_{By Jordan Ottesen}

Roseburg is one of the newest bands to the Provo scene, but they’re already making some of the biggest waves. We recently got to discuss their formation and the smash success of their first single. Check it out.

Roseburg, thanks for taking the time to chat! Let’s start by talking about the formation of your band. How did all of this start? How long have you been in Provo?

Thank you for being our first ever interview! We met in Oregon. All 3 of us were missionaries there. We each met individually – we were never in the same room at the same time – but we all knew we wanted to work together when we got home. But with Sam (Guitar/Piano) being from New York and Keith (Drums) being from Idaho we didn’t know how that would work. But Sam and Keith recently moved to Zach’s hometown in Provo and in just a few months we’ve made our first record, and we’re ready for a year of releases and live shows.

Hey that’s excellent! What kind of message do you hope to portray through your music?

(Zach Knell, Singer/Guitar): My mantra as a songwriter is to not just write “good” songs but to write the “right” songs. There are a lot of “good” songs – technology progresses, competition increases, and every day we stand higher on the shoulders of great artists before us, etc. – but with that comes a numberless amount of rival products, all trying to get your attention. It would be easy for us as a band to wonder how the noise we put into the world at this point will be consumed and appreciated. That’s why I say our goal is to write the “right” songs. Songs where, when you listen, it feels right. You feel the same magic we felt while making it. This is always going to be our focus.

It looks like Roseburg is named after a city in Oregon. It’s probably safe to assume this is from your missions. Could you elaborate on the inspiration behind that?

(Samuel Sheppard, Guitar): Roseburg is the city in Oregon where we met. Actually, just after Zach had transferred there, he came over to my apartment with a guitar and we stayed up all night and wrote a song that is now on our first record. We realized that first night that we had something special in front of us. All 3 members of the band lived in Roseburg at different points, and we all had important experiences there, just like that, that inspired a lot of what we’re doing now. We love that place and the people there. We love the feeling there and try to put it into our music. Roseburg has become a home away from home for us. So when the time came that we had to name this project, even though it was difficult to put a final label on it, and even though Zach thinks band names are outdated and tried to find any way to market what we were doing without one, “Roseburg” is the closest match to how it all makes us feel, and something we will stand behind.

You recently released a music video for your debut single “Stay Golden.” How was that experience?

(Keith Lambson, Drums): The response to “Stay Golden” was fantastic. It’s already reached way more people than we expected for the first release of a new band. Tens of thousands of views and streams in just a week. We loved the process of making the song and music video. Zach and I wrote that song as missionaries in a little apartment in Southern Oregon, and now people are jamming it all over the world. And thanks to our awesome film crew, and Dylan Jordan (@DylanJordan) and Summer McKeen (@SummerMcKeen), who starred in the video, we were able to travel to California, shoot in some of the most iconic spots in LA, and capture the vibe of the song in a great way. We are still just glad we made the sunset at the Hollywood Sign after chasing it all the way from Santa Monica Pier with no time to spare. It was a close one. All in all, we’ve already worked with so many amazing people. The best part of the process in making and sharing any song is connecting with and building relationships with people.

Sounds like quite the successful launch! What are some new releases from Roseburg we have to look forward to?

On June 15, we are posting our second single, “Identity Prices.” We will continue to release song by song and video by video throughout the summer until our first record is tied up into “The Heaven vs. Hollywood EP.”

Any last things you want to tell our readers?

If you would like to stay in touch with us and receive text updates about new songs, live shows, etc., message us your full name and cell number on our Instagram or Facebook pages (@roseburgband).

Love, Zach, Sam, + Keith xx

Be sure to check out Roseburg on Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, and YouTube.