Australian independent rock band Big Room was the creation of vocalist Dave Johnston and bassist Dave Petroni in Perth in the nineties. After several years of writing and playing in Perth and Fremantle, Johnston and Petroni decided it was time to move on. In 1994, Johnston headed to Adelaide and Petroni to Sydney – but the pair continued their writing partnership, waiting for the right opportunity for Big Room’s ‘second coming’.
In early 2000 a new Adelaide based Big Room was put together with friends Steve, Hilary and local pizza maker Alex, and after several months of preparation, the band set off for a deserted farmhouse in Orroroo, over 300 km North of Adelaide, to record their debut album “Wastelands”. The location proved the perfect inspiration. Produced and engineered by Johnston and Roberts and mastered in Adelaide, “Wastelands” was released to impressive reviews throughout Australia in May 2002.
“Wastelands” received significant airplay from community radio stations, notably 3RRR (Melbourne), 2RRR (NSW), 3D (Adelaide), Top FM (NT) and 4K1G (Townsville), as well as radio interviews with 4K1G, 3D and WOW FM (Adelaide). The album has also achieved international airplay.In 2002, Big Room released their debut video – the single ‘No Recovery’ from “Wastelands”. The video was broadcast on Rage (Sydney, with a national simulcast on Triple J FM), Noise (Melbourne), Showtime (London, UK) and Rock Candy (California, USA). Mick Durant joined the band to complement the guitar sound, and started rounding out the live sound. In 2003 the second video,’Istanbul’ (second single from “Wastelands”) was released.
It was 2005 and Big Room now was firing on all eight, playing shows at the The Tonsley, The Goodwood, The Gov, The Duke of York, The Oxford, The South Adelaide Football Club, The Jade Monkey and had a host of new material ready to be recorded. So into Mixmasters studio, with producer Craig Lewis (Kaleidoscope), and “a hand of four aces” was done. The “a hand of four aces “ EP takes on very original, emotive rock sound. Uniquely Australian vocals incorporate real ideals and provide meaningful lyrics that create the backbone of the Big Room play-list. The big rock guitar sound and anthemic dynamics, provide the band with an intensity and formula that will captivate attention from any rock worthy listener. The new direction of the music has given a new intensity to the band, a more focused and sharper live delivery too.
2007 saw the start of new ideas, and the return of the elusive Steve back from the UK. Demo’s followed, with bursts of writing in between. The band then went the whole hog and recorded the full length “No Agreement”. Recorded at Mixmasters studio in the Adelaide Hills. It has an emphasis on melody, and a rich fabric of vintage guitar and organ sounds, including a 1939 BC Hammond organ. We have finally pulled it all together after a long time of being almost ready. Now it is ready, and so are we
2014/2015 was direction changing as a keyboard player and pianist Andrew Stenhouse became part of the band. Andrew has been a prolific force in the writing camp and added a depth to the songs in general. Another signinficant additon is new bass player Crag Whyte who has been contributing outstanding bass lines and with his novel writing experience a great idea bouncer for the lyrical themes and for lyric writing. All of this is captured in the new album Giant Leap
2016 saw the introduction of Michael Stenhouse into the lineup. Michael has added a solid backbone to the sound and has been busy doing the synth sounds to Searching and the arrangements for the horns to Unleash the Beast.
2022 Yes, we are still going! We’ve been trying to get material out faster, and now releasing singles! Companion Love is first, then likely to be Marshall Road. We’ve done the basic recording now just time to get all those sounds right…
