A Few Minutes With Oscar Jerome [Interview]

We caught up with super talented, South London Jazz artist, Oscar Jerome for a chat before he goes back on the road for his 2022 UK & EU tour (find all tour dates at the end of this article).

His latest single, ‘Sweet Isolation‘ is out now and available to stream/download on all good music platforms.

Introduce yourself and tell us where you’re from..

My name is Oscar Jerome, I was born in Norwich and I’ve lived in South London for the last 11 years

Tell us about your new single, ‘Sweet Isolation’ – how did it come about & what inspired the song?

I wrote this while we were locked down and I was in a pretty low headspace. It’s kind of an exploration into the beauty in melancholy. Sometimes our most amazing creations come out of times when you’re hurting the most.

Listen to ‘Sweet Isolation’ here.

Can you describe your creative process / routine?

I don’t have a definitive process, different things can springboard me into making a new tune and I’m always trying out new techniques. I usually like to start from the guitar. Chords often set the mood of a new track for me. I then build up the drums and bass in production software. I like to write lots of poetry like a stream of consciousness about a given subject and then build lyrics from that.

Once I’ve built a demo of a tune I’ll usually then take it to the band and build it into a performance piece of music. I like my songs to exist as living entities that are made to be experienced live and can continue to develop event after a recording has been released.

What was it like collaborating with Kaidi Akinnibi?

I’ve known Kaidi for years and have always loved his energy. Not only is he one of the most talented musicians I know, he’s also hilarious and we always have a lot of jokes. I gave him a brief explanation of the melody I wanted him to play and the chords he was soloing over and the rest was all him. Every take was amazing and it was pretty difficult to choose one. He really took this tune to the next level.

We’ve seen you swinging a club around in your new music video. Is golfing a passion of yours or was this just a stylistic choice?

At first I read that as you’d seen me at a swingers club haha. I don’t think that was me. I’m flattered you think that I could be an avid golfer because I literally learnt how to hold a golf club on the shoot. The character in the purple jacket in the video is supposed to be an obnoxious, deluded memory of a supposedly happier time. I felt like him playing golf on top of an old volcano fit the character well.

What does the rest of 2022 look like for Oscar Jerome?

The rest of 2022 holds some pretty exciting things. I can’t say too much right now but there will definitely be more music for your ears. I’m currently working on a lot of visuals and constantly collaborating and making new music, both for myself and other people. I’ll also be on tour all around the UK in November as well as a couple dates in France and Netherlands.