Interview w/ Romans

ROMANS is a new project out of the London, UK. To date there’s been little known about this elusive talent who’s debut release “The Die Is Cast” has been blaring out our speakers lately. So of course B3SCI’s Mike jumped at the chance to ask a few questions to this cheeky fellow about his music, his inspiration and what the future might hold.

B3SCI: First, let’s talk about the blues. Your debut song “The Die Cast” feels like a scorching 21st century update to the timeless sound. What does blues music mean to you?

ROMANS: Not a great deal if I’m honest Mike. I’ve never been a huge follower of blues, although I can’t say that my music hasn’t been affected by it in some way. There’s perhaps a slight Crossroads theme to the storyline of “The Die is Cast”. From time to time I’ve found myself forming a fledgling obsession for Johnny Winter, but I think about 60% of that is down to the whole albino thing.

B3SCI: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, as an artist, where you are based, how long have you been writing and performing, etc.?

ROMANS: I was born and live in London. I’ve been writing and playing instruments for the majority of my life and started producing 0.5 decades ago. I spend the majority of my days alone in my recording studio working on various things.

B3SCI: Romans is a one man band, performing, recording, writing, etc. Is there a band that you recruit/jam with, and will there ever be a live performance component to Romans?

ROMANS: There will certainly be a live performance component to Romans, but not in the conventional sense. What I love about modern recording is how one man can now sit alone in a room and convincingly create the effect of a 70 piece string section and an army of bagpipers standing next to him. Performing my music with a 4 piece band and backing track would be too boring, there are plenty of other more interesting mediums to accompany it.

B3SCI: It seems that every other day a new indie rock band is popping up left and right with some sort of elusive nature to their story. Some are good and some are bad and many lack soul in their music. Is there a conscious statement behind Romans introduction to the music scene, with your debut track and any future releases?

ROMANS: Whoa, slow down there Mike! I think the elusive nature sets the scene nicely, these are tentative releases, all part of a bigger picture. There should be room for discovery with artists, it makes the whole experience of finding someone new a bit more exciting and personal. The 4 tracks and videos that I intend to release are a continuing narrative, all will make sense in the end, I assure you.

B3SCI: I can’t wait! Let’s discuss the juxtaposition of the simple yet captivating near-still visuals of your new video (and only available experience) for “The Die Cast”, and the ridiculously short attention spans of people today, especially given the constant bombardment of flashy media?

ROMANS: I like subtlety Michael. May I call you Michael? You see… the thing is Mickey, I’ve always believed that the focus should be on music. I also think that the culture of the big high-budget music video is on it’s way out and there seem to be more and more still-image videos cropping up online.

B3SCI: The visuals that you’ve released with “The Die Cast” are borderline stunning. How did you come to connect with Charlotte Rutherford?

ROMANS: Thank you for saying so. I think Charlotte will one day be one of the greatest creative photographers this country has ever produced. We have mutual friends.

B3SCI: How do you correlate the art of music and visual representation? Do you see them synonymous or paralleled in any ways to Romans?

ROMANS: They help turn what would seem like 4 unconnected narratives into the continuous puzzle that makes up this EP.

B3SCI: So, what exciting things can we expect to come from Romans?

ROMANS: Plenty but you’ll have to wait and see! Check www.iamromans.com for more.

Romans (Official)

Romans – The Die Is Cast