SUBLIME WITH ROME COMES TO MAGIC CITY: AN INTERVIEW WITH ROME RAMIREZ
Musical magic often hits us in our tender years, when we are first settling into the double-digits: the age from which memories and emotions seem to carry disproportionate weight.
The bands we discover during this time can bring us back, their songs resonating strongly for the rest of our lives, permanently engrained in our beings. For me, and for Rome Ramirez, Sublime was one of those life-changing bands. But while I might be found singing “Santeria” with friends around a campfire, Rome found himself part of the band, which came to be known as Sublime with Rome.
This might sound like a fanboy’s dream, but it wasn’t all gravy: Bradley Nowell, Sublime’s founding frontman, died of a heroin overdose in 1996, never seeing the great fame that would come to the band as a natural response to their perfect distillation of dub, ska, punk, hip-hop, and reggae. The band’s remaining members, bassist Eric Wilson and drummer Bud Gaugh, carried on the legacy through post-Sublime projects, and the current incarnation has found the band with only one original member, as Gaugh has since left and been replaced by Josh Freese, a drummer with an impressive rock resume that includes the Vandals, Nine Inch Nails, and Guns N’ Roses.
As for Rome (he often goes by the solitary moniker), his sound is certainly derivative of Nowell’s, though his lyrics are more easily deciphered, less inflected with the affect of Rastas and punk rockers who came before. Sublime with Rome’s second album, Sirens, is good, though it didn’t floor me like Sublime’s self-titled, or 40 Oz. to Freedom, or any of the posthumous releases (which were the result of a binding seven-album contract) did. Nonetheless, the band has found a new kind of synergy that may have been absent on the 2011 debut, Yours Truly. I spoke with Rome about all of this.
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TCC: How old were you when you first discovered Sublime?
RR: I was 12 years old.
TCC: Could you describe a 12-year-old Rome Ramirez?
RR: I was really into rap music at that time. I wanted to be a gangster or some shit. I was into basketball and rap, and that was my whole thing. Then I learned to skateboard, and I heard Sublime, and then all that changed- I became a punk rocker and I liked rock music; I changed the way I dressed. I wanted to learn how to play music, so I got a guitar. Everything just kind of changed when I heard Sublime. I found my identity early on, thanks to Sublime.
TCC: Could you bring us back to the moment when you went from being a fan to becoming, essentially, part of the band?
RR: Well, it didn’t really happen in one sitting. It wasn’t, like, a text message I got. Well, it kind of actually was. I was in bed, at like three in the morning. And my friend who connected all of these dots together, he texted me and was like, “You owe me big time. I think Eric [Wilson] really likes you and wants to start a band.” And I was, like, “What?” I remember it was on my brother’s birthday, October 28th, and I wrote it down on the nearest piece of paper I could find- it was the middle of the night- and I wrote, Today is October 28th, my brother’s birthday, and I just got told the news that I might be the new singer for Sublime. I just wrote it down like a journal entry. I wish I knew where that piece of paper went. That was the first inclination I had of the band coming back together; that was the first I ever heard.
TCC: Now, Bud [Gaugh] has left the band; so it’s you and Eric and Josh Freese. They are both over a decade older than you. A lot of Sublime’s music is centered on youthful themes. What’s it like, playing that kind of music with people who are that much older than you?
RR: I’m not a young little kid walking around, and they’re not old men watching Matlock backstage. We’re all adults, and we party, and we hang out with chicks, and we play rock-n-roll for a living. The age difference doesn’t really matter in this line of work.
TCC: In this band, how do you strike a balance between channeling Bradley [Nowell]- because your vocal range and tone are remarkably similar to his- and also expressing yourself as an artist?
RR: It’s something that I don’t even think about. I just go up there and sing. He’s my favorite singer- he’s the one who got me into singing- so I’m naturally good at singing like Brad. That’s just how it goes. People say that I walk like my dad. That’s the man I grew up with. I pick up these mannerisms from the people who had a big influence on me, and Brad was such a huge influence on me that I learned to sing through his music. So that when I’m performing up there now, it’s no coincidence whatsoever that I sound like him. I even throw a layup like Michael Jordan, my favorite basketball player. I just go up there and do my thing- I try to sing on pitch and keep my time. They can take it however they want.
TCC: Have you faced challenges, in terms of fans and acceptance?
RR: Not in person, no. No one’s actually ever come up to me and said, “Dude, you fuckin’ suck.” Thank god, because that would be, like, a total bummer. There’s shit online, but you kind find shit online always. In person- everyone’s been really nice and cool, so I’m grateful for that.
TCC: Since Sublime with Rome has started, the lineup has changed- losing Bud. How has the musical dynamic shifted?
RR: We’re a lot closer now. I know that sounds weird. Bud and Eric never really got along. They’re kind of like brothers who can’t be with each other, but they love each other. When Bud was in the band, it was Bud’s band. That’s how Bud is. Bud and Brad, to my understanding, were fighting every fucking day, because they would just go back and forth: this is our band, this is Bud’s band. That kind of came with this whole stigma; you don’t really mess with- you’re kind of walking on eggshells. But [when I joined the band] I didn’t know shit so I was smiling- this is awesome! I get to be in a tour bus and travel all over, right? But I didn’t really know exactly how bothered Eric was getting with the whole thing, and, I think, when Bud left, it was kind of a big stepping stone for Eric, to really open up and not feel like he needs to watch out because of Bud- not feel like he has to watch his words, watch what he has to say. He really got to come out and be the head of this band. And Josh is such an awesome guy- he’s so lighthearted. It’s just a really good feeling now.
TCC: How about musically- how had your sound evolved from Yours Truly to Sirens?
RR: We all listen to different shit from what we were listening to then. A lot of the songs on Yours Truly I’d previously written. And I brought them into the studio, and the guys liked a couple of the songs, chopped up a couple of parts- for the most part, all of my stuff was pretty much done. Sirens was like- we’ve known each other for a couple of years now- and all the ten years I’ve known Eric, we’ve traveled and lived together in tour buses and hotels; we’ve been through things- we’re a lot closer and have more of a connection now- all of us, as a band. So we’re been able to just write and really express ourselves, and not feel like we’re going to be judged. It’s much more of a joint effort, from everybody.
TCC: Are you mainly the lyricist?
RR: Yes.
TCC: Do you have any specific source of inspiration?
RR: My songs are just about things that I feel, moments in my life, pages out of my book. It all depends on the song: sometimes I’ll feel a certain way, and I’ll sit down and write a song; a lot the time, I just gotta be in the zone, so to speak. Writing music for myself is more difficult than writing music for others. I’m my own worst critic.
TCC: I think we all are. So, speaking of songwriting and inspiration- both of your parents are from Mexico. There’s been a lot of political attention to immigration from Mexico, as of late. Also, the Mexican culture, I think, is a really rich culture. Does your culture, or any politically fueled experiences, ever end up infusing your songwriting?
RR: I’ll never say never- I’ll write little blurbs and put them into a song- but for the most part, I stay away politically infused music because I’m not the best representation to be preaching to somebody. I feel like, if you’re going to do that kind of thing, you better come with the facts; you better know what you’re talking about, and that’s not the stance [from which] I like to write music. Because personally, I don’t like to write music that’s preachy. Even though my favorite band is Rage Against the Machine. I think that’s why- if you’re gonna be that kind of band, then be that kind of band.
TCC: They say the personal is the political. Do you ever play [the Sublime song] “Date Rape”?
RR: Yeah.
TCC: If you think about it, that’s a political song.
RR: I mean, anything’s political: as long as there’s two opinions butting against each other, you’ve got politics. But I think, moreso, it’s not something I put on the forefront of my life.
TCC: Yeah- I used to say to my friends, “If you don’t like Sublime, then you don’t like fun.” Sublime is a fun band.
RR: Exactly. It’s a fun band- it’s not supposed to be something serious.
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Sublime with Rome will be playing with The Expendables at Magic City Music Hall, located at 1240 Front Street in Binghamton, on November 14th at 8pm (doors at 6:30). Tickets are $37 in advance and $42 the day of the show. Visit themagiccitymusichall.com, or call (607) 296-3269 for tickets and more information.
