Gay Star Interviews with Matt the Great!

Rob Romoni is one of the most multi-talented porn stars working today. Behind his enormous muscles and wicked sense of humor is a warm and generous Jersey boy with a heart of gold. Now living in Los Angeles, Rob has had a long and rewarding career in the adult industry with no sign of slowing. He is the undisputed king of Twitter and the court jester of the porn industry. You can follow him at www.twitter.com/robromoni, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/robromoni, and on Myspace at www.myspace.com/robromoni.

MATT: Hello Rob!

ROB: Hey Matt. Where are you from?

MATT: I’m from the South.

ROB: I’m from Jersey.

MATT: You’re from Jersey?

ROB: Yep, born and raised. I’ve lived all the way from North Jersey to Atlantic City.

MATT: I’ve probably driven by your hometown a few times on the New Jersey Turnpike.

ROB: You’ve probably passed my hometown a lot. It takes literally three or three and a half hours to go through the whole state.

MATT: So now you’re in LA.

ROB: Yeah, there are a lot of good places. It just depends on where you think is the safest between the earthquakes and forest fires. But where I’m from, it’s like in the center of where everything is. I do not even need a car; my bank, my gym, the supermarket, all the places where everybody goes out to eat. The only thing I would need a car for is to go to the beach. Everything else is right here. Everything. Anything you could think of, I could just walk to it. Melrose is a couple of blocks away, Sunset is a couple of blocks in the other direction. All the things you see on TMZ I could head right down the street from me.

MATT: You really are in the perfect location.

ROB: I know, it’s funny. I could tweet about it forever, but more people would hate me if I did.

MATT: I don’t want to hold you up too long. I know you’re anxious to get back to Twitter.

ROB: Haha, I have taken the stance to where I am doing it 50/50 now. Before, it became like a chat room type of thing and I wanted to curb that a little bit. People know me in the industry as more like the funny guy, besides being a performer. I like to make jokes, I’m always the jokester, and I’m the go-to guy for behind the scenes type of stuff stuff. That’s why my shit is so random, as far as talking about the industry to personal stuff, just making stupid one-liners, talking about the gym, and obviously talking to people. I always feel… and this is the problem that I ran into… people don’t realize that if people take the time to talk to me I can do the same thing back. I can’t get to everybody but the good percentage, 90% or above. Because I like that one-on-one type of thing with people. I’ve had people who have come in and had just seen my first movie, and that was out like five or six years ago. And I’m like, if you’re just getting that now; one, wow, and two, I’m grateful that you are acknowledging the work. I’m very humble. I’m not like one of those people who are like, “can’t you just send an email?”

MATT: Well thank God you’re not like that. I really appreciate you doing this interview. I had stopped doing interview a while back when the platform I was using shut down all adult oriented sites. Then a couple of weeks ago Jesse Santana called me and we did an interview, so I guess I am officially back in the interview business.

ROB: It’s like that line in Goodfellas, once you’re out they drag you back in.

MATT: I made that exact comment to a friend just the other day.

ROB: It’s true though. It’s really true, because I was taking a little time off just for myself, and when I started going back into the mainstream people were asking me what are you doing, what’s next, what’s going on? I’ve done mainstream independent film work, acting, stage work, to XXX work. I did a music video a couple of years ago.

MATT: I didn’t know you did stage work. That’s interesting.

ROB: Yeah, I did two different plays. Do you know Matthew Rush?

MATT: Yeah.

ROB: Well, me and him used to go out, and during the time we went out we did a lot plays together. We did a play called “Making Porn” and another play called “My Boyfriend’s a Stripper.” And we went to Chicago, Philadelphia, Fort Lauderdale, LA, Dallas, and we played all those venues for like a good year. It was a lot of fun. Great crowds, great people, funny stuff. I mean it was hysterical. It was a great cast. It was a lot of fun.

MATT: I would have loved to have seen that.

ROB: I don’t know why they’re not doing it any more. The writers and producers of both of those plays don’t do it any more and I don’t know why. People took over, it’s the same as Broadway, new people take over from the old people, then they just stopped.

MATT: Maybe it’s because you’re irreplaceable.

ROB: Well, I don’t know. It started with Matthew and me. It was Matthew for the name, me for the funny and the cast rounded it out, and it worked out really well. And you know, we did a lot of signings at bars in Fort Lauderdale and Dallas and Chicago. It was a great time. It was a fucking really great time. It was one of those ‘feel good about yourself’ type of moments. You know what I mean? It was like you were going out doing what you love and people were loving what you were doing. It was really like a bond or a mold was being created, and when that stopped, for a while I missed it. So, hopefully something will click and they will start doing it again, because I would definitely do it again. I even talked to Matthew in May when we were at the Grabbys, and I said I would love to start doing the plays again. Even if we had to buy the play, and we had to do it ourselves, I would do it. That’s how much I loved it. There was never I time when we didn’t sell out. It’s not a big ensemble, there was maybe six of us. There was four of us besides me and Matthew, so it would work out fine. So, we’ll see.

MATT: I found out recently that you have a business degree.

ROB: Yes. If I actually went back one more semester I would have my masters degree in business administration.

MATT: So if you were not doing porn…

ROB: Yeah, I would probably be doing that. When I got my degree I was still taking classes, and this is when I was back in Jersey. I worked for a couple of restaurants up there that were pretty decent names, and I was rising in the ranks very quickly. What turned me off was a female that I was going out with at the time. Obviously I’m gay now. But she kind of burned me by taking my ideas and using them as her own, and it kind of turned me away from the business world. I was really working my ass off, working fucking seventy, seventy-five hour weeks. And while I was doing that she was trying to fuck her way to the top, and I was one of those people she was trying to do that with. So she took my ideas like a black widow I guess. After we had a huge meeting in Philadelphia she took all my stuff, so I was like, I’m not sure if this is really what I want to do; made some changes, decided things need to be different… obviously, because I started going out with guys. And the guy I was going out with asked me what I thought about the porn industry. I was like, “what about it?” He was like, “would you do it?” And I’m like, “yeah, yeah I would do it.” Obviously there needs to be a little bit of thinking about it as far as family and friends and judgment and whatever, and then, you know, I was like, I really don’t care about it. Because people who are around me and know me knew I was making a decent decision, that’s it’s not half-ass, that it was well thought out and I know the pros and the cons and all that, so that’s exactly what I did. But if I, even a few years back, if I had not gone into the porn industry I would have gotten my masters degree. I don’t know how I would go back to a reunion at the college. I mean, how do you explain going from a bachelor’s degree in business to going porn? I mean you can always use the business aspects.

MATT: You are a very business minded person. It is a business; like how you helped Jason Ridge start Ridgeline Films and worked as a production coordinator.

ROB: There’s a lot of things I was helping him with. He’s a great guy and he was doing what he needed to do for the company. I was glad I could be there to help him with the model recruitment, the paperwork, the law. You become like a paralegal and production assistant and working with the camera. It was a lot of fun and it gave me a different view of my industry, because I was always in front of it. But when you step to the side or even behind it’s like I understand what they went through, you know what I mean? Like how frustrating it can be to get a shot and how frustrating it can be if a model is late or a model doesn’t show up, and how great it can be when they do come and when the want to perform. I was the type of person… I don’t over-analyze, but I’m a realist. I don’t expect more that I expect from myself, so if I know I can do it, you should be able to do it. I don’t think that you are going to become a star overnight. I think that you need to, you know… there’s a difference between a porn star and a porn actor. I think there’s a website out there that lists people as porn actors and porn stars. I feel that a porn star is a person that shows up ready, performs, is very easy to get along with, has a great motivational performance with them, and has the ability to have great chemistry with somebody, and doesn’t think they are more than what they are. And that’s why I am so grateful. I’ve worked with 99% of the people that literally let me be who I am, always wanted the most from me, and it’s visa-versa. I just found out the other day that I had won all these awards and didn’t even know it.

MATT: Really? Like what kind of awards?

ROB: Well, someone sent me a link to go to, www.imdb.com, and I didn’t even know I was listed there. I thought I just won one award for Best Ass at the Grabbys like four years ago (2004 Grabby Awards) but I didn’t realize that I had won two other Grabbys and a Gay VN. I didn’t even know that.

MATT: Oh, you are kidding.

ROB: No, I swear to God, I didn’t know that. The Gay VN award was for the 2005 release, Bolt, which was a Channel 1 release and Chi Chi [LaRue] directed that, and I didn’t even know. I didn’t go to the Gay VN’s so I guess it’s a little bit on my side, but I didn’t know.

MATT: No one picked up the phone and said, “Oh, by the way…”

ROB: No, no, which is funny. Well, it was a group award. I think that’s why. It was a best group scene for a movie. I’m obviously not the only one on there (adult star), but someone put me on it. So hopefully that answers some of what you were asking.

MATT: You have been doing this for quite a while. What is the secret to your longevity? What keeps you in demand?

ROB: I was never a problem. I was always reliable. I’m always the last one to leave, I’m always the first one to get there. I love to be in front of the camera. I used to make the joke that I would give myself scoliosis to get the shot, just to get the shot and make people happy, to make my scene partner happy. And I always had faith that if someone hired me to do a job, that one, I’m in my A-game, because I am very religious when it comes to performing as far as work-outs, eating, tanning, looking good; because I’m huge into promoting my movies. And that’s what they love too. When I did a couple of movies for Colt I went all over the country for their Pride just to promote Reload for when John Rutherford started the company all over again. I went from Portland to San Jose to LA to Dallas, Phoenix, Albuquerque; I did all the Prides just to promote that movie, and it became huge and won an award. It’s not just because of me. It had a great cast and it was the first one after John Rutherford took over the company. I didn’t start the industry in my twenties. I think because of going through life’s trials and tribulations and then entering it in my thirties, I was really able to connect with the directors. I wasn’t walking in like there was something I needed to fix. I was just ready to go. And like me with ADD, I’m ready to go, I’m ready to go, I’m ready to go. I have gone for like this incredible scene for Massive Studios and they have automatically wanted me to go to photo shoots just because they can’t get the photo guy there the next day. And I just did it. I was like, OK, that’s fine. Just give me some magazines or whatever. And I’m grateful for that and that’s what I want all the directors to know, from people like Chris Fields to Chi Chi LaRue, John Bruno, Anthony Duran, Jett Black, all these directors I have worked with. I’m grateful. Chi Chi started my career. I have sat down with her and gone from laughter to sadness and back to laughter just to know the industry. I can laugh about it some days and I can be down about it some days, and then I can laugh about it some days. It’s cyclical. It’s good, it’s bad. You just work with it and you just make it better. That’s of the things as I get older and my performance needs to step up a little bit, I want to make sure the people around me are in the same boat, in the same frame of mind. I think there’s a little bit of a void as far as innovation, as to where to take this industry now since there’s such a change with DVD sales, and everything is going straight to internet, you need to step up the game a little bit just to be able to compete. You have the Randy Blue and Sean Cody and Cocky Boys, all that stuff. The race will be on the internet now. When you have to do the graphics and the music and the covers and all the distributing and stuff like that it can be very expensive. There are movies that I know of where the budget was like $100,000. If you don’t make that back… if you don’t have five years, you won’t make that back. Then if you have some bad PR along the way, that doesn’t help it either. There’s not anything bad I would say about my experiences with big companies. They’ve always been very cool with me, and I think that’s why there’s not one company that I’ve worked for that I haven’t worked for more than once, and I’m grateful for that. I’ve worked with Chi Chi more than once, Massive more than once, Titan more than once, Red Devil more than once.

MATT: There are a lot of newer models out there now. Who are some of your favorites?

ROB: Some of my favorites would be, well, Leo Giamani is one, obviously Adam Killian is one; he just started. Mitch Rock is one. Bobby Clark, Jeremy Bilding. We all just hung out a couple of weeks ago at Mickey’s. Scott Tanner did a signing there so the who crew went over there. It was me, Jeremy Bilding was there, Adam Killian, Chi Chi LaRue, Unzipped was there. It was a good crowd. I’m trying to think of some of the other ones. Obviously Lucky Daniels.

MATT: You are really close to Wolf Hudson.

ROB: He’s like a little brother to me and another rising star, or actually, he’s a star already. We became friends on a Ridgeline set and I adopted him like a little brother. He’s a good guy.

MATT: Something I’ve noticed about you is that you are always willing to help someone out, whether it’s someone you work with or someone on the street. You’re very empathetic.

ROB: There’s a lot of times with certain people I say “call me” automatically. This is pertaining to their situation, I’ll say “DM me or email me ASAP.” If I see someone in trouble and they are in a situation or in a bind… I’ve had people come stay with me for a couple of days, I’ve given rides to people. That’s just me wanting to do that because someone did it for me. I don’t think that I’m better, I’m just huge into karma and stuff like that. You can be the bad boy and still help somebody out, and you can be funny and still help somebody out.

MATT: You have an outstanding sense of humor. I sit here reading your posts on Twitter and laughing my ass off. Where does that come from?

ROB: I feel that it started when I was in college. When I had to pledge my fraternity we had to do skits. So I had to come up with things on the fly, so I would come up with these skits and things. I was always big on trying to make funny things about commercials on TV, so if I would see something funny I would twist it to make it crazy and put my flare on it, and that’s what I do now. There are people who are like, “oh my god, why didn’t you do Saturday Night Live, why didn’t you do this stuff?” Obviously you couldn’t do that stuff now. Let’s be real about that, but I’m glad that I can do that now. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Brad Benton, but he did a lot of stuff with me around 2003, 2005. We also did a soap opera together called “Wet Palms” with Jetset. We used to do all the sketches and things like that and it made huge behind the scenes news and it was so popular that they made us do this documentary of the whole thing for like two hours. We would just go back and forth and talk about the cast and ad-lib. It was just so much fun. That’s why I think I’m able to take pop-culture, for one, industry, two, and personal stuff, three, and make it a nice little tweet with under 140 characters. It’s funny. I wish all conversations were like that sometimes, like people on the street, you have to keep it to 140 and move on. I mean, just think of how much more of your day you can get back, right? That’s so funny because what if we started talking like we were on Twitter; you would go up to someone and say, “@robromoni, or did you see @luckydaniels69?” It would be so funny if we started talking with the @ sign in front of everything. We were talking about that with Scott Tanner and Adam Killian. We’re like, that would be funny. You know, people are like Myspace what? Friendster? Are they still around? I can’t complain. I still love Myspace. Those are my big three, Myspace, Facebook and Twitter because between those three I have 16,000 – 17,000 people. So, I always make sure that I’m commenting, accepting, requesting from fans. I want people to that it’s not just me taking it all in. I’m also requesting people. I am also asking them for their friendship.

MATT: You actually requested my friendship on Facebook.

ROB: Well, see, there you go.

MATT: Which really shocked me. That was really sweet and a nice surprise.

ROB: That’s the way it should be and I appreciate you saying that. That’s the way I think those network things started. Obviously you don’t want it to become a chat room, but it is a social networking thing which gives you every right as a member or account holder to do that and to enjoy it the way you know how to enjoy it. I can’t go anywhere… you can’t do it on Myspace or Facebook because it would take up too much time…. where I can literally talk to four different directors, six different performers, a couple bloggers and six different fans all at the same time! How great is that? Christmas comes early for me I guess because I have only been on Twitter since April and I love it, like huge. I hooked up my phone to it so I can update from a hot spot or the gym or whatever, plus I give shout-outs to people and thank you’s to other people. If you take two seconds to contact me, I’m like 90% plus with being able to get back with people. You don’t have to sit at your computer all the time. I am huge for late night. I talking to my fans, I’m talking to my fans, and that’s my time. I love it, love it! There’s been a couple of times when I’ve done a ‘Ask Rob Romoni Anything’ late night, and I would have people ask me about what was going on with me and I would talk about Mickey’s and the Grabbys and stuff like that, and how much fun I had seeing everybody again. I’m a very talkative person.

MATT: On a more serious note. You went to Michael Jackson’s memorial with Wolf Hudson. That really had to be an emotional experience for you.

ROB: It was pretty emotional. When I found out that we had tickets for it I was for one shocked, two, how can I respect the situation and handle it and really grasp that 2.4 million people wanted to go to this event and only 18,000 were able to. We got up early, like 6:00 the morning of. We took the train down there. It was a very quiet… we were trying to figure out where to go. It was an eery feeling, kind of like what is going on? What was really good is that along the journey down there we started seeing other people that had the wrist bands on, because you needed the wrist band and the ticket to get in, so people that were wearing the wrist bands were starting to become friends, and they started to talk about Michael Jackson and they started to talk about his songs and the industry and what he meant to them… because we actually saw his body fly over our house when they took it to the coroner’s office, and that was a little bit much to see. And we finally got down to the Staples Center; we started to feel the warmth of the morning and the sun was breaking through and we realized that we were probably like 12,000 in a line of 18,000. The line was moving pretty quick. Everybody wore their favorite costume. There were signs. You know, kids getting upset. We finally got in there and they gave us our programs, and we got something to eat, and I guess it was a little after 9:00. We went to find our seats. Little did I realize how far up we were because now I realized that I had vertigo. I was scared shitless. I’ll admit it. I was scared shitless because it was so far up, but I realized I would have to suck it up and be a man about it and just sit there and deal with it and respect the moment, and that is exactly what I did. So it began with the pastor saying something, then there was dead silence. Then Wolf and I looked at each other like, is that it? We didn’t know what the public knew, that they were bringing Michael Jackson’s body in, because there was a good ten to twelve minutes of silence and no one said anything on the PA. When they brought his body in there was this roar, there was this loud hurricane of a roar of emotion and crying and clapping. Everybody’s up, 18,000 people were up withing two seconds when his body came in, and it lasted until they moved it into the middle of this little white flooring that they had down at the bottom by the family. Then it began with Mariah Carey coming out and singing. With the people crying next to you and the people talking about everything and their reaction… when it was over, the two hours that we were there, when it was over you actually felt one, that you were a family member, and two, that you went through an extremely historic service. We felt drained. We felt like, mind, body and soul was just like, wow, I’m tired. We took the train back. We saved our programs and tickets and wrist bands, and we put them in this frame and stuff and we just talked about it. The next day we listened to his music, because, you know, that was just very hard on Wolf. That was his idol. I grew up with him as a child, but that was his idol. It was one of those things that out of all of the people on the planet… you might not be a fan. I was a fan. I don’t hold no judgments. I don’t know everything that had to do with him, but I was a fan. And if you know that you were one of 18,000 that was selected to be in that environment, you need to respect it. And that’s what I’m about. It’s just respecting the situation that someone has put you in. And that’s exactly what I did.

MATT: As far as work goes, what is the next thing for you?

ROB: Well, after I went to the Grabbys I talked to a couple directors. I was trying to get a feel of the situation and the best way to do everything. One, I had to do the best thing for myself and get myself into the best shape that I can be, because if you need to come back, you need to come back better than the way you were before, if you do want to call it a comeback. I mean, I’ve seen movies out there that I didn’t even know I was in so it didn’t even look like I took a break. There are movies out there that I guess they had footage and put in during the three years that I took off. So I was a little taken aback by that. I can’t name the directors yet because things aren’t finalized, but there is talk about a couple projects in the works with studios that I have worked with before and directors that I have worked with before. If anything is going to happen, which I hope it does, it will begin in mid to late August and go into the fall. The people that I mentioned, I want to work Adam Killian, Mitchell Rock, Leo Giamani, I wouldn’t mind working with Hot House, I wouldn’t even mind working with Matthew Rush because they’ve talked about having a reunion type of movie with us again. That wouldn’t be so far fetched as well.

MATT: You started a little later in life in the business than most people. There are a lot of people trying to break into the business. What are some of the obstacles that you ran into, or really took you by surprise about the industry?

ROB: Well, when I started there was no Twitter or Facebook. My way of doing it was through emails or going to the studios, which you can still do. The biggest obstacle I had was getting my name out. It’s easier, a little bit, to do it now, but the biggest thing is to make sure you have your shit together, OK. With so many people trying to flood the industry or make a comeback you need to be at your A-game all the time, to be available all the time. Make sure everything is current as far as pictures, as far as… everything needs to be current. I’ve gotten calls for movies like two hours before time to shoot because somebody skipped out and they needed me to fill the spot. You always need to be camera-ready. It’s a hard life to live, but you always need to be ready. Always be ready on a moment’s notice, and be flexible. You need to have a window of flexibility. That’s the way to be a good business person. I would strongly suggest not to be so cut and dry. Be a little bit gray in your thoughts. Keep it a little bit open. All of the obstacles are with yourself. What are you willing to do? Do you know yourself as a person? Do you know yourself sexually? How much do you want to do on camera? Be true to it, own it. If you do it, you better love it. Don’t be fake. No body likes anybody to be fake. If you’re bisexual say you’re bisexual. If you’re gay, say you’re gay. If you’re gay-for-pay say you’re gay-for-pay. Don’t try to twist words around if that’s what you are. And don’t try to become scandalous, because the quicker you’re in, the quicker you’re out. People are going to read it, they’re smart. People don’t give the adult industry much credit. They know what the fuck’s going on. There are icons like Matthew Rush and Dean Phoenix, that are still around, because they are true to the art. It is what it is and they are great performers. You have to find your niche that’s going to stand out with some people. That’s another obstacle. I didn’t find my niche until I had done a few movies, as far as am I going to be a top or a bottom? And I’ll be either. My favorite thing to do is a flip-flop because I think it shows extreme chemistry and it’s fucking hot. I swear, if you get me in the room with the right person, I swear to God I can do two scenes with that person in the same day.

MATT: You have a very positive outlook on everything. What keeps you so positive and upbeat and energetic?

ROB: This goes to my personality as far as humor. My thoughts are like, everybody has that line where they think they are a big dork. Well, I think that way about myself, but it’s in a funny way where it’s like, if I’m able to laugh at myself and I can let people make jokes about me and I can laugh at it… it’s like I feel a karma. And this may sound hippy-like, but I feel like if you bring that energy into a situation, you can keep it there if you want it to be that way. I’ve worked with a lot of directors, and it’s like we you can make it tough for four hours or we can be out of here in two. So, I think you get more out of somebody and more out of a situation if you keep positive attitude. When I was in college I had this line, put me in every situation that will test me, because if I don’t get challenged, I’m going to be the same person for the rest of my life. That’s why I remain positive. I search for those, it’s my hunger. It’s to remain a lighthearted, funny, positive performer who makes great movies.

MATT: It comes across in your movies. You can tell when a performer is into it and when they are just there for a paycheck.

ROB: Oh, you will know, you WILL know. It’s because they are there for a paycheck, but they have other things to do or other people to fuck. And there are always going to be a couple, and you know what? In five years they’re not going to be here. But, you’re going to get one out of ten that are good and will be around for a while. They might have their things, but they are still good people. There’s good in everybody, but not everybody sees it. Like not everybody sees me 24/7. They don’t see me go from one to ten and back to one again. There are times when Rob Romoni needs down time. There are times when I need to relax. I can’t be on all the time. But it’s when you show those moments to other people, that’s when people think that’s your personality. So I would rather show a funny, lighthearted personality that this hard-ass. You know, that’s just me. I’m grateful for that, and I’m blessed for that. I wouldn’t have this same personality if people didn’t let me do it. I’m glad they did. I’m glad they let me make movies and I’m glad they let me make them laugh, and I’ll do that as long as they let me.

MATT: I hope you’re around for a very long time to come.

ROB: Me too. I have no plans to go anywhere.

MATT: Thanks for the call, Rob. I loved it.

ROB: Thanks, Matt. We’ll have to do it again.