Romancer Interview

We had the pleasure of talking to the guys in Romancer. We talked about their band, album and upcoming tour. Here is what they had to say:

1) What's your name and role in the band? 

Adam - Guitar, Vocals Riley - Guitar, Vocals, Ben - Bass, Nathan - Drums

2) What made you want to be in a Pop Punk band, write punk music?

Nothing made us want to form a pop-punk band specifically; we just wanted to write music and be creative. The kind of music we liked to play and listen to just sort of happened to fall into that category (at the time of our last album). Genre was never really a predetermined factor in our writing process and is still changing as we grow as a band.

3) Your band is from Kitchener, What is the scene like there?

The Tri-Cities scene (Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge) was definitely hurting for awhile after almost all of the venues closed down or stopped doing shows. It was kept alive by Kyle Wappler at Have Hope as well as Paul Maxwell who were really the only people giving young bands an honest opportunity to play locally, along with bringing in solid touring packages. It feels cool seeing lots of new bands starting up and definitely gives a hopeful feeling that the scene is on the rise.

4) Why did you guys pick and change the name to Romancer?

We went by Lancaster before we changed our name to Romancer, but Lancaster seemed like too common of a word- it’s a mall, it’s a street, it’s a city. You couldn’t really google us or find us online. On top of that, we had a lineup change and altered our creative direction so we felt it was only appropriate to change the name. The name itself was a pretty random choice and doesn’t really mean anything specific to us. 

5) If you were to describe Romancer to someone on the street, what would you tell them?

That’s always a super hard question to answer, but the easiest way to put it is that we’re trying to experiment a lot with the punk and pop-punk formula. We try to make things mathy, ambient, and noisy while still maintaining a fast pace and catchy melodies. We try to make everything we do sound spontaneous and chaotic while staying calculated and in control. I’m sure if we were actually explaining that to a guy on the street he would have walked away by now.

6 a) Listening to your albums, the new album is definitely more raw and emotional than your previous ones, why did you go this route?

Like we mentioned before, along with the name change came a change in creative direction. While we didn’t deliberately write emotional songs, as a band we liked coming up with fun musical moments and cool harmonies, basically stuff that we like listening to personally. This album was really the first time we felt we were pushing ourselves creatively, 100%. We really consider this to be our first release as this band and are super proud of it.

6 b) How would you describe the progression from your first album to the sound you have now on As We Both Close In On The Water?

 

The progression from our first EP to AWBCIOTW was super smooth and easy because of all of the major changes happening with the band at the time. We basically had a blank slate and could write whatever songs we wanted. Now, we’re in the process of writing our next EP and are trying to think of ways to flip our last release on its head and do super cool things.

7) What does Rock The Mill do for Kitchener and Cambridge music?

Rock the Mill used to be THE opportunity for people of all ages to experience really cool, live, local music as well as giving young bands a chance to perform on a professional stage with big touring acts, like a real festival. It’s pretty neat that it is backed by the city of Cambridge and there is still a lot of potential for it to be a unique and important event for Cambridge scene again but it seems like interest has been waning in the past couple years as draw has dwindled and bigger bands have stopped coming through. Rock the Mill has been so cool. It’s something amazing but it’s also something that Cambridge bands aren’t entitled to and should be something that we all try to foster and grow to be really cool.

8) You guys went on tour with Static Prevails, How did that go? How were the crowds?

That tour went great! It was our first run with another band, so it was super nice to do it with Static, who we’ve known for years. We had an amazing photographer along with us named Sabrina DiRenzo who captured some amazing moments. We got to go to Ottawa for the first time which has one of the coolest scenes in Ontario. Crowds were appreciative, one dude in Ottawa brought like a shit ton of donuts for everyone which was awesome.

9) Your next tour starts in less than a month, what are you expecting with this run?

Our goal for this tour is to make Brent from Certainty laugh as much possible. His laugh is an enigmatic gem in a world of torment. We’re stoked to go back to Cambridge because we haven’t played there in about half a year. We’re really excited to go back to Ottawa and Montreal again as well as hitting St. Catharine’s for the first time. Certainty is dropping their EP at the first show of the tour so that’s gonna be super hype. Also Downstream is the best band ever. 

10) What is up next for the band for the rest of 2017? Can you top 40 shows this year?

Unless we do some crazy month long tour at the end of year we probably won’t be topping the amount of shows we did last year. But that’s because we’re working super hard on our next EP and we really intend on giving the attention it deserves by spending a lot of time on writing and pre-production.

11) Which bands from around the local Kitchener scene would you suggest to someone looking for new music?

 

Gold Finch is doing everything right at the moment and they’re making really cool, honest music. We love them so much.

Mirrors & Tides are probably one of the most underrated bands in all of Ontario. They’re equal parts goofy, heavy and innovative. They’re the most fun hardcore band to watch.

Published 2/12/2017