He’s produced 4 albums since the split of London’s much loved acoustic rocker’s ‘Hubbard’. He’s been seen playing alongside Australian acts such as Midnight Oil, Spiderbait, Magic Dirt, Mick Thomas and Regurgitator and headlined some world famous venues. This South African born modern day troubadour has covered some ground, though you could be forgiven for asking yourself “Who the hell is he??”.

Roostar is the brainchild of singer-songwriter Ryan Sweeney. Born and raised in South Africa, he saw the end of segregation play out during his teen years. By 22 he had moved to London and soon formed the band Hubbard, landing on the bill at ‘100 club‘, ‘The Garage’, ‘Mean Fiddler’, ‘Precious Days’ and ‘Glastonbury’ (backstage). After Hubbard split, Ryan continued on as a solo artist under the name ‘Roostar’, recording an album (Little King) and an EP (Underground). In 2002 he was still performing in London including a one day festival (Fierce), featuring some of the biggest bands from the southern hemisphere at the time.

With the need for new horizons, Ryan relocated to Australia in 2003. Starting out in Melbourne he formed a duo with drummer, James Rusbridge, performing at venues like The Espy and The Corner Hotel, as well as doing some regional tours. For a number of years Ryan lived in the regional town of Castlemaine where he collaborated with guitarist/percussionist Darren Bujeya. The pair recorded the acoustic album ‘A History of Forgetting‘ which was released on Roostar’s independent label ‘Three Mountain Records’. They followed this up with a full band album ‘Out of the Woods‘ in 2012 with Andy Steward on bass and David Rogerson on drums. Sadly, Darren lost a battle with Cancer and passed away a year later.

Ryan is now back in Melbourne, working on new material and performing live as a stomping duo with Andy Steward and an electric three piece with James ‘Uzy’ Rusbridge back behind the kit. A new album is due for release in November 2023

Spotify Artist Page: https://open.spotify.com/artist/74LX6fZSTFeERCi1feubEa

Apple Music Artist Page: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/roostar/403626801

Bandcamp: https://roostar.bandcamp.com/