LEVITT PAVILION DENVER - FREE CONCERT SERIESRooney + Mating RitualRSVP Now!All Ages | General Admission LawnDoors at 6:00 PM | Show at 7:00 PMThis event is Rain or Shine.For more information about the artist, please visit: http://www.rooneymusic.com

Rooney
Our five piece rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1999 and after playing the Sunset Strip clubs and self producing EPs for a couple of years, we made our self titled major label debut and hit the road. We travelled all over the U.S., the U.K. and even made it as far as Japan. We toured with Weezer, The Strokes, Sloan, The Sounds, The Donnas, Travis, Keane and many others. After our first record reached nearly gold status and yielded two successful singles, we retreated to L.A. where, after many hold ups, we recorded "Calling the World" over three weeks time. We then toured the world for another year and half with an eclectic bunch of artists including Ben Lee and The Polyphonic Spree. Our first single off the record climbed to number 1 in Germany and subsequently took us all over Europe multiple times.2009 found us back in L.A. recording and experimenting in our new home studios while transitioning into a new label situation. We formed our own record label "California Dreamin'" and released our "Wild One" e.p. at the end of 2009 and our 3rd full length release "Eureka!" in June of 2010. Since then, we've enjoyed touring with The Crash Kings, The Young Veins, Black Gold, Hanson, and Eisley. We are currently enjoying our return to the independent spirit upon which we were founded and are looking back at a career which now spans over a decade. Thank you to all of our friends and fans who have taken the trip with us...we play for you.

Mating Ritual is an independent pop duo based in Los Angeles, California. Previously known as Pacific Air, Ryan Marshall Lawhon founded Mating Ritual in 2014 when his brother Taylor decided to go back to school. Though initially a solo project, Mating Ritual became increasingly more collaborative leading up to his debut album, 2017’s How You Gonna Stop It?, released on Ryan’s own label, Smooth Jaws. Working heavily with other LA songwriters and artists, including ascending pop singer Lizzy Land, the brothers realized they missed creating music as a duo and immediately began work on Mating Ritual’s sophomore album, Light Myself On Fire.
Mating Ritual
Blending Taylor’s love of 80’s synth pop with Ryan’s post punk infatuation, Light Myself On Fire is a darker, grittier record that shows the brothers refining their individual talents to form a much grander and more unified statement. Written entirely after midnight (with the exception of one noticeably sunny tune), these 9 songs talk about maturation and commitment. “Committing to anything long term can be difficult,” says Ryan “Boredom and complacency set in, and while change can be a good thing, using it as a crutch will just bring you back to the same place, feeling emptier than before. This album is about learning that the grass is not always greener, that the next fleeting dopamine rush won’t solve everything. In a weird way, I think this my better-late-than-never coming of age record.”
Ryan delves into these ideas through the brothers personal experiences - from the pulsing opener “Light Myself On Fire,” detailing the experience of using your creativity to benefit someone else instead of yourself, to exploring the influence of drug use and the feeling of invincibility of “U + Me Will Never Die,” the endless cycle of overthinking on “Stop Making Sense,” winding through thoughts on society, relationships and more, all culminating in the awareness of “I Know So Much Less Than I Thought I Did.”
Light Myself On Fire is out now, on Smooth Jaws.