After five years of incredible music and parties, Bromance Records has announced its end. A lengthy statement was issued on the imprint’s Facebook page, and private matters have been cited as the impetus for the decision to end the label.
It’s been a long ride, and the label’s founders, Louis “Brodinski” Rogé, Guillaume Berg, and Manu Barron, have left us with more than enough memories to fondly reminisce. Bromance is a special thing, and we understand when Barron says “we can not keep something alive when we can not give it all it deserves.”
Have a listen to Bromance’s farewell mix, and read their full statement below. 
“We’ve been here together for five years, delivered about fifty releases, organized more than 300 parties, festivals and other events. Today, Louis « Brodinski » Rogé and I have decided, alongside the rest of our crew and staff, to put an end to the intense and exciting experience that was Bromance.
Part of what brought us to that choice should remain private, especially regarding the very moment that led to the making of that decision. This shall remain within our inner selves, we’d like to make that clear.
The general context, however, should be kept in the public eye, being a collective where men and women have been sharing their lives, developed friendship and a common wish to make things happen, for a long time. As it was reflected by its artistic direction (or maybe its lack of artistic direction), Bromance laid its foundations on instinctive desires, around artists who had different musical backgrounds and aspirations. But all of them shared a common vision when it came to the music properly said and the way it should be lived and experienced.
In everything that brought us together – and will keep bringing us together –, I’d like our liberty to be remembered.
When we’re talking about liberty, we’re in fact focusing on the artistic liberty to explore an unlimited spectrum, far from restraining ourselves to a certain musical style. And to start from scratch each of our works, born from our artists’ only desire. Regardless the age, the horizon, the achievement and the ideal each of us wanted to reach, each of us refused to comply with a niche. In our opinion, these niches meant isolation, withdrawal and weakness Even if we all knew that, from the audience’s point of view, it’s easier to be lead on a well-defined area with a standstill identity. Of course, we did not ventured into death metal, Americana or Chaâbi but we’d never forbidden ourselves from doing so, and that’s the most crucial thing.
We danced to the sound of said unreconcilable musical families – rap and electronic music – and God knows it already was a mad gamble as only a few of those alliances have worked in the past. But times are changing, gave us the artistic liberty I mentioned before and one of the most valuable chance of being artists : the possibility to nurture utopies and the right to fail miserably. Or maybe not.
We also have to thank the public who’ve been following us, because we did not do much to win their loyalty. But they all know it was just a fact, an obligation because of the very DNA of our history.
Among the things that made us stick together was our desire to celebrate music, with parties where one could dance to a good old school techno set, then venture on Dirty South to pursue on a Belgian-Dutch rave selection then end the night with EBM and Indus. Some will say we were incoherent, other will simply believe us to be multifaceted. In our opinion and according to those who followed us, we were diversified and desired.
Bromance was an utopian dream turn into reality thanks to the talent and the shared desire of a group of human beings, women, men, interns, artists, project managers, artistic directors and technicians to live together. All of us had a great time to tour the world, from clibs to studios, from venues to festivals in order to spread our party and diversity desire.
First thing first, I want to thank the Savoir Faire team, who’s supported this adventure right from the beginning, that very day when Louis and I invited them to join us on the project. To give, in a totally altruistic manner, a bit of their time and talent to make our dream come true.
Their professional organisation and the team that supported us gave Bromance its foundations, with no plans ahead, a little financial stress, no releases schedule and no aims to achieve. Without it, Bromance would have stopped after three releases.
Of course, we’ve to thank all the artists who joined us and put their trust in Bromance. We won’t make any list but we’re proud of the result, from the very first that came in, to the guests, the family, the rookies, the founding members who all allowed Bromance to shine, thanks to their talents but also to the spirit they carried with them as international ambassadors. We had countless parties and tours where the « big » artists invited the smaller ones, to help them make their first steps in a remote territory and meet their audience.
Last but not least, I want to thank two guys but I still don’t know which word would suit them best. They’re not my little brothers, they are not an artist and an artistic director I’ve been working with, nor friends or sons… But rather a mix of all these things. I should coin a word for them, but for the moment I’ll say : bonhommes. In all those years, they’ve never stopped to impress me, for their integrity, their talent, their kindness, their weakness, the questions and failures that made them grow and move forward, and the successes they never boast about. Louis Rogé and Guillaume, you’re part of the people who give my life meaning.
I’ll stop here, and if this great experience comes to an end, it’s because it was born upon that greatness — and we can not keep something alive when we can not give it all it deserves. Especially when that adventure made us even closer and reinforced our vision and our the question we continuously asked ourselves about what the music was and what it could become. Instinctive and diversified, that is. But, most of all, Bromance allowed us to live together, to share and to always excite our curiosity.
Part of what made Bromance such a successful story was the time we spent together, either at Savoir Faire during meetings, either in hotel rooms, kitchens, backstage or at the bar of a club, miles away from our home. Today, we all live in different parts of the world, and regarding what we said earlier, you’ll understand that Bromance can not be carried on through FaceTime or Skype.
So we’ll now try to make beautiful things again, to respect the legacy we left and no matter the distance and our new upcoming experiences, be sure we’re still sharing new ideas, remain united and will always be the first ones to give support to our friends’ new projects.
I’ll conclude on one of our best private joke — as you’re a bit part of our « privacy »— and quote one of our biggest fans : « Come To Mexico »
Manu Barron, in the name of the Bromance collective
