I would imagine Jeromes Dream has a better writeup on Sophie's Floorboards than I could ever do justice, but if it isn't already clear enough - Jeromes Dream is one of the most unique sounding bands of the past 30 years, in my honest opinion. You have to understand, at the time they were coming up (the late 1990s), everybody was trying to sound like an Earth Crisis or a Hatebreed - but Jeromes Dream was NOT trying to emulate absolutely anybody (in the words of Jeff Smith)
Jeromes Dream is a band I hold in serious HIGH regard as one of the best creators of heavy music of all time as far as sounding nothing like their contemporaries go - along with Touché Amoré, Full of Hell, Converge, Lightning Bolt and any Mike Patton project. The thing is that, unless you were part of the very niche late 90s-early 2000s screamo scene, you may have no clue who these guys [Jeromes Dream] are, or at least have no idea what their music sounds like past my constant rambling about them. Seriously, Jeff Smith is one musician I'd love to interview.
Jeromes Dream is Jeff Smith on vocals and bass, Eric Ratensperger on drums and Loma Prieta's Sean Leary as a guitarist after their reunion in 2018. Nick Antonopoulos was their guitarist for the band for the majority of their career but parted ways recently. Initially formed as a 3 piece in Connecticut, they were active from 1997 to 2001, and again from 2018 to the present. Members now live in California and Connecticut.
With that said, what am I talking about? Surely this band can't be more special than Orchid, I Hate Myself, Indian Summer, Heroin, Antioch Arrow, etc, right? The issue is I don't how to explain it, but Jeromes Dream just really resonates with me differently, not to say Orchid doesn't (and the Orchid/Jeromes Dream split is BADASS, by the way), but it's just a different feeling for me. It really feels like I'm saying a whole lot of nothing, so I'll get into the tofu of it. On their early material, Jeff Smith has a delivery that I can only call a 'high pitched chicken shriek'; Jeff Smith screaming at the top of his lungs with some emotionally straining, angry, traumatic lyrical content to boot. See: the lyrics to 'It's More Like A Message To You'
"We had one night, not enough time
We all make mistakes, there's nothing I can do
It's just a part of life, welcome to my life. This is me."
On the bands' "later" material, specifically 'Presents' (their last album before their breakup), the instrumentals are far more mathcore and post-hardcore influenced, and Jeff Smith completely changed his vocal style to a rawer, more abrasive "shout" (think of Converge/Lightning Bolt vocals) and his lyrical content about... a lot of stuff. I can't quite tell what but it's definitely interesting. That's another thing that kept me hooked about this band, was the mystery of their lyrics later in their career. Here's one of the most enjoyable sets of lyrics, from the song 'Double Who? Double You!'
"Georgie's girl likes to fuck!
She loves it! Really does!
Her green grass is blue-green, green grass.
Doin' the Dew Dude's dew dude!"
Jeromes Dream has released 4 studio albums (3 if you don't include the remaster of Presents that was released in 2021), with much of their discography produced and engineered with Kurt Ballou from Converge. They have also released many splits (notably with Orchid and Usurp Synapse). Everything they recorded up to their 2001 breakup is on a compilation entitled "Completed 1997-2001", easily found on streaming services and Bandcamp, give that a listen if you can. It starts off with Presents and goes into their earlier stuff, into some unreleased material. There are quite a few mathcore and screamo-influenced gems which helped pave the way for a lot of other chaotic bands in the 2000s-2010s, having themselves been influenced by these kinds of bands that came before them, e.g. Garden Variety, Shellac, Sleepytime Trio and Honeywell.
Jeromes Dream are the result of three emotional, traumatic east coast kids who just wanted to make some chaotic music to get their stress out. They have persevered through failing relationships and a "sudden" break-up - as Jeff Smith puts it - but with the addition of guitarist Sean Leary, they continue to tour to this day, supporting post-hardcore bands Pianos Become the Teeth and Touché Amoré as of recent - bands that they themselves influenced.
Below are some links to their music and ways you can support them. Buy merch and go to shows if you can!
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