One of our favorite albums of 2024, Pass the Loofah is Naked Roommate’s follow-up to their pandemic-era album Do the Duvet. More bouncy with pop rock but just as infectious as its predecessor, the new album applies deadpan-delivered post-punk-style vocals and weirdo synth and sax over a taut, pulsing tapestry of progammed krautrock beats.
Ahead of Naked Roommate’s set this Saturday, February 8 at El Rio – along with Brontez Purnell, Black Thumb, Wife, and ronny ronny ronny (DJ) – we talked to the group’s founders Amber Sermeno and Andy Jordan about the real tangible things keeping them in the Bay, the power of corn, and their hopes and predictions for the likely apocalyptic local music scene.
Where did you grow up? When and why did you move to the Bay?
Amber Sermeno: I’m a Valley Girl. Grew up in Van Nuys. When I was 18, with no concept of finances, I moved to London and ended up broke immediately. Towards the end there my visa was running out and I didn’t end up marrying a Londoner, so I had to beg my mother to buy me a ticket back home. When I arrived back home all my friends had moved up to San Francisco. I was like “what tha hell.” I took a bus up to SF and crashed at their punk house.
Andy Jordan: I’m from Oakland.
How does the Bay Area influence your music?
Andy: Great history of local bands, from the 40s Blues scene to the SF experimental industrial scene of the late-80s. I dig everything from The Coup, to Tuxedomoon; The Nerves, to Blectum From Blechdom!
Amber: In a place so rich in music and art you get the benefit to react against the things you love.
Which up-and-coming Bay Area artists are you most excited about?
Amber: I am a terrible person to ask about what’s going on! I had a kid almost two years ago and that has made me go AWOL in the scene. The last show that got me excited was when I was pregnant. So some time ago. This guy was playing an electric corn cob. His name was Matt Robidoux.
Andy: I try to avoid this question because I don’t hit the scene much anymore, especially since me and Amber had a baby! Everything I was excited about is a few years old already. Check out Newcomer Can’t Swim.
Are there any artist-centered communities in the Bay that you love?
Amber: There’s always something going on, but like I said, I’ve been in a mommy-hole. I am lucky to work at a queer little vintage shop/hair salon though! All sorts of Bay Area weirdos air their grievances and explore their styles there. But I still have no idea what’s going on.
Andy: I don’t know, because this ain’t art. Don’t expect art!
After several waves of gentrification, what keeps you in the Bay?
Andy: Weather. Weed. Wokeness. You know. Sideshows?
Amber: Rent control.
Do you have any new releases coming up?
Amber: We just released an album in October. Give it a listen. Might be another four years before we put something out again!
Andy: Wanna buy one?
Do you have any hopes or predictions for the local music scene?
Amber: The demand for crowdfunding will become increasingly impossible to keep up with with benefit shows. We’ll all realize our guitars have better use as blunt hitting objects and deflectors of gas canisters as we rise. This is all being imagined in a Spain comic kinda way.
Andy: I hope it gets much weirder. But I predict more pop…
See Naked Roommate live this Saturday, February 8 at El Rio.
