You might think The Romantics have been laying low, but according to Wally Palmer, that’s just because you haven’t been paying attention. “We’ve never stopped recording,” he says, practically laughing at the idea of a break. Sure, it’s been 13 years since their last official release, but who’s counting when you’ve got licensing deals, forgotten tracks in the vault, and a stack of new originals waiting to be let loose?
“We were supposed to finish this stuff way before now,” Palmer admits, in that classic rock ‘n’ roll “plans-what-plans” kind of way. “But we had a pretty rigid schedule during the summer.” Translation: they were too busy actually being The Romantics—on the road, sweating it out, probably still playing “What I Like About You” for the millionth time and somehow not hating it.
But now, there’s movement. Two new tracks just dropped—a cover of The Animals' “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” and The Monkees' “Daydream Believer”—because why not kick off your return with some vintage flair? “We gave it our own little twist,” Palmer says, not-so-humbly adding that they “tweaked it here and there” to slap that unmistakable Detroit power pop on it. The result is classic Romantics: tighter than a pair of leather pants and twice as loud.
Palmer credits their longtime pals at K-Tel for getting the new material out, but he’s not stopping there. There’s a whole album’s worth of songs—some originals, some covers—on the way. They just decided to tease us first. “We have another couple of originals we were gonna put out now, but we decided to hold back,” he says. “When we put it out, it’ll amount to an album’s worth of material.”
The Romantics might not be your typical studio rats, but they haven’t lost their grip on what makes rock tick. “We’re a Detroit band with that Detroit kind of edge,” Palmer says. “But still a pop-sensitive band.” He says it like that’s totally normal, but let’s be real—very few can pull off gritty and catchy in the same breath.
And if you think they’re just throwing tracks online and calling it a day, think again. Palmer and the boys are hitting the road hard this summer, playing 25 shows with Rick Springfield from coast to coast. “We want to make sure we have the product out to support it,” he says. Meaning: there’s no excuse not to throw your money at them.
Speaking of Detroit, Palmer’s still calling it home and isn’t shy about defending it. Yes, the city’s taken a few knocks—okay, more than a few—but according to him, it’s on the upswing. “Detroit rolls the way the car companies do,” he says, as if that should be printed on the city’s welcome sign. “You see the city rebounding slowly. It’s not going to get done overnight.”
And if outsiders like Anthony Bourdain want to declare Detroit abandoned? Palmer’s got mixed feelings. “They tend to focus in... not my plight,” he shrugs. He knows there are parts of the city that “should just be torn down,” but he also knows Detroit’s history runs deeper than ruins. “It takes literally no time to tear something down, and two or three times as long to build it back up.”
Which might explain why rock keeps bubbling up from the rubble. “Rock and roll shines in moments like this,” Palmer says. He should know. Detroit’s given us Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, MC5, The Stooges—and yeah, The Romantics. “It just goes in some form of cycle.”
And Palmer? He’s fine being part of that cycle, even if it means playing the long game. There are more originals coming—maybe two at a time, maybe four. “Whichever way you want to phrase it,” he says, clearly unconcerned with the logistics. He just wants to keep doing what he does best: loud, fast, Detroit rock and roll.
So yeah, new Romantics music is here, more is coming, and Wally Palmer’s got no plans to slow down. “It’s shaping into another pretty busy summer,” he says. “We wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Listen to the full interview above and then check out the video below.
