Show at Tamsta Club

This show was important to us. Thanks to everyone who came, supported, sang, danced, who said and wrote nice words to us. The album "Ghosts" was introduced! Photo credit Vytautas Dranginis.

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THE ROOP: in the new album we sing about the fears we fight ourselves

Today, the 16th of October, pop rock band THE ROOP introduce their second album
“Ghosts.” Fans can already listen to it on the band’s official Spotify page or buy the CD
online. Band members openly confess that the recording period was a real challenge – the
band was on the verge of splitting up.

THE ROOP‘s new album consists of 9 songs, among them several already known tunes:
the dreamy „Dream On“, open and intimate „Keista Draugystė“ and „Hello“ – the latter is
famous for its bold video picturing real people and their life stories.

“We named the album “Ghosts,” because to us they are the symbols of our inner fears.
We release them in our new songs, releasing our doubts as well. We encourage to look at
your own ghosts, don’t be afraid to dream, don’t fear to live your own way, show
yourselves, take your masks off,” – tells drummer Robertas Baranauskas.

The author of the cover photo is a well known photographer Audrius Solominas. The
picture was taken in Cannes, France. It pictures random people moving in the crowd at the
Cannes Film Festival, waiting for appreciation, wanting to show off and look at others.

“When I saw the photograph it struck me that it could be a perfect illustration for our album.
During these two years writing the album we went through many feelings – from
disappointment and closed doors to amazing acknowledgement and encouragement, from
personal dramas to stability in the band. At some point we were at the brink of falling apart,
but we are happy that this period eventually strengthened our relationship and we
remained together. But now it’s time to move forward with the premiere of the new album,”
– says THE ROOP leader Vaidotas Valiukevičius.

THE ROOP already announced first five album tour dates in the five biggest cities in
Lithuania.
“We added new songs to our setlist which will really sustain the atmosphere of our shows.
In our concerts the border between us the the audience disappears. We become one. I
believe this is our strength,” – smiles Vaidotas.

Release of the album is partially sponsored by LATGA. The band members are grateful for
the support.

THE ROOP which along with Robertas and Vaidotas consists of bassist Vainius
Šimukėnas and guitarist Mantas Banišauskas have not only played all biggest festivals in
Lithuania, but were also invited to the largest festival in the Baltic States – “Positivus.”
They played in Riga and Jelgava in Latvia, Bonn in Germany, Warsaw and Gdansk in
Poland. THE ROOP released their debut album “To Whom It May Concern” in 2015.

To listen to “Ghosts” follow the links:

Spotify - https://tinyurl.com/yafgdj6x
Google Play - https://tinyurl.com/ybcnpzg6
Deezer - https://tinyurl.com/ycdjcpeg
Amazon - https://tinyurl.com/ycy6tfxg
bandcamp - https://theroop.bandcamp.com/

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Open cages

Vaidotas: "It seems to me that we, people, have gone the wrong way. Keeping birds not only without the possibility of walking, but even spreading their wings for the sake of a cheaper egg is hardly perceivable as "the right way."

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THE ROOP sing in Lithuanian for the first time and present an experimental video „Keista Draugystė“ („Strange Friendship“)

“We kept received questions why don‘t we sing in Lithuanian? The answer was quite plain – somehow the lyrics turned out in English. With this tune the opposite happened – it just wrote itself in the native language.” –band‘s leader Vaidotas Valiukevičius reveals.

The first Lithuanian THE ROOP's song. The video “Keista Draugystė” (“Strange Friendship”) is a dialogue between two people in a long-term relationship. It is a visual story about true, unstaged relation. Vaidotas and Deimantė, together for 10 years, were the only participants on the set. Adapting to the rhythm of the sun the man and the woman filmed one another for two days for exactly 3 hours to get that photographic play between darkness and light.

“In the video you can observe how natural lighting breaks the space, lights up or dims our bodies. I’d say it’s an experimental visualization when we were not tied to the end product while in the process of filming, simply being indulged in the “here and now” moment. While filming Vaidotas I totally forgot about myself and it was a liberating creative process.” – says Deimantė.

Pop rock band THE ROOP currently spend most of their time in the recording studio where they are finishing their second studio album planned to be released this October. 

What's next in music?

Early visit to LRT National TV's 'Labas rytas, Lietuva.' An acoustic song, a chat about What's Next in Music and Loftas Fest. And, by the way, today is our drummer's birthday! CONGRATS, Robertas!

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BEHIND THE CAMERA: Hello

Let's continue this column. A few curious facts about "Hello" video. The shooting took place at Pavėsis studio in Vilnius and lasted for four days. It wasn't easy getting all the characters on the same days at the same time at the same place. Sigita showed particularly big comprehension. She came right after her wedding all the way from Klaipėda! One more interesting thing - artists A. and R. Gataveckai used a special technique to paint the painting during the video, and this painting could easily fit in their exhibit “Autoportretai-homonimai” (Self-portraits-Homonyms). You can find more about these types of paintings here: https://tinyurl.com/y75hlbdl
After the shooting brothers decided to leave the painting as a gift. Vaidotas was extremely thankful for such a present. And now it's time to watch the whole "Hello" video by Pick a Story again.

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BEHIND THE CAMERA: Be Mine

Here we are going to tell more about what is left behind the scenes. What little and interesting thing hide there. And there are a lot!

Let’s start from our first video – “Be Mine.” This video’s purpose was to introduce us to the public. The initial idea was making the video without the scenes where the band is playing – we actually filmed them later. We had two reasons for filming these additional scenes. Firstly, members of the band were fixed and we couldn’t keep it a secret anymore. At first we were hiding the identities of the band members so that listeners would concentrate on the song, not the personalities. Secondly, once the editing was done, we noticed that some parallel action was missing – the band itself playing.

Pictures from the video reveal the initial idea to involve the band members into the story and to show their musical identities through specific details. Look at the pictures more carefully. Robertas is sitting in a café, drumsticks on the table. Mantas is playing a street musician with guitar in his hands. Vainius squatting next to his bicycle where at first we thought of showing a close-up of his fingers stroking bicycle wheel spokes as if they were thick bass strings. And the t-shirt of Vaidotas has a microphone picture on it. That’s how we presented all of the band members and their roles.

The final version has drifted a little from the original one but still delivers the main social idea. The duo of actress Severija Janušauskaitė and Victor Topol fascinated us.

Watch the video here.

International Day of Yoga

A few pics from acoustic show at the International Yoga Day event. It was visited by India's Ambassador Ajay Bisaria and Honorary consul Rajinder Kumar Chaudhary. Thanks to Gintautas from Mai Ram Yoga for inviting us. OM!

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Eurovision and us

New start of the week - fresh news! We decided to go to Eurovision song contest selection. We can say this publicly now. We have been asked a lot why aren't we participating? The answer was simple - we didn't have a suitable song. If such song is born and will have a (euro) vision with it, then we are in. And so it happened. See you in the selection event in half a year! ;)

PREMIERE! NEW VIDEO!

PREMIERE! "Dream On" video shot with 8 mm camera. It was thrilling to adapt filming angles of the '80s & '90s and visual compositions combining pictures of band members and the sunny nature in Spring. All of this could not be possible without the talented cinematographer Zbigniev Bartoševič. Clothing was matched by Marina Žuravliova. Faces were taken care of by Jurga Kartu. For the location we thank demoded. Pictures of the nature by Patrick Müller and Zbigniev Bartoševič. Clothes from TRIBE by Marina&Donata, Zefyras, OHMY. Toys Jolanta Pakalniskyte ir Rimantas Burneika. Thank you!

WIP day and school

Vaidotas: Today I returned to my high school. There, along with representatives from LATGA Association, we gave a lecture about intellectual property on the occasion of WIP day. A few remarks:
1. A strange feeling emerges when you enter school - memories return and it feels like you're a teenager again.
2. I learned that teachers do not age.
3. Tenth-graders are excellent talkers!

Photos: Vilmanto Raupelio (Kauno diena) 

Back in school

Association LATGA is organizing a series of events "WIP day in schools: authors' lessons for the younger generation."

Vaidotas will also be holding a lecture in his school. More info in Lithuania's media.