Kent Lambert was born and raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1976. In 1984 he traveled with his family to his mother's birthplace of Chi Chi Jima and to mainland Japan, and he began piano lessons several months later. Music was a significant part of his adolescent life: he was in the band and choir at school, and in his spare time he studied classical piano, and wrote grandiose, naïve pop songs. During his university years, Kent studied music composition before pursuing a degree in film and video production at the University of Iowa. Though his educational focus had shifted to filmmaking, he continued to write songs and experiment with four-track recording, and he would often compose and record scores for his classmates' and his own films. Shortly after graduating from college, he joined the Iowa City band Swim Team. Around the same time, Kent became active in the international experimental film and video community. He co-directed Iowa City's Thaw Festival in 2000, and in subsequent years his own videos screened at festivals across North America and at such venues as Other Cinema in San Francisco, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, and the Impakt and Videoex festivals in Western Europe. Roommate began as a solo recording project in late 2000. Kent had just moved from Iowa City to Brooklyn and started recording music in his apartment. He was working in the acquisitions department of an arthouse film distributor, and his experiences there influenced the songs he was writing. In 2001, he relocated to Chicago and self-released the Celebs EP. The EP's River Phoenix tribute "RP (Forget the Metaphors)" soon received extensive airplay on the popular Studio Brussel radio show Duyster, and the song was eventually released on a CD compilation celebrating the first five years of the show. Roommate began as the solo music project of Kent Lambert in 2000. He had just moved from Iowa City to Brooklyn and started recording music in his apartment. In 2001, he relocated to Chicago and self-released the Celebs EP. In 2004, Roommate re-emerged as a live band. Work on the full-length Songs the Animals Taught Us began soon thereafter, and the album was self-released in the summer of 2005. A wide release on the Plug Research label followed in the spring of 2006 and was supported with a European tour and a few shows around the United States. Production on the New Steam EP began in late 2006 and the band continued recording steadily through the completion of its 2nd full-length, We Were Enchanted, which will be released in April 2008 by Plug Research and the vinyl-only Shrug label. Members of Roommate's live band change based on availability, playing instruments such as musical saw, banjo, violin, theremin, Buchla Music Box, and bassoon, as well as traditional rock instruments. Kent is the primary songwriter, but all current members contribute to the songs and recordings. Some of Kent's other creative accomplishments include an original soundtrack to Carl Dreyer's Vampyr, which he performed live in multiple cities, several performances of psychedelic video to accompany the music of Grey Ghost, and a score for the MSNBC documentary "The Runaways: San Francisco". In addition to Roommate and the new electro-nerd jam band Woolen, Kent has performed and recorded with his Swim Team bandmate Cody Hennesy (aka The Rhombus), in the band Kaspar Hauser, and in Devin Davis' band. |
The current typical Roommate lineup generally includes mostly: * Kent Lambert (Keytar, vocals, electronics) |
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