| Meet the group | The Upper Room
Alex Miller - vocals and guitar
James Pattinson - guitar
Beau Barnard - bass
Jon Barnett - drums |
The Upper Room illustrate that variable touring life. We talked to frontman Alex after a low-key in-store appearance in Leeds as the band were already on the way to a support gig in Manchester that night, for Texas, at the huge MEN arena. "Yes, it is a busy day but we do the in-store gigs acoustically so it is very enjoyable. It is a novel way of playing that makes a change and it is very different to our bigger gigs." The group's All Over This Town went into top 40 and The Upper Room's new single, Black and White, is doing even better. Alex says: "We are extremely proud of what we've recorded. Things change musically when we play live obviously, but I love the recordings we've done and I love listening to them.  | | The Upper Room in Leeds |
"I don't play our music all the time that would be weird, but I don't mind going back to the songs." So how does Leeds' music scene compare with The Upper Room's home turf? "In Brighton there is so much going on with its proximity to London. It is near enough for lots of people in the music business to live in Brighton and work in London. So you've got loads of producers, and people like that, living in the town. So standards are high. "But having said that Leeds has produced a lot more bands... there is a lot going on in Brighton but not many classic bands have come from our town. "The Upper Room want to change that." On a couple of websites I have seen comparisons of Alex with Ian Curtis, the late singer of Joy Division. And listening to a website download of The Upper Room's track Combination I can understand why. There is, to me, a definite echo of (a poppier) Joy Division in the track. However, 24-year-old Alex is bemused by the thought. "I can't begin to understand that. I don't know anything about Joy Division apart from the fact they were a great band, but I don't own any of the music. "I get my inspiration from the classic songwriters like Bob Dylan, Kate Bush, Elton John. "I like three-minute classic tracks, there was no cult of rock and roll in my formative years, no posters on my wall. I am more into listening to great albums." And with that, Alex is gone from Leeds in a crackle of static and expectation. | 
