Artist, Community Builder Spotlight: Sarah Mayers (Sunroom Revival)
Meet Sarah Mayers
Growing up in West Palm Beach, Florida, Sarah Mayers’s childhood dream was to live in a house “filled with every instrument you could imagine.” In Huntsville, Sarah channels her love for music, whimsicality, and indie spirit into the musical community through local house shows with the other members of Sunroom Revival. With musical inspirations including Olive Klug, The Backseat Lovers, and Manchester Orchestra, Sunroom Revival is committed to bringing an indie-rock sound to a basement near you.
Q&A
North Alabama Arts: How did you get started playing music?
Sarah Mayers: When I was a really little kid, my mom cleaned houses. We were homeschooled, so she would take us to the people’s houses she was cleaning. These were rich people’s houses in Miami, and there was one house that had two baby grand pianos in a room, one black one and one white one. Me and my little brother would sit across from each other and play nothing and sing. That was when I knew I wanted to do music one day. I was actually so bad at singing when we moved to Huntsville, but I would do it all the time as a kid. My parents said, “this is tragic, someone might hear her,” and put me in choir for years. One of my best friends taught me how to do harmonies and stuff in exchange for me teaching them guitar. That was when I started songwriting, and my entire high school experience was inviting people to come play music with me for hours. I would pick an instrument, they would pick an instrument, and we would just improv jam. Then in 2022, I wrote a song that I thought…was worth recording, and I hadn’t felt that way about a lot of my other ones. So I reached out to Matthew Nieman, who I knew recorded his own music for free in his parents’ attic…I had a friend help pay for it to get produced as a birthday present. The song, which is “Car Song,” was the first one [Sunroom Revival] put out.
NAA: When was your first show as Sunroom Revival?
Sarah: It was April 29, 2023. Because I make all the concert posters, I always remember all the dates. It was my first time playing in front of people with a band. We were headlining. It was a really memorable time. It was a nice, good weather evening in spring when my buddy’s house happened to be available for a giant concert. Everyone who came said “this is sick, we should do this more.”
NAA: What does Sunroom Revival mean?
Sarah: We were getting ready for [that] concert, and we would practice in my sunroom, set up all of our stuff in there. I got on an AI generator, I typed in a bunch of words that had significance to us, and Sunroom Revival was one of the ones that came up. Back then we said, if a new name comes to us, we can use it. But I’ve always had a fascination with the sun and that type of bright, warm energy, and I think that ended up fitting really well.
NAA: It definitely does. So what happened after that first show?
Sarah: Since [releasing Car Song], I’ve just been riding the wave of meeting people and absolutely loving music. Saying yes to most things I get invited to. I just love making new friends, making new music, and collaborating with people. I would say I get asked to do acoustic sets more than the band thing. I have gone touring with Common Man but not my whole band. But we just play locally around Huntsville, and every time we play shows, someone afterwards will come up to me and say, “hey, are you looking for more gigs?” And now every time I do a house show, I organize and do all of the promoting and finances and trying to get sponsors, and it always works out really well. We usually have 50-100 people pull up. It’s a really great time.
NAA: Where do you find houses for the shows you host?
Sarah: I just kind of find people who are willing to offer up their house for a house show. There have been a lot of people from other states and cities and stuff that want to come play in Huntsville and need someone to find them a venue. Oftentimes, if I can’t find you a venue I can connect you to someone who can find you a venue. So I connect people and try to make sure if artists want to come here, especially those who can’t play at Mars [Music Hall] or the Orion, they find a community.
NAA: What draws you to the house show environment compared to a traditional venue?
Sarah: I like the feeling when I get to play with my full band when everyone dances with us. It feels different to be standing next to people compared to on a stage.
NAA: Who are those people? Are the people who come to these shows just your friends?
Sarah: At first, it was pretty much everyone I know but maybe some friends of friends. We’ve only been a band for two years, so last year was kind of like that. But this year, I’ve been seeing and meeting and people at shows who I’ve never met before, and that’s always really cool. I always like to hear their experience as a concert attendee because I’m also on the organization side of it.
NAA: I’ve heard from some people the house show scene here feels “cliquey” or they feel unwelcome without an invitation. As someone who values building community, how does that sentiment make you feel?
Sarah: It feels uncomfortable to go to a party where you don’t know anybody. One way I try to make anyone feel included is when I have the time, I will print out posters about an event that’s happening and put them downtown, to make it obvious it’s not an exclusive party. I also do a lot of Instagram marketing. I hope that moving forward as the events get bigger and develop more of a reputation that everyone will feel more welcome in those spaces. But I understand it does take courage to show up to someone’s house to watch an artist play that you might not be able to find on Spotify. You have to be an adventurous person.
NAA: What are your big goals for music?
Sarah: I’ve really liked getting to watch the Huntsville music scene grow and to be able to help foster light within that. I would love to record an album. I would love to go on tour. I’m really happy to be where I am and have a job at the same time. Whatever happens, happens. I’m not going to base my whole life on me getting some kind of record deal. But if someone asked if I could take two weeks or a month off to tour with them, I would find a way to make it work. My ultimate goal is to always have my music actually express how I feel and sound like what I want it to sound like. Which is hard to do on a budget, but that’s one of the fun parts. You have three ingredients and you need five, how do you make a cake? Your recipe won’t be like everyone else's.
NAA: Speaking of your day job, it’s pretty unconventional. Do you see any connections between your day job and your musical interests?
Sarah: I’m the lead weld instructor at a manufacturing plant. I just teach dudes how to weld all day…I think I set up a lot of my life so I would be working with my hands all the time. Music is great for ADHD people [like me]. The writing part of music is really meditative and good for sorting out thoughts and emotions. Then the physical part of playing music is really collaborative and you create a community around it. I think with weld teaching, I also get to facilitate a class where I create my own community and I really enjoy curating the vibes with both concerts and teaching classes.
NAA: And finally, any last thoughts on the Huntsville music scene?
Sarah: I’m really proud of the Huntsville music scene. To me, it’s a little sapling that I can see one day becoming a beautiful tree. I’m really proud of my friends in Huntsville that are starting to get invited to play other places, like Hugh Lindsay, Hollan, and Common Man. One of the best parts about Huntsville is people are excited about music stuff that’s happening. I’ve had a friend visit who said Huntsville’s just a space and engineering town. But Iike I told them, for every strict engineer dad who moves to Huntsville to work on space stations, he brings a gay liberal son that is passionate about art. There’s a place for everyone here!
This interview was recorded on 03/03/2025.
Listen, Connect
Instagram: @sunroomrevival
Apple Music/Spotify: Sunroom Revival
YouTube: Sunroom Revival - Topic
Looking for Community Events? Here are Sarah’s Recommendations:
Instagram: @commonhousehsv, @themixthemixthemix, @adultrecesshsv, @mash.hsv
