INTERVIEW: Namor and ‘Mile High Club’
Interview by: Alexie Jung
Independent artist and producer Namor is ready to kick 2023 off with the release of his debut album Mile High Club, a synth-driven Pop album with heavy Dance/Electronic elements. We got to speak with him about the beginning of his career, the story behind his first album and upcoming plans.
Can you start by telling us who’s behind Namor?
Behind Namor is just one person- Me. My name is Roman Shokuri and I am currently an independent artist, producer, and songwriter. I was born and raised in the Bay Area, California. Growing up, I was surrounded by a hybrid culture with many different forms of art and various genres of music. This allowed me a lot of experimentation with creativity. At this point, I’ve been making music for about 5 years.
What made you want to pursue a career in the music industry?
When I was about 15 years old, I had a close friend pitch me his idea about becoming a rapper and working on that career full-time. I was good at finding softwares since I had some prior experience in animation and video, so I told him I’d find one for music production and learn to make beats just to help jumpstart his career. Over the years, I spent hours every day working on my craft for fun as we worked on songs together. In 2020, I landed myself a beat placement with Swae Lee from the group “Rae Sremmurd”. I had co-produced a song for Lee and he had performed on it. The song was later leaked online and it has yet to be officially released. At the time, I had viewed this as a huge milestone but really it was a moment of realization. I wanted to start making music under my own name. I fell in love with the process of writing for my own production and I continued finding new sources of inspiration. I wrote songs and directed other vocalists to perform them. Somehow I fell into the wormhole of the Electronic genre. I had been using a lot of virtual synths in my tracks because I love the way they sound, so I decided to get my hands on a real physical synthesizer. I bought myself a Prophet Rev2 and continued experimenting. This developed into a blend of musical styles as I moved further away from Trap, and I ended up in Pop.
You’ve just released your first album Mile High Club, what can you tell us about it?
This album is very special to me. That’s due in part to the very talented writers and artists I worked alongside through its creation, specifically Tucker Starbuck, LifeonMarzz, and Evan Yoshino. This is the first full-length project I have released under my own name. I produced the music on the entire record, and I wrote most of the lyrics alongside some of the other artists I mentioned. Each voice on this album represents the same two people- a young man and a young woman who meet and interact in an elite club named “The Mile High Club”. Told mostly through the perspective of the man, this story begins very bright energetic as it slowly dips into a melancholic resolution.
If you had to pick only one song from the album, which one would it be?
I love every song on this, but I think I would have to choose “Burning Bouquet”. I think everything hits the wall and really comes to a climax in that song, and that chorus is also one of my favorites.
To promote the album, you’re planning some performances. Can you share with us the dates and locations?
At the moment, we have planned the first solo concert where we will be performing the album on March 31st, 2023 in Oakland California. It’s going to be a public show in a private venue located at 4834 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA 94609. We are working with a few clubs and are still planning out more shows to follow.
Any last word?
That’s all for now. Thank you for your interest in my work.
