July 1, 2025 • 33 mins
On this episode of Takin a Walk, we’re joined by Rome—singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for carrying the torch of Sublime as the frontman of Sublime with Rome. Born and raised in California with deep Mexican roots, Rome shares his inspiring journey from picking up the guitar at age 11 to collaborating with music legends and finding his own voice in the industry.
We dive into the stories behind his biggest influences, what it was like to join forces with the surviving members of Sublime, and how his heritage and family life have shaped his music. Rome opens up about the personal meaning behind his song “Dedication,” his recent departure from Sublime with Rome, and what’s next as he embarks on a new creative chapter.
Whether you’re a longtime fan or just discovering his music, this episode is packed with candid moments, musical insights, and a fresh look at the road ahead for one of modern rock’s most versatile artists. Lace up your shoes and join us for an unforgettable walk with Rome
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I never thought in a million years that I would
be fronting the band that was plastered all over my
wall as a kid. Life kind of unfolds, you know,
the journey kind of opens doors for you that you
know you probably wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Have opened or even like fathomed as possible.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Never in a million years when I was listening to
Sublime as a kid, that I think that one day
heavy jamming with Budd and Air singing those songs.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
It's crazy.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Welcome to another episode of the Taking a Walk podcast,
the podcast where we dive deep into the stories, the journeys,
and the passions of incredible artists and creators.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
And today buzz.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Night welcomes Rome, a musician whose roots run deep in
California and Mexican heritage, and its guitar has been shaping
his sound since he was just eleven years old. You
might know Rome is the voice and soul behind Sublime.
With Rome the band that's carried forward the legacy of
the iconic Sublime. From learning his first song by Sublime
(01:02):
as a kid, touring and recording with the surviving members,
Rome's journey is one of passion, perseverance, and evolution. Rome's
got new music out called Why Me, and he talks
with Buzz Night on the Taking a Walk podcast.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Right now, Hello Rome, and welcome to the Take on
a Walk podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
How's it going, man? Thanks you for having me.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
It's going fantastic. Thank you. So, since the podcast is
called taking a Walk, I wanted to ask you, Rome,
if you could take a walk with somebody living or dead,
preferably around music, but that's not mandatory. Who would you
like to take a walk with and where would you
(01:47):
like to take that walk?
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Man, that's a good question.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Well, the first person that comes in mind and probably
be my grandpa just because yeah, I feel like a
man now he passed away before I could you know,
kind of get to know a little more about or
get to the point where I wanted to know more
about the family, you know, so probably walk with him,
ask m some questions, you know, probably explain a lot
(02:15):
of stuff goes on in my head anyway. But then
in terms of like entertainment, you know, if I could
take a walk with somebody, man, off the top of
my head, like first person that came to mind was
Jimmy HENDRICKX. Just you know, I mean for obvious reasons,
but he's just such a creative guy. I would just
love to, you know, hear what kind of like stuff
(02:38):
he had to say about, you know, just.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Just movies and you know, art, and just just kind
of pick his brain. You know.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
I got chills thinking about both of them, including the
Jimmy response. And I have this feeling you and Jimmy
would be kindred spirits because Jimmy seemed to emote this
tremendous sense of certainly creativity and passion, but amazing sense
(03:08):
of gratitude. And I see you at this place and
time in your career, and I feel like you are
exuding your own sense of this tremendous gratitude. Am I
right on that?
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Thanks? Man? I'm for sure.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I mean, you know, it's like for me, I've already
like like like done more than I've ever could have imagined,
you know, and there's still things that I do want
to like accomplish and and do. But like, once you
get to a point where you're actually able to like,
you know, put food on your family's table through music,
(03:52):
you know, that's a very very like that's a blessing.
And I don't know, I just I'm like, at that
point now you know, I have three children and my wife,
and you know, it's like, I'm like very grateful to
be able to be still playing music and having like
fans that listen to the music that I make and
(04:14):
music that I've been associated with, and you know, I've
gotten toward the world with my favorite band for more
than a decade.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
And you know, I made it out all right.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
You know, I'm in a wonderful marriage and I have
beautiful children, and I'm very grateful for that. And I think,
you know that's that's a huge contributor to even why
I continue to want to do this professionally. You know,
I want to put that message out of the world fantastic.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
We're going to talk about why me and the behind
the scenes creative process that led to it. It's outstanding.
And also I want you to be able to tell
everybody about the music festivals and performances that you're going
to be certainly you know, making the rounds as well.
Oh yeah, but you just turned thirty seven. How do
(05:08):
you feel about this milestone? Does it change how you
look at your music or your life in general?
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
You know, for me, it's like I was just having
this conversation with my mother in law because I love
growing older, and I know people hate it, you know,
I'm just kind of figuring out like the health part
of it, you know, like working out and eating right,
like I've been in that world the last like six
months now. But in terms of like you know, mentally
(05:40):
and emotionally, like growing up is awesome because you just
like you get more and more in tune with what
you like. And my mother in law was saying, which
which I couldn't help it agree with, but like, you know,
and she's she's got like twenty years on me. You know,
the older you get, the less like you give a
shit about what people think, and and like you just
(06:02):
get more sure of yourself. And I just like I
couldn't help but agree. You know, even at my age
at thirty seven, you just get to this point, you know,
where you're like, man, I got three kids that are
like doing all right, Like I'm gonna be fined, Everything's
gonna be all right, and that's not a big deal.
That's not a big deal, you know, and and you
just kind of get to this place so to you know,
(06:23):
make a long, long answer shorter. I definitely love the
fact of growing and becoming smarter and more aware. And
you know, the flip side of that is, you know,
time becomes less and less of you know, something that
you have, you know, just in terms of your responsibilities
(06:47):
and and and that can put a real big damper
on your creative process. So that's one thing that has
been you know, a little less than favorable with like
growing up. It's like, you know, I definitely missed the
time of just sitting around and just sitting in the
studio all dang day and making music, going to bed
and waking up and doing the same thing. But that's
probably not a very healthy lifestyle either. So I'm rolling
(07:12):
with it, man, I love it.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Tell me what it was like being born and raised
in California, What was childhood like? And talk about you know,
just that aspect of your journey in California.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Man, Well, so I grew up in the nineties, like
your typical nineties child. You know, my earliest memories of
music were Bob Marley, Fleetwood mac Motown, you know, so
that was like the Supremes, and you know, anything from
Stevie Wonder or Smokey Robinson of course, and Rolling Stones
(07:50):
and led Zeppelin and hip hop that was on the radio.
So it was like a pretty eclectic, you know, mix
of music. But I mean it was like my mom
and my dad and those were some of my earliest
memories were musical memories. Really, I was very much a fan.
You know, where I grew up in the Bay Area,
it was you know, heavily inspired like by like gang culture.
(08:13):
There was you know, the Bay Area is synonymous for
its own music industry.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
It's its own music you know genre.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Really it's like hip hop, but you know, we got
like artists that have just really been fundamental to West
Coast rap. You know, shout out to E forty and
Too Short and stuff like that Mac Drey. So needless
to say, all my peers in school, everybody I knew
it was like hip hop, hip hop, hip hop, and
you know, I would hear all this like soul and
(08:39):
other kind of music from my parents. And I took
a trip down to San Diego where my family was from, and.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
I like heard like Sublime for the very first time,
which was.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Kind of a trip because it kind of put all
of this, all that music I was talking about, It
put it all into one which I thought was just
so awesome.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
It was so fresh to me. I think I was like.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Eleven at the time, and I just remember hearing this
music and you know, it would be borrowing melodies from
like the Supremes, and it would be like, you know,
doing like punk rock stuff, which I hadn't even really
heard punk rock yet at that point. Sublime was my
introduction into punk rock and you know, so hearing that
for the first time, but like you know, had some
(09:28):
stuff from like hip hop samples in there, and so
it just really blew my mind. And from that point on,
like honestly, from like listening to Sublime, it really transitioned
me from like being like a listener to like me
wanting to learn how to like play an instrument, you know,
And I got a guitar, and then shortly after getting
(09:49):
a guitar, you know, I just started to I played
that thing all the day time. And the more I
played guitar, the less I was skateboarding. And I could
kind of like I got to a point where because
the only thing I loved in the world was skateboarding.
So I got to this point where I was just like,
you know what, like I think I can probably be
(10:10):
a better guitar player than a better skateboarder, and I
just really started investing all my time in a guitar
playing and yeah, eventually that you know, a lot of
the stuff that was going on in my family. You know,
my dad had his stint with drugs for most of
my childhood and so that just created all kinds of
(10:30):
chaos in the house, everything that you would imagine.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
And that was really.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Monumental in like my growth as like becoming a songwriter,
leaving the guitar you know, like guitar player mentality and
stepping into like singing and writing songs about all that stuff.
And that's when like music really like transformed for me,
where like, you know, the dip in my grades was
(10:58):
like for real, it was like I was like all in.
I just wanted to go to La start meeting people
and just start recording these songs. And uh yeah, that
was like the you know, pretty much the start of
my high school. And that was like a really troubling
time because I just like couldn't get my shit together
(11:20):
in school. Man, I just wanted to play on that
guitar and start bands. So but yeah, that was that
was kind of like you know, the cadensed.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Version of a of a.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Up and down lifestyle and up and down California between
northern and southern California and my upbringing.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
But it's really a storybook, really life here. When you
get to, you know, join a band that you were
a fan of and tour and record, I mean you
must have just you know, pinched yourself in amazement of
what you had accomplished.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Dude.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
It was crazy, like all I ever wanted to do
when I was a kid, you know how Like did
they tell.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
You to like hold your breath.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
When you're going under like a bridge, or you're going
like in an underpass, or like you're going over a bridge,
you know, hold your breath and make a wish?
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Ever since I was a kid man, all I could
remember was like when I blow out the candles and
I'd make a wish and you're not supposed to tell anybody.
All I would wish was to be a professional musician.
And I would say those words because I wanted to
at least be able to live off music, you know.
Like I had a couple of uncles that like play guitar,
(12:31):
and they were just like, you know, just living a
miserable life, and I just at least wanted to put
some food on my table, playing playing the guitar. I
didn't want to go to college to like get to
this point now, like that's where a lot of the
gratitude comes from. And you know, moving to LA was
like it took so much to like then get to LA.
But then, like you know, what happened in Los Angeles
(12:54):
really didn't pan out the way I thought I was
going to pan out either. Like I never thought in
a million years that I would be fronting the band
that was plastered all over my wall as a kid.
That was just something that you know, life kind of unfolds,
you know, the journey kind of opens doors for you
that you know you probably wouldn't have.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Opened or even like fathomed as possible.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Never in a million years when I was listening to
Sublime as a kid, that I think that one to
heavy jamming with Button Airic singing those songs, it's crazy.
And during that journey, I met this band called the
Dirty Heads, and this.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Was I've heard of them.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
This was a year.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Before I even met anybody in Sublime yet, so I
introduced to I was introduced to the Dirty Heads, and
I started hanging with those guys, and they were like
just playing, you know, probably like fifty people in like
bars and clubs and stuff, just you know, just like
getting that phase going in the van, you know. And
(13:58):
when I met them, like I listened to the music
I saw, like their YouTube stuff, and I was like, oh, dude,
they're so good, Like their music.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Is so rad.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I was a little more in like funny enough kind
of doing what I'm doing now, like more music that
it's like I'm making now.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
That's kind of where I was before I joined Sublime.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
And so when I met the Dirty Heads, I was
listening to what they were doing, you know, with their
first record, and I was like, man, it's such beautiful music.
I'd loved their mixture of everything, so naturally, you know,
we were like, let's write a song together.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Man. You know, I was living in my van at
the time.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
They all had day jobs, and we wrote this song,
this little old song, lay Me Down, and we liked it.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
It was cool, you know. But they already had a record.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
That went out just eight months prior, so they weren't
in no rush. Their label wasn't any rush to go
and get in the studio and record a song. And man,
that song sat around for like a year, and one
day our manager, who I later ended up being managed
by the same managers as the Dirty Heads manager. Uh,
(15:04):
the Dirty Heads manager took their demo step step like
a CD of like a stack of songs, so like
maybe four or five songs, took them up to Kevin
Weatherley over at k Rock, who's like the most influential
man in alternative radio. You know, Kevin Weatherly. Big shout
out right away for changing all of our lives. Big
shout out to Lisa Warden. Love you so much. You
(15:24):
know these are great times man. And our manager Cheese
like he played them, you know the song They had
this song with Slash playing guitar, and that was like
the one. You know, It's like, okay, this is the
one we loaded it up. You know, this is the
good song. We got Slashes a feature, this is this
is the one. But uh, our manager's assistant, her favorite
(15:45):
song was let Me Down, the song that me and
the guys did, which was just a crappy old demo
we just put together at Aby Studio, and so she
put that song.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
At number one. God bless her heart.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Shout out camera and man, Kevin Weatherley popped that CD
in hit Play in the meeting and oh, oh freaking
lay me downstarted and she's my manager, damn here had
a heart attack.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
But you know he already started vibing, so you don't
stop the man.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
He's already tapping his toe and shaking his head. So
he's like whatever. Man, he loved the song. He played
it back four times in a row. He was like,
played again, played again, played again. He loved the song,
was like, this is a hit this you know how
it used to go back in the day.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Which it still does sometimes, and you know, man, the
rest was history.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
You know.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
He put it on.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
He's like, let's hear how it does on the phones.
That was like a demo, you know. Our manager, it
was like it's not even mastered yet. He's like, oh,
you want to hear how it sounds mastered on the radio.
Here you go, we're gonna go play it. And he
just goes and plays it and the phones blew up
like crazy, And I mean, that song really changed our
lives overnight. You know, I got a publishing deal within
a month from Sony ATV and you know, because I
(17:03):
wrote half that song with guys and they were like hey,
you got more songs.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
And I'm like, that's all I do is sit and
write songs. Like of course I got more songs.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
And so they were like, here's a deal, can you
write more songs for other artists?
Speaker 1 (17:17):
And I didn't even know that that was a thing.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
So I started writing all these songs for all these
other artists and getting introduced to all these just amazingly
talented people where I'm like the easily the least talented
person in the room for like years and just soaking
it up man. And I mean it's just been such
a fun ride, like to you know that part and
(17:42):
then like boom joining in with Sublime and then getting
to tour around the world. So I mean you just
never know, like keeping an open mind, and I think
that sort of like humility of like I just still
can't believe that, like, you know, this is what I
can do for a living. I don't have to go
work at like you know, do roofing anymore. So it's like, yeah,
(18:02):
it's rad I'm very grateful for that. And I think
that sort of energy is like what keeps me waking
up in the morning and.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
Like after you know, no, no doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
They'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
So let's play this little game called Fast five. I'm
gonna ask you five fast questions and get your get
your your comments here. First of all, first album you
ever bought.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Self titled Sublime.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
First concert you ever attended, Van's Warp tour.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
I wanted to see UH three eleven in Bayside.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
First time you heard your music on the radio?
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Oh man, I was.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
I was like sitting on my friend's couch watching TV.
It was actually his girlfriends and my manager about that.
It was that day he called me. It was just like, hey,
what are you doing. I'm like, I'm just sitting on
the couch watching TV. He's like, turn on K Rock
in five minutes and then he's like, call your mom.
You're you're gonna be a rock star. And that's what
(19:13):
he said. And I was like, what are you talking about?
And yeah, I heard lay Me Down on. We went
in my homie, his girlfriend's She used to drive like
this baby blue like VW Bug. It's like a twenty
twelve or something, and right now it's older than that.
It's two thousand and seven because the song came out No.
Nine and yeah, man, we just sat there and I man,
I almost blew her speakers out. We turned it up
(19:34):
so dang loud, and yeah, you just you never forget
that moment even to this day. It don't matter where
you're at. When you hear yourself on the radio or
you know, come on on the satellite radio at a
restaurant or something, it's like the most just takes you
right back to being a kid, and you're like, this
is like why I do it? You know, I love this.
(19:56):
I love that this is possible.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
First moment you knew you were going to have a
life of music.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Oh man.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You know, part of being an artist is like that
unshakable fear that all this is gonna go away. But
I just started to kind of get rid of that
whole thing. Funny enough, leaving Sublime. I know that sounds ridiculous.
There's this kind of feeling with artistry where it's like
it's like almost too good to be true. That can
(20:27):
drive you mad. But when you're kind of by yourself,
when you're on your own, before you're like married with
children and stuff.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
You don't really care.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
You know, young and dumb, young and reckless, you know,
live fast down young, right, you're just living for the moment.
But once you start packing on like responsibilities, you know,
to people that you love your children, you know, God.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
You know, bless it, like God forbid.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
You even become like somewhat remotely successful where you start
hiring some of your family, Like you start to know,
build something that becomes greater than yourself. So you think
it starts to make the art part and this whole
dream and the career thing like it starts to put
pressure on it and a little squeeze on it, and
things get complicated, and you know, you see a lot
(21:15):
of artists that just can't handle that. Either they quit,
or you know, they harm themselves with drugs and alcohol,
or you know, even worse, you know, they take their
own lives.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
I mean everything in between.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
I think it's important to kind of shake all that
and and you know, to make a long story short,
just within the last year, honestly, leaving Sublime was kind
of when I was like kind of figured out and
trusted myself and trusted the world and God and just
was like.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
I don't know, I don't know what's gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
But I know, like I'm happy, and I know I'm committed,
and this is like I have music that that I
die for and and that that's that's the energy.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
You know.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
I love it. I love it. Okay, one more on
the fast five. First instrument you ever bought?
Speaker 1 (22:04):
First instrument guitar? Electric guitar.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah, my dad he got one a pawn shop and
brought it home and haven't put it down since.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
How now, like eleven years old.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Eleven years old? I love it. So take us behind
the creation of Yme. It's such an awesome project. And
you know this you described a little while ago. You know,
the confidence that it took to make this move. You're
at this moment in time. I think that is an
amazing moment. So, uh, take us a little bit behind
(22:39):
the curtain on the creation of YME.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
I'd love to well.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
It all kind of stems from like the pandemic because
Sublime with Rome had been touring, you know, every year
since its formation, and like many other artists, when the
pandemic happened, you know, we were forced to kind of
throw on the tal for a little bit and you
know kind of has time off. So I started like
live streaming and a lot of people were sitting at
(23:06):
home too, so these rooms were getting like really full,
and you know, I started getting all these fands, and
after I just ran through all the catalog and all
the Sublime stuff and Sublime with Rome stuff, people were
just like, dude, do you got any music that you're
working on? And the honest answer was like no, Like
I hadn't worked on music for myself in so long.
I mean, I'd just been writing songs for other people,
(23:28):
and that was like.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
I had all this time. So I was like, you
know what, that sounds like a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
So I started waking up in the morning and going
to the studio and just like putting together these songs
and kind of putting together my whole like sound that
I was like really after in my head, like the
sounds that I loved and the music that had the
most inspiring, Like that was the most inspiring to me.
(23:56):
And I wanted to just kind of fuse all that
together and and you know, see what happens, you know,
because it wasn't like I was going to like put
an album out and go on tour.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
It was like the pandemic, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
And once I started doing that, man, it just like
became such a labor of love. Like because most other
songs that I would write there were for a reason.
They were for an artist, for you know, an an
R hit me up, or you know, we need this
kind of record for this artist.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Are you interested to take a session.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Here's a couple of songs, you know, or with Sublime,
you know, I had other people, you know, I had
to listen to the music, and so this was something
that was just so free and so creative and it
you know, and it just created like a.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Sound for me and an outlet.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
So after a while, I just like really couldn't couldn't
like get away from the music.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
It was like all I really wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
You know, even being on the road with Sublime, with Rome,
I would start really thinking about, you know, once it
opened up the world, I would just be thinking about
wanting to be at home and like record this music
and like, you know, oh, man, I want to play
this song Mide live in front of all these people.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
But you know, you can't do that. It don't work
like that.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
And that's you know why Me was one of the
later songs that I really tacked onto the album, and
it was because it was like my kind of just
wrapping up my entire tenor with Sublime, and even like
the single artwork of the song is a picture of
(25:28):
me when I was twelve on my bed and you
can see like six Sublime posters in the background. Because
you know, that's my favorite band, getting to tour around
the world with them, and then now stepping into like
my solo venture and putting out my first bit of music.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
I wanted to pay homage to that, And you know.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
The song is just really about being grateful and about
seeing the world through like.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
A better lens.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
You know, don't know who said it, but I heard
this really cool quote where it's like one of the
most important decisions you'll ever make is when you wake
up if the world is going to be a good
place or if it's like a harmful, terrible place. And
I'm you know, butchering that, but I just think that
that is like so true. So I wanted to flip
(26:20):
an old age old saying like why me, kind of
flipping on its head and turn it in into about
something you know about like why me, like I'm so grateful, Like.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
You know, can you talk about some of the other
songs that really excite you to go out and you
know show people at the festivals and other shows you'll
be playing it.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
So I have this other song that I'm just so
excited for everyone to hear. It's called Slow and Easy.
And this song is like, you know, really it's it's
about like me and my wife and just like you know,
focus on so many things and trying to have control
over all these aspects of our life and make sure
(27:01):
everyone's living optimally, you know, ourselves last on the Total
poll always. And I wanted to write about that and
just kind of take a you know, write a song
about unplugging and just taking it slow and easy and
just kind of like getting back to the simpler kind
of things and just you know, disconnecting a little bit.
(27:24):
And you know, it has this vibe of the music
that I love so much. You know, it's like this
you know, it's got like some rhythmic notes and the
soulfulness of reggae, but it uses like almost.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Really really effortlessly with like you.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Know, soul and like like you know, folk like Van
Morrison almost. So it's like this tone, like this sound
that I'm just obsessed with that I think I've kind
of stumbled into and.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
You know, I'm just it was so awesome the way
it was.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
But then I was like, you know, what, how rad
would it be to like put the Dirty Heads on here,
because one there were my brothers and this is like
one of my favorite songs on the record, so it
would just be awesome for like a full circle moment,
you know, like everyone is so used to you know,
like lay me Down, Like whenever we're on tour together,
all sing lay me Down with them, and you know,
(28:19):
it's like it's kind of like a summer anthem for
like our our age generation. So I was like, this
is like the most summer anthem track that I have
on the album, and I got to put my boys
on it, so it's like almost full circle, you know.
And that's that's a song that's like really you know,
near and dear to me. And one of the other
songs that I definitely want to highlight on the record
(28:41):
is a is a song called knw Me, and you know,
it's it's kind of like a double entendre where where
you know, it's it's it's.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Talking about like.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
You say you knew me, but you never knew me
at all, you know, because it's like it's like a
newer version of yourself that sometimes people they'll take for
granted what's in front of them and then like, you know,
expect to keep you in like a box or whatever.
And you know, it can happen in relationships very often,
but you know it can also happen in you know,
(29:14):
business relationships and in bands and all kinds of anytime
you're dealing with another people in general, you know. And
I wanted to write about that sort of feeling and
that sort of experience. So that's That's another song that
I'm really excited for the world to hear.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
You know.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
It's cool being able to I have these shows and
these festivals that I've been playing, you know, Cali Vibes
and Cali Roots and Summerfest July fifteenth and all.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
These cool festivals, and I feel like I'm kind.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Of doing it like my music career now, I'm kind
of doing it in like like a little more of
an old fashioned way where I'm I'm writing these songs
on like that guitar, you know, and then I'm going
live and I'm just playing them and I'm getting the
feedback and I'm like seeing what's moving.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
I'm like that bridge is too long, you know, Da
da da da, or like this song's boring, you.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Know, or you know, and I'm kind of like and
now I'm coming home, and then I'm like, these are
the songs that I want to record.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
And it's awesome. You know.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
It's like so much different than like how a lot
of it's done now where it's like, you know, it's
just you in a little room like this and a
little camera like that, and you're just make and make
and make and self mix and put it out and
shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot and put it
out and shoot and put it out. And I mean,
as an artist, it sounds awesome, but it's it's not
(30:35):
very fair to the art, is it. So I like
living and I like being with my fans and letting
them kind of determine help me determine the songs that
we need in the movement.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
You know, you are in a zone, you know the
term the zone. You are in a zone I could
absolutely tell with with this new music and hitting the
road by the way you mentioned Van Morrison. Shout out
to Van if you haven't checked out his brand new
song called Remembering Now, check it out.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
I don't check that out.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
I've heard that it's outstanding. It's one of his best
things he's done in years. But I wanted to mention
that for sure. So in closing Rome, when you sort
of think about younger Rome and Rome at this age,
what would you tell younger Rome in terms of advice
(31:30):
that you know you think about now as the older room.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Drink less alcohol, for sure, But you know, like, honestly,
if I didn't drink lass hour, if I didn't if
I drink less alcohol, I don't know if I.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Would be chiller right now if I learned.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
You know, I had to go make a fool myself
a couple of times in the world for me to
calm down, just like I had to touch the fire.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
You know, I'm one of those people.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Unfortunately, we're like, no matter how many times you tell me,
no matter how many videos or how many books, I
just got to learn it on my own. And I learned.
I learned a lot about life watching my old man.
So I'm very grateful for that. I tell him that
all the time. I love him for that. I wouldn't
(32:18):
change a damn thing about it. Every night, everything that
we went through, it made me who I am. I'm
a good ass dad, and I take pride in that more.
That's the thing that I'm the most prideful about. All
that stuff let me to this point now. So but
I would go back and say, you know, hey, man,
like chill out all the booze a little bit and
(32:40):
call your mom more.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
You know.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
Rome, Congratulations on your solo debuts. It's incredible music. I'm
so happy for you, and I'm so honored that you
came on to Take on a Walk podcast. Thank you, Rom,
It's an honor of us.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Thank you for having me brother.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Take a
Walk Podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I never thought in a million years that I would
be fronting the band that was plastered all over my
wall as a kid. Life kind of unfolds, you know,
the journey kind of opens doors for you that you
know you probably wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Have opened or even like fathomed as possible.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Never in a million years when I was listening to
Sublime as a kid, that I think that one day
heavy jamming with Budd and Air singing those songs.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
It's crazy.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Welcome to another episode of the Taking a Walk podcast,
the podcast where we dive deep into the stories, the journeys,
and the passions of incredible artists and creators.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
And today buzz.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Night welcomes Rome, a musician whose roots run deep in
California and Mexican heritage, and its guitar has been shaping
his sound since he was just eleven years old. You
might know Rome is the voice and soul behind Sublime.
With Rome the band that's carried forward the legacy of
the iconic Sublime. From learning his first song by Sublime
(01:02):
as a kid, touring and recording with the surviving members,
Rome's journey is one of passion, perseverance, and evolution. Rome's
got new music out called Why Me, and he talks
with Buzz Night on the Taking a Walk podcast.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
Right now, Hello Rome, and welcome to the Take on
a Walk podcast.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
How's it going, man? Thanks you for having me.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
It's going fantastic. Thank you. So, since the podcast is
called taking a Walk, I wanted to ask you, Rome,
if you could take a walk with somebody living or dead,
preferably around music, but that's not mandatory. Who would you
like to take a walk with and where would you
(01:47):
like to take that walk?
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Man, that's a good question.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Well, the first person that comes in mind and probably
be my grandpa just because yeah, I feel like a
man now he passed away before I could you know,
kind of get to know a little more about or
get to the point where I wanted to know more
about the family, you know, so probably walk with him,
ask m some questions, you know, probably explain a lot
(02:15):
of stuff goes on in my head anyway. But then
in terms of like entertainment, you know, if I could
take a walk with somebody, man, off the top of
my head, like first person that came to mind was
Jimmy HENDRICKX. Just you know, I mean for obvious reasons,
but he's just such a creative guy. I would just
love to, you know, hear what kind of like stuff
(02:38):
he had to say about, you know, just.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Just movies and you know, art, and just just kind
of pick his brain. You know.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
I got chills thinking about both of them, including the
Jimmy response. And I have this feeling you and Jimmy
would be kindred spirits because Jimmy seemed to emote this
tremendous sense of certainly creativity and passion, but amazing sense
(03:08):
of gratitude. And I see you at this place and
time in your career, and I feel like you are
exuding your own sense of this tremendous gratitude. Am I
right on that?
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Thanks? Man? I'm for sure.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
I mean, you know, it's like for me, I've already
like like like done more than I've ever could have imagined,
you know, and there's still things that I do want
to like accomplish and and do. But like, once you
get to a point where you're actually able to like,
you know, put food on your family's table through music,
(03:52):
you know, that's a very very like that's a blessing.
And I don't know, I just I'm like, at that
point now you know, I have three children and my wife,
and you know, it's like, I'm like very grateful to
be able to be still playing music and having like
fans that listen to the music that I make and
(04:14):
music that I've been associated with, and you know, I've
gotten toward the world with my favorite band for more
than a decade.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
And you know, I made it out all right.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
You know, I'm in a wonderful marriage and I have
beautiful children, and I'm very grateful for that. And I think,
you know that's that's a huge contributor to even why
I continue to want to do this professionally. You know,
I want to put that message out of the world fantastic.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
We're going to talk about why me and the behind
the scenes creative process that led to it. It's outstanding.
And also I want you to be able to tell
everybody about the music festivals and performances that you're going
to be certainly you know, making the rounds as well.
Oh yeah, but you just turned thirty seven. How do
(05:08):
you feel about this milestone? Does it change how you
look at your music or your life in general?
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
You know, for me, it's like I was just having
this conversation with my mother in law because I love
growing older, and I know people hate it, you know,
I'm just kind of figuring out like the health part
of it, you know, like working out and eating right,
like I've been in that world the last like six
months now. But in terms of like you know, mentally
(05:40):
and emotionally, like growing up is awesome because you just
like you get more and more in tune with what
you like. And my mother in law was saying, which
which I couldn't help it agree with, but like, you know,
and she's she's got like twenty years on me. You know,
the older you get, the less like you give a
shit about what people think, and and like you just
(06:02):
get more sure of yourself. And I just like I
couldn't help but agree. You know, even at my age
at thirty seven, you just get to this point, you know,
where you're like, man, I got three kids that are
like doing all right, Like I'm gonna be fined, Everything's
gonna be all right, and that's not a big deal.
That's not a big deal, you know, and and you
just kind of get to this place so to you know,
(06:23):
make a long, long answer shorter. I definitely love the
fact of growing and becoming smarter and more aware. And
you know, the flip side of that is, you know,
time becomes less and less of you know, something that
you have, you know, just in terms of your responsibilities
(06:47):
and and and that can put a real big damper
on your creative process. So that's one thing that has
been you know, a little less than favorable with like
growing up. It's like, you know, I definitely missed the
time of just sitting around and just sitting in the
studio all dang day and making music, going to bed
and waking up and doing the same thing. But that's
probably not a very healthy lifestyle either. So I'm rolling
(07:12):
with it, man, I love it.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
Tell me what it was like being born and raised
in California, What was childhood like? And talk about you know,
just that aspect of your journey in California.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Man, Well, so I grew up in the nineties, like
your typical nineties child. You know, my earliest memories of
music were Bob Marley, Fleetwood mac Motown, you know, so
that was like the Supremes, and you know, anything from
Stevie Wonder or Smokey Robinson of course, and Rolling Stones
(07:50):
and led Zeppelin and hip hop that was on the radio.
So it was like a pretty eclectic, you know, mix
of music. But I mean it was like my mom
and my dad and those were some of my earliest
memories were musical memories. Really, I was very much a fan.
You know, where I grew up in the Bay Area,
it was you know, heavily inspired like by like gang culture.
(08:13):
There was you know, the Bay Area is synonymous for
its own music industry.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
It's its own music you know genre.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Really it's like hip hop, but you know, we got
like artists that have just really been fundamental to West
Coast rap. You know, shout out to E forty and
Too Short and stuff like that Mac Drey. So needless
to say, all my peers in school, everybody I knew
it was like hip hop, hip hop, hip hop, and
you know, I would hear all this like soul and
(08:39):
other kind of music from my parents. And I took
a trip down to San Diego where my family was from, and.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
I like heard like Sublime for the very first time,
which was.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Kind of a trip because it kind of put all
of this, all that music I was talking about, It
put it all into one which I thought was just
so awesome.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
It was so fresh to me. I think I was like.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Eleven at the time, and I just remember hearing this
music and you know, it would be borrowing melodies from
like the Supremes, and it would be like, you know,
doing like punk rock stuff, which I hadn't even really
heard punk rock yet at that point. Sublime was my
introduction into punk rock and you know, so hearing that
for the first time, but like you know, had some
(09:28):
stuff from like hip hop samples in there, and so
it just really blew my mind. And from that point on,
like honestly, from like listening to Sublime, it really transitioned
me from like being like a listener to like me
wanting to learn how to like play an instrument, you know,
And I got a guitar, and then shortly after getting
(09:49):
a guitar, you know, I just started to I played
that thing all the day time. And the more I
played guitar, the less I was skateboarding. And I could
kind of like I got to a point where because
the only thing I loved in the world was skateboarding.
So I got to this point where I was just like,
you know what, like I think I can probably be
(10:10):
a better guitar player than a better skateboarder, and I
just really started investing all my time in a guitar
playing and yeah, eventually that you know, a lot of
the stuff that was going on in my family. You know,
my dad had his stint with drugs for most of
my childhood and so that just created all kinds of
(10:30):
chaos in the house, everything that you would imagine.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
And that was really.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Monumental in like my growth as like becoming a songwriter,
leaving the guitar you know, like guitar player mentality and
stepping into like singing and writing songs about all that stuff.
And that's when like music really like transformed for me,
where like, you know, the dip in my grades was
(10:58):
like for real, it was like I was like all in.
I just wanted to go to La start meeting people
and just start recording these songs. And uh yeah, that
was like the you know, pretty much the start of
my high school. And that was like a really troubling
time because I just like couldn't get my shit together
(11:20):
in school. Man, I just wanted to play on that
guitar and start bands. So but yeah, that was that
was kind of like you know, the cadensed.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Version of a of a.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Up and down lifestyle and up and down California between
northern and southern California and my upbringing.
Speaker 4 (11:36):
But it's really a storybook, really life here. When you
get to, you know, join a band that you were
a fan of and tour and record, I mean you
must have just you know, pinched yourself in amazement of
what you had accomplished.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Dude.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
It was crazy, like all I ever wanted to do
when I was a kid, you know how Like did
they tell.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
You to like hold your breath.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
When you're going under like a bridge, or you're going
like in an underpass, or like you're going over a bridge,
you know, hold your breath and make a wish?
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Ever since I was a kid man, all I could
remember was like when I blow out the candles and
I'd make a wish and you're not supposed to tell anybody.
All I would wish was to be a professional musician.
And I would say those words because I wanted to
at least be able to live off music, you know.
Like I had a couple of uncles that like play guitar,
(12:31):
and they were just like, you know, just living a
miserable life, and I just at least wanted to put
some food on my table, playing playing the guitar. I
didn't want to go to college to like get to
this point now, like that's where a lot of the
gratitude comes from. And you know, moving to LA was
like it took so much to like then get to LA.
But then, like you know, what happened in Los Angeles
(12:54):
really didn't pan out the way I thought I was
going to pan out either. Like I never thought in
a million years that I would be fronting the band
that was plastered all over my wall as a kid.
That was just something that you know, life kind of unfolds,
you know, the journey kind of opens doors for you
that you know you probably wouldn't have.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Opened or even like fathomed as possible.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Never in a million years when I was listening to
Sublime as a kid, that I think that one to
heavy jamming with Button Airic singing those songs, it's crazy.
And during that journey, I met this band called the
Dirty Heads, and this.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
Was I've heard of them.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
This was a year.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Before I even met anybody in Sublime yet, so I
introduced to I was introduced to the Dirty Heads, and
I started hanging with those guys, and they were like
just playing, you know, probably like fifty people in like
bars and clubs and stuff, just you know, just like
getting that phase going in the van, you know. And
(13:58):
when I met them, like I listened to the music
I saw, like their YouTube stuff, and I was like, oh, dude,
they're so good, Like their music.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Is so rad.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
I was a little more in like funny enough kind
of doing what I'm doing now, like more music that
it's like I'm making now.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
That's kind of where I was before I joined Sublime.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
And so when I met the Dirty Heads, I was
listening to what they were doing, you know, with their
first record, and I was like, man, it's such beautiful music.
I'd loved their mixture of everything, so naturally, you know,
we were like, let's write a song together.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Man. You know, I was living in my van at
the time.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
They all had day jobs, and we wrote this song,
this little old song, lay Me Down, and we liked it.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
It was cool, you know. But they already had a record.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
That went out just eight months prior, so they weren't
in no rush. Their label wasn't any rush to go
and get in the studio and record a song. And man,
that song sat around for like a year, and one
day our manager, who I later ended up being managed
by the same managers as the Dirty Heads manager. Uh,
(15:04):
the Dirty Heads manager took their demo step step like
a CD of like a stack of songs, so like
maybe four or five songs, took them up to Kevin
Weatherley over at k Rock, who's like the most influential
man in alternative radio. You know, Kevin Weatherly. Big shout
out right away for changing all of our lives. Big
shout out to Lisa Warden. Love you so much. You
(15:24):
know these are great times man. And our manager Cheese
like he played them, you know the song They had
this song with Slash playing guitar, and that was like
the one. You know, It's like, okay, this is the
one we loaded it up. You know, this is the
good song. We got Slashes a feature, this is this
is the one. But uh, our manager's assistant, her favorite
(15:45):
song was let Me Down, the song that me and
the guys did, which was just a crappy old demo
we just put together at Aby Studio, and so she
put that song.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
At number one. God bless her heart.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Shout out camera and man, Kevin Weatherley popped that CD
in hit Play in the meeting and oh, oh freaking
lay me downstarted and she's my manager, damn here had
a heart attack.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
But you know he already started vibing, so you don't
stop the man.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
He's already tapping his toe and shaking his head. So
he's like whatever. Man, he loved the song. He played
it back four times in a row. He was like,
played again, played again, played again. He loved the song,
was like, this is a hit this you know how
it used to go back in the day.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Which it still does sometimes, and you know, man, the
rest was history.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
You know.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
He put it on.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
He's like, let's hear how it does on the phones.
That was like a demo, you know. Our manager, it
was like it's not even mastered yet. He's like, oh,
you want to hear how it sounds mastered on the radio.
Here you go, we're gonna go play it. And he
just goes and plays it and the phones blew up
like crazy, And I mean, that song really changed our
lives overnight. You know, I got a publishing deal within
a month from Sony ATV and you know, because I
(17:03):
wrote half that song with guys and they were like hey,
you got more songs.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
And I'm like, that's all I do is sit and
write songs. Like of course I got more songs.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
And so they were like, here's a deal, can you
write more songs for other artists?
Speaker 1 (17:17):
And I didn't even know that that was a thing.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
So I started writing all these songs for all these
other artists and getting introduced to all these just amazingly
talented people where I'm like the easily the least talented
person in the room for like years and just soaking
it up man. And I mean it's just been such
a fun ride, like to you know that part and
(17:42):
then like boom joining in with Sublime and then getting
to tour around the world. So I mean you just
never know, like keeping an open mind, and I think
that sort of like humility of like I just still
can't believe that, like, you know, this is what I
can do for a living. I don't have to go
work at like you know, do roofing anymore. So it's like, yeah,
(18:02):
it's rad I'm very grateful for that. And I think
that sort of energy is like what keeps me waking
up in the morning and.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
Like after you know, no, no doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
They'll be right back with more of the Taking a
Walk Podcast. Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
So let's play this little game called Fast five. I'm
gonna ask you five fast questions and get your get
your your comments here. First of all, first album you
ever bought.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Self titled Sublime.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
First concert you ever attended, Van's Warp tour.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
I wanted to see UH three eleven in Bayside.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
First time you heard your music on the radio?
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Oh man, I was.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
I was like sitting on my friend's couch watching TV.
It was actually his girlfriends and my manager about that.
It was that day he called me. It was just like, hey,
what are you doing. I'm like, I'm just sitting on
the couch watching TV. He's like, turn on K Rock
in five minutes and then he's like, call your mom.
You're you're gonna be a rock star. And that's what
(19:13):
he said. And I was like, what are you talking about?
And yeah, I heard lay Me Down on. We went
in my homie, his girlfriend's She used to drive like
this baby blue like VW Bug. It's like a twenty
twelve or something, and right now it's older than that.
It's two thousand and seven because the song came out No.
Nine and yeah, man, we just sat there and I man,
I almost blew her speakers out. We turned it up
(19:34):
so dang loud, and yeah, you just you never forget
that moment even to this day. It don't matter where
you're at. When you hear yourself on the radio or
you know, come on on the satellite radio at a
restaurant or something, it's like the most just takes you
right back to being a kid, and you're like, this
is like why I do it? You know, I love this.
(19:56):
I love that this is possible.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
First moment you knew you were going to have a
life of music.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Oh man.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You know, part of being an artist is like that
unshakable fear that all this is gonna go away. But
I just started to kind of get rid of that
whole thing. Funny enough, leaving Sublime. I know that sounds ridiculous.
There's this kind of feeling with artistry where it's like
it's like almost too good to be true. That can
(20:27):
drive you mad. But when you're kind of by yourself,
when you're on your own, before you're like married with
children and stuff.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
You don't really care.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
You know, young and dumb, young and reckless, you know,
live fast down young, right, you're just living for the moment.
But once you start packing on like responsibilities, you know,
to people that you love your children, you know, God.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
You know, bless it, like God forbid.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
You even become like somewhat remotely successful where you start
hiring some of your family, Like you start to know,
build something that becomes greater than yourself. So you think
it starts to make the art part and this whole
dream and the career thing like it starts to put
pressure on it and a little squeeze on it, and
things get complicated, and you know, you see a lot
(21:15):
of artists that just can't handle that. Either they quit,
or you know, they harm themselves with drugs and alcohol,
or you know, even worse, you know, they take their
own lives.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
I mean everything in between.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
I think it's important to kind of shake all that
and and you know, to make a long story short,
just within the last year, honestly, leaving Sublime was kind
of when I was like kind of figured out and
trusted myself and trusted the world and God and just
was like.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
I don't know, I don't know what's gonna happen.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
But I know, like I'm happy, and I know I'm committed,
and this is like I have music that that I
die for and and that that's that's the energy.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
You know.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
I love it. I love it. Okay, one more on
the fast five. First instrument you ever bought?
Speaker 1 (22:04):
First instrument guitar? Electric guitar.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah, my dad he got one a pawn shop and
brought it home and haven't put it down since.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
How now, like eleven years old.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Eleven years old? I love it. So take us behind
the creation of Yme. It's such an awesome project. And
you know this you described a little while ago. You know,
the confidence that it took to make this move. You're
at this moment in time. I think that is an
amazing moment. So, uh, take us a little bit behind
(22:39):
the curtain on the creation of YME.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
I'd love to well.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
It all kind of stems from like the pandemic because
Sublime with Rome had been touring, you know, every year
since its formation, and like many other artists, when the
pandemic happened, you know, we were forced to kind of
throw on the tal for a little bit and you
know kind of has time off. So I started like
live streaming and a lot of people were sitting at
(23:06):
home too, so these rooms were getting like really full,
and you know, I started getting all these fands, and
after I just ran through all the catalog and all
the Sublime stuff and Sublime with Rome stuff, people were
just like, dude, do you got any music that you're
working on? And the honest answer was like no, Like
I hadn't worked on music for myself in so long.
I mean, I'd just been writing songs for other people,
(23:28):
and that was like.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
I had all this time. So I was like, you
know what, that sounds like a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
So I started waking up in the morning and going
to the studio and just like putting together these songs
and kind of putting together my whole like sound that
I was like really after in my head, like the
sounds that I loved and the music that had the
most inspiring, Like that was the most inspiring to me.
(23:56):
And I wanted to just kind of fuse all that
together and and you know, see what happens, you know,
because it wasn't like I was going to like put
an album out and go on tour.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
It was like the pandemic, you know.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
And once I started doing that, man, it just like
became such a labor of love. Like because most other
songs that I would write there were for a reason.
They were for an artist, for you know, an an
R hit me up, or you know, we need this
kind of record for this artist.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Are you interested to take a session.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Here's a couple of songs, you know, or with Sublime,
you know, I had other people, you know, I had
to listen to the music, and so this was something
that was just so free and so creative and it
you know, and it just created like a.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Sound for me and an outlet.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
So after a while, I just like really couldn't couldn't
like get away from the music.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
It was like all I really wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
You know, even being on the road with Sublime, with Rome,
I would start really thinking about, you know, once it
opened up the world, I would just be thinking about
wanting to be at home and like record this music
and like, you know, oh, man, I want to play
this song Mide live in front of all these people.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
But you know, you can't do that. It don't work
like that.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
And that's you know why Me was one of the
later songs that I really tacked onto the album, and
it was because it was like my kind of just
wrapping up my entire tenor with Sublime, and even like
the single artwork of the song is a picture of
(25:28):
me when I was twelve on my bed and you
can see like six Sublime posters in the background. Because
you know, that's my favorite band, getting to tour around
the world with them, and then now stepping into like
my solo venture and putting out my first bit of music.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
I wanted to pay homage to that, And you know.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
The song is just really about being grateful and about
seeing the world through like.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
A better lens.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
You know, don't know who said it, but I heard
this really cool quote where it's like one of the
most important decisions you'll ever make is when you wake
up if the world is going to be a good
place or if it's like a harmful, terrible place. And
I'm you know, butchering that, but I just think that
that is like so true. So I wanted to flip
(26:20):
an old age old saying like why me, kind of
flipping on its head and turn it in into about
something you know about like why me, like I'm so grateful, Like.
Speaker 4 (26:29):
You know, can you talk about some of the other
songs that really excite you to go out and you
know show people at the festivals and other shows you'll
be playing it.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
So I have this other song that I'm just so
excited for everyone to hear. It's called Slow and Easy.
And this song is like, you know, really it's it's
about like me and my wife and just like you know,
focus on so many things and trying to have control
over all these aspects of our life and make sure
(27:01):
everyone's living optimally, you know, ourselves last on the Total
poll always. And I wanted to write about that and
just kind of take a you know, write a song
about unplugging and just taking it slow and easy and
just kind of like getting back to the simpler kind
of things and just you know, disconnecting a little bit.
(27:24):
And you know, it has this vibe of the music
that I love so much. You know, it's like this
you know, it's got like some rhythmic notes and the
soulfulness of reggae, but it uses like almost.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Really really effortlessly with like you.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Know, soul and like like you know, folk like Van
Morrison almost. So it's like this tone, like this sound
that I'm just obsessed with that I think I've kind
of stumbled into and.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
You know, I'm just it was so awesome the way
it was.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
But then I was like, you know, what, how rad
would it be to like put the Dirty Heads on here,
because one there were my brothers and this is like
one of my favorite songs on the record, so it
would just be awesome for like a full circle moment,
you know, like everyone is so used to you know,
like lay me Down, Like whenever we're on tour together,
all sing lay me Down with them, and you know,
(28:19):
it's like it's kind of like a summer anthem for
like our our age generation. So I was like, this
is like the most summer anthem track that I have
on the album, and I got to put my boys
on it, so it's like almost full circle, you know.
And that's that's a song that's like really you know,
near and dear to me. And one of the other
songs that I definitely want to highlight on the record
(28:41):
is a is a song called knw Me, and you know,
it's it's kind of like a double entendre where where
you know, it's it's it's.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Talking about like.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
You say you knew me, but you never knew me
at all, you know, because it's like it's like a
newer version of yourself that sometimes people they'll take for
granted what's in front of them and then like, you know,
expect to keep you in like a box or whatever.
And you know, it can happen in relationships very often,
but you know it can also happen in you know,
(29:14):
business relationships and in bands and all kinds of anytime
you're dealing with another people in general, you know. And
I wanted to write about that sort of feeling and
that sort of experience. So that's That's another song that
I'm really excited for the world to hear.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
You know.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
It's cool being able to I have these shows and
these festivals that I've been playing, you know, Cali Vibes
and Cali Roots and Summerfest July fifteenth and all.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
These cool festivals, and I feel like I'm kind.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Of doing it like my music career now, I'm kind
of doing it in like like a little more of
an old fashioned way where I'm I'm writing these songs
on like that guitar, you know, and then I'm going
live and I'm just playing them and I'm getting the
feedback and I'm like seeing what's moving.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
I'm like that bridge is too long, you know, Da
da da da, or like this song's boring, you.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Know, or you know, and I'm kind of like and
now I'm coming home, and then I'm like, these are
the songs that I want to record.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
And it's awesome. You know.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
It's like so much different than like how a lot
of it's done now where it's like, you know, it's
just you in a little room like this and a
little camera like that, and you're just make and make
and make and self mix and put it out and
shoot and shoot and shoot and shoot and put it
out and shoot and put it out. And I mean,
as an artist, it sounds awesome, but it's it's not
(30:35):
very fair to the art, is it. So I like
living and I like being with my fans and letting
them kind of determine help me determine the songs that
we need in the movement.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
You know, you are in a zone, you know the
term the zone. You are in a zone I could
absolutely tell with with this new music and hitting the
road by the way you mentioned Van Morrison. Shout out
to Van if you haven't checked out his brand new
song called Remembering Now, check it out.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
I don't check that out.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
I've heard that it's outstanding. It's one of his best
things he's done in years. But I wanted to mention
that for sure. So in closing Rome, when you sort
of think about younger Rome and Rome at this age,
what would you tell younger Rome in terms of advice
(31:30):
that you know you think about now as the older room.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Drink less alcohol, for sure, But you know, like, honestly,
if I didn't drink lass hour, if I didn't if
I drink less alcohol, I don't know if I.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
Would be chiller right now if I learned.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
You know, I had to go make a fool myself
a couple of times in the world for me to
calm down, just like I had to touch the fire.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
You know, I'm one of those people.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
Unfortunately, we're like, no matter how many times you tell me,
no matter how many videos or how many books, I
just got to learn it on my own. And I learned.
I learned a lot about life watching my old man.
So I'm very grateful for that. I tell him that
all the time. I love him for that. I wouldn't
(32:18):
change a damn thing about it. Every night, everything that
we went through, it made me who I am. I'm
a good ass dad, and I take pride in that more.
That's the thing that I'm the most prideful about. All
that stuff let me to this point now. So but
I would go back and say, you know, hey, man,
like chill out all the booze a little bit and
(32:40):
call your mom more.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
You know.
Speaker 3 (32:42):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
Rome, Congratulations on your solo debuts. It's incredible music. I'm
so happy for you, and I'm so honored that you
came on to Take on a Walk podcast. Thank you, Rom,
It's an honor of us.
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Thank you for having me brother.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Take a
Walk Podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
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a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
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