Rooney slips the mickey but has potential

Major label artist development ceased to exist years ago when labels realized that bands are only as good as their last single. So here's Rooney, a very young band nowhere near ready to hit the big time but on a major label, opening shows for Weezer and the Vines and apparently already drawing gaggles of screaming girls to their shows. The bandmates' combination of influences headed by a '60s rock fascination isn't wholly unpromising, but parading around like this is only going to raise expectations to an obscene level. What they have made is a clean, L.A.-styled pop-rock record with new wave shavings on top. Frontman/songwriter Robert Carmine, brother of Phantom Planet drummer/actor Jason Schwartzman, has a nice, melodic ear, and a Phantom Planet/Rooney concert pairing would make a lot of sense. The grapevine has compared them to Weezer, but they lack the shaggy giddiness and grounded romanticism. They are earnestly fanciful in a charming sort of way, but I don't hold it against them because they lack experience. They still need to refine their aesthetic, and they can if the record label execs and the girls to whom they are singing to will give them the chance.