Holland, Mich.-based rockers The Green Room are back on the road following a brief summer hiatus and are scheduled to rock East Lansing tonight.
The five-piece band will play a 21 and up show at 10:30 tonight at Rick’s American Cafe, 224 Abbott Road.
The Green Room puts out a kind of blues meets rock meets jazz sound and pushes acoustic sound to the edge with heavy, hard beats. Along with their own material, guitarist and lead vocalist Tim Obbink said the band covers songs by Dave Matthews Band and other similar artists.
The Green Room is considered one of the up-and-coming bands in Michigan after they spent two months on the Team Earth Work Tour 2001. As part of the tour, the band had the privilege of using the Backstreet Boys and Up In Smoke Tour’s old tour bus. It featured 14 TVs, seven leather couches, satellite TV and their own personal bus driver, Eddie.
“After the Up in Smoke Tour, Eddie couldn’t stop laughing at these four white, Dutch kids he was driving around,” Obbink said.
October 2000 was a landmark month for the band, with performances at The House of Blues in Los Angeles, Studio 54 in Manhattan, New York and Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids. They’ve also toured in Colorado, Utah and Florida.
Was it mentioned that The Green Room has only been playing together for two years?
“We’re really lucky kids from Holland, Mich., is basically what it comes down to,” Obbink said.
While they may call Holland home and have the experience of playing at historic venues, Obbink said Lansing is among there favorite places to jam.
“The people here are so much fun and you can get real personable with the crowd,” he said. “I’d personally rather play a packed small club then a one-third capacity show at Van Andel (Arena).”
The band entered the studio in Fall 1999 to record their debut CD, “I Got New Socks On,” which was released in February 2000. Obbink said the album is not their best effort as the band has matured and is more of a demo tape of sorts to get into bars and venues.
“We basically threw it together because we have a good live show, but nothing to give to people,” said Jim Lenger, the band’s bassist. “That’s our next step. Money wise we’ll have enough for a good indie label, but we don’t feel we’re ready to pursue a major label deal yet.
“We want to make sure we’re not throwing money away when we do it.”
The band also appeared on WDBM (88.9-FM) The Impact’s local music show “The Basement” on Thursday.
“We like to feature bands that are up and coming,” said Beth Perrine, a telecommunication senior and host of “The Basement.” “They have a really cool sound, and bands differ so much from their CDs to when they’re in the studio.”
