We are now with Rome. How many times you were in Romania?
Probably 5thor 6th time, I don’t know, something like that. We played in Brasov twice, and in Bucharest 3 times, and in Alba Iulia at the Dark Bombastic Evening Festival, I think twice, and one of those times we headlined the show.
How was the romanian public in this mini-tour? How they reacted to the band called Rome?
They were good, yeah, I mean we always had good responses here in Romania, very nice people they treated us well.
Any particular memories from the romanian public from this mini-tour?
Well, it’s still very fresh, I had no time yet to through it all in my head, we’ve been just rushing from one place to the next.
How come you only played the concerts with only two members? Doesn’t Rome usually had three members once?
Yeah, we had two, three, five, whatever, we usually have five in the band, but it wasn’t possible to bring the whole band this time around, so, we hope to be back very soon and bring the whole crew with us.
How was this tour together with byron?
It was fun, it’s always good for us to play with bands that are not necesarrily in the same niche music as we are. We saw the opportunity to play with them and we saw no reason not to do it, you know?! And they turned out to be gracious guys and very friendly and it’s been fun.
Did they invited you to play with them in the concerts?
I don’t exactly know who’s idea it was, but we’ve been contacted by a touring agency and there was possible a tour over here and they would like us to join them, and we said “sure, we’ll be in”.
You went to a couple of cities in Romania. Did you enjoyed all the gigs, they all pleased you?
Well, the one in Bucharest it was at Hard Rock Café and that’s basically a restaurant and most people we’re still eating when we started playing. I saw in Valhalla the same thing but it wasn’t that bad. That wasn’t a main problem, because, you know, you play in all type of venues and you learn a lot, but we appreciate the fans that were over there for us and they enjoyed as far as I could see. The gigs we’re all good.
Did you had time to listen to byron’s music in the live concerts? What do you think about their music, their style, their showmanship?
Yes, of course. Their showmanship is really good, I mean they have a tight rhythm section and they are really good musicians actually. They are a good live band.
Most of the fans know the band “Rome”, but most of them don’t know the meaning behind the name. Can you explain the band’s name to all the fans?
Well, my first name is Jerome, and I shorthened it to “Rome”. It sounds very disappointing, but, that’s the origin, and of course because of the historical conotations and it just fit well with the music and I couldn’t come with something decent at that time, and once you release an album under that name, you just have to keep to it, “We’re damned” to be forever known as Rome.
What can you say about the mini album “Coriolan”?
It’s a mini album, an “EP-ish” thing. I always liked those things because you can always fool around, it’s not like some of the other records where it’s like one big story being told, it’s just basically a journey through different types of music. I didn’t want to limit myself to telling a specific story and it’s basically just like six or seven types of different moods.
All of Rome’s albums have different stories? They are not made just to be made, right?
Of course not, neither is this one, but it’s loosely based on “Coriolanus”, Shakespeare play, which I a play that I crossed paths in numerous occasions for the past few years and it was always a theme that it was backing to me to be made and I shied away one time because it’s about Rome in general and the band is called “Rome” and it was a bit too obvious, but then I found a way to second vent in that.
Do you currently work on future songs, future albums?
Oh, yes, we have one album finished and we would probably released it this summer, it should work out to be released this summer. I’m always working on stuff, this future album was wrote while I was on tour last year, it was a little influenced by the live band in a way, I tried to cut some of the energy we have on stage, but It’s a bit like “Coriolan” in the way that It doesn’t really stick to one particular style, and then again we have always done that. You will see when it comes out, but, there is always something in the works.
The show in Beraria Valhalla was the last one in Romania?
Yes, for this mini-tour it was the last. We did three gigs, one in Iasi, one in Bacau and one in Bucharest.
Will you return in the near future in Romania?
I hope so, yeah, I mean, we made a few contacts and we hope we can come back soon with the whole band.
Are any concerts planned in the near future? Not in Romania particularly.
Well, we have a few things we are talking about with some promoters, but, we’re on a sort of a little break because we want to wait a little bit before the album’s release and then do proper tours again. We did like a really long tour, a lot of gigs last year and we took some time off now to prepare for the next record basically. I think in the fall, in autumn, we’ll do a few tours.
A message for the Rome fans?
Thanks for always being there!
A message for the Romanian fans who were at your shows in this mini-tour with byron?
Thank you for the support and it’s obvious without them there’s no future tour; with their presence in our shows we hope to come back here soon.
A message for the non-listeners of Rome?
You should listen to Rome!
What should a future listener feel when he will listen to Rome? What should he expect from a song?
Honestly, I don’t know, I can’t say, I mean, really, I can’t tell someone how should he feel, I just hope they feel something, maybe they won’t like it, who knows?! I’m doing the best I can when I play and hope people like it, and If they don’t, it’s ok, there are many fans out there.
Thank you for your time, see you next time.
Thank you very much!
