Interview with ROME
On February the 10th, about one week before the full scale Russian intervention in Ukraine started, Luxembourgish ensemble ROME visited the hometown of Hinsides Publications to do a concert together with Forndom. This was just before Jerome Reuter, the originator of ROME, would go on to do solo shows in both Kiev and Odessa.
A lot has happened since then, and as the world hold it´s breath, your favorite magazine is hereby proud to offer you the first part of a lengthy talk that we had with this daredevil.
Enjoy!
Text:
Hinsides Magazine
Photos:
Soile Siirtola
So, how was soundcheck?
Yeah, haha…It was the usual routine basically, with the usual things to take care of. Everything is set up now and we didn´t use more time than was allocated to us so that´s all good. We´re always on a tight schedule, and especially now when we have to play earlier due to restrictions. I guess we could play a little bit later now when they´re withdrawn but everything was planned this way with the venue, so…
Do you have your own sound engineer with you?
Yeah, we have our own sound guy and on this tour we also have a light tech with us. We even have a roadie this time, hahaha…so it is very luxurious.
And tonight you´ll perform with a full band, right?
Yes, it´s not a solo show. These are band shows. Next week I´m in Ukraine and that´s just me. It all depends on what is possible. What the budget allows and so on.
When you´re in Ukraine, will you get close to the border?
No, it´s just Kiev and Odessa. Just those two.
So how do you feel about performing there? It´s quite tense right now.
To say the least! I try not to read too much of the news to be honest. But it´s difficult to miss what´s going on now with the Russian maneuver. Ukraine is pretty much surrounded at this point. It´s tricky, but the shows are planned and so far they seem to go through. We´ll see what happens next week. They might be cancelled but then it would be a show cancelled for once not because of corona, hahaha.
Yeah, let´s hope for the best, then. So, how does it feel to be back here in Karlstad?
We were here a few years ago together with Draconian and Harakiri for the Sky, and it was great fun. We always enjoy touring in a big buss. Usually we tour in a van but then we shared a night-liner together with the other bands.
Had you met anyone from the other bands before that tour?
No we did not know anyone personally before, but we´re still in touch with some of them. Especially the guys in Harakiri for the Sky. We regularly play in Vienna and some of them are living there, so.
Would you say that this happens often while you play together with other people? That you make friends and stay in touch?
Yeah, haha…I mean, not always to be honest. Musicians, and artists in general, are special people, you know? Sometimes there´s friction. It´s a tough situation sharing a tight space with no privacy whatsoever. Usually it works out just fine, though.
Nöjesfabriken, Karlstad. 10/2/2022
I saw you perform here in Karlstad on that previously mentioned tour, and I must say that this first encounter with your music was not quite what I had expected. Probably due to your use of the term ”Neo-Folk” to define the music of Rome.
Well, yeah. I don´t really use that word to describe it because there´s so much other stuff going on there as well. At some point we called it ”chansons noires” as there was a lot of ”chansons” influences going on…just trying to come up with some term that´s yours, because you´ll be pigeon-holed anyway. But of course we have a lot of roots in both Neo-Folk and Post-Industrial sounds.
And even though we´re obviously not a typical Rock-band, there´s some rock elements in there as well. It´s all kinds of stuff really. With Rome, every album differs from the other. We´ve been doing this for many years now and you would get bored if you did the same thing over and over. There´s a new album coming now that suggests another set-up for live-performances, so this will be the last shows with the current technical setting and crew.
Yeah, you´ve been quite productive when it comes to write and put new music out. It´s something like one album each year, right?
Yeah, it´s usually like an album a year. It may sound much but it´s all I do so…If you write a song per month, you know? Because that´s what it is really..haha.
So you´re a full time musician?
Yes, and I´m very happy about that. I hope it will continue. I´m glad that I survived the last two years because those were really tough. Most of the money you need you make on tour because obviously no one´s buying records these days. I´m not complaining, though. The small runs of what ever limited editions we do still sale so…we can keep that up. But it´s not like you fill your pockets. In the old days you´d get a lot back from a new release that you could invest in a tour where the real money were gained. Today you have to re-finance differently, so money is always very, very tight. We don´t have to speak about money here, but if I had to start a band today, phew! It would be very difficult.
So what kind of relation do you have to this ”Neo-Folk” tag then? Is it possible to define what it means to you? Because it has been used, right?
Yes, yes….and as I said, it´s a part of our musical roots. Our first album was released on Cold Meat Industry and so…I don´t mind the term at all. It´s a difficult term to use, though. The bands that I discovered as the classical Neo-Folk bands were all very different from each other. Like when you say Metal; people know that there will be distorted guitars and drums, you know? There are certain elements that will be there no matter what. But with Neo-Folk it’s like; it could be anything!
In recent years the term has been used for all kinds of new ”folkish” music as well, so now the term might be even more confusing? Take Forndom for example; how do you categorize that? There’s all these bands now that you could just call them Neo-Folk as well and it would make just as much sense. That’s why the term may be a bit misleading. When you say Neo-Folk you have the cliché kind of stuff but it doesn’t really say a lot, hahaha.
You don’t mind the political associations that sometimes comes with this genre?
No. We´ve always stayed away from that and I’ve always made it very clear that we´re not a Nazi band or whatever, and that’s that. I mean, if you look at my work; there’s so much stuff in there! Pointing in all sorts of directions. You have this big discussion, and I don’t know if that still is happening, but certainly at times in the 90s there was this bad reputation going on. We never had any problems with that, though. For me it was always more about the music and the songs. Trying to write a good song.
Do you have any all-time Neo-Folk favorites that you´d like to share?
No, not really. I hardly listen to music at all.
Ok, so then we can skip that one!
Haha, yeah. I mean, I´m in and around music all the time so if I listen to something it’s really on purpose. I never put on music just like that, so. In general I don´t listen to music that much.
But you like to read, right?
Yes! If I want to decompress I read, or if I want to work…I read. For me; reading is more important. And music…I can´t put on music and not listen to it. If someone´s putting on music I’m like; so we’re not talking now? Music is just so strong. It’s sometimes hard for me to just sit in a bar or a resturant and eating while there is music on. I can’t just ignore it, and I know that everything I listen to will somehow influence me so I’m very careful, you know?
It might be easier for you to recommend some contemporary author then?
Contemporary? Hmm, that’s tricky. I don’t buy that many new books. I’m still discovering the old guys. There’s just so much…
I’ve heard you mention Ernst Jünger?
Yeah and that’s literary a whole world. The guy wrote for like 90 years, you know. He died at 104, I think. He´s written so much and it’s not just about one thing. He wrote about everything.
Do you have any personal favorites?
I really love his diaries. He wrote every day about all kinds of stuff. I read some of his novels first and then I lost interest until I discovered some of those diaries. They really worked for me because of the style he writes in.
It’s very personal but he also keeps a distance to what he writes about. He analyzes everything to the detail in a way that might be quite tedious to some? Just about everything flows in there and he earned this enormous treasure of knowledge from having experienced different all sorts of political regimes. He really dug deep into all kinds of religious or political issues and there’s a richness to his life and work that’s just fascinating.
“Ernst Jünger” by Rudolf Schlichter (1937)
You haven’t read Michel Houellebecq?
I think I´ve read something but that’s a long time ago. I read most intensively when I´m trying to delve into a specific subject matter, so I´m not into fiction that much. Most of what I read is biographies. ”The artist in time”, living through specific periods in history is what I’m really interested in. That kind of dynamic, and I think that this field of interest shows in my work?
I´d love to read novels as well but there´s so many other things that I really need to read first. When I come across something new to discover, then I think; this is the next story, and then I just buy anything I can find on that matter. Then at some point the album is released and I can go on to something else. So yeah, I’m not like a book critic or whatever. I can’t tell you anything about what’s going on literally these days.
Even in the music business I’m totally lost. Every time I see a flyer of some festival I realize I don’t know any of these bands. Except maybe the headliner you know, hahaha…I´m getting old.
You know; music is such a special thing. Whatever you discover when you’re young, that’s who you gonna be for the rest of your life. It’s very hard to change and it’s very hard to be impressed the same way later in life. There are a lot of genres that are now dead to me. Like when I was 10 years old I loved slayer, and I still love those albums and that feeling that they gave me, but I’m on to other things now. I mean, I love metal music but if something is meant for me to be heard of; I´m sure I’ll hear it at some point anyway. When you’re on tour there’s lots of other people that plays music for you all the time.
I still remember discovering a band that really changed me but that happens rarely these days. I mean; there’s so much out there and a lot of it sounds like something you’ve heard before.
Would you like to share any of those experiences that has changed your views on music?
Well certainly! The biggest thing for me was when I discovered the Industrial scene. Like Throbbing Gristle. It just erased pretty much all my preconceptions of what music can be like, and of course; that can only be done once. It took some time to understand that everything can be music and that was a big change to discover.
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: