Congratulations on the success of your music video for “Red Omen.” What inspired you to write and record that particular song?
Thanks for having me today and it’s a pleasure to be able to speak with you. Thank you so kindly for the accolades. It has been an unbelievable journey for Red Omen. Film festivals all over the world from Moscow to Los Angeles have shown the video. I’m happy to say not only has it received multiple awards and acclamations but it has created an incredible amount of attention for “The Whole Dyslexic Society here in Canada and the US. It has been a humbling experience.
Red Omen is a story of my life both fictitious and factual. It is the allegory of a dyslexics life. Told through the lyrics and concept of the song, I was trying to bring attention to the idea of belief in one’s self and the hurdles we all must cross as people every day. The moments of wonderful things that happen in our lives that fuel existence and the journey of struggle that makes us stronger.
Are you a self-taught guitar player, or did you take lessons in the past? If you did, what was your first guitar teacher like? If not, how did you teach yourself?
I am formally self-taught.. lol
I’ve had a lot of really wonderful teachers in my life. My first teacher was enthusiasm. Seeing the exuberance of other peoples passion for music is what originally fuelled me into the idea of being a musician. I grew up in the 1970s in a household of three generations of people where music was paramount. When I finally got to grade school, they removed the music program and I was devastated. It wasn’t until I attended high school that I started to receive formal training, not only from my school teachers, but for a period of time, I was taking private lessons at a small music school. Regardless most of my time was spent with my instrument around my neck. I won the scholarship for music at my high school and went on to Humber College at a very young age to study jazz performance. My dad died while I was midway through the program, and I left to help my family through our grieving process. I then went out on the road with multiple bands. Playing across Canada and the United States. I was also working as a teacher at different schools, learning as much as I could from everybody as I went through my journey. I actually started teaching in grade 11 at my high school. I had a really cool teacher, Terry Anton, who helped me prepare for my college entry examinations, and thought it was a good idea I start teaching at a young age..
It’s been a lifelong pursuit and I’ll never stop learning until I’m pushing up daisies.. lol
Were you involved with music as a teenager? Did you play in any bands back then? How did you get started?
Everybody wants to be a guitar player.. lol or a drummer.. The first band I had was with friends from my local neighborhood. We were about 11 years old. If you had an instrument at that age it was a right of passage. Over the course of holidays during the school season we would pool our money together and rent an alarmingly large amount of recording equipment and lock ourselves in my bedroom for a week or so and do nothing but record and write music.. by the time I was 15 years old I was already playing in high school bands, stage band, concert bands and doing whatever I could to make music live.
When I was 18 years old we were arrested by capital records for their farm team and went out on the road with larger Canadian acts. Playing universities, concert halls, and some larger stadiums…was a wonderful experience.
How would you describe your brand of music to someone who has never heard of Ed Roman?
Thought-provoking, sarcastic, humorous, alarming, just about everything in the kitchen sink. That’s what I referred to the music as.. Kitchen Sink..
How would you describe an Ed Roman fan?
The people that I’ve talk to before and after shows are extremely interesting folks.. They seem to be the kind of people like me that question a lot of stuff and don’t take things at face value. I’d say a lot of times they like to talk about music and the impact lyrics can have on the living moment.. I’ve met a lot of really amazing people on my journey..
What gives you the most joy when you are on stage?
The thing that gives me the most joy when I’m on stage is “doing it!!!”
Watching the audience listening and interacting, looking at my bandmates and feeling wonderful and excited about what we are doing, having unbelievable moments of spontaneity which almost are punctuated elated moments of epiphany.. All of it is extremely grin worthy..
Tell us about your best performance you’ve ever had? How about the worst?
The best performances I’ve had are the ones that I don’t think about so much and worry about the consequences of what could happen. Great shows flow themselves without any contradiction or worry of mass catastrophe. If you are rehearsed and well prepared there should be no issues… so enjoy the ride.
Some shows can go by the wayside as a result of many things that can be beyond your control from weather to technical difficulties. You just have to keep remembering to go with the flow..
What other instruments do you play?
I’m a string instrument player at heart. My principal instrument is the electric bass and of course I am a vocalist and lyricist.
I started off playing guitar and then moved on to electric bass in high school. I think we are all drummers at heart and I have always gravitated to playing drums and percussion with just about as much enthusiasm but never studied it formally. I also like playing the keyboards.. especially the Hammond organ as it appeals to my eclectic tastes.. In the last decade I’ve been dabbling with banjo and sitar. All in all I’d say I play about 8 to 10 different instruments.. But electric bass is my thing..
What does Ed Roman like to do when he’s not making music?
I really like studying and talking about anthropology, sociology, politics, astronomy, and history. In the last number of years I’ve been studying a great deal of archaeology and anthropology. I am fascinated by history and deep history. Who we were, where we were, who we are today and the possibilities of our future..
What is up next for you in 2021?
We are just about to release a new single and I’m very excited to bring some new material to people. The latest single “Tomorrow Is Today” and previous single “Stronger” have been doing extremely well, receiving large amounts of airplay and also winning multiple awards for the video Tomorrow Is Today. These songs are a part of a project titled “A Recipe For Perpetual Spring “
Thanks Ed! We appreciate the time…
Thank you so kindly for having me and allowing me to express my thoughts and ideas about my craft.. always a pleasure..
