Taylor Locke (born on August 5, 1984) is a guitar player/arranger/harmony singer for the band Rooney. Raised in Santa Monica, California, his parents' garage would become the site of Rooney's rehearsals. He attended Crossroads school, where he bonded with Louie Stephens, prodigy pianist, analog synth enthusiast, and fellow rock n roll rebel at a time when the school jocks were beginning to wear Nirvana t-shirts (much to Locke and Stephens' bewilderment).
When Locke was 15, Robert Schwartzman paid him a visit in his parents' garage, and showed him the song "Blueside", which became Rooney's first single. Together they developed guitar parts, vocal arrangements, and conceptualized the band's overall sound. The band went through a couple of unstable high-school lineups, until they were solidified with Stephens (keyboards), Matthew Winter (bass), and Ned Brower (drums/background vocals).
Locke is known as an entertaining live performer, serving up a ballsier version of the records' guitar parts on his bright "TV yellow" Les Paul. Taylor helps to keep Rooney's shows animated his with sharp playing, natural stage presence, and contributions to the band's 3-part vocal harmonies present in most of their choruses.
Fans have used Rooney's internet discussion forums to debate whether Locke is friendly or surly upon meeting. At the band's recent concert at The Roxy in Atlanta, he was friendly as well as receptive to compliments. He went as far as to shake hands with one devoted fan in a green t-shirt and Member's Only jacket.
His influences range from 1960s pop and british invasion (beatles, zombies, stones, yardbirds, etc) to 1970s rock and hard rock (AC/DC, TP & The Heartbreakers, Queen, Alice Cooper, Sweet, Slade, Steppenwolf, ELO, The Raspberries, Badfinger, etc ) to 1980s pop/metal (Def Leppard), to 1990s grunge (Nirvana was his first love), to modern pop (Shania Twain...or anything else that Mutt Lange does).
He has been spotted in Hollywood, CA at the Raspberries concert at the House of Blues, with bandmates Schwartzman and Brower. He has also been seen with bandmate Stephens at Koji's Shabu Shabu restaurant in the Hollywood and Highland Center. He has also sat in with the Last Call With Carson Daly house band, led by friend and collaborator Joe Firstman.
Taylor Locke is currently single, though was recently seen with a 20-something brunette at Rooney's concert in Atlanta, Ga. He was dating Allison Robertson who is the guitarist of the band The Donnas. She has played live with Rooney numerous times and she can be seen in Rooney's DVD "Spit And Sweat" during the song "Paralyzed."
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Locke"
Categories: American rock guitarists | Living people | 1984 births
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