ROMES release new single, “CHOKER”
Made up of Toronto siblings Jacob and Nicolas Bitove, ROMES returns with “CHOKER,” a captivating ode to the classic grunge and alt-rock sounds of the 1990s. The single, which marks the band’s heaviest track released to date, perfectly captures the nostalgia of that era with its raw emotion, crunchy distortion-rich guitars, and edgy, punchy drums.
“We grew up on 90’s grunge and alt-rock and a lot of those influences naturally found their way into writing CHOKER. We wanted to capture the nostalgia of the music we first fell in love with – the raw emotion and energy that inspired us to start making music in the first place,” shares ROMES. “Certain production choices blur the genre lines that sparked the record resulting in the heaviest track we’ve done to date, both lyrically and sonically.”
Watch the lyric video for “CHOKER” below and learn more about ROMES via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
We’re two Toronto brothers, Jacob & Nick. We grew up playing music together and haven’t stopped since. As a DIY duo, we’ve taught ourselves how to produce, mix, and design our own cover art and merch. Doing so has really allowed us to create the best representation of what we want to say.
Tell us a bit about your most recent release.
It’s called “CHOKER,” and it’s definitely the darkest and heaviest track sonically and emotionally that we’ve put out there.
Where do you tend to pull inspiration from when writing?
It’s always different for every song and we never really know where it’s going to come from. Lyrically speaking, I write about my own personal struggles, hoping it can connect with anyone else going through similar experiences.
Do you have any upcoming shows you’d like to tell us about?
Nothing that we can announce quite yet but 2023 should be an exciting one. We just got back from SXSW, and that was a wild time. As a two-piece, we’re always looking for ways to incorporate new, exciting elements into our live show. We’ve recently started running Nick’s drums through guitar pedals live, which has brought a crazy vibe to the show. Really looking forward to getting in front of a lot of familiar and new faces this year.
What’s your goal for 2023?
Almost all of our songs deal with mental health issues, and it’s always so rewarding when we get messages from people letting us know that our music made them feel less alone. That’s always our goal – to reach and connect with as many people as possible to help them get through whatever crazy shit they’ve got going on in their life.