Rock Monsters Romania

It’s the final countdown as the Summer Well Festival is ready for its biggest ever edition this weekend!

Summer Well will bring together bands from all over the world for long awaited shows. One of them is the Romanian band The Schnitzels. You will find them rocking the crowd with a special set on Saturday, at 20:45 on the Hidden Tracks stage.

This comes after less than one month after the band consisting of Narcis Axinte (vocals and guitar) and George Petrosel “Jurjak” (drums) released their first ever single, “Frica”.

We talked to them in an exclusive interview and here are the surprises they are preparing for this weekend.

How and when did the idea for this project come about? And where did the inspiration for the band’s name come from?

It started like many other ideas, at a drink one evening in 2021 at Jurjak’s workshop. There we had a drum kit, a guitar and an amp. We started a jam session from which we concluded that it was time to start a band. That same evening, while listening to what I had recorded on my phone, the idea of a name came along. We don’t know exactly where from, but we both startled and said that’s how it would remain — The Schnitzels.

Is there one essential thing your audience should know before your show at Summer Well?

It’s going to be very Loud and Heavy and very Rock and Roll. We try to make as much noise as we can in two people. But you better come to the Hidden Tracks stage at 20:45 to see for yourself.

In July you released “Frica” (“Fear”), what inspired the lyrics and the musical direction you followed?

“Frica” started at a more productive jam session on a January evening where we did 8 tracks in two or three hours. Using the recordings on the phone as reference, Narcis did a demo in his home studio where we laid the foundation for the structure of the song. Jurjak wrote the lyrics, inspired by the feeling the song conveyed. But we don’t like to explain our lyrics. We prefer to leave them to the listener’s interpretation.

Should we expect an album in the next period? What about collaborations with other artists?

Our first album will be called “PHANTASMAGORE”, which is also the title of our last track in the setlist. Hopefully, it will come out towards the end of this year or at the latest in the spring of next year. We are planning a featuring at the moment, but we won’t tell you more for now.

What do you expect from this edition of Summer Well? What surprises can the public expect from you?

We believe it will be the best edition of Summer Well so far! Both because of the bands that will play and because of the diversity. There are several stages with all kinds of artists for all tastes. From us you can expect our best show so far, new songs as well as a surprise guest, whom you surely know.

Finally, a message both for those who will come to listen to you live and for those who cannot reach you this year?

Get ready for debauchery! It’s going to be carnage! We aim to be everywhere in the coming period. So if you don’t catch us this year at Summer Well, you will surely see us at other festivals or clubs in the country. Follow us on social media, especially on Instagram to keep up to date with everything else that will happen. No one escapes!

Interview by Radu Mihai and Raluca Stanescu

Translation by Andreea Ionescu

Photo credit: Cristina Oltean @elegantly_tasted