We recently had the chance to connect with Jerome Forde and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jerome, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
It’s hard to say. Whether I’m walking down a path to somewhere or wandering off to nowhere is something I don’t think anything but time will tell. To be honest, I don’t really have a preference either way, so long as the view’s good.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name’s Jerome Forde. I write songs and record them and, as much as I can, play them for people. I live with my wife and kids in northern Michigan, where I frequent bars, wineries, breweries, distilleries, and wherever else will have me play. Over the last few years I’ve written a lot of songs–too many, really (about 8 albums worth of material). So far I’ve only managed to release 2 (or 2 1/2 if you count my recent EP, “I Won’t Ever Get Over You”). Both have been released by the Toronto-based indie label run by Phil Klygo called (weewerk). I’m grateful to Phil for helping me get my music out there. And I hope, eventually, to record everything over the next few years. My third full-length album is called “Shadowdance” and should be out sometime in 2026.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
I’m not sure if it’s age or what, but the part of me that viewed itself through the way other people see me is dead. Or at least I’m pretty sure of it. As far back as I can remember, I felt like my skin wasn’t really my own. It didn’t fit right. So I couldn’t really understand myself–or maybe I just didn’t want to. And when you can’t understand yourself, you look to other people’s interpretations of you for some clues. But as time’s gone by, my skin seems to fit me better. People still have their interpretations of me, to be sure, both “good” and “bad,” but they just don’t interest me like they used to. Whether that’s just age or some wisdom I picked up along the way or some combination of the two, I’ve got no idea. But when it’s enough to be nothing more than who you are: I think that’s freedom.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Not that I’ve suffered much in comparison to so many other people I’ve known, but what little suffering I’ve gone through has taught me to endure. Success is rarely good for anyone. It puts people’s desires to sleep, like a bucket of water poured out on a fire. Suffering’s different. It pokes and prods and pushes life to become more than what it would be otherwise. Success is something you can just rest in. Suffering is something you have to overcome.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What’s a cultural value you protect at all costs?
As an American, I think the greatest cultural value I would like to protect at all costs is one my fellow Americans are very good at forgetting: difference. To me, talk of “unity” is cheap–and usually a covert form of fascism. Fascism wants to reduce everything to “the same.” It can’t tolerate difference because difference can’t be controlled. Conformity is static and boring. Difference is dynamic and alive, always changing in ways you couldn’t have predicted beforehand, and forging connections that make new patterns and forms of life possible. For those who don’t like difference, they should remember the great American motto: e pluribus unum (“out of many, one”). Maybe then they’d see America is a place where difference isn’t a threat to be feared (why are Americans so afraid of everything?) but the basis for a life that’s actually worth living.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If immortality were real, what would you build?
I’d plant a tree.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://weewerk.com
- Other: https://jeromeforde.bandcamp.com
Image Credits
All photos taken by Falia Forde.
