RIO ROMEO - “GOOD GRIEF!”

Photography KADE JOY

Interview TEDDY URBAN

Rio Romeo is an emerging butch artist writing genderless love anthems for the future. With tongue-in-cheek songs that explore the euphoria and uncertainty of love, they’ve found a perfect push-and-pull dynamic where catharsis emerges through chaos.

Ahead of the release of Rio’s upcoming debut album, “Good Grief!”, we were lucky enough to have them stop by and chat with us.

Teddy Urban: On your recent run of shows across the country, you brought your own piano along to play onstage at each show. If you could teleport your piano to any place in the world and play, with or without an audience, where would you put it?

Rio Romeo: This is such a fun question. I'm Dutch and have always wanted to visit the Netherlands, so I think I'd bring my piano to a giant tulip field in the Netherlands and play all alone. I'm sure I could write something really whimsical in such a vibrant environment.

TU: Your stage setup involves a lot of vintage and antique pieces. What is one object from your home that you would like to add to your current rotation of tour decor? Also, have you picked anything up along the tour that has found a permanent place in your home?

RR: I have a tall, shiny baby pink mannequin with smooth features named Chelsea that I bought at a yard sale when I was 16, which has lived with me ever since. It would be a dream to bring her on tour, but logistically it is too complicated and I would be in permanent fear she may be damaged. A more reasonable object to bring would be my vintage player piano—it has air powered mechanics that allow the keys to play all by themselves. I've always wanted to play a duet with it. 

On this previous tour, I purchased a small mechanical slot machine with a silver face and warm wood siding from an antique market in Indiana. It was likely made in the late 60's. It took up so much room in our van on the way home, but I love it.

TU: I saw that you offer free sheet music to your listeners on your website. As someone who describes themselves as a self-taught pianist, how important is it to you to be an inspiration to others to get into playing instruments?

RR: The goal of offering free sheet music is to eliminate the existence of yet another paywall online. I would like whoever is curious enough to learn my music to be able to without having to pay for it. The effort behind learning my piece is payment enough. I do not think of myself as an incredible piano player, so any time that anyone has communicated that they are inspired by my pieces it is incredibly flattering. I hope that they take the inspiration and create something of their own with it; it doesn't matter to me if it's on an instrument. There are plenty of times where I have listened to a compelling piece of music or read an invigorating book and that has inspired me to draw or paint something specific .It's important to be a part of the creative divine and encourage others to do so, regardless of medium or access. The act of creating art is contagious.

TU: As a former painter, do you find that having a background in a visual-focused medium has influenced your approach to writing music or lyrics? 

RR: Starting my artistic journey visually has allowed me to think about it like realism—it is literal, but it is your interpretation of the truth in front of you. Many of my songs are extremely literal but with whimsy—take for example my song, “Butch 4 Butch”. "My sweetheart's piano is rat filled" is a true statement. My girlfriend had a piano with rats in it, but creating more context around the line of why it matters and what it means is something that I have been able to ruminate on for many years as a visual artist.

TU: Were there any bands that you came up alongside in the SoCal skate and punk scene that were an early influence in your musical journey?

RR: I am a longtime fan of the musical artist, Lealani—I had a gallery exhibition my senior year of high school that she performed at. She has been pioneering her own sound, with her own rules, for her own crowd, since we were in high school. She was one of the first people that I knew in the DIY music scene that wasn't a dude with a guitar playing shoegaze, and it made me feel like I could do something unique if I wanted to as well. 

TU: I’ve seen some videos of your fans singing what appears to be entire songs of yours back to you during your shows. Is it important to you to pen lyrics and melodies that are accessible to learn and sing along to?

RR: Every time I play a show it makes me a better songwriter, because I have the opportunity to further understand what people love to sing along to. Most of my catalogue was written completely alone in my bedroom, so the thought of a crowd singing it truly never crossed my mind until I did my first tour in 2023. Now, I love writing songs that I know will be fun to sing along to. Most of my songs aren't focused on sing-a-longs as their primary purpose, but I can't help but at least consider what it would be like to hear others sing it back to me at a show.

TU: Given your focus on providing love stories that go beyond the bounds of the gender binary, are there any older songs that you see as telling a genderless love story?

RR: My older songs are just as queer as my new ones, maybe with a little less poignant clarity, because I had less clarity. I was coming to terms with being an androgynous dyke in my first album, and the music reflects that in an extremely intimate way.

TU: Looking ahead to your upcoming debut album, what would you say is the biggest creative or musical leap you’ve taken since the, “Good God!” EP, released in 2022?

RR: I produced a lot of my own songs on this upcoming album. Due to my skateboarding accident in 2020, I had literal years of sitting in bed just noodling around on my computer to figure out how to become a better producer and songwriter. Learning how to produce my own songs allows me to be able to get the meat of the song across in a more articulated way, rather than operating within the limits of what I was able to do on a technical front. I still brought this album to a producer to finish it up, but I still feel that the songs sound closer to the way that I've pictured them because I was able to paint the base broad strokes in a clearer way.

TU: Were there any specific moments in the process of making your album that most helped shape the final product or overall message?

RR: Due to my health issues, I was unable to finish this album until nearly 4 years after some of the first songs were written. I have grown into myself so much over the course of this project, and feel I have significantly developed as a songwriter, producer, creative, and leader. The album is titled "Good Grief!" partly due to how much hardship I endured throughout the creation of the project. One of the biggest standout moments for me was when I had to cancel my tour in 2024 because my health took a sharp decline, which led me to have a lot of time to really get every song on the album exactly right. I had almost an entire year of the album being pretty finished, just to sit on it and hope for the days to come where I feel well enough to keep working on it.

Rio’s latest single, “God’s Got Something For Me”, is out today, May 9th.