Rock Monsters Romania

This summer was a special one for the Romanian metalheads and for one of the biggest and most interesting bands from Romania.

For the third time (after the shows of Negură Bunget and Dordeduh), Romania has been represented in the line-up of Wacken Open Air Festival, by Dirty Shirt.

But who are Dirty Shirt? Most of you probably recognise the name from the Wacken Metal Battle, where, in 2014, the band has finished the contest on the second place.

Dirty Shirt are well-known in the metal community for their unique style which combines Romanian folklore elements with metal and their amazing songs, which have lyrics in Romanian, English, French, Hungarian and Serbian.

Founded in 1995, the band has a huge discography, including no less than 6 albums, latest one, “Letchology” being released this year in February.

We have talked with Mihai Tivadar, a well-known economy professor and researcher in France and the founder of Dirty Shirt, about the band, its plans and their experience at Wacken.

When and how did all start?

Dirty Shirt started in the mid 90s in a little town in the Northwest of Romania, Seini. Short after that, several actual members joined the band and with one exception, all of us are still in Dirty Shirt. But the family got bigger in time 🙂

Where does the name of the band come from?

Some of us met in the Baia Mare train station after a school week and all of us wore the same type of shirts, typical for our generation at the time. First it came like a joke, but eventually we decided to name the band Dirty Shirt. After the band took a break for several years, we discussed whether we should keep this name or not and we decided to continue as Dirty Shirt, especially that the new artistic direction was more compatible with the name.

Where does the inspiration and motivation to continue come from?

It is difficult to explain where and how our inspiration comes from. Our « rule » is to not censor our own music ideeas and let the flow come. This means that we are inspired from a wide variety of artistical sources, and this can be heard in our music. Even so, I think that we managed to have an homogenous sound, kind of a style of our own.

You have opened the road of success of Romanian bands at Wacken Metal Battle in 2014 after winning the 2nd place. How does it feel now?

Five years later, I am still proud of this and glad that other Romanian bands made it in the top. 🙂

What changed after your amazing performance at Wacken Metal Battle in 2014?

Second prize at Wacken Metal Battle was an important achievement for our band and contributed to our development, both in Romania and abroad. But it was just a step, having a prize at Wacken Metal Battle doesn’t mean that you are already a successful band. You need to continue in the same trajectory, make good music, tour a lot, show online activity etc.

You have been in the line-up for Wacken 2019. Can you describe the atmosphere and how did it feel being on the stage?

It took 5 years of intense activity to be back at WOA, this time in the official program. This also is an achievement, maybe even biger then the prize. Playing this year at Wackinger Stage, one of the open air stages, was an amazing experience. From the begining there were maybe 2000-3000 people, many fans from Romania but also from other European countries where we played recently. As the show progressed, more and more people came to see us, and we were probably seen by 7000-8000 people. The athmosphere was just fantastic, and we enjoyed the show at a maximum. Compared to our performane five years ago, clearly it was much better, less stress factors, more time to play, bigger audience. And the fact that we now have much more experience with big stages also at an international level really helped a lot.

What are your goals and plans for the last months of 2019 and 2020?

This year we will continue European Letcho Drom Tour 2019, with several gigs in Romania but also two shows in London. Next year we will tour in Europe and we’re also preparing a big project to celebrate Dirty Shirt’s 25th anniversary.

What is your message for all your fans and people who are going to read this interview?

Keep supporting the music you love. Without good music life would be much more sad.