It was the beginning of the live Kraak & Smaak show and I was excited, but not quite sure what to expect. You never know how dance music will translate live. Not every MC/DJ outfit can put on a show like Big Daddy Kane back in the day. Usually, asking a DJ to “perform” is like asking today’s Pop acts to write their own music – career suicide.

However, Kraak & Smaak were smart enough to recruit a hypeman, a true showman. Their secret weapon? Funkateer, Ro Krom. If Kraak & Smaak’s CD ‘Boogie Angst’ has you doing flips, their live show will have you gladly jumping through the roof with Ro telling you how high. The Kraak & Smaak show had me jumping and shouting like a schoolgirl at an Elvis concert – and I can’t stand Elvis.

You don’t see many drummers sing while drumming. You don’t see many MCs that can sing. And, you certainly don’t often feel the adrenaline rush of exaltation when witnessing these things… until you’ve experienced Ro in concert. You see, Ro loves performing, because he loves music; and when you receive it, he loves you. Ro gives you his all and you are happy to give it back. His genuine love of the stage and being in the moment is so real you can taste it as he encourages you to ride the groove.

Ro has been in the international music scene since 1983 and he stays busy. He’s a multi-instrumentalist (guitar, bass, drums), MC, singer, DJ and producer. His sought after talent has had him involved in over 20 projects, bands, and DJ outfits including working with George Clinton and P-Funk. Among his most well- known endeavors are the Go-Go band Gotcha!, Funk, Soul outfit, OlaBOLA, and Funk band Ro & Paradise Funk. When he’s not playing on stage he’s probably concocting a remix… a funky one… that ‘stanks’.

Here, Ro speaks of his involvement with Kraak & Smaak and what it means to be a funkateer.

Cazembe Abena (LA2DAY) – How did you get involved with Kraak & Smaak?

Ro Krom (Kraak & Smaak) – I did a production for Mark Kneppers, one of the three foundering members of Kraak & Smaak, four years ago. My band had just split up and I called Mark, asking if he had anything going on. He told me that I just missed their recording of the album, but they were going to do some promo gigs with the band and needed a vocalist and percussionist so he asked me to come along.

Cazembe – What were you doing with your old band?

Ro – It was a band called OlaBOLA. We were doing a Hammond, DJ mix of organ, Soul Funk, Breakbeat mixes. I was on the MPC, DJing and on vocals.

Cazembe – How did you get to The States initially?

Ro – About 14 years or so ago, I got a break with my former band Gotcha! We were playing Go-Go…

Cazembe – Go-Go!? Hahaha! I love it!

Ro – Yeah, you know like Chuck Brown, E.U., Trouble Funk… We had a break to come to America with a contact through the manager of Parliament (P-Funk) and George Clinton. We were able to hook up with them for a minute – it was great and we learned a lot. We played here a lot, but we couldn’t get a decent break and the band split up. I tried it again, but it costs a lot of money to do this sort of thing.

Cazembe –Was your biggest success with that band in the States or were you much bigger in Europe?

Ro – We had a nice following in Europe for a minute. George Clinton and members from Parliament came and stayed with us for awhile too – it was cool. We were trying to do something different by taking Breakbeats and putting the Hammond over it with Reggae MCs. It was a jungle and Reggae mix. So, with Kraak & Smaak I try to bring that Reggae MC element to it.

Marlon (LA2DAY) – We totally got that. It works.

Cazembe – Is that your call in terms of how you want to bring the Reggae MC into the mix, or do they (Mark, Wim, Oscar) tell you where they want it?

Ro – They bring the music to Mark [Baronner, bass player] and me and we spend sometimes one day a week for a month sorting out the rhythms for the live show. Sometimes I’ll write lyrics to it. It’s Oscar’s musical direction and we work with him to make it work live. If something doesn’t work, we work together to fix it. I’m there where I am needed. I’ve been a band leader for 15 years and it’s such a relief for me to not be the band leader right now and to be able to put all my energy into doing my job as good as I can. It feels good to drum, MC and get the party started.

Cazembe – And it shows. You’re a great entertainer, my friend.

Marlon – Definitely. It shows on stage.

Ro – Thank you. I’ve thought about starting up a new band, but it takes a lot of time and energy... to really get into that again… forget about it. I’m focusing on Kraak & Smaak right now. This is my main thing now.

Cazembe – Do you and Sister Rose collaborate on lyrics as well?

Ro – The album was out after we joined them, but for the new album we’re working some things out to hopefully do something with the guys on that one. Rose is actually a big R&B singer back in Holland. She’s known for that. Jill Scott type R&B, that’s a bit of her style. She does that with her boyfriend; we all work a lot together. You know, got to make some money!

Laughter

Cazembe – With writing your own lyrics for the live show, do you also write the melodies?

Ro – Sometimes I’ll suggest a key change that will make it work for the live show.

Marlon – Do you play any other instruments?

Ro – Yeah, I play bass, guitar… I wanted to be a professional musician all my life, but I never really excelled at one thing, like being a great guitar player, so I play guitar, bass, drums… I just excel at doing my own thing. In the Go-Go band I started playing guitar, then bass, then DJ…

Cazembe – For you, how is music in the States verses music in Europe?

Ro – All of what we do comes from America of course. So, as far as America, this is where Soul was born and Funk was born. The people that we come into contact with here are working hard, they’re dedicated to what we’re doing… it is amazing! Whether we’re in New York or here, the people in America are so into what we are doing. I see here that even when your stuff is not quite there, when you are doing it and dedicated to it, people appreciate it. In Europe, when you are starting out and working hard, sometimes people try to put you down.

Marlon – How does LA compare to the rest of the cities in America for you?

Ro – It’s definitely at the top, but very different than some other places we have been to. We’ve been in clubs that were much smaller and they were rocking - it’s been great. The people are giving you energy and they are right up on you. Here, in LA it was sophisticated, high level, high energy… amazing. It can’t get any better than this.

Cazembe – Well, it was pleasure. It was great to see you do your thing on stage. Best of luck to you, my brother.

Marlon – A great performance, really.

Ro – Thank you so much.

by Cazembe Abena

Go to the LA2DAY March Kraak & Smaak concert review here.

Go to the LA2DAY Kraak & Smaak Interview here.

www.rokrom.nl

www.kraaksmaak.com

www.quango.com