Dexter Romweber, no longer here but the sound lives on.
February 21, 2024 4:54 AM Subscribe
Dexter Romweber, singer-guitarist of influential rockabilly band Flat Duo Jets, died on Sunday. He was 57. They don't make 'em like Dex anymore. Godspeed, pal.
Memorable appearances include:
The music documentary Athens, GA: Inside/Out
Their performance in 1990 on David Letterman
A super early appearance on MTV's The Cutting Edge
MTV's 120 Minutes featuring the Flat Duo Jets
Memorable appearances include:
The music documentary Athens, GA: Inside/Out
Their performance in 1990 on David Letterman
A super early appearance on MTV's The Cutting Edge
MTV's 120 Minutes featuring the Flat Duo Jets
♪
posted by Smart Dalek at 6:57 AM on February 21
posted by Smart Dalek at 6:57 AM on February 21
I spent a lot of the late 90s on the road, and the Flat Duo Jets tape was often the only thing that would keep me awake enough to make it to the next town. Thanks, Dex.
posted by MrVisible at 7:01 AM on February 21 [2 favorites]
posted by MrVisible at 7:01 AM on February 21 [2 favorites]
Ah man. I saw him and his sister (also RIP) open for a couple of bands over the years. I always felt a bit sorry for the main act after they'd finished their set. This is s a real sad day for music.
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posted by missmobtown at 7:18 AM on February 21 [5 favorites]
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posted by missmobtown at 7:18 AM on February 21 [5 favorites]
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I heard about this on Saturday morning, which was already a not great day on an already not great year. Here's what I said about it on the socials:
In the very darkest days of the early pandemic in spring of 2020, when we didn’t know when (or if) we would see live music again, when we didn’t know when (or if) we’d ever see friends and family again, I stood in the kitchen cycling through my daily existential anxieties with the windows cracked to the afternoon spring breeze, and I heard something impossible.
I heard music. Not a record. Not a Bluetooth speaker. Not the muffled sound of a neighbor practicing two blocks away. But actual real, live music. First a violin, then a guitar, and the voice of Dex Romweber coming from what sounded like my backyard.
I wandered out, down the deck stairs and followed the music off my deck and to the edge of the yard where neighbors sprawled in the grass beside the pond. Dex and violinist Jennifer Curtis were set up on the neighborhood dock. The sound was glorious and I was so overwhelmed in the moment that I remember thinking, sure didn’t put “Dex Romweber makes me cry” on my bingo card.
Y’all.
(And if we're doing memories, I read about Flat Duo Jets for the first time in Sassy Magazine when I was about fourteen years old and remember thinking, "Huh, maybe there are cool people in this Chapel Hill place after all" and would, a couple years later, find a used copy of "In Stereo" on cassette in an Asheville comic book shop that also sold used records, and I felt like I'd stumbled on a variety of holy grail.)
posted by thivaia at 7:25 AM on February 21 [32 favorites]
I heard about this on Saturday morning, which was already a not great day on an already not great year. Here's what I said about it on the socials:
In the very darkest days of the early pandemic in spring of 2020, when we didn’t know when (or if) we would see live music again, when we didn’t know when (or if) we’d ever see friends and family again, I stood in the kitchen cycling through my daily existential anxieties with the windows cracked to the afternoon spring breeze, and I heard something impossible.
I heard music. Not a record. Not a Bluetooth speaker. Not the muffled sound of a neighbor practicing two blocks away. But actual real, live music. First a violin, then a guitar, and the voice of Dex Romweber coming from what sounded like my backyard.
I wandered out, down the deck stairs and followed the music off my deck and to the edge of the yard where neighbors sprawled in the grass beside the pond. Dex and violinist Jennifer Curtis were set up on the neighborhood dock. The sound was glorious and I was so overwhelmed in the moment that I remember thinking, sure didn’t put “Dex Romweber makes me cry” on my bingo card.
Y’all.
(And if we're doing memories, I read about Flat Duo Jets for the first time in Sassy Magazine when I was about fourteen years old and remember thinking, "Huh, maybe there are cool people in this Chapel Hill place after all" and would, a couple years later, find a used copy of "In Stereo" on cassette in an Asheville comic book shop that also sold used records, and I felt like I'd stumbled on a variety of holy grail.)
posted by thivaia at 7:25 AM on February 21 [32 favorites]
Amazing story, thivaia. And I thought I had a good one. But here it is anyway.
About 20 years ago a guitarist friend of mine called me late one night and said, hey, get up, come on out, there's this guitarist Dexter playing at this bar and you HAVE to hear this guy. So I dragged myself out and drove to this absolute shithole of a bar and went in and found my friend, which was easy because it was close to midnight and maybe 10 people in the bar.
And Dex is alone on the crappy stage -- I don't even think it was a stage, just a side room -- absolutely killing it, head down, focused on the guitar, sweat on his face and playing like Brian Setzer on speed. It was amazing. For this garbage crowd in a crummy bar, no less. I remember looking at my friend -- who would be gone just a few years later, fucking heroin -- with a slackjawed grin on my face and nodding in agreement. I'm so glad I answered the phone.
posted by martin q blank at 7:29 AM on February 21 [17 favorites]
About 20 years ago a guitarist friend of mine called me late one night and said, hey, get up, come on out, there's this guitarist Dexter playing at this bar and you HAVE to hear this guy. So I dragged myself out and drove to this absolute shithole of a bar and went in and found my friend, which was easy because it was close to midnight and maybe 10 people in the bar.
And Dex is alone on the crappy stage -- I don't even think it was a stage, just a side room -- absolutely killing it, head down, focused on the guitar, sweat on his face and playing like Brian Setzer on speed. It was amazing. For this garbage crowd in a crummy bar, no less. I remember looking at my friend -- who would be gone just a few years later, fucking heroin -- with a slackjawed grin on my face and nodding in agreement. I'm so glad I answered the phone.
posted by martin q blank at 7:29 AM on February 21 [17 favorites]
As a weird Southern kid, Flat Duo Jets were just the epitome of DIY cool. I always ended up missing their shows--either underage or too faraway back then--but man, could they make some amazing sounds from that sparse set up. It felt like being in a secret club when you found other weird Southern kids who listened too.
posted by Kitteh at 7:32 AM on February 21 [6 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 7:32 AM on February 21 [6 favorites]
stumbled upon maybe one night at the KingKing? snatched up that record
Madagascar is one of my very favorite instrumentals, it ambles along and then...pow...wails
thankyou Dex
posted by winesong at 7:36 AM on February 21 [2 favorites]
Madagascar is one of my very favorite instrumentals, it ambles along and then...pow...wails
thankyou Dex
posted by winesong at 7:36 AM on February 21 [2 favorites]
A nice bio of Dex in this story by MeFite Will Harris, with a few videos linked, too.
posted by martin q blank at 7:52 AM on February 21
posted by martin q blank at 7:52 AM on February 21
I saw them in 89/90 in Wilmington, NC. They went on late due to "amp issues". The bar was part of this weird downtown scene right after the movie studios showed up. I stood next to Dennis Hopper who told everyone in earshot that Dex was "just so damn intense, man" ...
Dex was just so damn intense back then. You feared for him at times. We all stood in awe that night, even Dennis Fucking Hopper.
posted by a complicated history at 7:53 AM on February 21 [12 favorites]
Dex was just so damn intense back then. You feared for him at times. We all stood in awe that night, even Dennis Fucking Hopper.
posted by a complicated history at 7:53 AM on February 21 [12 favorites]
Flat Duo Jets walked so that White Stripes could run.
(Although on the right day, I prefer FDJ.)
RIP, Dex.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:58 AM on February 21 [3 favorites]
(Although on the right day, I prefer FDJ.)
RIP, Dex.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:58 AM on February 21 [3 favorites]
Early Flat Duo Jets did something to my head + permanently expanded my musical taste when I first encountered them around 1990 - at his best, Romweber could take the then-getting-tired tropes and standards of early rock + roll and breath all the sex and spookiness and weird, wild feeling back into them - make them feel really, viscerally alive. A few favorites:
You Belong to Me
Dreams Don't Cost a Thing
posted by ryanshepard at 8:01 AM on February 21 [4 favorites]
You Belong to Me
Dreams Don't Cost a Thing
posted by ryanshepard at 8:01 AM on February 21 [4 favorites]
Some more info from the Chapel Hill area news weekly, his sister suggesting it was a broken heart in both senses of the word.
https://indyweek.com/music/dexter-romweber-raucous-torchbearer-of-the-power-duo-dead-at-57/
One of the most entertaining and mindboggling guitarist I've ever seen perform, and I saw a lot of performances. How'd he get all those hyper rhythms and sweet melodies out of the same rickety guitar all at once? I wrote about him here a few times.
Some nice recollections from the scene here as well:
https://www.wunc.org/wunc-music/2024-02-20/dex-romweber-north-carolina-musicians-remember
posted by bendybendy at 9:53 AM on February 21 [5 favorites]
https://indyweek.com/music/dexter-romweber-raucous-torchbearer-of-the-power-duo-dead-at-57/
One of the most entertaining and mindboggling guitarist I've ever seen perform, and I saw a lot of performances. How'd he get all those hyper rhythms and sweet melodies out of the same rickety guitar all at once? I wrote about him here a few times.
Some nice recollections from the scene here as well:
https://www.wunc.org/wunc-music/2024-02-20/dex-romweber-north-carolina-musicians-remember
posted by bendybendy at 9:53 AM on February 21 [5 favorites]
My appreciation, respect and condolences to you all. Thank you for this tribute, Kitteh.
posted by y2karl at 10:22 AM on February 21 [3 favorites]
posted by y2karl at 10:22 AM on February 21 [3 favorites]
Never got to see him or FDJ perform, but I've played the hell out of his and their albums. I've been quite sad about this. One of my favorites of them all.
goddammit
posted by Dr. Wu at 11:09 AM on February 21 [1 favorite]
goddammit
posted by Dr. Wu at 11:09 AM on February 21 [1 favorite]
Damn, thivaia. That made me cry. And I hope your year gets better.
. to Dex. Him and Mojo in one month really sucks.
posted by queensissy at 11:35 AM on February 21 [4 favorites]
. to Dex. Him and Mojo in one month really sucks.
posted by queensissy at 11:35 AM on February 21 [4 favorites]
Thank you thank you for posting this. I was looking last night and saw there hadn't been an obit posted yet and was thinking about putting one together. I have a good amount of friends and acquaintances who were in or around the Chapel Hill / Raleigh music scene when the Flat Duo Jets were active. I've read at least four or five reminiscences where the person said the first time they encountered Dexter was seeing him playing his guitar on the sidewalk outside some club (usually The Cat's Cradle) and needless to say he left an impression they never forgot.
I wasn't able to go to a lot of live music when the Flat Duo Jets were around, but they were one of those bands that seemed to always be playing around the Triangle area somewhere. I'm really sorry now I never got to see them.
posted by marxchivist at 12:14 PM on February 21 [3 favorites]
I wasn't able to go to a lot of live music when the Flat Duo Jets were around, but they were one of those bands that seemed to always be playing around the Triangle area somewhere. I'm really sorry now I never got to see them.
posted by marxchivist at 12:14 PM on February 21 [3 favorites]
. Sad news
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 12:25 PM on February 21
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 12:25 PM on February 21
It's so weird to think that FDJ won't just be...around. Playing periodically at any of a number of local venues, probably with another band that we like, with a ton of people I know in the audience. Oh, Dex is playing and do I feel like going? Sure, why not. Always: Sure, why not! Dex was a force of nature.
posted by desuetude at 1:04 PM on February 21 [2 favorites]
posted by desuetude at 1:04 PM on February 21 [2 favorites]
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posted by mcdoublewide at 1:26 PM on February 21
posted by mcdoublewide at 1:26 PM on February 21
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posted by Joey Michaels at 4:13 PM on February 21
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:13 PM on February 21
The cassette case of my copy of the first album (S/T - Dex Crow Tone) has that wonderful soft fuzzy scuffed texture. More than a few summers it was one of only two or three tapes that never left the car. Crappy stereo, windows open, people yelling - the louder you turned it up the better it sounded. You could just flip it over and play it again.
"You're not free, we'll never be, but dreams, they don't cost a thing."
Thank you Dex.
posted by erebora at 8:15 PM on February 21 [3 favorites]
"You're not free, we'll never be, but dreams, they don't cost a thing."
Thank you Dex.
posted by erebora at 8:15 PM on February 21 [3 favorites]
There’s an interesting documentary called Two Headed Cow also, if folks haven’t seen.
posted by zoinks at 1:41 AM on February 23 [1 favorite]
posted by zoinks at 1:41 AM on February 23 [1 favorite]
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