Sun Room takes on SOMA

This past weekend on Feb. 3rd was the biggest headline alumni Luke Asgian and his band, Sunroom, have had thus far in their career. 

Point Loma Nazarene students dominated the crowd to hear the surf-rock music at SOMA San Diego. 

This was the band’s eighth local show, including house shows.“There feels like more pressure at hometown shows because your grandma is there,” said Max Pinamonti, bassist for Sun Room. 

Luke Asgian, Sun Room’s lead singer, shared that “it was so sick to play in front of all of my friends who have been watching us since our first house show days.” Asgian attended PLNU for the first three years of his college career before pursuing music full-time. 

Mariano Crivello, third year graphic design student, was hired to film and capture the moments of fun. “Filming the boys was quite the experience. Everyone behind the scenes was super welcoming and friendly and watching the whole process of putting on a show was quite eye opening,” said Crivello. 

Sun Room collaborated with Point Radio on Tuesday, Jan. 31 prior to the event outside Nicholson Commons to sell tickets to their San Diego show and hand out lemonade to those who bought a ticket. 

“We wanted to consider Point Loma students when promoting the show since Luke, the lead singer, went to Point Loma for three years and would love to get involved with the school again,” Kamryn Kobal, Sun Room’s manager, said.

On the day of the show, the band also released a new song, “Kaden’s Van,” and played it in concert for the first time. 

The song is based on fourth-year graphic design major Kaden Garrett’s Volkswagen euro van breaking down. It tastes of youthfulness and the silly memories summer brings. Asgian shouted out Garrett before playing the song and a crowd of friends surfed him across the sea of fans.

“It was wild hearing strangers sing my name and the crowd surfing was hilarious,” shared Garrett.

Asgian’s roommate and PLNU alumni Austin Waechter spent his 24th birthday at the concert. 

Waechter shared that “it was the best possible way to spend my birthday, and a great way to reconnect with previous loma grads and current students!”

With so much celebration and excitement buzzing through the crowd, the experience of this show was the front few rows feeling as if everyone was one glob of flan, having other people’s sweat drip down your arms, and getting punched in the back or face by flying fist pumps. Asgian calls it “ one of the craziest and most rowdy crowds we’ve ever played in front of.”  

“Another big moment for the band was having two of their singles on the Netflix series, Outer Banks, which happened after Sun Room posted a Tik Tok telling the cast how they wanted to have a song in the show,” said Kobal.

Moving forward, Sun Room has plans to release more new music and tour with an Irish rock band, Inhaler. 

“Sun Room really has grown from organic moments that started around the time of the pandemic,” said Kobal.  

This show, alongside friends and family, celebrating a birthday and a new song, was nothing short of one of those organic moments.

Written By: Olivia Cox and Becky Rookard