To Return Despite Everything: Interview with ROME

We are speaking with Jérôme Reuter, the dedicated musician and frontman of the Luxembourg dark-folk project ROME, who is the only foreign guest at this year's Faine Misto festival.

Many shows were scheduled for 2022 but did not take place due to the outbreak of full-scale war in Ukraine. Despite official statements from governments around the world advising against visiting Ukraine due to the war danger, the frontman of ROME feels a contrary urge: every time he leaves Ukraine, he wants to come back. This emotional wonder occurred even during the war. Partially, this connection can be explained by the fact that the military events quickly engulfed the streets of the capital, which the musician walked just a few days before the unfortunate February 24. But not only that.

Yes, this war has resonated with different people whose dedication we would never have known under other circumstances. Among them is Jérôme, with whom we spoke on the eve of his next performance in Ukraine.

Photo Yann Dalscheid

— First of all, thanks for standing with Ukraine for such a long time. I believe, all have their reasons for it, and my first question will be just about this: can you put it into words for us, for our readers, and for other people, maybe from your native Luxembourg, what keeps you so inspired and interested in Ukraine for such a long time already?

— Well, it was by coincidence that I was there to play some shows just a few days before the bigger invasion. So, it was very fresh to me in my memory, it was a little more real to me than for most Western Europeans. Of course, many people were shocked, but to me, it was just seemed so much closer because I had just talked to people and walked those streets that I would shortly after see being targeted.

Jerome played a concert in Odesa on February 17 and another in Kyiv on the 18th. Despite witnessing the destruction of familiar views, he returned to Ukraine on July 5, 2022, and gave his first performance in war-torn Ukraine, in Lviv.

Obviously, traveling there now is dangerous, but we always experience the same feeling: once we leave Ukraine, we think about coming back.

— Yeah, I’ve also read that on your page. However, one thing is to feel the connection with Ukraine in those early days after you’d just left it, but it's been over two years that you have been involved and following the situation. How does it work inside you and work for so long?

— Well, during the war, I became more and more personal with particular people, and I have very strong private connections there now. It sort of came to me just after spending more time there and lots of people that I kept talking to. Also, we've played with different local bands over the last two years.

Sasha Boole and others, sharing the stage with many people at Faine Misto

Also, what's happening politically on the grander scale is super important, and not just for Ukraine.

Over here, (in Western Europe—ed.) people tend to forget what is actually happening in Ukraine, which has been happening for much longer for Ukrainians than just these two years. So, I see it also as my personal, necessary contribution that I keep people [abroad] aware and also try to show that there is more depth to this whole thing.

I've been singing about wars in Europe for almost twenty years now. Now we have a war in Europe. So, I cannot go back to my books and read and write about other stuff. I cannot stay silent.

— Talking about books, you named the album dedicated to Ukraine "Gates of Europe", which is also the name of one of Serhii Plohii's books. Why did you pick up this name, and are you familiar with the book itself?

— Well, it's such a poignant title. It was too good to not use it. Most importantly, it's a good way of spiritually making the connection to the rest of us over here. Ukraine is the gates of Europe. I mean, there are several gates, but Ukraine certainly is in a crucial position in that regard, so it just makes sense.

And, yes, I read the book. I bought it with anything I could find in those first days. Also, when I'm writing about something, I get involved. I need to know that I know what I'm singing about.

— I’ve noticed that your knowledge is quite detailed at times as you refer to Ukraine’s real-time events in your songs. For deep are you into our informational space, how often do you read the news from and about Ukraine?

— I cannot really compare [to Ukrainians] as I don't live in Ukraine, but I follow up daily. As I said, I have several people close to me from there. Also, I'm friends with volunteers from over here, the people that I drive to Ukraine with, we always bring humanitarian aid and talk about what's happening, and I'm in touch with some people who are directly fighting, although not on a daily basis, of course.

Song from the album "Gate of Europe" (2023). Here and in other videos, Rome actively uses real footage from Ukrainian life

I follow all the social media from Ukrainian sources, so I guess I'm pretty updated, and I like to stay in the loop.

— After something has happened in Ukraine, for example, the Olenivka tragedy that you have a song about, how soon can you write about it? How long do you usually digest such information? Because, you know, we always wait for the follow-ups to know as much details as possible. I wonder if you had that time as an artist.

— I remember the day that the news of this incident in Olenivka came over the wire, and it was a real shock. I immediately sat down and wrote the song. This was pretty much a unique experience.

One person, very close to me, knew people who might have died there. It was totally unclear how many died and who, what the circumstances were. But it was obvious that something terrible was done. This shock and this not being able to do anything and not having any way to get any real information, but just sit here when you cannot even hope for the best because the worst has just happened. This was a very, very intense moment. My way of coping with that was to just try to work on something.

Of course, you know that you're being cliche, like, "Oh, something terrible happened, and now the artist is inspired". I usually don't work like that. I usually work on the theme, read up on things, try to find a voice through literature or whatever, and then try to fill it with actual life experience.

It was the same for "Yellow and Blue" and "Going back to Kyiv", those songs are very direct. Whereas "How Came Beauty against this Blackness" song, and some others, were more of a general, philosophical thing. There are also other voices from the outside world but that deal with the same principles that are at stake here. But that was the song that I had been working on before the war. I had parts of the words, I had the melody, and when the war started, that song was on my table still.

— Wow, that is a kind of a very symbolic prediction.

— Yeah, an even stranger symbolic prediction was actually when the album "Hegemonikon" was released in 2022. There is a song there ("No Second Troy" — ed.), that I wrote in 2021, mentioning Europe on the map, which goes from Sintra in Portugal to Kyiv. I used Kyiv as an example for the East, but when this album came out a year later, it was kind of weird.

Version from the release "Live in Kyiv 2023"

— Indeed it is. If we talk about all that you have written about or inspired by Ukraine, including the "Defiance" EP, the "Yellow and Blue" and "Our Lady of the Legion" singles, and finally the "Gates of Europe" album, that makes a whole bunch of releases. Have you not said all you would like about the war, or do these songs simply continue to emerge in your mind?

— When the war started, the "Hegemonikon" was already recorded. Then this war happened, and I just felt that I needed to say something musically that would remain.

There came those songs "Going Back to Kyiv" and "The Ballad of Mariupol". However, I didn't know if I wanted to do an album on an ongoing conflict. That seemed like a bad idea because such songs don’t age well and may sound ridiculous very soon. At the same time, it was just too important to me, so we released them as this "Defiance" EP (even before the "Hegemonikon" album - ed.).

However, the war continued, and that really dictated what I was occupying myself with. So, there were more and more songs coming, and it was clear that I had to just forget about being the clever artist and just do the album. Because it is just very real, and the songs were very honest. There was no point in trying to get a higher view of things later on. F*ck that. This is happening right now.

Many artists are very careful about this. They don't want to take sides, or they don't want to mess up their Russian fan base, and that sort of stuff. And I just thought, well, with what's happening here, it's too bad for the Russian fan base, but I cannot consider that now.

Jérôme not only writes songs under the influence of events in Ukraine, but also presented a number of thematic merch in support of Ukraine 

Despite the aging moment, the other bad thing about music like this is that it is not what Ukrainians really want to listen to now, coming through the war. So I'm not sure I'm helping with my "Here are some sad songs about your sad experience". A good thing is that they are a reminder of the emotional turmoil that people are going through for those over here in Western Europe.

Some of the initial comments that we got from playing in Ukraine or doing this album showed that some people have no idea what war is actually like for regular people or how we can even go there. They don't understand that life needs to go on. So, I think in that way, it helped a little bit that bands come over there and play so that people over here start to think “Oh, maybe we can do something as well?".

— Talking of which, you are coming back to Ukraine soon as the only foreign artist of the "Faine Misto festivel". What are your thoughts about being one?

— It's a weird honor to be the only one. Of course, it's kind of cool but also sad. I know there was a French band (Celeste — ed.), but they canceled, and I can understand why. The thing is that as a traveling musician, you are obviously traveling with your livelihood, with all your gear, and these days it's not easy for musicians.

Also, maybe I just don't care enough, but I understand people who are not willing to put everything they own into a van and risk the van or being shot or whatever or losing the equipment for some other reason, it's all risky. Also, no insurance covers anything in Ukraine.

Performance in Lviv, 2023

For us, it takes a lot of time to get from Luxembourg to Ukraine because if we decide to come to Ukraine, we also want to take something that people might need there. So, we work with volunteer organizations and build our route accordingly: we have to go all across all of Germany and all of Poland together. Moreover, the driver we're working with now is coming from the west of France, so he has pretty much all of France to travel through, too.

Every show we play in Ukraine, even if we just play in Lviv, it's usually a week that we're gone. During this week, we don’t work because we want all the money we gain in Ukraine to stay in Ukraine. We only ask for covering basic expenses: patrol, food, and a place to sleep. Also, the people I work with on the stage are professionals who live from concerts. Usually, they get better paid than even me. Thus, they also give up a lot of time and money to come to Ukraine. And our team isn’t even big, so I can imagine how hard it might be for other artists where more people are involved.

Still, we are very much looking forward to playing at Faine Misto again. We were there last year, so I hope and expect it to be as much fun despite all the circumstances. Because it was fun.

— Sure, I hope so, too. Have you looked through this year's lineup? Maybe there are some bands that you would like to hear live?

— Oh, yeah, there are White Ward, Palindrom, Zwyntar… It’s not all; I have to check out again. Also, it’s going to be my birthday during that weekend.

— Any regrets about choosing this way of celebration?)

— Ahah, not yet. It's special.

ROME will play on the Light Stage of Faine Misto on August 3, and will celebrate its birthday a day earlier. Photo by Joe Tremmel

— Yeah, it is the best word to pick for now, I guess. I’ve read that you are to play tracks from your new album "World in Flames". Tell us a bit about it.

— Yes, the album comes out on my birthday, the day before we play live. Of course, we are supposed to play new tracks, even though we haven't rehearsed anything yet…But we should. This album is about the times we live in generally. The world is in flames and the world is changing considerably. In Ukraine, the war is of a very direct kind, but it's spreading everywhere. I'm not gonna make any predictions, but let's just say we live in very interesting times. So, yeah, that's what those songs are about. They're more general in nature, although one song, "Eagle Wings", will be linked to Ukraine directly.

ROME in social networks:

https://www.facebook.com/romeproject

Photos provided by the artist