{"id":2029,"date":"2018-11-19T17:00:47","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T22:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artik.com\/toronto-blog\/?p=2029"},"modified":"2025-09-25T04:49:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T08:49:29","slug":"customer-profile-rooftop-love-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artik.smartwebsitedesign.com\/toronto-blog\/customer-profile-rooftop-love-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Customer Profile: Rooftop Love Club"},"content":{"rendered":"

The band Rooftop Love Club<\/strong><\/a> is blowing up in Toronto with a uniquely swampy, fuzzy blur between blues and grungy rock. With hundreds of thousands of fans, the two band members Jacob Weiss and Jake Hock are busy writing songs and playing shows across North America.<\/p>\n

We got a chance to work with Rooftop Love Club to create these killer Chocolate Milk tee shirts<\/a>. Recently we interviewed the band about success, failure and life in Toronto.<\/p>\n

\"Rooftop<\/p>\n

Hey guys, tell us about these\u00a0screen printed t-shirts<\/a> you ordered from Artik<\/b><\/p>\n

We ordered custom chocolate milk shirts (designed by the wickedly talented Ryan Abrams<\/a>) to honour our reverence for such a wonderful beverage. Hopefully wearers of this fine shirt will feel they too are expressing their love for this delicious, chocolaty nectar.<\/p>\n

Tell us about your band. How did you start? What’s your path been?<\/b><\/p>\n

Rooftop Love Club are a garage rock duo from the boring suburbs above Toronto. Jake (guitar) and Jacob (drums) met in high school in 2013. Although\u00a0we came from vastly different social groups,\u00a0we immediately made a connection through music. We both have been playing\u00a0our respective instruments from young ages.<\/p>\n

We\u00a0had been jamming with\u00a0our close friend, Adam, mostly for fun, but\u00a0we\u00a0wanted something more than just playing Sabbath covers with their buddies. In 2014,\u00a0I asked Jake to come over and jam, just the two\u00a0us and see what happens. What happened was the formation of Rooftop Love Club and even though Jake referred to\u00a0my\u00a0guitar equipment as “pretty horse s***”\u00a0we continued to play together as a two piece nonetheless.<\/p>\n

From there\u00a0we\u00a0decided that\u00a0we would rather make an income however which way until\u00a0we could make a living as a touring band, ditching university in the process.\u00a0We spent the next couple years studying every aspect of the industry, learning to do everything ourselves, and we’re currently booking an extensive tour from Toronto to Vancouver to San Diego and back without a booking agent… not to say\u00a0we don’t want one though.<\/p>\n

Our\u00a0sound evolved as well, warping from raw blues into hard rock into self described “crack rock”. Being 21-year-olds in a complicated industry, there is still much more to learn and to improve on as\u00a0we are never satisfied with\u00a0our status. Onwards and upwards, that’s\u00a0our mindset.<\/p>\n

Your band\u00a0has\u00a0found\u00a0a\u00a0huge\u00a0audience on\u00a0Spotify\u00a0and\u00a0your\u00a0website\u00a0is\u00a0killer. How\u00a0do\u00a0you\u00a0promote\u00a0your\u00a0music\u00a0online?<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n

It’s a tough thing to\u00a0do<\/span>\u00a0now a days with so much other stuff out there. A lot of bands write\u00a0music<\/span>\u00a0and craft their look based on how successful it will make them in today’s industry. We’d prefer to sell out in every way except for the\u00a0music<\/span>\u00a0and our live show, that\u00a0has<\/span>\u00a0to stay. For example, we put out a video last month directed by our good friend, Henri Meleqi. We obviously want it to get views and this was around the time of the Superbowl so we just put a misleading title, “dominos superbowl ad leaked 2018” and put a thumbnail of a popular adult film star holding a pizza. It got us more views than we thought, but we could still use more because we’re desperate. So I’m just gonna leave it here:\u00a0https:\/\/youtu.be\/thvydeTWCrk<\/a>\u00a0and that’s one of our attempts at promoting our\u00a0music<\/span>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
You’re also running a massive tour, must be exhausting. How do\u00a0you\u00a0promote\u00a0your\u00a0shows?<\/strong><\/b><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
We have a live session video in the works that will hopefully make people excited enough to come see us. The lineup itself is also fairly crucial to get people to come out.\u00a0You<\/span>\u00a0wanna play with bands that\u00a0you<\/span>\u00a0like, but will also draw. Nobody knows who we are in many cities so\u00a0you<\/span>\u00a0essentially have to rely on other bands’ fan bases to bring people out and pray they like\u00a0you<\/span>\u00a0too. It is quite exhausting.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"Rooftop<\/div>\n
You ordered those sweet Chocolate Milk shirts,\u00a0do\u00a0you\u00a0find merch sales help with the costs of touring?<\/strong><\/b><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
3. For right now, we can’t say because we’ve only played a handful of out-of-town shows. I don’t think we really expect it to considering people don’t know us too well. To spend $25 on a shirt of a\u00a0band<\/span>\u00a0you<\/span>\u00a0just saw is probably rare. However, we specifically designed the tees with Ryan Abrams (https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ryanabrams\/<\/a>)\u00a0to be something we would casually wear ourselves. Not just a shirt with our name on it, but a design that someone would look at and say, “I would wear that, sure.” People should wear this shirt, it’s pretty sleek and comfortable of course. Wear our shirt, but buy it first.<\/div>\n
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What advice would you give to a young person entering the music business?<\/b><\/p>\n

-Start working as soon as you have any ideas and even before you have any ideas, then don’t stop.<\/p>\n

-Quitting is for quitters.<\/p>\n

-Keep looking for new and creative ways to accomplish tasks you thought couldn’t be completed because you’re too unknown or think you’re not good enough to go anywhere.<\/p>\n

-If there isn’t someone there to do it for you, do I have to say it? Do it yourself.<\/p>\n

-Failure is meaningless if there is always a “next time”. Oh, you had an awful show in Denver? You’ll play there again, it’s fine.<\/p>\n

-Ask, always ask, you could end up playing Wembley Stadium if you’re just not afraid to simply ask to do so. Luck isn’t necessarily for losers, being opportunistic is where it’s at.<\/p>\n

-Enjoy yourself, if you’re not doing at least that then we give you permission to be quitter.<\/p>\n

-If a lot of people love each other, the world would be a better place to live.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n