Athens-Banner Herald
Story from February 3, 2000
Dayroom calling it quits after benefit
By Charlie Carabello
Correspondent
With its Saturday performance as part of the Mental Health Benefit, local band Dayroom will be closing the books on an incredible eight-year run.
It was a career that took lead vocalist and guitarist Michael Winger, bassist Ryan Kelly, keyboards player Jimmy Riddle and drummer Brad Zimmerman from jamming in a basement to touring through France and Spain.
Now, with a resume that includes several independently released albums, critical acclaim around the country and maneuvering to sign with a major label, Dayroom is calling it quits.Troy Aubrey, the band's one and only manager and founder of Nomad Artists, says, "You get to a point where you want to try new things. ... It just wasn't as fulfilling as it had been after eight years."
Aubrey adds that once one member decided it was time to go his separate way, they all knew it would be an injustice to the fans and to Dayroom itself to try to continue with a different lineup of musicians.
"When we started to talk about (breaking up), we were all shocked at first, then we felt a sense of freedom," says Aubrey.
Drummer Brad Zimmerman adds some insight to this life-changing choice.
"While the decision was a difficult one, it was very necessary," says Zimmerman. "This band is like a family and this was a collective decision the band made as a family."
Still, Dayroom was riding a wave of recent success. The band enjoyed a huge local fan base as well as being popular wherever it went. The band recently had picked up honors from Flagpole magazine and the Atlanta Local Music Awards for top pop band.
Why would any band quit with so much potentially ahead of it? The best answer to the burning question can be found in an open letter written on behalf of the band by keyboardist Jimmy Riddle and posted on its Web site. In it he writes, "... we realized how much we had grown, both as a band and individually. Inevitably we began to get involved in other interests that didn't have anything to do with Dayroom and Dayroom couldn't fulfill all of our desires anymore. We decided to lay it to rest in the height of our success so that it will never be tainted."
As part of the 10th annual Mental Health Benefit, a portion of the proceeds of Dayroom's final performance will go to the cause. Aubrey and Zimmerman agree that it's great to be able to give back to the Athens community because it gave the band so much. And for Dayroom faithful who can't make it to the final hurrah, Troy says they plan to videotape the show and make it available to the public on the Web site. The video will include some interviews with friends, family and fans taped just before the final show. The site will continue for the next year so fans can get their fix for Dayroom merchandise.
As far as life after Dayroom is concerned, Aubrey says he is ready to move on to other projects and will oversee booking the acts to perform at this year's AthFest. Zimmerman says he wants to stay in the music business and that he still has a passion for music.
"We did not intend for it to go this far," he says. "I came here to go to UGA to go to school, not to be in a rock band - five years later we were still doing it! I want to take on as many opportunities as possible, try as many different things as I can. ... I'm not leaving bitter or jaded. It was more like an education and this is graduation."
Story from February 3, 2000
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