Rock Monsters Romania

It’s always amazing to discover new bands by attending underground concerts, and even though I’ve seen many live performances, only some have stayed in my memory.

One of them was Dirty Red, a band that opened for The Strizzers’s concert at The Pub back in July. I didn’t know who they were or what to expect, so I basically went with the flow, and it was a nice surprise.

With a summerish Nirvana vibe and a lot of energy, Dirty Red impressed me with an old-school feel despite their youth. During the summer, I also noticed that they had some beach concerts, probably the best way to gain more fans.

So, who are they? What are their plans, and what’s in the box for 2024? I found out these answers directly from them.

Let’s begin with some fundamental questions: How did the idea for the band originate, and what’s the story behind the band’s name?

“Dirty Red” just came randomly from a brainstorm between our frontman, Hush (Petru), and his father during a car ride. Somehow, this name just felt right for a reason we could not quite put our finger on, and as nobody asked us about the name for a period of time, it stopped us from pondering on the significance of the band’s name. But now, we have figured it out. “Dirty Red” refers to pure, honest, and strong emotions that we all feel as humans: such as love, rage, ambition, lust or hopelessness, and how these emotions are made “dirty” or made more complicated and nuanced by each other or by outside circumstances. This is what we want through the essence and sound of our music, the complexity of the purity of our strong feelings as human beings.

How did you meet?

Hush and Frunza (our drummer) met back in 2021 at a jam session through a common friend. Since then, the pair tried to form a band for a while, but struggled to find a direction and members that felt right. At the start of 2023, the idea of Dirty Red came forth, as Frunza and Hush were looking to finally lay down the basis of a band that would be both serious and fulfilling. Hush stepped up as both lead guitarist and vocalist, Frunza on the drums, and one of Frunza’s friends, Maria, on the bass, as well as vocals. The three soon met Ozan (keyboard) and Mihnea (bassist) and experimented with different sounds and instruments, such as saxophones. A little while after that, Maria stepped out of the band, and we met our trumpet player, Mantu. Now it’s Hush, Frunza, Mihnea, Ozan, and Mantu and we think that this mix of different musical personalities is what makes “Dirty Red” what it is.

Before we dive into the deeper aspects of this interview, here’s a question that I love to ask: What’s that one thing people should know about you before they listen to your music or attend your live concerts?

One thing to keep in mind before listening to us or coming to a show is that our main goal is connection. We want to share our thoughts and feelings with you, the listener. We want to share a feeling with you, even if just for a moment. I (Hush) tend to try to make some eye contact with as many people as I can while performing. Of course, our music means a lot to us, but it means something that is on another level if we can feel a connection between us and whoever is listening or watching us. So what you should know before consuming any music or performance by us, keep in mind that it is there for you, we don’t to play and you to listen, we want to play for you and to break the wall of empty space between us.

In 2023, you began posting some of your songs on YouTube, primarily featuring live versions. Are there any reasons behind this plan?

As you can imagine, recording music, post-production, releasing can be a very lengthy process which we work on consistently, so, we were keen to share some of our art with the general public faster than it would have taken to publish the studio versions.

Are there any plans for a debut album or an E.P.?

We are planning to release a 4 or 5 track EP in early 2024. Right now we’re focusing on recording this E.P. and working on it, in order to achieve a sound and feeling that we feel represents each song, individually, as well as our band as a whole. This E.P will feature a range of emotional timbre, from songs that tell stories of watching sunsets with strangers at the seaside, to wandering through a park late at night, unable to sleep or think clearly because of grief and contradictions in your mind. This is just the start, during 2024, we are looking to work on a full-sized album, but more details will be shared along the way.

You’ve already released a recorded version of “Foc Nebun” on YouTube. Can you tell us more about the song?

“Foc Nebun” is really meant to just scratch the surface, and it was a way to introduce ourselves to the public. Following on the idea I mentioned earlier about the colour red meaning deep and passionate emotions, orange is the less mature and simpler version of red, this is the colour we think of with “Foc Nebun” and this is the reason why we chose a plain orange solid as the cover art for our debut single. “Foc Nebun” is about the ‘fire’ that happens when two people meet and match romantically. It’s before any ‘red’ feelings develop between the two, but it is the start that allows this to happen. ‘Red’ can be ‘dirty’ and confusing, and complicated, and nuanced, but many times it comes from a happy and hopeful ‘orange’ and this is why we released “Foc Nebun” before any of our ‘deeper’ music.

Now that summer is behind us and we’re in the autumn season, how does the reality of your recent concerts, including those on the beach, compare to the rockstar dream you’ve been pursuing?

Over, the summer, our ‘busking’ in Vama Veche really made us realise that human connection between the performer and the consumer can be achieved in many different contexts. We felt a genuine connection with every person that stopped to listen to us, and even with those that just turned their head and gave a small smile. Of course the ‘rockstar dream’ stays with us, it’s something we all dreamed of from a small age, but perhaps there are also other forms of ‘greatness’ and expression.

Please share more about the experience of performing live on the beach in the evening, a special occurrence in the Romanian underground scene. Whose idea was it, and were you satisfied with how it turned out?

Playing on the beach was touching, to put it simply. We initially wanted to go to the sea side in order to play at restaurants, bars or small venues there, but the idea of playing in the street in Vama Veche sort of just came naturally when we were there, so we headed to the streets, more out of the lack of an alternative. From the first night doing this, we felt a great vibe from the people passing by, and many actually stopped by for significants periods of times, some asked us questions between songs, some asked for song requests (which we tried our very best to fullfill. It was definitely a great experience and we are looking to do it again in the future.

Can each of you describe, in one word, how this band has impacted your life this year, and provide a brief explanation for your choice?

Frunza: Happiness, every show and practice makes me happier.
Mantu: “Pfoaaa”, no explanation.
Mihnea: “Phythagorean” not sure if he is joking or if he has a deep understanding of mathematical metaphors.
Ozan: “Fulfillment, hard work paying off just makes my soul at peace.”
Hush: “Drive, this band pushes me to do more and more, and grow more and more as both a person and musician.”

2024 is near and I am sure that you have many plans for it, too. What can you tell us about them? Are there any plans for live performances?

In 2024, we are planning to release a bunch of songs, as well as play some more shows. We are also looking at some festivals during summer/fall 2024, but are unsure what exactly we will manage to do at the time of writing this.

What other goals do you have for the next few years?

We definitely want to make a lot more music, and play a lot more shows for a lot more people. I guess the answer is, do what we do now, just at a larger scaler and follow the passion. We are also thinking of collaborations with a range of other artists, for example we were interested in trying a fusion with a DJ, seeing how that would turn out.

What message do you have for the people who supported this project? But for the ones who are discovering the band through this interview?

Thank you to everyone and for everything. This project has been, is, and will remain to be very important from us, and even during time periods where we seem less active, there is always something going on behind the scenes, and we are always working on something for you. For “new-discoverers”, stay tuned in, we will not dissapoint. We want to share our experiences and feelings with you through every way we can as a band, so maybe just staying on the lookout for any news from or about us isn’t a bad idea. 🙂

Thank you for reading this! Thank you, Radu! Thank you, Rock Monsters!

Interview by Radu Mihai