So-Cal, the ‘60s, psychedelic and garage rock, and surf sounds. To boil Sun Room down to just a few words would be leaving out a lot, but I think these four things epitomize the California surf rock band pretty well. Comprised of Luke Asgian, Wyatt Flom, and brothers Indy and Ashton Minnich, Sun Room embodies the feelings of the southern sun and carefree coastal living. Inspired by both the old and new, the band takes from ‘60s rock and the current Australian surf rock scene to craft their own refined sound.

Sun Room started releasing just last summer and have since been working on lots of new stuff, including their latest EP “Somewhere Tropical.” The four-track piece is simple but authentic to surf rock and their own style. My favorite track, “Red Dress,” has a heavier sound than the rest of the tracks which gives the EP an added garage rock feel.

As young musicians from ages 18 to 22, the four embrace the feelings of youth in their lives and music. Mixing light, whole-hearted attidutes with equal amounts of well-channeled ambition and keen artistic visions, Sun Room is organic, fun, and talented. The band works to transmit the feelings of life’s pinnacle moments through their music, and I believe they do just that.

Lucky for us, Sparky was able to talk with Luke, Indy, and Ashton to talk about Sun Room’s journey over the last year and what’s to come with the band.

Sparky: Give me some basic band background: where you all met each other, how you got into music, and where you all are from originally.

Luke: I started writing music for Sun Room basically a year ago. I played in a band in Long Beach in high school and then when college started, that kind of fell apart, so I wanted a new project and to take it in a new direction musically. I started writing the music for Sun Room right when quarantine started and was just super bored. Me and Wyatt had music that we were excited about but we didn’t have a drummer or a lead guitarist. I was talking to my buddy Pierce one day, getting coffee just chatting, and I was like I’m so bummed, we have a bunch of music we’re stoked about but no drummer or guitarist, and he’s like well two of my best friends who are brothers play both of those instruments. So then last summer we started jamming together.

Indy: Yea, Pierce Mendoza my best childhood friend just happens to know Luke from school and he told me Luke was looking for a drummer and I was like, well I wanna drum!

Luke: Then I’m originally from Long Beach and I live in San Diego right now.

Ashton: And me and Indy have just been posted here in San Clemente.

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Sparky: Your biggest hit so far is “Sol Del Sur.” How has living under the southern sun influenced you all personally and in your music?

Indy: It definitely encompasses California culture and all of us have been surfing for a while now. I feel like it’s just a part of our lives here, listening to ‘60s music, taking from all that we listen to.

Luke: I think we definitely try to incorporate the things we love to do, like surfing and skateboarding, into our music, and honestly just writing music that we would want to listen to. I think definitely the way we were raised, the beach towns we’re from, and how we grew up definitely comes out in our sound.

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Sparky: Who are some of your biggest influences in music?

Luke: We’re influences by a lot of ‘60s psychedelic garage rock. The guy we recorded with, Jonny Bell, has put us on to a lot of super rad bands from the ‘60s like The Seeds, The Birds, The Ventures. Indy and Ashton’s grandfather was actually in a psychedelic rock band in the ‘60s too.

Indy: Yep, he was in a band called The Humane Society.

Luke: I think that kind of rock is our main influence but we also listen to a lot of modern bands. A lot of bands in Australia, like Skeggs and Surf Trash.
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Sparky: What’s your songwriting process like? How did you guys go about making the upcoming EP?

Luke: The songwriting process is definitely a little different for each song, but I’ll start writing a very basic chord progression or a lyric idea. Even if it’s a little tiny idea, we’ll all get together and start jamming on it, and a little idea can turn into a full song. From jamming on it, we figure out what sounds cool. Some days go better than other days, sometimes we’ll try jamming on something for two hours and get nowhere on it. Other days we can play for 10 minutes and get something cool.

Indy: I think where we’re jamming too is important. Luke is down in San Diego and Wyatt is Long Beach, and then me and Ashton are in San Clemente right in the middle of the two, so they can come and meet up in San Clemente and jam in our garage. That’s where all the magic happens, like a combination of the two worlds.

Ashton: Then after we jam it for a while we’ll go listen to it on our own and refine our individual parts. And once we feel like we’ve got it down pretty solid we’ll go and hit Jazz Cats Studio with Jonny and dial it in.

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Sparky: What have you learned since making your first EP?

Luke: I think this time we spent a lot more time on getting the songs dialed before going into the studio. We definitely jammed on this one a lot more than the last one. It was a long songwriting process because we put out “Just Yesterday” as a single in late summer, and then there was a huge gap in between. A little writer’s block and definitely a little bit of pressure too because the first release did so much better than I ever expected and so we really wanted to follow it up with something sick. It was a long time coming and we worked on these songs for a really long time before we got in the studio.

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Sparky: What kind of guitars do you guys play?

Luke: That’s so funny, we just put in an order for new ones right before this. But I play on a Telecaster right now and in the studio, I used an SG and a Jaguar on a couple of the songs because the studio we record at in Long Beach, Jazz Cats, has all vintage gear. So when we go in we take advantage of that since our instruments aren’t nearly as nice. On the recordings, it’s all of Jonny’s vintage stuff.

Ashton: I play a Stratocaster right now and on a lot of the recordings in the studio, I play on one as well actually.

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Sparky: What would you say is the best time and place for someone to listen to Sun Room?

Indy: In the car.

Ashton: While driving the coast.

Indy: And at sunset.

Luke: While in Hawaii.

Indy: With the person you love.

Luke: And with your friends in the back too!

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Sparky: What influences outside of music, like pop culture, people, movies, books, etc.?

Luke: I think for me, a lot of the ‘60s culture and mid-century modern art and architecture has been super influential for me in the songwriting process. I love photography from that era, old surf films, the posters that they used to advertise the surf films. I think art is something we really wanted to focus on as a band. One of my best friends Kaden Garrett is an artist who works on a ton of stuff for us, and I think we really try to incorporate that with our sound, our album covers, our Instagram, and just featuring cool art that really matches our sound.

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Sparky: So I know you’re all sun and beach people, but if you had to live somewhere cold for the rest of your life, where would it be?

Indy: I could go to Alaska for a couple of years.

Ashton: Yea, Alaska is cool. The trees and stuff up there are awesome.

Luke: I would go to Norway. I have a bunch of family there and I went there a couple summers ago and it was super rad. Even though they only have like two hours of sunlight during the winter, the people there are sick.

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Sparky: If you weren’t making music, what would want to be doing?

Indy: My dream job kind of is to produce music and help record music so my life’s kind of centered around that.

Ashton: I mean I’ve kind of had to make decisions like this recently cause I’m only just graduating high school and going to college and I’ve honestly just been picking random majors I’m not really sure what I want to do!

Luke: I’d try to start a coffee shop or something like that. That’d be sick.

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Sparky: What kind of music do you see Sun Room releasing in the future? Are there any endeavors or new sounds you’d like to try?

Luke: We actually have a single that will be coming out probably a month after the EP. We’re also right now working on the next EP after this one, then we’re set to record it in the next month and a half or so. We have a lot coming out soon which we’re super hyped on. This summer is going to be super crazy, we have a ton of stuff.

Indy: I would say the new single is a little bit of a different vibe from the other stuff. It’s a little heavier.

Ashton: It’s a modernized version of surf I would say.

Luke: I think it definitely has a lot of influence from a lot of that Australian scene I was talking about. We’re definitely pushing our boundaries a little bit and trying new stuff but staying true to the core sound.

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Sparky: I think it’s really fitting, but what other band names did you consider before deciding on Sun Room and how did you decide?

Luke: Well my band that I played with in high school in Long Beach, Wyatt was in that as well, that band was called Guest House. So I think when we were trying to come up with a name for this band it was kind of a joke off of Guest House because it’s just another room in the house. It was a joke to begin with but it also just fit. We said Sun Room and it just fit. But I have a whole list of joke band names on my phone. They’re all kind of like heavy metal, so if I ever start a heavy metal band or a super gnarly punk band then I probably have like 10 names I could use.

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Sparky: Can you give some examples?

Luke: Dollar Beers, Swamp Writers, Live Animals, Community Pool, Bird Piss.

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Sparky: How do you hope your music affects your listeners–how do you hope it makes them feel?

Ashton: I hope it makes people happy and want to get out there and go do something and enjoy life.

Luke: My mood is definitely heavily affected by my music and so when I’m listening to a lot of sad music it just bums me out. Our sound just sounds fun and carefree and whatever but I think there’s a lot of intentionality there that’s happening with the song process. I want to kind of paint a picture of a fun and happy world. There’s so much sad stuff out there right now, and there’s definitely a time and place for that, I think that’s a super important form of expression, but I want to make something that will put people in a good mood and that people can create fun memories too. There’s definitely a sense of nostalgia too with the music and so I hope it is something that people can hear 50 years down the road and be like “Oh, I remember when I was in my 20s and listened to that song.”

Written and Interviewed By Sophia Scorziello

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