Sun Room bassist Max Pinamonti catches up with Atwood Magazine for a conversation on the Californian band’s brand new EP, ‘Ritual of Chaos,’ and an exclusive video premiere of “On Fire.”

Stream: “On Fire” – Sun Room

In late 2021, Californian newcomers Sun Room stood beneath the Troubadour’s electric blue signage for the first time.

Just a year removed from their quarantine beginnings, the band – whose lineup now consists of vocalist Luke Asgian, guitarist Ashton Minnich, and bassist Max Pinamonti – played to a crowd of 500 avid Inhaler fans, offering sun-drenched surf-rock ragers like “Sol Del Sur” and “Something That You’re Missing,” and performing as if the West Hollywood venue was their own backyard.

It was a tour that would see the band open for the Irish rockers around the country and earn the approval of a large portion of their fanbase in the process. Steadily, the band gained traction – having cut their teeth in the Southern California house show circuit, the natural next step was scaling that live energy to match the countrywide phenomenon they’d become. “It felt good to us at that time, but if we watched ourselves playing four years ago, we would be like, ‘Wow, you guys suck,” Pinamonti says in conversation with Atwood Magazine. “Four years later, we’re definitely very comfortable with each other. And I feel like as long as you feel comfortable, it’ll just get better and better.”

Ritual of Chaos, their brand-new EP, finds Sun Room at an age-old point in their career. Having exhausted their naivety as a new band and entered the ranks as a trusted one, the three-piece turn to a topic they now know like the back of their hand: Change. It’s a title that came naturally: “It was the most representative of what most of the songs are about, which is just being in the stage of life we’re in. Being in your twenties and having chaotic experiences with relationships and whatever it is,” Pinamonti says. “I feel like it presented itself to us, rather than us thinking for weeks about it.”

Atwood Magazine is proud to premiere the music video for standout track “On Fire,” which flaunts the EP’s eponymous line: “Ritual of chaos every single night through the city / Just to see those eyes.” Pinamonti shares that the first thing he heard about the music video was that there would be fire, and I joke that could go quite a few different ways. “Exactly,” he laughs. “I remember we had the initial riff idea for a really long time, and then we made a little demo of it. Maybe six months later, one of us found it on our phone, and then we just worked on it, and it just clicked. It got lost for a while, and then we found it again, gave it new life.”

“We definitely have a lot of lost ideas on our phones,” he continues. “But with ‘On Fire,’ we had made an actual demo in Logic, which I think maybe saved it because who knows what kind of good songs are lost in our voice memos?”

The video features the band playing in varying shadows, as Asgian sings to the camera and weaves in and out of the slightly sepia light. Spotlights appear underneath Pinamonti and Minnich with their instruments soon after, balancing a distinctly black-and-white appeal with the color and passion inherent in the song. Together, these elements tell a simple story, mirroring the more raw rock n’ roll sound the band has been exploring in recent years and allowing for the lyrics to shine through.

Their 2020 EP Sol Del Sur, their first, invited fans into their year-round summer. Minnich’s riffs were equal parts modern indie rock and classic Californian charm, and as a collection the EP spoke of the importance of lust, leisure, and laidback ‘60’s surf rock licks. It was a wholly west coast effort, unashamedly inspired by the music they grew up on. “My dad played in bands when he was growing up until his early 20’s, so he showed me a lot of cool bands — power pop bands from the ‘70’s like The Plimsouls,” Pinamonti says. Coupled with his mom’s love of Arctic Monkeys, the bassist grew to love rock in all its flavors and variations.

When it came time to join the band, Pinamonti found there to be a pre-established set of shared tastes within the members, and that common ground aided in the process of finding their own sound. “We definitely have a lot of overlapping tastes. If it was a Venn diagram, there’s a lot of overlap,” he says, “and then we all have our own things that we listen to that maybe I won’t normally listen to, but it’s something that Ashton does. Joining the band was funny, because all the music that Ashton and Luke were listening to were some of my favorite bands, but I hadn’t listened to them in a long time.”

Touring has always been Sun Room’s strong-suit. They are an inarguably live band, fueled by the knowledge and energy playing live has gifted them over the years. So when they joined Inhaler again in 2023 for a string of live dates supporting their sophomore effort Cuts and Bruises, it came as a pleasant surprise to audiences that Sun Room had practically shapeshifted in the meantime. Coastal riffs were traded for distinctly English influences, no doubt a result of their heartfelt curiosity and admiration for bands coming out of the UK.

“I think by touring with bands that are from the UK or Ireland, they showed us a lot of bands that were staples for them and their influences, and it’s bands that didn’t really translate over to the US,” Pinamonti says, pinpointing The Stone Roses as an example of an influence during the Inhaler tours that reinvigorated their sound. “So we were exposed to a lot of bands that we hadn’t really heard before. And I think naturally, it just subconsciously influenced our songwriting.” That same year the band unveiled Outta Their Minds, an EP drawing seamlessly on these newfound sounds.

Well, he’s got class and a Cadillac
But he ain’t fast
Yeah, I need you babe
Well girl, I don’t have what he has
No Cadillac
No lavish plans
But I don’t need anything when you’re with me
Yeah, can’t you see?

– “Cadillac,” Sun Room

Though outlets made a commotion about their sonic pivot, Pinamonti emphasizes that it wasn’t done on purpose. “I don’t think it was conscious. I think that we’re unapologetically writing songs rather than writing songs to fit into a certain niche,” he says, the changes materializing from their environment and experiences rather than a desired end result. As the band evolved, so did their approach to songwriting – this openness to change has brought us all the way to the present, and a brand new set of songs with varying inspiration.

Indeed, the last few years have been a lesson to the band in harnessing chaos for good, both on the road and in their relationships as bandmates. “If you listen to most of the music on the radio, even any rock or alternative bands, it mostly sounds extremely polished. The only way you can get sounds like that are with not tracking live as a band, and samples,” Pinamonti says, and in search of a more honest sound, Ritual of Chaos was live-tracked with minimal overdubs. “You’re more limited in a way, so you have to make sure that you’re committing to the right part on any instrument. It definitely takes a lot of takes. But you’re all together, so it doesn’t feel as bad.”

The EP opens on “Jackknife,” a cutting, bass-driven track that gallops and grooves with all the chemistry they’ve accrued in their many hours playing together. “They say sink or swim,” Asgian wails, “Well, I just can’t win.” Pinamonti holds down the low end with increasing confidence, so it’s no wonder he enjoys it just as much as fans do. “Jackknife’ is a lot of fun. It’s so loud, and the intro checks a lot of different genres in a way. It feels like The Who to me,” he says. “I really love that song. It felt like it was our first big step into just being a rock band rather than a surf rock band.”

Cherry red won’t you let me know?
If I called would you let me go?
Fake a smile through the bar window
She knows when she sees me
That stare cuts me deeply
Jackknife, I’m so easy

– “Jackknife,” Sun Room

Life pulses through “She’ll Move To London,” but it’s “Oslo, Paris, LA” that presents an added component to the band as they navigate their first acoustic track. “I’m trying to think of the right word… it’s a very precious sounding song, and I feel like it fits the acoustic guitar,” Pinamonti says. “We were all joking about how a lot of rock bands’ biggest songs are their acoustic songs. So maybe one day, that’ll be our biggest song.” It’s up in the air whether they’ll include it on future setlists. “That would require a couple of extra checked bags,” the bassist laughs.

Truly, “Oslo, Paris, LA” is Sun Room at their gentlest. It’s a side fans have yet to see from them apart from glimpses in otherwise harder-hitting tracks, and it’s a welcome change of pace and scenery that translates lyrically. “I’m in LA and you’re not here / I’m in LA and you’re not here,” Asgian repeats, his voice tinged with a rare moment of yearning rather than the carefree enjoyment it’s typically given life by.

Corners, cluttered and crossed
Fishes flock to their docks
Everyone has some place to be
Cafes open their doors
I’m still stuck on these chords
Listen close, can’t you hear them too?

– “Oslo, Paris, LA,” Sun Room

Rounded out by “Don’t Cause A Riot” and “The Night’s Not Over,” Ritual of Chaos stands as a test of the band’s new barriers, and a strengthening of the spirit that drew fans in to begin with. While the summer sun is still present in their imagery, there’s more room now for shade  – whether it’s harkening back to The Clash’s London Calling on the EP’s final track or literally writing about the city on “She’ll Move To London,” it’s clear that traveling the world has made an impact on the band once known for embodying the Golden State’s allure. “I think these songs are the most personal we’ve put out, and less broad-speaking,” Pinamonti says. “They’re about personal relationships, so hopefully fans can find something relatable in there.”

Despite these changes, one thing remains steadfast: Sun Room will always be a band on the move. They’re preparing for supporting slots with Flipturn and a headlining tour soon thereafter, which will bring them back to old stomping grounds and introduce them to new ones. “We’re playing in Montana for the first time, and playing in Pomona. It’s pretty close to where we are, but we’ve never played there,” Pinamonti says, “and then we’re hitting a lot of similar cities that we have before on our fall headline tour, which is a good thing because hopefully the same people will come back.”

“There’s shows and then there’s great shows, you know?” Pinamonti concludes, reflecting on the spontaneity of their sets. “There’s no bad shows, because a lot of it has to do with what we’re feeling on the stage and how our sound is too, and we can kind of just get lost in it because I just hear the kick drum and Luke and bass pretty much, and Luke just hears himself. We don’t get the full band experience because we’re just trying not to mess up.”

Ritual of Chaos widened Sun Room’s scope, but only time will tell where they go from here. Whether it’s leaning back into their surf rock roots or pushing further into their punk and power pop influences, it’s a journey that’s presented them to countless audiences around the world, all walking away tinged with a warmth only the California sun can provide.

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:: stream/purchase Ritual of Chaos here ::

:: connect with Sun Room here ::

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Stream: “On Fire” – Sun Room

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 © Kaden Morris

Ritual of Chaos

an EP by Sun Room