This much loved newcomer band from Sydney can’t wait to take their purist blues sound to the stage at The Factory Theatre, where they’re set to battle it out during the semi-finals of the Emergenza Festival. They’ve already built up a small following around their original music, and managed to finish in the top two during the eliminatory round. Before their upcoming gig, Engine Room lets us in on where they get their inspiration and what they’re hoping to get out of the festival.

CAN YOU GIVE US A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO YOUR BAND ENGINE ROOM?
Engine Room is a group of musicians from various musical backgrounds who had a good chemistry together and we all had a passion & respect for the blues. It's a purist musical style that bonded us all together and we kept learning more of its intricacies as we went along. We all met by chance and before we knew it a band developed, and as a result we laid some songs down and now we're trying to gig as much as we can and have a bit of fun at the same time. We have been playing for free most of the time to build a name for ourselves, and it's happening quite fast. People love our sound and keep inviting us back to play again and again.

WHAT BANDS HAVE INFLUENCED YOUR SOUND, AND IN WHAT WAY?
The bands who have influenced us are far too many to be listed. But as standard, well known names we could say Elvis Presley, Tony Joe White, Led Zeppelin, Freddy King, Elmore James, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Deep Purple and many more.

WHO WRITES THE SONGS AND WHAT ARE THEY ABOUT? WHAT'S YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS LIKE?
The Emergenza set was written by me from my Studio recordings which consist of three albums. My creative process usually "just happens" and certain life experiences will inspire me to write. It's usually the music first then lyrics. I already had studio albums recorded and completed in my own studio from home. These developed their own small following of what you'd probably call "fans" and have inspired me to continue. This also fuelled a personal need to take it a step further and take the music to live venues and bring it all to life. Engine Room has been a great "engine" for this to happen. The other band members have other original songs we’re learning but we used mine for the time being because I had them all recorded and arranged. This was handy as we had time restrictions when performing for Emergenza. We only had 10 days to rehearse & we ended up being one of the best top two acts that night.

WHICH ONE OF YOUR SONGS DO YOU THINK SPEAKS TO YOUR FANS THE MOST AND BEST REPRESENTS YOU AS ARTISTS?
I would say off hand that "Someday" the opening song for our Emergenza set would describe and represent me and the band. It’s philosophical, it's bluesy and it’s not a ballad or an upbeat song. It’s a perfect blend of rock and minor blues with various elements that always seem to impress the listener.

UP TO THIS POINT, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY HAS BEEN THE BAND'S BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT? OBSTACLE?
The band's biggest accomplishment would be the fact that we banded together so quickly then put songs together and do continuous live gigs in such a short time, let’s say ten months or so, as well as Emergenza of course.

WHAT WAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE FIRST ROUND FOR YOU?
The highlight was to be able to play the actual Metro Theatre and also to have met so many wonderful young up coming musicians. Even though it's a competition I hope success comes to all of these people. We were just happy to be a part of it. To see other bands voting for other bands also made it a very uplifting night it was a great vibe.

HOW DOES IT FEEL BEING ONE STEP CLOSER TO THE EMERGENZA FINALS?
It's quite thrilling to be closer to the finals. I’m slightly nervous but it's a good thing.
I’m pleased to play The Factory theatre. I must admit it's the largest stage I have personally played on and I’m really looking forward to it.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR UPCOMING GIG AT THE FACTORY THEATRE?
I hope I can take with me a feeling of accomplishment. At least on a personal level and leave it with a pleasant experience as a band and another chapter in our endeavours. I do hope we win this though. It's almost like a test for myself to be able to perform my own material professionally to a large audience of various ages, and we proved it previously at other gigs and at The Metro as people were congratulating us and ecstatic at our sound and songs. Seizure himself repeatedly told me how good it was sounding and was very, very genuinely pleased with our performance.

WHAT'S A LIVE ENGINE ROOM SHOW LIKE?
A live Engine Room gig is an experience entirely up to the listener to decide. As a member of the band I just do my best to keep my musicianship real and to keep the music true to itself and to myself for that matter. The rest will speak to the audience in its own way and leave a pleasant print and musical experience that will be personal to the individual.

WITH OTHER BATTLE OF THE BANDS COMPETITIONS AROUND, WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE ON EMERGENZA?
As for the choice of Emergenza it all just happened from an email I had received from APRA and I followed it through. It wasn't a conscious choice. I thought we should enter it and do our best and play our music as it deserves to be played.