Interview with JP Krom
JP Krom is a solo artist from Chile, he began making music at a young age.
Alicia
Can you Introduce the band?
JP
I am J.P. KROM, I sing and I play guitar. This is a soloist project, I started it years ago when I was really bored with singers and their egocentrism. I decided to sing, but it took years to “discover” my own voice. I was in a male choir and after that with the speech therapist in that process. After recording two self-made albums of covers I decided to record an album with songs that I composed. Gothic influences were on me at that moment, but I decided to do the album with many influences as Zakk Wylde, heavy and a bite of progressive metal. I studied astrology and the path for the lyrics naturally channelled in that. The music had the same inspiration in a more abstract way. I decided to call the style “astrological metal” (after called AstroMetal) after a conversation with a classmate who called my music like that when I told her that the lyrics and the composition were based on that.
Alicia
Where did the name come from?
JP
Crom is the god of “Conan the Barbarian”, the main character of the movie. I randomly decided the name, without taking it too seriously. At that time most of the musicians didn’t their real names and I did that because, my parents gave me the same name as my father, so that was very confusing when people looked for me on the web. I only changed the “c” for “k” and I added the initials of my name to make the difference with other persons using the name Krom. Years later I learned a book called “Krom” and it was the name of a solar god. Maybe the real influence came from that and I didn’t know. I believe there are a lot of ideas that we share in our “collective unconscious”.
Alicia
Your album just came out can you tell us about the recording process?
JP
The EP is going to be released very soon, in the meantime I have released Luna Plutón first, which is the single of this new EP called Astrometal. Luna Plutón has a videoclip as well. The recording process was very similar to the EP from 2021 called “YOD”. I recorded all of the vocals in my home studio, with a Shure SM7B, I recorded the guitars with the “direct line” method, and later the sound engineer “reamp” them in the studio that he works called “Orange Studio”. The bass was played for an Australian in his home studio as well and it was reamped too. The keys were recorded in my home studio, some of them, and most of them by Braulio in his home studio. The drums were the only instrument that was recorded in “Orange Studio”.
Alicia
Do you have plans to tour this release?
JP
No. We would like to, but we can’t. I think this project has to be more popular for
doing that.
Alicia
Can you tell us about the music scene where you’re from?
JP
I’m from Santiago, Chile. We have a metal scene strong here I guess, even though we support more international bands than Chilean bands. But what we don’t really have here is a gothic metal scene with male singers, as the music I do (I think my music is closer to that than other styles).
Alicia
Was music something you’ve always wanted to do?
JP
I don’t know. What I really like in life is creating, and the most abstract thing and complete thing in life that I found was music. Maybe it was the environment in which I was raised, with a lot of classic rock and alternative music, while the other families were listening to popular music, this different music was been injected into the depths of my mind. Also the art in general was very appreciated. I think in my youth I was shocked by rock stars and after that the metal, and their divergent thinking. Music was always my company and drug, a world that I could travel anytime: to different places and through time.
You can check out JP Kroms music and social media below