AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH...
American band The Romantics hit it big in the 1980’s with a slew of rousing, rocking tunes. Although they enjoyed solid success in Europe, they never once played in Belgium. Thank the deities of culture and music, then, for this year’s Vostertfeesten in Bree. The Romantics were the headlines of Saturday, August 20, 2016. Just prior to the show, Keys and Chords had the chance to sit down and have a chat with founding members Wally Palmar and Mike Skill. Two extremely friendly chaps, who immediately professed enthusiasm for their forthcoming gig.
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Wally Palmar: “This is actually the very first time we play in Belgium. We’re looking forward to it. It was a good opportunity for us.”
Mike Skill: “Years ago, we were in France to do a promotional tour, when ‘Talking In Your Sleep’ came out.” Wally: “We also played a festival outside of Amsterdam in 1980. It wasn’t Pinkpop, it was …” Mike: “The Lochem Festival.” Julian De Backer: “Wow, great memory.” Wally: “Otherwise, we mainly did television and radio as part of a promotional tour in 1983 or 1984. Also in Spain.” Julian: “I was born in 1984, right around your commercial peak. The first time I ever heard a Romantics song was ten years later, in 1994, in the movie ‘Richie Rich’. ‘What I Like About You’ is heard when they play tag on quads.” Mike: “Right!” Julian: “Great song, great scene. Do you guys have to approve every media appearance, or is that something your publishing manager does?” Wally: “Yes, a lot of times, it’s the publishing company who does all the work. They license the songs out. They don’t tell us all the time. I would like to say that we’re in constant communication with them, but not really. They don’t really have to tell us.” Mike: “I don’t think they’re always looking, either, haha. People are asking.” Julian: “So it could be that you guys are just watching a movie and bump into one of your songs, without prior knowledge.” Mike & Wally: “Yeah.” |
Wally: “We’ll hear our songs during television commercials. We have friends around the country. If they’re watching, they’ll tell me: ‘Wow, we just heard ‘What I Like About You’ on this and that. Did you know that?’.”
Mike: “And now, with the internet, they can immediately tell us.”
Wally: “If I then reply ‘I didn’t really know’, it sounds like we’re stupid or that we don’t care, but that’s not the case. The publishing company just doesn’t really tell us.”
Mike: “Our manager did a deal with Bud Light, in the early days of the band. We weren’t involved in the negotiations or the money. Bud Light wanted it, our manager wanted it, so we did it. At the time, in the early 80’s, not a lot of bands were doing that. It was kind of ‘not done’, it didn’t happen a lot. We grew up with The Yardbirds and The Who in the 60’s, and we always heard they did commercials. We wanted that kind of thing.”
Julian: “It’s great exposure. Every time, a new generation will discover your songs.”
Wally: “If you just totally depend on radio, you’re not going to get your songs in commercials or in movies. The mass exposure is a great thing for everybody.”
Mike: “Now, everybody does it. The Kinks, Eric Clapton.”
Wally: “It’s very popular to have rock and roll songs in television commercials, advertisements and movies.”
Julian: “I think the only band that doesn’t like their songs featured in commercials, is Led Zeppelin. Even in movies, they are very reluctant.”
Mike: “It’s the same thing with radio. Even if it’s radio, you’re still selling something.”
Wally: “Unless they were selling something that was so terrible. We don’t want to be affiliated with something horrible.”
Julian: “I remember Chubby Checker suing Hewlett-Packard because the company offered a penis measuring application called ‘Chubby Checker’.”
Wally & Mike: “Haha!”
Mike: “Well, yeah … then again … haha.”
Wally: “Regarding Belgium, they contacted us before the end of last year and we were really excited when we got the call. ‘They really want us in Belgium? This’ll be great!’ We have played Spain on a few different occasions in the last ten years, but never any place else. The last couple of summers, we had a very busy schedule back in the US.”
Mike: “And now, with the internet, they can immediately tell us.”
Wally: “If I then reply ‘I didn’t really know’, it sounds like we’re stupid or that we don’t care, but that’s not the case. The publishing company just doesn’t really tell us.”
Mike: “Our manager did a deal with Bud Light, in the early days of the band. We weren’t involved in the negotiations or the money. Bud Light wanted it, our manager wanted it, so we did it. At the time, in the early 80’s, not a lot of bands were doing that. It was kind of ‘not done’, it didn’t happen a lot. We grew up with The Yardbirds and The Who in the 60’s, and we always heard they did commercials. We wanted that kind of thing.”
Julian: “It’s great exposure. Every time, a new generation will discover your songs.”
Wally: “If you just totally depend on radio, you’re not going to get your songs in commercials or in movies. The mass exposure is a great thing for everybody.”
Mike: “Now, everybody does it. The Kinks, Eric Clapton.”
Wally: “It’s very popular to have rock and roll songs in television commercials, advertisements and movies.”
Julian: “I think the only band that doesn’t like their songs featured in commercials, is Led Zeppelin. Even in movies, they are very reluctant.”
Mike: “It’s the same thing with radio. Even if it’s radio, you’re still selling something.”
Wally: “Unless they were selling something that was so terrible. We don’t want to be affiliated with something horrible.”
Julian: “I remember Chubby Checker suing Hewlett-Packard because the company offered a penis measuring application called ‘Chubby Checker’.”
Wally & Mike: “Haha!”
Mike: “Well, yeah … then again … haha.”
Wally: “Regarding Belgium, they contacted us before the end of last year and we were really excited when we got the call. ‘They really want us in Belgium? This’ll be great!’ We have played Spain on a few different occasions in the last ten years, but never any place else. The last couple of summers, we had a very busy schedule back in the US.”
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Mike: “Our old managers didn’t really push us. They kept us out of England, and other countries. They thought it was easier to make money in the United States, and they didn’t want to spend money on trucks and equipment for Europe.”
Wally: “They could make more money, off of us, by keeping us in the United States.” Julian: “Same thing happened to Elvis Presley. He never played outside of America. It’s unconfirmed, of course, but rumor has it the real reason was The Colonel who fled The Netherlands and didn’t want to return to Europe.” Wally: “Right!” Mike: “Oh, I never heard that.” Julian: “That’s why he kept Elvis in America. The only exception, of course, was when Elvis went to Germany for his military service. Too bad, because the Europeans would have loved to see him.” |
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Mike: “Yeah, I can imagine.”
Julian: “You guys are very big in Australia as well.” Mike: “Australia, yes, but Holland was very kind to us as well.” Wally: “For our first record, we didn’t have any kind of video footage. So they sent over a film crew from the Netherlands, to come and film us in the US. ‘What I Like About You’ was slowly climbing in the charts, and the people in the Netherlands were demanding footage. They sent over a crew, they filmed us in Los Angeles, brought it back to Europe, and that helped promote the song. Then in Australia, it just happened to catch fire too, and we went out there to play and did a tour. Once again, because of not-so-smart decision making, we never went back to Australia. One time, in 1980, and that was it. Couple of festivals, and then nothing.” Julian: “Too bad, because there was a market.” Mike: “There were other things involved. They wanted us to do a new record, eight months after the first one. We were in Australia, we had just recorded the second album, so we were playing these new songs instead of promoting the hits we already had. Haha. Very confusing for the audience.” Wally: “Very confusing.” Mike: “Once the record started dropping in America, we should have gone to Europe, and supported the first album. Who knows now, how it would have worked out? We’re here now, and we’re enjoying it. We were asked to do five shows, with Rick Springfield, but they didn’t want us to do tour after tour after tour. So we picked just this one.” Julian: “Finally in Belgium.” Mike: “Very good!” Julian: “A former girlfriend of mine once heard ‘What I Like About You’ on the radio, and she said: ‘Oh, there’s that nice Beach Boys song’.” Mike: “Haha!” |
Wally: “The Beach Boys are great artists. Excellent songs, and they vocalised really well. Great harmonies. When we started The Romantics, we were four guys that could sing. Each guy could sing lead. When we recorded, and when we played live, we utilized everybody’s singing and that was a big part of our identity.”
Julian: “You guys also covered ‘Shake A Tail Feather’. Funny thing is, I discovered The Romantics through a movie, but I also discovered ‘Shake A Tail Feather’ through a movie, when Ray Charles sang it in ‘The Blues Brothers’.”
Mike (to Wally): “Who wrote that? Little Willie John?”
Wally: “Who wrote it? I’m not sure.”
Mike: “I thought Willie John did it.”
Wally: “I’m not sure he actually wrote it. We’ll have to look that up. We are very familiar with the Mitch Ryder version. It’s a good R&B song.”
Julian: “I don’t know if you guys ever check the YouTube comments on your official channel. There are some gems to be found. For example, a comment on ‘Talking In Your Sleep’: ‘68% of the budget for this video was spent on Glad brand garbage bags for the backdrop’.”
Mike: “Oh yeah! And oil, so we couldn’t stand up. Slippery.”
Julian: “Then some guy replied to that comment, and said: ‘I would have thought it was spent on hair mousse’.”
Mike: “Haha!”
Wally: “Sure, haha, our hair. One thing they didn’t spend any money on, were the outfits for the girls.”
Mike: “The guy that did the video also did … what’s the name of the movie with the TV screen blank and the girl in front of the TV?”
Julian: “Poltergeist.”
Wally: “Matthew F. Leonetti! He was the cinematographer, and he went on to do movies.”
Julian: “You guys had great clips. They’re very 80’s, but they’re bold and colourful.”
Mike: “We started out in clubs, and we would go to thrift shops for clothes. We were buying skinny pants, everybody had long hair and bell bottoms. The New York scene and the punk scene happened, and we were getting into slimmer clothes and ties. As we went along, we started using vinyl, because we were sweating, we’d ruin our jackets, our clothes would wear out, and we had massive cleaning bills. So we just went with black and red vinyl, and then we got into the leather thing.”
Julian: “You guys also covered ‘Shake A Tail Feather’. Funny thing is, I discovered The Romantics through a movie, but I also discovered ‘Shake A Tail Feather’ through a movie, when Ray Charles sang it in ‘The Blues Brothers’.”
Mike (to Wally): “Who wrote that? Little Willie John?”
Wally: “Who wrote it? I’m not sure.”
Mike: “I thought Willie John did it.”
Wally: “I’m not sure he actually wrote it. We’ll have to look that up. We are very familiar with the Mitch Ryder version. It’s a good R&B song.”
Julian: “I don’t know if you guys ever check the YouTube comments on your official channel. There are some gems to be found. For example, a comment on ‘Talking In Your Sleep’: ‘68% of the budget for this video was spent on Glad brand garbage bags for the backdrop’.”
Mike: “Oh yeah! And oil, so we couldn’t stand up. Slippery.”
Julian: “Then some guy replied to that comment, and said: ‘I would have thought it was spent on hair mousse’.”
Mike: “Haha!”
Wally: “Sure, haha, our hair. One thing they didn’t spend any money on, were the outfits for the girls.”
Mike: “The guy that did the video also did … what’s the name of the movie with the TV screen blank and the girl in front of the TV?”
Julian: “Poltergeist.”
Wally: “Matthew F. Leonetti! He was the cinematographer, and he went on to do movies.”
Julian: “You guys had great clips. They’re very 80’s, but they’re bold and colourful.”
Mike: “We started out in clubs, and we would go to thrift shops for clothes. We were buying skinny pants, everybody had long hair and bell bottoms. The New York scene and the punk scene happened, and we were getting into slimmer clothes and ties. As we went along, we started using vinyl, because we were sweating, we’d ruin our jackets, our clothes would wear out, and we had massive cleaning bills. So we just went with black and red vinyl, and then we got into the leather thing.”
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Wally: “When we finally got some money.”
Mike: “As you get bigger stages and arenas, you have to cover more stage. Everything is bigger, so the hair got bigger. Everything is more animated.” Julian: “Exaggerated.” Mike: “Exactly!” Wally: “That’s the word.” Julian: “Final YouTube comment: ‘I just hope these chaps smashed lots of groupie beaver’.” (silence) Wally: “What kind of beaver?” |
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(all laugh)
Wally: “Like I said, they did not spend a lot of money on wardrobe for the girls. It was effective. We wanted to make sure that we were in it, playing as a band. Not just imagery.” Mike: “They started out with 200 girls. After 16 hours of filming, there were 25 left.” Julian: “Your most recent album, ‘61/49’, went by unnoticed, but it may be the best thing you guys ever did. There’s such a joy, and a pleasure, in the way you performed it.” Wally: “Thank you.” Mike: “We tried to bring a bluesier, rootsier feel to the band. We still keep the guitar sounds of The Romantics, but we went back and forth with songs. ‘Here, I got this’, ‘check this out’.” Wally: “We had not recorded anything for about ten years, apart from a 5-song EP that we put out back in the early 90’s. It took us back to a lot of our influences from when we were growing up. It worked. Unfortunately, like you said, not that many people are aware of the record. Except the hardcore fans.” Julian: “Will you be playing some songs from the album tonight?” Mike: “More from the first and second record.” Julian: “Songs like ‘New Kinda Plain’, ‘Devil In Me’ and ‘Out Of My Mind’ deserve to be heard.” Wally: “We have done them before, but … well, the thing is, we finally found a way to get the three original guys up front. Bass player Rich Cole is back - he hadn’t been with us for over 25 years. We needed to bring him back in. Some songs from the first album, we never played live for some reason or the other. We’re digging back in our catalogue, and we’re trying to give the people what they want. We need to play the most popular songs off of those albums. We try to mix as much as we can, given the time we’re allowed.” |
Mike: “There’s five songs most people know: ‘Talking In Your Sleep’, ‘What I Like About You’, ‘When I Look In Your Eyes’, ‘Rock You Up’ and ‘One In A Million’. So we’ve been zeroing in around that, and as time goes on, there will be more songs from the latest album. We were even talking about rerecording some songs for an EP, which could be really fun. I would even like to rerecord something from the second album, a live take. Maybe ‘A Night Like This’.”
Wally: “We’ve done songs off ‘61/49’, but Rich wasn’t on that album. So he’s learning those new songs. It’s all good, though. It all works out. It’s nice to have the original three guys up front.”
Julian: “Indeed, after all those years, you’re almost back to the original line-up. A lot of bands end up with just one guy, and then there’s two versions of the same band (Slade, Mud, The Rubettes, etc.). That’s just sad for the fans.”
Mike: “Our non-original drummer has been with us longer than the original drummer, haha! Twelve years.”
Wally: “That’s how crazy that is, yeah. He’s great, too.”
Julian: “Final question. You guys are from Detroit. Poor Detroit has seen some hard times the last decades. What can be done to restore Detroit to its former glory?”
Wally: “We’ve done songs off ‘61/49’, but Rich wasn’t on that album. So he’s learning those new songs. It’s all good, though. It all works out. It’s nice to have the original three guys up front.”
Julian: “Indeed, after all those years, you’re almost back to the original line-up. A lot of bands end up with just one guy, and then there’s two versions of the same band (Slade, Mud, The Rubettes, etc.). That’s just sad for the fans.”
Mike: “Our non-original drummer has been with us longer than the original drummer, haha! Twelve years.”
Wally: “That’s how crazy that is, yeah. He’s great, too.”
Julian: “Final question. You guys are from Detroit. Poor Detroit has seen some hard times the last decades. What can be done to restore Detroit to its former glory?”
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Mike: “It’s already happening right now.”
Wally: “Everybody was complaining a few years ago about the car companies. And that was valid. Maybe they weren’t doing their best work. But we know: for Detroit, for the city itself to do good, the car companies have to do good. Because there’s so many little shops that make parts for the big companies. If they just shut down the car companies, then all those other people are out of work. Right now, it’s slowly getting back.” Mike: “In the 80’s, they were leaving the city for other states and other countries. I don’t want to get into the whole thing, but they were leaving Detroit. Detroit is part of the Rust Belt (the economic decline and decay, ed.). The steel companies went down. But now, there’s a whole new generation. A lot of art is coming back to Detroit, young people running art districts and restaurants.” Wally: “Mike was touching on it. People were leaving the metropolitan area to go to the suburbs. Now, young people are coming back into the city. Of course, it’s going to take a longer time. If you don’t pay attention to your product, your product is going to be gone in no time. To build it back up takes twice as long. We’re at the point that it’s going up, and hopefully, it will keep going up. That’s good for everybody.” Mike: “Music and bands still come out. I worked in those little shops, and made the parts, to buy a guitar.” Julian: “Do you guys still live in Detroit?” Mike: “Wally does. I still have family in Detroit, but I live on the West Coast right now.” Julian: “Occasionally, you go back. For Christmas and Thanksgiving.” Mike: “Yeah, every year. My brothers and sisters are there.” Wally: “Our roots are there.” Mike: “Once you’re from there, you’re always going there. There’s just something about it. Detroit’s got great energy.” Wally: “Our bass player Rich still lives there, too.” |
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Julian: “You can take the boy out of Detroit, but you can’t take Detroit out of the boy.”
Mike: “There you go, very good!”
Wally: “That’s a good way to end this interview, right? Perfect last sentence.”
Julian: “Guys, thank you very much.”
Mike: “Very good. Thank you.”
Julian: “Looking forward to the show.”
Mike: “There you go, very good!”
Wally: “That’s a good way to end this interview, right? Perfect last sentence.”
Julian: “Guys, thank you very much.”
Mike: “Very good. Thank you.”
Julian: “Looking forward to the show.”
Julian De Backer - foto's: Alfons Maes ©