ Valentine, Gary. 'Rooney, Time on Their Hands'. Mojo. Nov. 1998
  11. ^ "Rocklist.net...John Peel's Festive 50's - 1977 - 2003  ..." rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  12. ^ "BBC - Radio 1 - Keeping It Peel - Festive 50s - 1998". BBC. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  13. ^ a b On Fading Out - Rooney | Credits, AllMusic, retrieved 24 March 2023
  14. ^ Lee, Stewart. 'Rooney, On Fading Out'. The Sunday Times. April 2000
  15. ^ "On the Closed Circuit - Rooney | Release Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  16. ^ Lee, Stewart. 'Rooney, On the Closed Circuit'. The Sunday Times. Dec. 2000
  17. ^ "Multimedia artist Paul Rooney releases new album". The Wire. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  18. ^ "Grizedale Arts: Artists & Contributors: Rooney". grizedale.org. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  19. ^ "ireallylovemusic › the topography of chance – curated by stewart lee". Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  20. ^ "The Topography of Chance". sonicartsnetwork.org. Archived from the original on 24 March 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  21. ^ "The Label of Love is Fruits de Mer Records, Gideon Coe - BBC Radio 6 Music". BBC. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  22. ^ This Job's Forever – The Peel Session - EP by Rooney, 20 January 2020, retrieved 24 March 2023 – via Apple Music