Speaker 1: Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2: I never thought in a million years that I would
Speaker 2: be fronting the band that was plastered all over my
Speaker 2: wall as a kid. Life kind of unfolds, you know,
Speaker 2: the journey kind of opens doors for you that you
Speaker 2: know you probably wouldn't.
Speaker 1: Have opened or even like fathomed as possible.
Speaker 2: Never in a million years when I was listening to
Speaker 2: Sublime as a kid, that I think that one day
Speaker 2: heavy jamming with Budd and Air singing those songs.
Speaker 1: It's crazy.
Speaker 3: Welcome to another episode of the Taking a Walk podcast,
Speaker 3: the podcast where we dive deep into the stories, the journeys,
Speaker 3: and the passions of incredible artists and creators.
Speaker 1: And today buzz.
Speaker 3: Night welcomes Rome, a musician whose roots run deep in
Speaker 3: California and Mexican heritage, and its guitar has been shaping
Speaker 3: his sound since he was just eleven years old. You
Speaker 3: might know Rome is the voice and soul behind Sublime.
Speaker 3: With Rome the band that's carried forward the legacy of
Speaker 3: the iconic Sublime. From learning his first song by Sublime
Speaker 3: as a kid, touring and recording with the surviving members,
Speaker 3: Rome's journey is one of passion, perseverance, and evolution. Rome's
Speaker 3: got new music out called Why Me, and he talks
Speaker 3: with Buzz Night on the Taking a Walk podcast.
Speaker 4: Right now, Hello Rome, and welcome to the Take on
Speaker 4: a Walk podcast.
Speaker 1: How's it going, man? Thanks you for having me.
Speaker 4: It's going fantastic. Thank you. So, since the podcast is
Speaker 4: called taking a Walk, I wanted to ask you, Rome,
Speaker 4: if you could take a walk with somebody living or dead,
Speaker 4: preferably around music, but that's not mandatory. Who would you
Speaker 4: like to take a walk with and where would you
Speaker 4: like to take that walk?
Speaker 1: Man, that's a good question.
Speaker 2: Well, the first person that comes in mind and probably
Speaker 2: be my grandpa just because yeah, I feel like a
Speaker 2: man now he passed away before I could you know,
Speaker 2: kind of get to know a little more about or
Speaker 2: get to the point where I wanted to know more
Speaker 2: about the family, you know, so probably walk with him,
Speaker 2: ask m some questions, you know, probably explain a lot
Speaker 2: of stuff goes on in my head anyway. But then
Speaker 2: in terms of like entertainment, you know, if I could
Speaker 2: take a walk with somebody, man, off the top of
Speaker 2: my head, like first person that came to mind was
Speaker 2: Jimmy HENDRICKX. Just you know, I mean for obvious reasons,
Speaker 2: but he's just such a creative guy. I would just
Speaker 2: love to, you know, hear what kind of like stuff
Speaker 2: he had to say about, you know, just.
Speaker 1: Just movies and you know, art, and just just kind
Speaker 1: of pick his brain. You know.
Speaker 4: I got chills thinking about both of them, including the
Speaker 4: Jimmy response. And I have this feeling you and Jimmy
Speaker 4: would be kindred spirits because Jimmy seemed to emote this
Speaker 4: tremendous sense of certainly creativity and passion, but amazing sense
Speaker 4: of gratitude. And I see you at this place and
Speaker 4: time in your career, and I feel like you are
Speaker 4: exuding your own sense of this tremendous gratitude. Am I
Speaker 4: right on that?
Speaker 1: Thanks? Man? I'm for sure.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, it's like for me, I've already
Speaker 2: like like like done more than I've ever could have imagined,
Speaker 2: you know, and there's still things that I do want
Speaker 2: to like accomplish and and do. But like, once you
Speaker 2: get to a point where you're actually able to like,
Speaker 2: you know, put food on your family's table through music,
Speaker 2: you know, that's a very very like that's a blessing.
Speaker 2: And I don't know, I just I'm like, at that
Speaker 2: point now you know, I have three children and my wife,
Speaker 2: and you know, it's like, I'm like very grateful to
Speaker 2: be able to be still playing music and having like
Speaker 2: fans that listen to the music that I make and
Speaker 2: music that I've been associated with, and you know, I've
Speaker 2: gotten toward the world with my favorite band for more
Speaker 2: than a decade.
Speaker 1: And you know, I made it out all right.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm in a wonderful marriage and I have
Speaker 2: beautiful children, and I'm very grateful for that. And I think,
Speaker 2: you know that's that's a huge contributor to even why
Speaker 2: I continue to want to do this professionally. You know,
Speaker 2: I want to put that message out of the world fantastic.
Speaker 4: We're going to talk about why me and the behind
Speaker 4: the scenes creative process that led to it. It's outstanding.
Speaker 4: And also I want you to be able to tell
Speaker 4: everybody about the music festivals and performances that you're going
Speaker 4: to be certainly you know, making the rounds as well.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, but you just turned thirty seven. How do
Speaker 4: you feel about this milestone? Does it change how you
Speaker 4: look at your music or your life in general?
Speaker 1: Uh?
Speaker 2: You know, for me, it's like I was just having
Speaker 2: this conversation with my mother in law because I love
Speaker 2: growing older, and I know people hate it, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm just kind of figuring out like the health part
Speaker 2: of it, you know, like working out and eating right,
Speaker 2: like I've been in that world the last like six
Speaker 2: months now. But in terms of like you know, mentally
Speaker 2: and emotionally, like growing up is awesome because you just
Speaker 2: like you get more and more in tune with what
Speaker 2: you like. And my mother in law was saying, which
Speaker 2: which I couldn't help it agree with, but like, you know,
Speaker 2: and she's she's got like twenty years on me. You know,
Speaker 2: the older you get, the less like you give a
Speaker 2: shit about what people think, and and like you just
Speaker 2: get more sure of yourself. And I just like I
Speaker 2: couldn't help but agree. You know, even at my age
Speaker 2: at thirty seven, you just get to this point, you know,
Speaker 2: where you're like, man, I got three kids that are
Speaker 2: like doing all right, Like I'm gonna be fined, Everything's
Speaker 2: gonna be all right, and that's not a big deal.
Speaker 2: That's not a big deal, you know, and and you
Speaker 2: just kind of get to this place so to you know,
Speaker 2: make a long, long answer shorter. I definitely love the
Speaker 2: fact of growing and becoming smarter and more aware. And
Speaker 2: you know, the flip side of that is, you know,
Speaker 2: time becomes less and less of you know, something that
Speaker 2: you have, you know, just in terms of your responsibilities
Speaker 2: and and and that can put a real big damper
Speaker 2: on your creative process. So that's one thing that has
Speaker 2: been you know, a little less than favorable with like
Speaker 2: growing up. It's like, you know, I definitely missed the
Speaker 2: time of just sitting around and just sitting in the
Speaker 2: studio all dang day and making music, going to bed
Speaker 2: and waking up and doing the same thing. But that's
Speaker 2: probably not a very healthy lifestyle either. So I'm rolling
Speaker 2: with it, man, I love it.
Speaker 4: Tell me what it was like being born and raised
Speaker 4: in California, What was childhood like? And talk about you know,
Speaker 4: just that aspect of your journey in California.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Man, Well, so I grew up in the nineties, like
Speaker 2: your typical nineties child. You know, my earliest memories of
Speaker 2: music were Bob Marley, Fleetwood mac Motown, you know, so
Speaker 2: that was like the Supremes, and you know, anything from
Speaker 2: Stevie Wonder or Smokey Robinson of course, and Rolling Stones
Speaker 2: and led Zeppelin and hip hop that was on the radio.
Speaker 2: So it was like a pretty eclectic, you know, mix
Speaker 2: of music. But I mean it was like my mom
Speaker 2: and my dad and those were some of my earliest
Speaker 2: memories were musical memories. Really, I was very much a fan.
Speaker 2: You know, where I grew up in the Bay Area,
Speaker 2: it was you know, heavily inspired like by like gang culture.
Speaker 2: There was you know, the Bay Area is synonymous for
Speaker 2: its own music industry.
Speaker 1: It's its own music you know genre.
Speaker 2: Really it's like hip hop, but you know, we got
Speaker 2: like artists that have just really been fundamental to West
Speaker 2: Coast rap. You know, shout out to E forty and
Speaker 2: Too Short and stuff like that Mac Drey. So needless
Speaker 2: to say, all my peers in school, everybody I knew
Speaker 2: it was like hip hop, hip hop, hip hop, and
Speaker 2: you know, I would hear all this like soul and
Speaker 2: other kind of music from my parents. And I took
Speaker 2: a trip down to San Diego where my family was from, and.
Speaker 1: I like heard like Sublime for the very first time,
Speaker 1: which was.
Speaker 2: Kind of a trip because it kind of put all
Speaker 2: of this, all that music I was talking about, It
Speaker 2: put it all into one which I thought was just
Speaker 2: so awesome.
Speaker 1: It was so fresh to me. I think I was like.
Speaker 2: Eleven at the time, and I just remember hearing this
Speaker 2: music and you know, it would be borrowing melodies from
Speaker 2: like the Supremes, and it would be like, you know,
Speaker 2: doing like punk rock stuff, which I hadn't even really
Speaker 2: heard punk rock yet at that point. Sublime was my
Speaker 2: introduction into punk rock and you know, so hearing that
Speaker 2: for the first time, but like you know, had some
Speaker 2: stuff from like hip hop samples in there, and so
Speaker 2: it just really blew my mind. And from that point on,
Speaker 2: like honestly, from like listening to Sublime, it really transitioned
Speaker 2: me from like being like a listener to like me
Speaker 2: wanting to learn how to like play an instrument, you know,
Speaker 2: And I got a guitar, and then shortly after getting
Speaker 2: a guitar, you know, I just started to I played
Speaker 2: that thing all the day time. And the more I
Speaker 2: played guitar, the less I was skateboarding. And I could
Speaker 2: kind of like I got to a point where because
Speaker 2: the only thing I loved in the world was skateboarding.
Speaker 2: So I got to this point where I was just like,
Speaker 2: you know what, like I think I can probably be
Speaker 2: a better guitar player than a better skateboarder, and I
Speaker 2: just really started investing all my time in a guitar
Speaker 2: playing and yeah, eventually that you know, a lot of
Speaker 2: the stuff that was going on in my family. You know,
Speaker 2: my dad had his stint with drugs for most of
Speaker 2: my childhood and so that just created all kinds of
Speaker 2: chaos in the house, everything that you would imagine.
Speaker 1: And that was really.
Speaker 2: Monumental in like my growth as like becoming a songwriter,
Speaker 2: leaving the guitar you know, like guitar player mentality and
Speaker 2: stepping into like singing and writing songs about all that stuff.
Speaker 2: And that's when like music really like transformed for me,
Speaker 2: where like, you know, the dip in my grades was
Speaker 2: like for real, it was like I was like all in.
Speaker 2: I just wanted to go to La start meeting people
Speaker 2: and just start recording these songs. And uh yeah, that
Speaker 2: was like the you know, pretty much the start of
Speaker 2: my high school. And that was like a really troubling
Speaker 2: time because I just like couldn't get my shit together
Speaker 2: in school. Man, I just wanted to play on that
Speaker 2: guitar and start bands. So but yeah, that was that
Speaker 2: was kind of like you know, the cadensed.
Speaker 1: Version of a of a.
Speaker 2: Up and down lifestyle and up and down California between
Speaker 2: northern and southern California and my upbringing.
Speaker 4: But it's really a storybook, really life here. When you
Speaker 4: get to, you know, join a band that you were
Speaker 4: a fan of and tour and record, I mean you
Speaker 4: must have just you know, pinched yourself in amazement of
Speaker 4: what you had accomplished.
Speaker 1: Dude.
Speaker 2: It was crazy, like all I ever wanted to do
Speaker 2: when I was a kid, you know how Like did
Speaker 2: they tell.
Speaker 1: You to like hold your breath.
Speaker 2: When you're going under like a bridge, or you're going
Speaker 2: like in an underpass, or like you're going over a bridge,
Speaker 2: you know, hold your breath and make a wish?
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: Ever since I was a kid man, all I could
Speaker 2: remember was like when I blow out the candles and
Speaker 2: I'd make a wish and you're not supposed to tell anybody.
Speaker 2: All I would wish was to be a professional musician.
Speaker 2: And I would say those words because I wanted to
Speaker 2: at least be able to live off music, you know.
Speaker 2: Like I had a couple of uncles that like play guitar,
Speaker 2: and they were just like, you know, just living a
Speaker 2: miserable life, and I just at least wanted to put
Speaker 2: some food on my table, playing playing the guitar. I
Speaker 2: didn't want to go to college to like get to
Speaker 2: this point now, like that's where a lot of the
Speaker 2: gratitude comes from. And you know, moving to LA was
Speaker 2: like it took so much to like then get to LA.
Speaker 2: But then, like you know, what happened in Los Angeles
Speaker 2: really didn't pan out the way I thought I was
Speaker 2: going to pan out either. Like I never thought in
Speaker 2: a million years that I would be fronting the band
Speaker 2: that was plastered all over my wall as a kid.
Speaker 2: That was just something that you know, life kind of unfolds,
Speaker 2: you know, the journey kind of opens doors for you
Speaker 2: that you know you probably wouldn't have.
Speaker 1: Opened or even like fathomed as possible.
Speaker 2: Never in a million years when I was listening to
Speaker 2: Sublime as a kid, that I think that one to
Speaker 2: heavy jamming with Button Airic singing those songs, it's crazy.
Speaker 2: And during that journey, I met this band called the
Speaker 2: Dirty Heads, and this.
Speaker 4: Was I've heard of them.
Speaker 1: This was a year.
Speaker 2: Before I even met anybody in Sublime yet, so I
Speaker 2: introduced to I was introduced to the Dirty Heads, and
Speaker 2: I started hanging with those guys, and they were like
Speaker 2: just playing, you know, probably like fifty people in like
Speaker 2: bars and clubs and stuff, just you know, just like
Speaker 2: getting that phase going in the van, you know. And
Speaker 2: when I met them, like I listened to the music
Speaker 2: I saw, like their YouTube stuff, and I was like, oh, dude,
Speaker 2: they're so good, Like their music.
Speaker 1: Is so rad.
Speaker 2: I was a little more in like funny enough kind
Speaker 2: of doing what I'm doing now, like more music that
Speaker 2: it's like I'm making now.
Speaker 1: That's kind of where I was before I joined Sublime.
Speaker 2: And so when I met the Dirty Heads, I was
Speaker 2: listening to what they were doing, you know, with their
Speaker 2: first record, and I was like, man, it's such beautiful music.
Speaker 2: I'd loved their mixture of everything, so naturally, you know,
Speaker 2: we were like, let's write a song together.
Speaker 1: Man. You know, I was living in my van at
Speaker 1: the time.
Speaker 2: They all had day jobs, and we wrote this song,
Speaker 2: this little old song, lay Me Down, and we liked it.
Speaker 1: It was cool, you know. But they already had a record.
Speaker 2: That went out just eight months prior, so they weren't
Speaker 2: in no rush. Their label wasn't any rush to go
Speaker 2: and get in the studio and record a song. And man,
Speaker 2: that song sat around for like a year, and one
Speaker 2: day our manager, who I later ended up being managed
Speaker 2: by the same managers as the Dirty Heads manager. Uh,
Speaker 2: the Dirty Heads manager took their demo step step like
Speaker 2: a CD of like a stack of songs, so like
Speaker 2: maybe four or five songs, took them up to Kevin
Speaker 2: Weatherley over at k Rock, who's like the most influential
Speaker 2: man in alternative radio. You know, Kevin Weatherly. Big shout
Speaker 2: out right away for changing all of our lives. Big
Speaker 2: shout out to Lisa Warden. Love you so much. You
Speaker 2: know these are great times man. And our manager Cheese
Speaker 2: like he played them, you know the song They had
Speaker 2: this song with Slash playing guitar, and that was like
Speaker 2: the one. You know, It's like, okay, this is the
Speaker 2: one we loaded it up. You know, this is the
Speaker 2: good song. We got Slashes a feature, this is this
Speaker 2: is the one. But uh, our manager's assistant, her favorite
Speaker 2: song was let Me Down, the song that me and
Speaker 2: the guys did, which was just a crappy old demo
Speaker 2: we just put together at Aby Studio, and so she
Speaker 2: put that song.
Speaker 1: At number one. God bless her heart.
Speaker 2: Shout out camera and man, Kevin Weatherley popped that CD
Speaker 2: in hit Play in the meeting and oh, oh freaking
Speaker 2: lay me downstarted and she's my manager, damn here had
Speaker 2: a heart attack.
Speaker 1: But you know he already started vibing, so you don't
Speaker 1: stop the man.
Speaker 2: He's already tapping his toe and shaking his head. So
Speaker 2: he's like whatever. Man, he loved the song. He played
Speaker 2: it back four times in a row. He was like,
Speaker 2: played again, played again, played again. He loved the song,
Speaker 2: was like, this is a hit this you know how
Speaker 2: it used to go back in the day.
Speaker 1: Which it still does sometimes, and you know, man, the
Speaker 1: rest was history.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: He put it on.
Speaker 2: He's like, let's hear how it does on the phones.
Speaker 2: That was like a demo, you know. Our manager, it
Speaker 2: was like it's not even mastered yet. He's like, oh,
Speaker 2: you want to hear how it sounds mastered on the radio.
Speaker 2: Here you go, we're gonna go play it. And he
Speaker 2: just goes and plays it and the phones blew up
Speaker 2: like crazy, And I mean, that song really changed our
Speaker 2: lives overnight. You know, I got a publishing deal within
Speaker 2: a month from Sony ATV and you know, because I
Speaker 2: wrote half that song with guys and they were like hey,
Speaker 2: you got more songs.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, that's all I do is sit and
Speaker 1: write songs. Like of course I got more songs.
Speaker 2: And so they were like, here's a deal, can you
Speaker 2: write more songs for other artists?
Speaker 1: And I didn't even know that that was a thing.
Speaker 2: So I started writing all these songs for all these
Speaker 2: other artists and getting introduced to all these just amazingly
Speaker 2: talented people where I'm like the easily the least talented
Speaker 2: person in the room for like years and just soaking
Speaker 2: it up man. And I mean it's just been such
Speaker 2: a fun ride, like to you know that part and
Speaker 2: then like boom joining in with Sublime and then getting
Speaker 2: to tour around the world. So I mean you just
Speaker 2: never know, like keeping an open mind, and I think
Speaker 2: that sort of like humility of like I just still
Speaker 2: can't believe that, like, you know, this is what I
Speaker 2: can do for a living. I don't have to go
Speaker 2: work at like you know, do roofing anymore. So it's like, yeah,
Speaker 2: it's rad I'm very grateful for that. And I think
Speaker 2: that sort of energy is like what keeps me waking
Speaker 2: up in the morning and.
Speaker 4: Like after you know, no, no doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 3: They'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Speaker 3: Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 4: So let's play this little game called Fast five. I'm
Speaker 4: gonna ask you five fast questions and get your get
Speaker 4: your your comments here. First of all, first album you
Speaker 4: ever bought.
Speaker 1: Self titled Sublime.
Speaker 4: First concert you ever attended, Van's Warp tour.
Speaker 1: I wanted to see UH three eleven in Bayside.
Speaker 4: First time you heard your music on the radio?
Speaker 1: Oh man, I was.
Speaker 2: I was like sitting on my friend's couch watching TV.
Speaker 2: It was actually his girlfriends and my manager about that.
Speaker 2: It was that day he called me. It was just like, hey,
Speaker 2: what are you doing. I'm like, I'm just sitting on
Speaker 2: the couch watching TV. He's like, turn on K Rock
Speaker 2: in five minutes and then he's like, call your mom.
Speaker 2: You're you're gonna be a rock star. And that's what
Speaker 2: he said. And I was like, what are you talking about?
Speaker 2: And yeah, I heard lay Me Down on. We went
Speaker 2: in my homie, his girlfriend's She used to drive like
Speaker 2: this baby blue like VW Bug. It's like a twenty
Speaker 2: twelve or something, and right now it's older than that.
Speaker 2: It's two thousand and seven because the song came out No.
Speaker 2: Nine and yeah, man, we just sat there and I man,
Speaker 2: I almost blew her speakers out. We turned it up
Speaker 2: so dang loud, and yeah, you just you never forget
Speaker 2: that moment even to this day. It don't matter where
Speaker 2: you're at. When you hear yourself on the radio or
Speaker 2: you know, come on on the satellite radio at a
Speaker 2: restaurant or something, it's like the most just takes you
Speaker 2: right back to being a kid, and you're like, this
Speaker 2: is like why I do it? You know, I love this.
Speaker 2: I love that this is possible.
Speaker 4: First moment you knew you were going to have a
Speaker 4: life of music.
Speaker 1: Oh man.
Speaker 2: You know, part of being an artist is like that
Speaker 2: unshakable fear that all this is gonna go away. But
Speaker 2: I just started to kind of get rid of that
Speaker 2: whole thing. Funny enough, leaving Sublime. I know that sounds ridiculous.
Speaker 2: There's this kind of feeling with artistry where it's like
Speaker 2: it's like almost too good to be true. That can
Speaker 2: drive you mad. But when you're kind of by yourself,
Speaker 2: when you're on your own, before you're like married with
Speaker 2: children and stuff.
Speaker 1: You don't really care.
Speaker 2: You know, young and dumb, young and reckless, you know,
Speaker 2: live fast down young, right, you're just living for the moment.
Speaker 2: But once you start packing on like responsibilities, you know,
Speaker 2: to people that you love your children, you know, God.
Speaker 1: You know, bless it, like God forbid.
Speaker 2: You even become like somewhat remotely successful where you start
Speaker 2: hiring some of your family, Like you start to know,
Speaker 2: build something that becomes greater than yourself. So you think
Speaker 2: it starts to make the art part and this whole
Speaker 2: dream and the career thing like it starts to put
Speaker 2: pressure on it and a little squeeze on it, and
Speaker 2: things get complicated, and you know, you see a lot
Speaker 2: of artists that just can't handle that. Either they quit,
Speaker 2: or you know, they harm themselves with drugs and alcohol,
Speaker 2: or you know, even worse, you know, they take their
Speaker 2: own lives.
Speaker 1: I mean everything in between.
Speaker 2: I think it's important to kind of shake all that
Speaker 2: and and you know, to make a long story short,
Speaker 2: just within the last year, honestly, leaving Sublime was kind
Speaker 2: of when I was like kind of figured out and
Speaker 2: trusted myself and trusted the world and God and just
Speaker 2: was like.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know what's gonna happen.
Speaker 2: But I know, like I'm happy, and I know I'm committed,
Speaker 2: and this is like I have music that that I
Speaker 2: die for and and that that's that's the energy.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 4: I love it. I love it. Okay, one more on
Speaker 4: the fast five. First instrument you ever bought?
Speaker 1: First instrument guitar? Electric guitar.
Speaker 2: Yeah, my dad he got one a pawn shop and
Speaker 2: brought it home and haven't put it down since.
Speaker 1: How now, like eleven years old.
Speaker 4: Eleven years old? I love it. So take us behind
Speaker 4: the creation of Yme. It's such an awesome project. And
Speaker 4: you know this you described a little while ago. You know,
Speaker 4: the confidence that it took to make this move. You're
Speaker 4: at this moment in time. I think that is an
Speaker 4: amazing moment. So, uh, take us a little bit behind
Speaker 4: the curtain on the creation of YME.
Speaker 1: I'd love to well.
Speaker 2: It all kind of stems from like the pandemic because
Speaker 2: Sublime with Rome had been touring, you know, every year
Speaker 2: since its formation, and like many other artists, when the
Speaker 2: pandemic happened, you know, we were forced to kind of
Speaker 2: throw on the tal for a little bit and you
Speaker 2: know kind of has time off. So I started like
Speaker 2: live streaming and a lot of people were sitting at
Speaker 2: home too, so these rooms were getting like really full,
Speaker 2: and you know, I started getting all these fands, and
Speaker 2: after I just ran through all the catalog and all
Speaker 2: the Sublime stuff and Sublime with Rome stuff, people were
Speaker 2: just like, dude, do you got any music that you're
Speaker 2: working on? And the honest answer was like no, Like
Speaker 2: I hadn't worked on music for myself in so long.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'd just been writing songs for other people,
Speaker 2: and that was like.
Speaker 1: I had all this time. So I was like, you
Speaker 1: know what, that sounds like a lot of fun.
Speaker 2: So I started waking up in the morning and going
Speaker 2: to the studio and just like putting together these songs
Speaker 2: and kind of putting together my whole like sound that
Speaker 2: I was like really after in my head, like the
Speaker 2: sounds that I loved and the music that had the
Speaker 2: most inspiring, Like that was the most inspiring to me.
Speaker 2: And I wanted to just kind of fuse all that
Speaker 2: together and and you know, see what happens, you know,
Speaker 2: because it wasn't like I was going to like put
Speaker 2: an album out and go on tour.
Speaker 1: It was like the pandemic, you know.
Speaker 2: And once I started doing that, man, it just like
Speaker 2: became such a labor of love. Like because most other
Speaker 2: songs that I would write there were for a reason.
Speaker 2: They were for an artist, for you know, an an
Speaker 2: R hit me up, or you know, we need this
Speaker 2: kind of record for this artist.
Speaker 1: Are you interested to take a session.
Speaker 2: Here's a couple of songs, you know, or with Sublime,
Speaker 2: you know, I had other people, you know, I had
Speaker 2: to listen to the music, and so this was something
Speaker 2: that was just so free and so creative and it
Speaker 2: you know, and it just created like a.
Speaker 1: Sound for me and an outlet.
Speaker 2: So after a while, I just like really couldn't couldn't
Speaker 2: like get away from the music.
Speaker 1: It was like all I really wanted to do.
Speaker 2: You know, even being on the road with Sublime, with Rome,
Speaker 2: I would start really thinking about, you know, once it
Speaker 2: opened up the world, I would just be thinking about
Speaker 2: wanting to be at home and like record this music
Speaker 2: and like, you know, oh, man, I want to play
Speaker 2: this song Mide live in front of all these people.
Speaker 1: But you know, you can't do that. It don't work
Speaker 1: like that.
Speaker 2: And that's you know why Me was one of the
Speaker 2: later songs that I really tacked onto the album, and
Speaker 2: it was because it was like my kind of just
Speaker 2: wrapping up my entire tenor with Sublime, and even like
Speaker 2: the single artwork of the song is a picture of
Speaker 2: me when I was twelve on my bed and you
Speaker 2: can see like six Sublime posters in the background. Because
Speaker 2: you know, that's my favorite band, getting to tour around
Speaker 2: the world with them, and then now stepping into like
Speaker 2: my solo venture and putting out my first bit of music.
Speaker 1: I wanted to pay homage to that, And you know.
Speaker 2: The song is just really about being grateful and about
Speaker 2: seeing the world through like.
Speaker 1: A better lens.
Speaker 2: You know, don't know who said it, but I heard
Speaker 2: this really cool quote where it's like one of the
Speaker 2: most important decisions you'll ever make is when you wake
Speaker 2: up if the world is going to be a good
Speaker 2: place or if it's like a harmful, terrible place. And
Speaker 2: I'm you know, butchering that, but I just think that
Speaker 2: that is like so true. So I wanted to flip
Speaker 2: an old age old saying like why me, kind of
Speaker 2: flipping on its head and turn it in into about
Speaker 2: something you know about like why me, like I'm so grateful, Like.
Speaker 4: You know, can you talk about some of the other
Speaker 4: songs that really excite you to go out and you
Speaker 4: know show people at the festivals and other shows you'll
Speaker 4: be playing it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, totally.
Speaker 2: So I have this other song that I'm just so
Speaker 2: excited for everyone to hear. It's called Slow and Easy.
Speaker 2: And this song is like, you know, really it's it's
Speaker 2: about like me and my wife and just like you know,
Speaker 2: focus on so many things and trying to have control
Speaker 2: over all these aspects of our life and make sure
Speaker 2: everyone's living optimally, you know, ourselves last on the Total
Speaker 2: poll always. And I wanted to write about that and
Speaker 2: just kind of take a you know, write a song
Speaker 2: about unplugging and just taking it slow and easy and
Speaker 2: just kind of like getting back to the simpler kind
Speaker 2: of things and just you know, disconnecting a little bit.
Speaker 2: And you know, it has this vibe of the music
Speaker 2: that I love so much. You know, it's like this
Speaker 2: you know, it's got like some rhythmic notes and the
Speaker 2: soulfulness of reggae, but it uses like almost.
Speaker 1: Really really effortlessly with like you.
Speaker 2: Know, soul and like like you know, folk like Van
Speaker 2: Morrison almost. So it's like this tone, like this sound
Speaker 2: that I'm just obsessed with that I think I've kind
Speaker 2: of stumbled into and.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm just it was so awesome the way
Speaker 1: it was.
Speaker 2: But then I was like, you know, what, how rad
Speaker 2: would it be to like put the Dirty Heads on here,
Speaker 2: because one there were my brothers and this is like
Speaker 2: one of my favorite songs on the record, so it
Speaker 2: would just be awesome for like a full circle moment,
Speaker 2: you know, like everyone is so used to you know,
Speaker 2: like lay me Down, Like whenever we're on tour together,
Speaker 2: all sing lay me Down with them, and you know,
Speaker 2: it's like it's kind of like a summer anthem for
Speaker 2: like our our age generation. So I was like, this
Speaker 2: is like the most summer anthem track that I have
Speaker 2: on the album, and I got to put my boys
Speaker 2: on it, so it's like almost full circle, you know.
Speaker 2: And that's that's a song that's like really you know,
Speaker 2: near and dear to me. And one of the other
Speaker 2: songs that I definitely want to highlight on the record
Speaker 2: is a is a song called knw Me, and you know,
Speaker 2: it's it's kind of like a double entendre where where
Speaker 2: you know, it's it's it's.
Speaker 1: Talking about like.
Speaker 2: You say you knew me, but you never knew me
Speaker 2: at all, you know, because it's like it's like a
Speaker 2: newer version of yourself that sometimes people they'll take for
Speaker 2: granted what's in front of them and then like, you know,
Speaker 2: expect to keep you in like a box or whatever.
Speaker 2: And you know, it can happen in relationships very often,
Speaker 2: but you know it can also happen in you know,
Speaker 2: business relationships and in bands and all kinds of anytime
Speaker 2: you're dealing with another people in general, you know. And
Speaker 2: I wanted to write about that sort of feeling and
Speaker 2: that sort of experience. So that's That's another song that
Speaker 2: I'm really excited for the world to hear.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: It's cool being able to I have these shows and
Speaker 2: these festivals that I've been playing, you know, Cali Vibes
Speaker 2: and Cali Roots and Summerfest July fifteenth and all.
Speaker 1: These cool festivals, and I feel like I'm kind.
Speaker 2: Of doing it like my music career now, I'm kind
Speaker 2: of doing it in like like a little more of
Speaker 2: an old fashioned way where I'm I'm writing these songs
Speaker 2: on like that guitar, you know, and then I'm going
Speaker 2: live and I'm just playing them and I'm getting the
Speaker 2: feedback and I'm like seeing what's moving.
Speaker 1: I'm like that bridge is too long, you know, Da
Speaker 1: da da da, or like this song's boring, you.
Speaker 2: Know, or you know, and I'm kind of like and
Speaker 2: now I'm coming home, and then I'm like, these are
Speaker 2: the songs that I want to record.
Speaker 1: And it's awesome. You know.
Speaker 2: It's like so much different than like how a lot
Speaker 2: of it's done now where it's like, you know, it's
Speaker 2: just you in a little room like this and a
Speaker 2: little camera like that, and you're just make and make
Speaker 2: and make and self mix and put it out and
Speaker 2: shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot and put it
Speaker 2: out and shoot and put it out. And I mean,
Speaker 2: as an artist, it sounds awesome, but it's it's not
Speaker 2: very fair to the art, is it. So I like
Speaker 2: living and I like being with my fans and letting
Speaker 2: them kind of determine help me determine the songs that
Speaker 2: we need in the movement.
Speaker 4: You know, you are in a zone, you know the
Speaker 4: term the zone. You are in a zone I could
Speaker 4: absolutely tell with with this new music and hitting the
Speaker 4: road by the way you mentioned Van Morrison. Shout out
Speaker 4: to Van if you haven't checked out his brand new
Speaker 4: song called Remembering Now, check it out.
Speaker 1: I don't check that out.
Speaker 4: I've heard that it's outstanding. It's one of his best
Speaker 4: things he's done in years. But I wanted to mention
Speaker 4: that for sure. So in closing Rome, when you sort
Speaker 4: of think about younger Rome and Rome at this age,
Speaker 4: what would you tell younger Rome in terms of advice
Speaker 4: that you know you think about now as the older room.
Speaker 2: Drink less alcohol, for sure, But you know, like, honestly,
Speaker 2: if I didn't drink lass hour, if I didn't if
Speaker 2: I drink less alcohol, I don't know if I.
Speaker 1: Would be chiller right now if I learned.
Speaker 2: You know, I had to go make a fool myself
Speaker 2: a couple of times in the world for me to
Speaker 2: calm down, just like I had to touch the fire.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm one of those people.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, we're like, no matter how many times you tell me,
Speaker 2: no matter how many videos or how many books, I
Speaker 2: just got to learn it on my own. And I learned.
Speaker 2: I learned a lot about life watching my old man.
Speaker 2: So I'm very grateful for that. I tell him that
Speaker 2: all the time. I love him for that. I wouldn't
Speaker 2: change a damn thing about it. Every night, everything that
Speaker 2: we went through, it made me who I am. I'm
Speaker 2: a good ass dad, and I take pride in that more.
Speaker 2: That's the thing that I'm the most prideful about. All
Speaker 2: that stuff let me to this point now. So but
Speaker 2: I would go back and say, you know, hey, man,
Speaker 2: like chill out all the booze a little bit and
Speaker 2: call your mom more.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 4: Rome, Congratulations on your solo debuts. It's incredible music. I'm
Speaker 4: so happy for you, and I'm so honored that you
Speaker 4: came on to Take on a Walk podcast. Thank you, Rom,
Speaker 4: It's an honor of us.
Speaker 1: Thank you for having me brother.
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to this episode of the Take a
Speaker 3: Walk Podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
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