Interview with Rome Pt 2
Last week we published the first part of an interview that we managed to get with Jerome Reuter when his ROME played in Karlstad. Now we give you the second part where we dig into how this project started and what he really thinks of the Europeian Union?
Text:
Hinsides Magazine 2022
Live photo:
Soile Siirtola
“Gëlle Fra”, Luxembourg City.
So what is Luxemburg like? Is there anything like a Luxembourgish cultural identity, and if so; what does that look like?
Yeah, we have our own language and our own little patch of land that has its own beautiful qualities. If you have a language you have a culture, right? So, yeah! Our language is defined as a German dialect but we have a lot of French influences as well. I would compare it to…let’s say some of the more specific regions in Germany. Many regions in Germany have a specific culture to that area, you know? They all speak German but they have different dialects.
But apart from language; what would you say defines this region?
Well the most interesting thing is basically it´s history and the mere size of it. Because it’s so small and the border has changed so many times. We’ve been overrun now and then by either the Germans or the Dutch or whoever that was going somewhere else and was like; oh, and by the way you’re now Dutch or now you’re German.
We´re close to very different cultures, I´d say. Like the Walloon region in the southern part of Belgium. We also have the Germans on one side and the French on the other and both being very influential on our culture. So language has played a very important important role there. We never get by a day without switching language several times. I mean, we have our own language but…it´s a part of everyday life to switch language all the time and that defines you as a person as well.
We have Belgians, Germans and French people working there and the dynamics is sometimes not in your favor because there is just so few of us. But it’s not like we feel we´re under siege or anything. We’re a very wealthy country so people get there to invest or whatever. If the money would be taken away it would probably be a horrible thing.
So is that a part of the cultural identity? To be rich?
No, I would never say that. When you say cultural identity I think of the smaller things, but I’m not really sure what to tell you? I could tell you 100 things that I would think of…like what we eat and how we eat it, and what we drink and how we drink it. The way we talk or our humor. All that stuff that’s just like anywhere else. It’s a very rich culture because we have all this influences so close around us. Going abroad it’s never a big deal since you can’t really take a piss without hitting something abroad, haha.
And if someone like me, who never has been to Luxembourg, would go there to experience the country; what would you show me or make me do?
The first thing I will do is take you to the city to show you the Castle. The fortress with all it´s very interesting history and impressive architecture. Then you could go through the valleys where there´s all these castles and beautiful nature. I’m from the south which is very industrial. We had a steel industry that was going very very strong and that’s why the country is so rich. All money came from that and in the 70s we switched to banks. It’s always been this monoculture that´s very risky too. And then of course there is meals to be had that is specifically Luxembourgish and yeah, then we could go to a bar and show what else we got, hahah…
Is it possible to recollect why how and when the concept of Rome did emerge?
Well, it was more of an accident than anything else. It was me basically, spending my last dime on recording some songs that I´d written. Up until my early 20s I played in a lot of bands that all disbanded at some point.
In the beginning I started out as a drummer in a metal band because no one else wanted to play drums. I was like 12-14 years old and everybody else had a guitar and I didn’t. Or perhaps I had some really cheap and bad one but they all had amps and stuff so I was like; Ok, then I have to be the drummer! I saved up some money from work during the summer and spent it on a drum-set. Then I taught myself how to play, which took a while. And that’s the story of how I started to play music.
I continued to play drums in the first punk band that I was in as well. I became the Phil Collins of punk rock in Luxembourg there for a while since nobody else wanted to sing. So I was doing both the drumming and the vocals there, haha, and of course that didn´t work too well since you have no energy whatsoever as a punk band if the singer is the drummer. It just doesn’t work. So this meant that I had to move upfront. Something which I didn’t really like at first. Then I had other bands where I was more like a sing and songwriter. The music sounded like that sort of mish-mash bands that you were in when you’re young and they all disbanded due to different reasons. So then I was kind of left to my own device and thought to myself, well…that´s that!
I couldn’t imagine doing music myself alone. I´d always done it, but to do it like an actual career? I couldn’t even imagine that to work because I was just so far fetched.
At this point I was just tired of people leaving bands and stuff. I was always the driving force behind them and felt that I needed to do something regularly with music regardless. I knew a guy from a recording session in Germany and I just asked him how much studio time he´d give me for like a 1000 bucks? It was sort of the last money I had from working part time jobs just to pay my rent. I spent them on recording a demo and thought that ok, I’ll have to get a real job at some point.
That’s how ROME started.
I somehow ended up on Cold Meat Industry and shortly after people got interested in seeing my music live. One of the great things for me with being on CMI was that they always had this festivals around Europe so it was very easy for me to go and play abroad. That’s how the whole live thing started.
It wasn’t planned because I recorded those songs not thinking about how to reproduce it live. Since I was alone I worked a lot with backing tracks and it was like really bad karaoke stuff, hahaha. Gradually it became a band with different people in it and the sound changed. You start to think differently when you write music that you know is going to be played live in front of an audience. I started to write songs in a way that would hold to be performed by me alone with just a guitar.
And this was after you´d discovered that there is an audience for your music?
Yeah, yeah. I was just thrown in there like I had to learn how to swim, ha ha.
And that audience that you discovered, or that discovered you, is that the same audience that you meet now when on tour?
In a way, yes. It was always very eclectic.
So there’s no typical ROME fan?
No, I don’t think so, or there’s probably 20 types of different ROME fans? Recently there’s a lot of people from the metal scene showing interest and originally it was much more from the goth world. I see a lot of familiar faces every time we play live. My goal, or the ideal I have, is to be the sort of band that’s not related to a specific scene. Like New model Army. They can play a punk festival, a goth festival and a metal festival without changing their set. They do their own thing which is sort of everything. For me that’s a good thing, and their fans are also very loyal and difficult to pinpoint into a certain niche. Like what signifies a typical New Model Army fan, you know? That´s also hard to say.
Apart from being fans of New Model Army?
Exactly, haha. Our audience also differs a bit from country to country. There’s some countries, like Romania for example, where there’s a lot younger people that listen to us. The same goes for Russia where in Germany the audience is much older. It really depends and in the states it’s like a sort of weird mix.
ROME, live at Nöjesfabriken; 10/2/2022
So you´ve played in the states as well?
Well, we did a couple of mini-tours around California so no big “State-Tours”. Last time was in Baltimore at a festival so all the visa stuff was done just for one show which was amazing. They put a lot of money on the table for that. Touring the US is just super expensive but it’s quite easy for them come over here, right? They’re always welcome here and we love them and all that but it’s not that easy for us to go over there.
Alright; the next question is a highly hypothetical one, but quite interesting nonetheless. Ready?
Ok, so imagine a scenario where the EU commission wants to use your song ”Born in the EU” to promote their work. How would you respond to such inquiry and why?
Hahaha. Well, at first I would tell them to listen to it to the lyrics, hahaha…and then to re-think their demand, haha.
And if they did and came back once again with the same request?
Oh, that really depends on what they want to do with it. I mean, I would consider it very funny because like; are you sure? Sure, I´d take the royalty for that idiotic concept, hahaha…but I don’t think it would happen though.
What I would I do really depends on what they would use it for, but I’m open for anything to be honest. I’m not like totally anti-EU or what not. There’s just so much good that came out of that union, and obviously so much hassle and stupid bureaucratic crap as well. So many things that go wrong. We’re not really helping ourselves in many respects but it’s hard for me to dismiss the whole thing. The way it works and the way it’s set up, you know? It was doomed from the beginning.
At the same time we needed something like it so, for me it’s not like the big evil or anything. Because the big evil is everywhere.
If we got rid of the union we would have other problems. It’s not like we have to tackle that problem and then everything‘s gonna be fine. I don’t see it like that at all. Yes, there’s a lot of stuff that should be dealt with differently and there’s certainly discussions about the sovereignty of different nations. About how decisions is made and about who has to say in what? It’s clear that lobbyists run a lot of that stuff and that’s always a problem. Even in the individual country there´s corruption and all that sort of things. It’s not just the EU that’s the problem. That’s how I see it. I know people who are in the commission and what not, and those are good people! Good valuable straightforward people who also can’t get anything done to make things better because of how the system is set up. It’s not like they’re all assholes, deciding over our heads. No, there´s some good people there, but as in politics you know…it’s just the system. So I don’t have the answer there, really.
Roma. (Does all empires fall?)
It sounds something like you would say thanks but no thanks?
Well yeah! Just as if any political party would ask; I would say no. No matter what color. It’s like; no no no! I don’t want to be affiliated with whatever party. Even the one I´d vote for. I know some artists who’ve been very outspoken with their political position, and in addition to that tied them self to one political party, and I would never do that. Whatever that party does it comes back to you, you know? Parties change as anything else so I would never do that. If the EU would ask to use one of my songs I guess I would ask in return something like; what part of the circus is it that´s asking? Because being from Luxembourg…
I read some thing like ”you do all this with EU founding” and all that, and it’s obviously not true, you know? We sometimes get help from the ministry of culture like lots of people do. I´m an artist by trade so I’m registered in those programs automatically in order to survive. I have to pay my taxes and all that but it’s not like the stories some people fabricate.
The most important thing for me is to not have anyone else decide what I can or can’t do or say. That’s the only thing. Like; don’t tell me what to do, right? It’s been like that my whole life and I love my freedom, always has. Would never trade it for money, you know? I need to survive obviously and pay rent but that’s why I go on tour, hahaha. It’s basically about not selling your soul. So as long as nobody has a say in what I say, I’m fine.
Ok final question; what are you looking forward to the most on this tour?
It’s already happening! Just the fact that we are on tour is great. Everything with being on tour is such a delight for me. We´re of course looking forward to specific venues that are very nice and all that sort of stuff, and certainly Stockholm because I have a lot of friends there. Stockholm is always great. We’ve been there many many times and I´m looking forward to see some of my friends again.
It’s nice because it’s not super new what we do. We’ve been to all these places before and it’s just very enjoyable and less stressful when you kind of know what to expect. Then you can just concentrate on your work and have a good time. Being on tour is sometimes very stressful. You’re always tired but at the same time I couldn’t live without it. It’s always been my dream to work with music and I know that even if Rome will collapse, I´d get some job in or around the stage. It’s the air we breathe and it’s just addictive, hahaha.
Yeah, and those words sounds like a fitting closure to this conversation, don´t you think? Thanx a lot for your time, Jerome!
You´ve just read an interview with Jerome Reuter made by Hinsides Magazine.
The whole conversation will be published in the next physical issue of the paper in question. Previous issues can be ordered here: